Portsmouth/Bilbao....

[richardpalmer]

We are thinking of using this route next July. Has anyone any experience of this ferry route? We're not great ferry travellers but thought this might be OK? Also, any idea of the cost and the cheapest place/time to buy? Thanks.

 

[Simon Burton]

I've only used the ferry once, it was very nice apart from the force 10 gale in the Bay of Biscay on the way home, you then realise it's still only a ro ro ferry. Its got bars, casino, cinema, swimming pool and entertainment, but it is expensive.

Anyway that aside, a little story.

When I was staying at a site in Northern France a couple of weeks ago a tent camper appeared on the pitch next to me. We got chatting and he told me he should have been on the Pride of Bilbao but they had cancelled his crossing and offered no alternative (not that they could I suppose). Apparently one of the props on the ferry had collected a fishing net from somewhere and had to be taken out of service for a couple of days to get it sorted. Unfortunate but these things sometimes happen.

P&O contacted him, cancelled his crossing and said there was nothing they could do. They did give him a full refund. He then had to engage in lengthy discussions for compensation. Eventually he was offered a small amount of money and a one way crossing Dover/Calais, he had to pay for the return. I thought this was terrible. He had to book standard crossing rate for his car and trailer and ended up paying twice as much for crossing one way with P&O compared to my return crossing price with Norfolk Line.

The moral of the story is this. Unfortunate incidents happen that cause ferrys to be cancelled. If a Dover/Calais ferry gets cancelled you catch the next one an hour or so later or they make arrangements for you to use another company. If the one and only ferry on a long sea crossing gets cancelled you're stuffed.

I've towed to Spain a number of times. I'd rather use the extra money and time taken on the crossing to drive.

Different people have different opinions and the crossing is enjoyable but I go to Europe for my two/three weeks at various sites on land, not for my 24/36 hrs on a ferry.

 

[Guest]

My daughter and son inlaw have done Portsmouth to Spain ferry.

Calais to Bilbao is given as 732 miles by Michelin and travel time of about 15 hours using car and caravan on toll roads, at a cost of about 170 euros for tolls and fuel.

If car wear is not a problem consider the drive, they prefer the drive now, he can get a discount but still paid over

 

[angela_5125767]

Hi,

We are going on the new ferry line AT Ferries the new ferry line and the price is three hundred pounds for the one way. I received a quote from the CC club for this line and P & O and the price was one hundred pounds dearer. The ferry is only 29 hours and will be at sea one night. We travelled down to spain through france last year and I costed it out with fuel and ferries and tolls and it has worked out not much cheaper plus this year we are going down to Portugal before making our way up into spain for the winter and we will therefore be quite a way down before we begin the journey down. I do realise that there may be storms but we are setting off in September and hopefully all will be calm but it is a chance you take. Last year when we were in spain people were booked on P & O and it was cancelled for a few weeks, this was in February when they do a refit but P&O did not tell people this when they booked their return journey the year before. We are quite a big unit and therefore use quite a lot of fuel. We will be coming back through france on our return next april. Just a note of warning beware of road pirates as we when we were driving on the Barcelona motorway going down last year in October some guys tried to rob us, they were in an expensive car, plain clothes but very smart and drove beside us saying they were policia flashing an identity card and with radio in hand asking us to pull over, fortunately we did not stop as we had already heard of this scam but heard from lots of unfortunate people who had stopped and been robbed, these guys say they are policia looking for drugs and go through your car and van. We just shouted no we were not stopping, we had mobile phones in our hands and camera and they sped away.

You cannot let these happenings put you off robberies happen over in the UK if you want to travel you have to go for it we had a brilliant winter last year and missed all the horrible weather in the UK.

Angie

 

[petercoachman]

hi, richard we used the portsmouth/bilbao crossing for the first time last march we were delayed over 5 hours and didn't leave until 2am after being told to arrive at 6pm the ferry was crowded with booze cruiser's vomiting etc. the cabin was more of a torture chamber and left comfort out, thin mattrass and pillow only one, would not use it again i would rather be driving my self the cost and time come out about the same we shall be using the tunnel next year when we go down.the cost difference tunnel/bilbao ferry was

 

[EvansofSprot]

Well there again I like the voyage on the 'Pride of Bilbao', and indeed have done a mini-cruise on it, as well as taking the van to Spain.

Good sea legs are useful for the Bay of Biscay; and you can watch for whales as a bonus.