Brittany Ferries new ship - Galicia

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kashurst

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Quite a lot of peeps on here go to and fro to Spain on a ferry. Brittany ferries have just bought a new one coming on line in January called Galicia. Youtube link gives an idea - What is interesting is the new ship generates all its electricity from waste energy from the engines - very smart. Spoiler alert - there is engine porn 17,000 Hp each!
 
We have friends in Sant Carles at the moment and are coming back on the Galicia via Santander next Wednesday.
They said on SCMCHAT that they are going to take some photos and report back.

I've only looked at the brochures and a couple of youtube clips but I still prefer the Pont Aven.
I like the buffet style silver service restaurant that isn't as good on the other ships.
The Cap Finistere, for example, has a smaller silver service restaurant but not buffet style and no other restaurant (apart from a very cold one on the top deck).
We are on these ships for 22 hours so it is nice to relax over a nice meal and the prices aren't that bad.
On the Pont Aven, we usually have a nice meal that takes us to bed time then in the morning a long full breakfast in the same restaurant.
Soon after than the ship docks and we are off.

I couldn't see a nice big restaurant on the Galicia but maybe I've missed it.

I will post the findings from our friends after they get home later this week.
 
I also prefer the Pont Aven, always try to book a crossing on it if possible
Did travel on the Cap Finnester a few weeks ago and they have turned the lorry drivers restaurant into a self service restaurant for all passengers. There is a colour coded system of time slots so it does not get too busy, Because of Covid they closed the silver service restaurant, but as the boat was not full it was not a problem
I notice the Galicia takes around 30hours for the crossing, compared to around 23 hours for the Pont Aven
 
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jordanbasset said:
I also prefer the Pont Aven, always try to book a crossing on it if possible
Did travel on the Cap Finnester a few weeks ago and they have turned the lorry drivers restaurant into a self service restaurant for all passengers. There is a colour coded system of time slots so it does not get too busy, Because of Covid they closed the silver service restaurant, but as the boat was not full it was not a problem
I notice the Galicia takes around 30hours for the crossing, compared to around 23 hours for the Pont Aven
Click to expand...
I too was on the Cap Finistere a few wee ago, Bilbao to Portsmouth. No colour coded time slots on my sailing, and the worst food I’ve ever had on Brittany Ferries, tough and hardly warm. It was not a great on board experience. Unlike the Pont Aven a month earlier, which was excellent.
 
longjohnsilver said:
I too was on the Cap Finistere a few wee ago, Bilbao to Portsmouth. No colour coded time slots on my sailing, and the worst food I’ve ever had on Brittany Ferries, tough and hardly warm. It was not a great on board experience. Unlike the Pont Aven a month earlier, which was excellent.
Click to expand...

I Don’t know their crew rosters but it might be possible that one trip will be good and the next bad based on the crew.

W.
 
jordanbasset said:
I notice the Galicia takes around 30hours for the crossing, compared to around 23 hours for the Pont Aven
Click to expand...
I nearly posted last night on the speed.

On SCMCHAT, we have an AIS page that displays our Sant Carles AIS Fleet - those with AIS transponders.
The page only shows the selected AIS fixes (our specific fleet of boats).
So, I have included the Brittany Ferries ships that do the Spanish run.
This makes it easy to spot them amongst all the other shipping.

Last night, the Cap Finistere was sailing north across Biscay and the Galicia was sailing south.
They had just passed each other.
The Finistere was doing 24 knots.
The Galicia was doing significantly less - I can't remember the exact speed but I thought it was strange.
At the time of writing this post, she is still not in Santander and only doing 12 knots.
This could be a problem.
 
longjohnsilver said:
Based on the extra passage time my guess is she’ll be cruising at about18kts. I guess that’s one way of making her more efficient, and increased profits by passengers having more time to spend on board.
Click to expand...

I have no idea of their schedule but maybe it for operational reasons? Arrival times at port for example, or arriving at a time that is convenient for passengers so they’re not having to get up at silly o’clock to disembark?

W.
 
Hurricane said:
We have friends in Sant Carles at the moment and are coming back on the Galicia via Santander next Wednesday.
They said on SCMCHAT that they are going to take some photos and report back.

I will post the findings from our friends after they get home later this week.
Click to expand...
This is the report from my friends on their first crossing on Galicia last week.

We decided to book our passage back to UK to coincide with the end of the UK November lockdown, and found ourselves lucky enough to be booked on Brittany Ferries inaugural passenger sailing of their new ship Galicia!



Here are our thoughts on her:-

She is a great new ship and to our minds a huge improvement on the two current ships plying the route. Outside she has a lot of open deck space on decks 9 and 10 which no doubt during summer months with be furnished with more seating. There is also be a bar on deck 10, but not open on this crossing.



The garage decks also see huge improvements, gone are the narrow steep ramps up the levels, Galicia even features a full four lane width ramp up to deck 6. The garage decks are very well lit and on this crossing were pristine clean! There are several stairways/lifts up to the accommodation levels, but not all go all the way to deck 9!



We booked too late to get an outside cabin (our preferred choice!) but instead had a four berth inside cabin, which we felt was slightly smaller, with very limited shelf space, but still very comfortable.



Obviously the cabin was pristine, the bunks are more comfortable and the bedding improved!
They now have 3 pin and USB sockets in addition to the original 2 pin!
There is also a TV in cabins, which with some investigation (as there are no instructions in the cabin!) we did manage to find some UK TV. I think there is also the availability to hire a film, and possibly use an HDMI connection, but again with no instructions and much more to investigate we did not follow this through!
There have also been some improvement in the ensuite with the shower tray having a small dip stopping the whole floor from flooding!



We also found that the inside cabins are very dark as there is no light leakage from the corridor, so would recommend a torch and maybe even a night light, we overslept as had no natural light to wake us! So maybe an alarm too!!

Everything inside happens on decks 7 and 8, which are very much open plan, light and airy with lots of seating, there are also a couple of closed lounges available in addition to the Premium Lounge which I understand is inclusive in Premier cabin bookings or bookable at a fee per person otherwise.



The main restaurant (Azul) is situated on deck 7 and features a forward facing view! The inclusive dinner is served here with strict dining times, slots allocated in groups allocated to you on your cabin key! (More of this later!)



The shop is also on deck.
The Tapas Restaurant is on deck 8, where currently under the French CV19 restrictions you can get a round of drinks with the purchase of a Tapa! Patata Bravas and two pints it is then! Or selection of cheese and a carafe of wine! And of course you can make a tapas meal of it too.



Also on deck 8 is a bar and cafe, currently closed under the current restrictions, but does have lots of open and airy seating surrounding it,

Other positives include:
She is very quiet running with minimal vibration and she seems very stable, although we were only in c3mtr swell well we feel she would ride a bigger swell very well, all leading to a much more comfortable ride
Increased safety on stairways, they are all now wide enough to hold both hand rails, and also there is also raised indicators on the flooring at each stairwell.
Pet walking area away from other deck space

There were inevitable teething troubles on this maiden passenger crossing:-

We realised there was no evacuation plan sited in our cabin! With no hard copy of a ships plan available either, we felt this could present a problem should an emergency occur! There are evacuation plans posted around in the public areas however.

The inclusive dinner had clearly not had a trial run and to say the least was chaotic! You are allocated into a dining group at checkin, and dining times are only posted outside the restaurant on a scrolling screen, which seemed slow to scroll! Each group is allocated at 45 minute time slot, we joing the queue 15mins into our dedicated time slot to find that the queue stretched almost the entire length of the ship! Britanny Ferries are acutely aware of this failure and are working to improve the system.

The tannoy system was faulty and could only be clearly heard in the cabins.

Both complimentary WiFi and premium WiFi had connection issues

We felt that generally there was a lack of information unles you were prepared to stand at a screen and wait for it to scroll!

And lastly we experienced about an hour delay in disembarkation due to a fault on the the exit ramp, this was eventually rectified and hopefully was a one off!

Like the dining issues, Britanny Ferries are aware of all these issues and are working to a resolution.

But to end on a positive note, Galicia is a lovely new ship, and when all the teething troubles are sorted she will be a pleasure to sail.

And I cannot not mention the wonderful fireworks to welcome us and Galicia into Portstmouth!



And finally, a few more snaps from onboard!



We look forward to sailing her again in the Spring
 
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