It’s fair to say we’ve faffed about with this crossing having originally been scheduled for an 11th January departure. Due to the relatively unknown effects of the Omicron Covid-19 wave at the turn of the year, we decided to delay the trip by two weeks.
We regretted this change in that folks we know had a perfect crossing over the Bay of Biscay on the 11th and with the weather still holding fair, we made a snap decision on Monday to switch our crossing forward to Thursday 20th. The advantage of the Brittany Ferries Flexi tickets although it’s also clear that many of the crossings are beginning to get full.
The forecast for the Bay of Biscay remains calm, in contrast to the chaos of getting ready for a few months away at short notice.
We finally hitched up the van at Woodbury, Devon at 3:00pm on Thursday and set off on the 150 mile / 3.5 hour journey to Portsmouth. Our route was via the A30 / A303 / A34 and M27, arriving at the port around 7:00pm.
Check-in was slow with all the added paperwork checks. We had our NHS Covid passes and our Spanish health forms to hand, all of which seemed in perfect order as we were presented with our Cabin passes and access to the Commodore lounge.
The Spanish health forms are a nuisance to fill in. They must be completed less than 48 hours before arrival on Spanish soil which on a 36 hour crossing, meant another task to accomplish before we were able to hitch up the van. Once completed, the emails failed to arrive and it took yet more messing around before we received and printed off the Spanish forms.
We boarded the new Brittany Ferries ship Galicia, promptly, and on one of the lower decks, are marginally hopeful of a quick exit at Santander. The lines of vehicles at the dockside included a large number of caravans and motorhomes and whilst the car decks seemed to have extra capacity, I think most of the cabins are fully booked. Everything on the ship is new and clean – even the vehicle decks.
We headed to our cabin, which apparently is a Commodore cabin which includes access to the Premium Commodore lounge. Our two berth cabin is very comfortable, larger than usual and equipped with comfortable beds, TV and en-suite.
