Brittany Ferries | Santander — Local services in Santander

We took this service from Portsmouth to Santander and to be frank l will probably never do it again. Brittany Ferries do a lot of things sort of right, but they do some awful things as well.

We travelled with our dog and booked a cabin both directions. The accomodations were very cramped for four of us with a dog, however the bathroom was quite spacious.

On the way to Spain we had two nights sleeping and on the way back just the one. For myself the journey to Spain was awful, with the ferry running a perpetually sounded fog horn throughout the night, which prevented me from sleeping even with ear plugs.

We ate in the restaurant on the way back and to be honest, the food felt very mass produced and overpriced, it reminded me of food service companies, with small portions and limited slow service from the copious number of staff. I get the feeling that too many accountants have been invited into the boardroom, leaving the restaurant looking 5 star, whilst the food is only 2 to 3 and the bill matches the former rather than the latter.

The live entertainment on board isn't up to much, but that's to be expected from this kind of service, however we found the in room entertainment to be pretty good with lots to choose from for those who forgot to bring their own.

The WiFi on board is a joke, they're still using ancient satellite internet, which is incredibly expensive and ridiculously slow, especially with the advent of services like starlink these days. This is held behind a paywall and you can buy unlimited rubbish internet for €25 for 40hrs, but it's not worth it unless you're in dire straights, just don't expect it to keep your kids happy.

The dog area and corridor to the cabins has a very strong odour of dog urine, simply because of how it all works. People take their dog out to have a pee, there are two hoses woefully underused to wash it away and subsequently urine is tramped back into the ship where it stinks the place out. In a desperate attempt to try and hide the smell they've strategically placed electronic air fresheners, which do little to help.

Overall I can understand why some people would use this service, but with the lack of sleep on the way out and the feeling of entrapment and being at the mercy of the ferry company for such a long time it's not something I would choose to do again or would...

We were on a smaller boat Santona, which is only 3 years old and the crossing from Santander to Portsmouth was fairly smooth. Food is expensive and best to bring your own if you can as the choice wasn’t great. We had 2 mains, 2 desserts and 2 drinks in the Taberna self service restaurant and it was £45. Only one bar. Pint and half of Strongbow dark fruits was just under £8. The tax free shop doesn’t display its opening times when closed so we had to ask at the desk. When we returned when it was open the opening times were displayed on a monitor. It had a good variety of the usual duty free offerings. We had an outside cabin for four people for just the 2 of us. The TV is poorly situated and with the bunks down I’m not sure anyone would see the whole screen. The cabin was a little dirty with sticky stains on the table between the beds. We paid extra to have a window but the window was so dirty you could barely see out of it and if we sail again will stick with an inside cabin. The bathroom was clean and the shower was nice and powerful. The WiFi despite being via satellite was painfully slow and not worth buying any extra credit. Despite the 90 minutes of free WiFi saying you couldn’t pause it, you could by visiting the website getwifi.no Disembarking was painfully slow. Personally, I think the ferry is a costly option when compared to driving through France. We will be returning to Spain via the channel tunnel which is run much more smoothly with regards to customs and border forces. Turning off the motorways and saving on tolls by enjoying all the rural roads and...

On the Sañtona from Portsmouth to Santander on the 19th May to the 21st. Check-in at Portsmouth felt chaotic being moved from one lane to another and then leaving one holding area to join another. Better at the Santander end although it's a bit of a drive to finally leave the port area. We left on time and the crossing was good with the weather and sea state being favourable. We booked an inside cabin, really comfy bed and pillows. Towels are provided but they are thin and not great quality so we were glad to have taken our own. When you switch off the cabin lights, there is no natural light it is pitch black! Bathroom and shower, small but functional. On board facilities were fine, food and drink of all standards and prices. We took a travel kettle, there are UK sockets and USB points in the cabin. There is a coffee vending machine on Deck 7 and it's ok, but as it's the only one a q can form. We spent most of the daytime out on the decks (as it was warm and sunny), but grab the chairs early as people were searching for spares from late morning onwards. The ferry sales close to the French coast offering great views on the Port side. Overall an enjoyable experience over driving through France to...