Ferry boarding - how far in advance?

sandsy

We will shortly be doing an overnight ferry crossing with a car from Portsmouth - we normally fly on holiday and haven't done a ferry crossing in years! Minimum time for turning up is 45 minutes before departure. Brittany Ferries website says boarding normally starts 2-3 hours beforehand.


We have a cabin booked for the crossing. Is there any advantage in turning up particularly early? Are we likely to queue for ages if we're early? Are there any pros/cons to being early when it comes to getting off the next morning or will it totally depend on the way they board the cars?


Will the onboard restaurants/caf!s be open prior to sailing?


Advice welcome from experienced ferry-goers!

Moto2

It's often (but not always) first on, first off but I don't know that particular ferry so can't be specific.

'retail opportunities' will be open quite a bit before sailing apart from the booze and cigarette shops

PasturesNew

If I had a cabin booked I'd make sure I was there really early. That way it'd also cover contingency time in case the car broke down, or there was an accident/hold up. Then you can relax as you have a cabin.

Without a cabin I'd hang back and want to be almost the last on.

knightstyle

They usually don"t start loading cars till 30mins before departure. We have arrived 10mins before departure and driven straight on!
The only advantage in arriving early is sitting in your car for an hour or more and getting to the restaurant before leaving port.

danandjens_worldtravels

Last week on the Brittany Ferries St Malo to Portsmouth route, we were boarded early as cyclists. There were announcements that not all cabins were ready as they were still being cleaned, so only if your cabin door was closed were you advised to go to your room. Cafe and bar open, and the first film started pretty much as we left port. We had no cabin, but there was plenty of good seats and tables available around the ship.

hollydays

They do have a plug socket in the cabins-but don't forget to take your European adapter .

zagfles

knightstyle wrote: »

They usually don"t start loading cars till 30mins before departure. We have arrived 10mins before departure and driven straight on!
The only advantage in arriving early is sitting in your car for an hour or more and getting to the restaurant before leaving port.

Sometimes they sail before the departure time if they're loaded - one time the ship sailed about 45 mins before the departure time! Though I think that was P&O from Rotterdam rather than Brittany.

Sometimes they load very early - once we were on an early evening crossing and had finished dinner before the ferry sailed!

maman

knightstyle wrote: »

They usually don"t start loading cars till 30mins before departure. We have arrived 10mins before departure and driven straight on!
The only advantage in arriving early is sitting in your car for an hour or more and getting to the restaurant before leaving port.

I'd agree with those timings although I've not been on the ferry since last December. I wonder if it's to allow for increased security or something like that. Although that's more likely coming the other way.


I would recommend booking a table to eat in the restaurant if you can. The buffet meal is to die for! cafeteria's not bad but the quality (and quantity) of delicious food in the restaurant is well worth the £25ish a head.