Portsmouth - Santander on Cap Finistere. Any Tips?

[Morphology]

Booked on the Portsmouth - Santander ferry in October. It's the first time I've done this route, so I'm looking for any tips about the crossing, which is on the Cap Finisterre. I'd have liked to get on the Pont Aven, but the sailing dates just didn't work for me (day job, and all that...).

Not that I'll be taking all that much with me, as part of the fun is buying stuff locally, but I know about getting the fridge really cold, pre-freezing bottles of water, not opening the fridge door, wrapping frozen stuff in newspaper etc..

What do people do on board food-wise? The Cap Finisterre seems a bit rubbish - no self-service cafeteria, just an A la carte with a fairly uninspiring menu, and a Salad bar that seems to do burgers and, er, Salads.

The only beer advertised is Fosters (which, of course, is Lager so is to be avoided). Are the wine prices astronomical?

24 hours is a long time to kill, so I'm wondering whether I should be planning to take a book, a 3 litre wine box, and a rucksack full of pasties with me?

Morph

 

[Deleted member 9849]

There are several options for meals.A restaurant,cafeteria serving fast food or buying food from the shop so you wont go hungry.We booked a full breakfast in the restaurant,not cheap but excellent quality and a nice experience looking out over the sea.

 

[witzend]

Exterior cabin with a TV and kettle helps a lot

 

[rockape]

Sleep

 

[Morphology]

We booked a full breakfast in the restaurant

Is it necessary to book, and did you just book that on board the previous evening?

Do you have to book the A la carte restaurant too? or is there a strategy such as heading there first before attempting to find your cabin?

 

[Morphology]

Exterior cabin with a TV and kettle helps a lot

Do they all have those??

I have exterior cabins both ways, but it didn't mention anything about a kettle - not bothered about a TV, I have one, but I haven't switched it on this year...

Rucksack full of pot noodles, perhaps?

 

[witzend]

Do they all have those???

No not all ext cabins have tv & kettle you may even be glad of the TV

 

[Morphology]

No not all ext cabins have tv & kettle

Mine probably doesn't then, as I don't think it was mentioned.

I have a 2-Berth on the way out with what would appear to be fantastic views of the liferafts, but a 4 Berth on the way back - the only 2-berth ones they had left were 'Adjacent to the pet-friendly cabins'. I figured it was well worth the extra 50 quid not to be next to somebody's yapping hound for 24 hours.

I intend to do six-hour shifts in each of the four beds on my way back.

 

[carol]

No kettle in the cabins, unfortunately. I did it in January, doing it again in December. Yes, the food choice is poor unless you go to the restaurant. They did do a continental breakfast deal in the bar. Wifi is only available in public areas. Take a good book!

 

[Deleted member 9849]

Is it necessary to book, and did you just book that on board the previous evening?

Do you have to book the A la carte restaurant too? or is there a strategy such as heading there first before attempting to find your cabin?

I'm not sure if it's necessary to book for the restaurant.I went to the restaurant as soon as it opened and booked breakfast for us the following morning.I'm pleased I did as most of the tables were full.I can recommend the full breakfast,delicious and also lovely to look out at the morning sun sparkling on the sea....................



£ 10.15
Full breakfast

Jus d’orange ou de pomme

O orange or apple juice


Lait et céréales

Milk and cereals


Petit pain et viennoiseries assorties

Bread roll and assorted pastries


Beurre, miel et confitures

Butter, honey and assorted jams


Œufs au plat ou brouillés «

garnis

Fried or scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato, mushrooms, toast
Café, thé ou chocolat chaud

Cof Coffee,tea or hot chocolate


The salad bar on the top deck is quite reasonable too,not many salads and mainly fast food,burger,pizza and chips with everything.The shop sells ready made sandwiches,cereals and drinks and the bar also does a decent coffee as well as the standard alcoholic drinks.
The wifi is quite strong near the bar if you want to get online,I found the wifi analyser app very useful for finding the strongest signal area in real time.

 

[rockape]

Took the same crossing once when the tail end of an hurricane was coming in and managed to get last ferry at midnight before sailings were cancelled.
NIGHTMARE, we were on for two nights and never left the cabin.luckily we had all foods and a kettle , never again.
I would sooner drive down to northern Spain.

 

[Morphology]

Took the same crossing once when the tail end of an hurricane was coming in and managed to get last ferry at midnight before sailings were cancelled.
NIGHTMARE, we were on for two nights and never left the cabin.luckily we had all foods and a kettle , never again.
I would sooner drive down to northern Spain.

It's a risk, certainly, and who knows what'll happen in October. The reason I opted for the long ferry is that I can only squeeze 16 nights away from work, and I'd like to visit northern Spain - I've not been further west in the van than Santander in the North. If I just took the tunnel (my usual route) I doubt I'd make it to northern Spain, let alone explore it - i'd get sidetracked in the Dordogne, pulled sideways onto the Ile de Re or d'Oleron, end up bimbling along the banks of the Rhone, the Ardeche or somesuch (you know how it is).

At least this way, I'm guaranteed to be plonked in northern Spain - unless the ferry is cancelled, of course,,,

Or puts into La Rochelle for shelter

 

[Trish1997]

I take a kettle with adapter on board along with my pillow,can't sleep on a new one very good.
We take instant porridge for breakfast as I don't like a big breakfast,can fill it with hot water from the kettle. Then we have lunch in the restaurant around 2pm..
We had a restricted view cabin but I emailed them and asked them to change my cabin to one without a restricted view.They obliged.
We had one bad sailing where I said never again but I've come round and accepted the consequences.
Much easier to get to Spain,just take a seasickness pill and zonk out if necessary.
I did on that one time we had a bad ride.

 

[Morphology]

The further west you go, you will not get too much English spoken!

Excellent - that all adds to the fun.

I did Spanish for a couple of years at school, and have recently completed Stages 1 & 2 of Collins Easy Learning Spanish (6 CDs), so I have a smattering of the basics.

Esta permetido estacionar mi autocaravana aqui? Toda la noche?

I also bought myself Collins Easy Learning Portuguese Stage 1 (3 CDs) not sure I'll complete it in time, but I'll give it a go. Embarrassed to say that I must admit I had absolutely no idea how different to Spanish it is!!

I do tend to do my homework before I go anywhere as I find you get much more out of it - I did 30 hours of Icelandic before a 10-day trip there in April. Great fun.

I've always been rubbish at languages, and failed my French 'O'-Level twice, but then I spent several years living & working in Paris as the only English person in a French office - you learn pretty fast and, importantly, learn to overcome the fear of having a go and just constructing sentences using the words that you know rather than thinking of something in English and trying to translate it....

 

[ScamperVan]

The ferry we were on (Portsmouth to Bilbao?) had a microwave in one of the public areas which people were using to zap ready meals - some of those curries did smell great!

 

[jann]

Depending on time of crossing we have one snack meal, cereal for breakfast and buy one main meal.Take a kettle with you for drinks/cup a soups.Put your food and milk in a cool bag to keep fresh.

 

[r4dent]

Splash out (sorry couldn't resist it) on the full breakfast. It works out cheaper than than the one in the cafe by the time you've included seconds of coffee.

We are returning on that boat next week and I like the idea of taking a kettle & adapter into the cabin so I'll do that.

Remember using your mobile on the ship is not included in free EU roaming so switch it off.

 

[Morphology]

Splash out (sorry couldn't resist it) on the full breakfast. It works out cheaper than than the one in the cafe by the time you've included seconds of coffee.

We are returning on that boat next week and I like the idea of taking a kettle & adapter into the cabin so I'll do that.

Remember using your mobile on the ship is not included in free EU roaming so switch it off.

Some excellent points there (particularly the EU mobile data roaming, I'll try and remember that).

I'm quite partial to a cooked breakfast once in a while, so making a reservation the previous evening (as mentioned earlier) seems to make sense.

Much as I love my own coffee and my Aeropress, I'm not sure I can be bothered to lug kettle/Aeropress/coffee/milk up from the van to the cabin.