Mixed Feelings! Plymouth to Roscoff with Brittany Ferries MV Armorique. 

Brittanyferriesophile here. The main issue with the Plymouth to Roscoff service is Plymouth. The PAX terminal is very dated and poorly serviced, whilst it takes a fraction of the traffic that Portsmouth does (as it takes the cruise ships as well as the Brittany Ferries and Condor ferries' vessels). Roscoff is wonderful! The best way to experience this service is via car on Pont Aven (as she does 1 return to Roscoff per week for crew changes). I've never fallen in love with Armorique, she's my least favourite of the Gourvenec era vessels and just doesn't have the public spaces that Mont St Michel does which is of a similar era. The cabin accommodation is really good on her however, but she feels like a bit of a motorway service station; she doesn't have the warmth and character of the other vessels. A lot of people like her, so who am I to say, but she's one of my least favourite vessels in the fleet (past and present). Sadly Milbay Docks is run by ABP, there's limited space and it's just awful access for both foot and car traffic. The worst part of it is the lack of infrastructure for inbound customs and border control. The queues I've experienced there are unrivaled with any other UK part (with the exception of Dover) and by the time you've gotten through from both Roscoff and Santander services, you're spat out into the city close to rush hour. I try to avoid Plymouth as much as possible.😂 Portsmouth every time for me - fantastic access for both car and foot passenger traffic, the port confines are right at the end of the motorway, you dont have to go into Portsmouth at all (although I highly recommend a day at Old Portsmouth), probably my favourite place in the UK, especially if you're ship nerd; there's so much to see and do with the Historic Dockyards, Spinnaker Tower, the IOW feirres coming in and out, the hovercraft, the cross channel ferries, the cruise ships, naval vessels and harbour tours; it really is a great day out.

Another great video. Really enjoy these ship/crossing reviews. I keep checking for a new video everyday it is such great content and you cover all the relevant details with a bit of history. Keep it up 👍

An enjoyable video - I appreciate that the ship was a bit below the standard of the other ferries in the fleet - but your observations of the service (and the staff!) are what make these the treat they are ! Keep up the good work !

Well done Mark, you made a great video despite all the challenges you had before & whilst on board. I think you were very fair in your summing up of the trip. Looking forward to more ferry trips, and i do remember your Santander video - excellent :)

A great video I love your ferry reviews and I also like your rail reviews as well you give out such a lot of information about the times and the schedules.

Hi Mark. I'm pleased to hear you are doing more of these videos as they are highly enjoyable.take care.

We`ve just got back from Spain, having done the mini cruise from Plymouth to Santander. Out on Wednesday and back on Friday, as a foot passenger, cabin included, BF had it on special for £99 each. I was glad we were on the Pont Aven as she`s a comfortable ship, and we had a great time. Santander was an eye opener, a dedicated foot passenger terminal, maybe 25 metres walk into town and the place is smart, tidy and welcoming. I agree with you about Armorique, we found that she wasn`t very comfortable to sleep on and seems more suited to being purely a day sailer. We drove to Plymouth and the parking outside the terminal was confusing, the machine was out of use, I didn`t have a mobile phone so had to go into the terminal to ask what to do at the BF counter, luckily there is a big touch-screen inside to use. Fair play to you for walking from the train station to the ferryport, I used to live around the North Road area in the late `80s and it was always a bit rough. The Millbay road area was the city`s red light district, you couldn`t walk through there after dark without getting accosted by a few ladies of the night along the way. I understand that the area has gone through some re-generation in the last decade though.

I thought this was great video, subbed to see what's next! 😊

My first trip on Brittany Ferries was 40 yrs ago 😮 I was 14, school trip. The crossing was diabolical. Everyone was being sick, including the staff. I spent the whole trip outside trying not to be throw up. As soon as you opened the door to the inside, the smell of sick hit you...... Fortunately lots more pleasant voyages after that - Pont Aven is.my favourite.

Hi Mark...Thank you so much for another interesting and well filmed video.....I loved the 'adventure' of finding you way onto the ship.....I have mentioned before working on cruise ships some time ago and had many similar potential mishaps....Canary Islands...Santa Cruz.....my agent booked the wrong day and I tried to get on the wrong ship....Passengers loved it ...'Come with us across the Atlantic ...you'll love it'.... aaahaah..no hotel booked...on my own...next day....correct day.....no ship...diverted due to medical emergency ...aaahaaa...all ok in the end...ship came into Santa Cruz Celebrity Eclipse....and great experience back to Southampton....Love your videos Mark as you know...look forward to the next one...Take care....Liverpool Kev...

Great video with interesting and insightful comments. We’ve just come back from a trip to Brittany and went Plymouth Roscoff and back. Had Pont Aven on the way out and Armorique on the way back. Pont Aven was amazing. A delightful mini cruise ship, it’s a beautifully roomy ship, love the lifts and main staircase and the piano bar restaurant make it all very grand, and we upgraded and had a posh cabin with a balcony. Armorique is fine but seems to have been designed so badly. Outside areas are plentiful, but most face aft and often had exhaust smells and why does the top floor have so much room but so little seating! Granted helicopter access needed but surely some extra seats could be placed around. Brittany Ferries still in a class of their own overall. Love the staff who we all found friendly. And you’re right Roscoff is delightful to visit. We were last off at Plymouth but waiting for passport control wasn’t too long. I’ll do the route again but try and time it for Pont Aven both ways next time.

We have travelled on the amorique, im sure the same cabin as yours lol. I found the vessel very good but then, ive never been on another brittany ferry. But it was a lush crossing. I kinda get what you mean about stagnant areas of the vessel. Could of been better thought out. Boarding on the vessel was fun driving on board. And leaving was fine too. Good video! Enjoyed your ios trip i live close to pz and very close to leq

I’ve been across the channel hundreds of times over the last forty years and never had a problem except for a couple of years ago. I arrived early at Cherbourg on a dark winters night and was first in the queue. No-one told me where I had to go so I ended up driving round the port looking for the boat. Thing was all the cars behind just followed me as none of them knew where to go either!

Like many we love your ferry vlogs, and from our point of view the more we see the sea the better! Cruise ships are wonderful too. So please don’t be put off by landlubbers, but coming from a different angle would be refreshing. Good to see you are almost at 25k subscribers - congratulations! 50k by end of year. David & Joy.

Great video, your ferry videos are always very nice! Would love to see you try some more Nordic ferries some time, like Silja Serenade or Viking Glory!

Hi Mark. I've noticed that Brittany Ferries has opened up their crossing from Portsmouth to Le Havre for foot passengers, not sure if you have done that crossing yet , I'm planning on it later in the year. I've done Portsmouth to St Malo and Caen and have had great experiences on both trips. Great channel, thanks for all the time you take to detail your trips. I went from Tallinn to Helsinki off of the back of one of your videos , something that I wouldn't have probably thought of doing while on my visit to the Baltics.👍👍

I would like to see more Brittany Ferries ship tours we had our first crossing with them last year and your Portsmouth to Santander video was very helpful

Great video! I recently sailed from Le Havre to Portsmouth and had the same issue regarding being unsure of the boarding time. I turned up 2½ hours before, and the terminal was basically a construction site, a bit unsafe to be honest. They told me boarding was an hour before, so I ended up walking back into Le Havre which thankfully isn't far. My crossing was on Cotentin which is a very basic ship, but I actually enjoyed the overnight sailing. As the cabins are all at the front, it was probably the quietest ferry cabin I've ever experienced. If it was a day sailing, I imagine I'd have been a bit bored however 😂

Thank you for an excellent video! !Yes id love a review of Pont Aven and a cruise p&o is good one!

Great video as always. I don't think I recall you doing it before but I'd like to see you do the Denmark to Faroe islands/Iceland ferry. Epic trip.

Good video Mark, agree with you about this ship just being ‘average’ but good that you enjoyed Roscoff, and, as usual, always a positive from you. I think you would enjoy a cruise around the Greek Isles, starting from Limassol, but failing that, what about a trip to the Channel Islands, if you haven’t already been to these lovely and very interesting islands.😊

I would love to see a Cruise experience, perhaps try P&O on an inter-Europe cruise to compare with P&O ferries and see if there are any similarities in service at all (hopefully not!). One ferry crossing I would love to see is the HSS Condor Liberation, the idea of a wave piercing catamaran really does sound cool! Nice video nonetheless, always a pleasure to watch :)

Thanks Mark great review, not the best ferry journey I've seen, cant believe she couldn't rebook your cabin for return journey, sounds like she couldn't be bothered, that fish and chips looked like a frozen meal from a supermarket freezer, certainly nothing there to entice me on that one, and yes bud, a cruise would be amazing, I did a Caribbean one years ago, loved it, also these mini cruises are fantastic to 👍

I'd love to see a video about the Portsmouth-Caen overnight crossing (and the onward bus+rail connection to Paris?) - the Roscoff-Cork ferry would also be nice...

Ahh, I was waiting for your vid on the Armorique, she's my favourite ship !

I'm going on the Pont Aven to Santander this weekend. I'm even more excited about the trip now that I've heard you saying how nice the Pont Aven is. On a contrasting note though, I'm managing and lowering my expectations accordingly though re the walk from Plymouth station to the ferry terminal, and the facilities there. 😂😂👍

Great video as always mate, extremely informative, shame the whole experience was an average one! Cheers for now 😉

When you mentioned the TV it made me think how much I used to watch years ago to what I watch now. It is so little!!!!

I very rarely make ferry crossings, and your experience with the inadequacies of Plymouth as a port does noi encourage me to become a ferry enthusiast. Indeed the thing which struck me most was the fact that though Roscoff is only a small town you rate its port facilities as much better than Plymouth!

Last time i went was the year 1997 with my parents. Still gives me nostalgia. I remember always the strawberry tarts with custard. Heaven and lots of milka chocolate and at the time glass bottles of origina.

Great vlog !!Hull to Rotterdam is a good two nights out!!

Great video. Indeed when you thought about ferry operators dissuading foot passengers it definitely seemed the case in Plymouth. For example, DFDS has some services too that don't accept foot passengers. Indeed from what I saw it is definitely not worth the money. My worst ferry crossing was back in 2017 from Catania to Malta overnight. The ferry had barely any facilities, and I spent the night sleeping on a deckchair. And even to get on the boat we had to be escorted by the port security in Catania

Great video would love to see a cruise! 👍🏻

The service is obviously a bit underfunded but it did seem good value for a cabin. Roscoff looks lovely - will have to go sometime. Thanks for moving the captions up the screen - they show up much better now. About cruising… what about Drake’s Passage?? I would love to see Antarctica but would save up and fly as a lifetime experience - sailing there wouldn’t be for me! Thanks again for the videos and your fun sense of humour 😀

From Plymouth Railway Station you could of got any bus to the City Centre (Royal Parade) then took the City Bus Service 34 which passes the port entrance (there is a stop immediately passed that entrance).

Hi Mark. I understand what you mean with the Armorique, compared to the Bretagne, Pont Aven, MSM etc isn’t quite to the same standard. Thanks again for another great video. Also strange request but my best friend is turning 40 soon and he like me is a big fan of your channel and if you can send him a small message/video that would be amazing. Thanks again Mark

Not a lot going on with this journey but thank you for making the whole trip into one video! So many on RU-vid will now put out 3 videos for one trip like this and it feels like content for money rather than a really comprehensive whole trip report. Hope you can find a more interesting ferry trip in the daylight next time!

0:34 Ye🎉s please review the Pont Aven, perhaps combine with the narrow gauge railway? 😊

Watched this last week. Looked a bit of a faff at times. Good video 😊

I use Brittany ferries to France but usually Spain 2 to 3 times a year but always with a car. The problem is that you HAVE to travel from Plymouth if you want to travel on the Pont Aven, as said on the video this is their best ship by far. Useful video; and more informative than BF's own website! Overall though I do find BF to be pretty good.

Great Video 👍

Earlier in may we did DFDS/Transmanche Ferries from Newhaven to Dieppe..an alternative to dover-calais & returned Cherbourg to Poole... Next month having our first trip on Manxman

I feel jealous now haven’t been on the Armorique yet this year but might do a 24 hour trip sometime soon i think they should of added a club lounge in the cafe area

There are plenty of taxis from the rail station to the ferryport. Frankly the ship is a bus that floats. Lots of cost cutting in the last few years. My wife and I do two or three trips a year Plymouth/Roscoff and back but that is with a car.

Plenty of buses into town from the station then probably only a 15 minute walk to the port,the port itself not the best a lot of work going on and the surrounding area never been on the ferry ,lived here for nearly 40 years,great videos always enjoy thank you

I can empathise with your "hacked-off" feeling at the start of the broadcast when you are arriving at the ferry port and boarding the ship in a kind of "land that time forgot" atmosphere! Then to be followed by a negative experience when you tried, fruitlessly, to book a day cabin for the journey back. The whole experience seemed to be very utilitarian and not in the league of "getting there is half the fun!" I am sure that if the vessel had been busier and "buzzier" then there would have been more of a vibe to capture but your clip conveys a sense that you found the whole experience to be lacking anything to positively enjoy. At least the weather was calm and the skies generally blue (rather matching the colour of the ship's interior and, dare I say it, the undercurrent of your mood!). As usual, good watching.

I do enjoy seeing your ferry trips, Mark. Bit of a hassle at the start for you though😂

Great video - I thought as the (new) Armorique doesn't have an a la carte restaurant, its self-service restaurant would be a cut above the rest - apparently not. Didn't have the chance to try the first Armorique all those years ago - did the crossing on the Penn Ar Bed instead.

Great video

Great video as always, Mark. I felt they could have given you the same cabin on the return journey. They're not going the extra mile there. Were you wearing a cordless mic? I'm looking for one for my GoPro 12 and would be interested in the model you're using. Hope you're well. Andy.

In actual fact, during the heyday of the transatlantic liners, there used to be a station at Millbay to enable passengers who were in a hurry to disembark at Plymouth and take the train to London, thereby saving a day's travel. Presumably that was killed off with the advent of fast, cheap air travel, and the station was demolished in the sixties or seventies if my memory serves well. The Plymouth Pavilions now stands on the site of the former station.

Wait, I thought UK ferry ports were shining beacons of light designed to welcome weary foot passengers with a warm, comforting blanket and a cup of hot cocoa on their long journeys to the continent ... no? 🤷‍♂🤣 Great stuff, cheers!

Are there lifts to get to the cabins?

Love these Brittany Ferries reviews so I look forward to what you have in store for the future. Do you think there is a desire for ferry companies to do away with the foot passenger?

we do get pont avon aswell as armorique in plymouth

At least she was flying the Tricolour and not a flag of convenience like most P&O ships.

BTW most of the ships during quieter t8mes of year don’t open their sit down restaurants. I think I’ve used Armourique once and it was ok. Nice vlog

Ooo, a nice trip to Spain by ferry would be jolly civilised.

Brilliant video and great review as always!! Seems as though most ferry companies don't want to accommodate foot passengers, or they do everything to make the experience rubbish so that foot passengers decide not to travel by ferry or fly Instead. not the greatest welcome or impression of the terminal at Plymouth being in the dark. Seems as though there is an accident waiting to happen. Hope all is well, take care

They are 2 mini cruise on the east coast ferry to Rotterdam, p&o (Hull) DFDS (Newcastle) would love a review of them both

Station to the port just over a fiver. The ferry cabins are great.

Did you get a deckplan leaflet from them it tells you all about the ship.?

I would love a longer summer film from he round robin with a train, a ferry and a bus by the Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Company

A bus ride to the ferry terminal would have been a fairly cheap option from the train station? I recently travelled on the MV Armorique, and yes it's not super fancy, but the crew are good, the food wasn't anything special though which is a shame, I had the same fish and chips and you could tell it was just frozen food heated in an oven, instead of being fried fresh. Anyway enjoyed the video, keep up the good work 👍

Living in Plymouth Millbay is the only sensible departure point for us. it is a long slog up to Portsmouth and only have used this route once in winter when Plymouth is closed. A lot of money is being spent by ABP to inprove the handling facilities, but like lots of these projects it is being progressed at a snails pace. The Border Force previous shambles has now been moved and it is much improved. Our last two trips through had no delay. For foot passengers they have just started constructing a new walkway that will hopefully be far superior to the old gang plank that was so steep. I used the Pont Aven as a foot passenger last year twice and staff just didnt know what we were supposed to do. One said walk outside and wait by the bus, so about 10 of us were dutifully standing there like lemons when a loader walked past and shouted " what are you doing there ? You will miss the boat, you walk on" !! As we walked on the designated yellow area staff were shouting "hurry up we are departing" As an elderly couple who were struggling with wheeled suitcases got on they closed the ship up and we were sailing by the time we reached our cabin. I agree that the Armorigue is the poor cousin of the fleet but I think this is a throwback to the original concept of Brittany ferries as a quick method for th farmers of Brittany to get their goods into the UK when the common market started. Comfor wasnt high on the agenda. Keep these videos going, they are always enjoyable. Cant believe you didnt fit in a return trip on the Torpoint Ferry while you were in Plymouth. ( The cabins are dire)

Idea for a trip get the stagecoach bus from Lancaster to Preston then get the stagecoach bus from Preston to Liverpool from there get the stageoach to manchester then a bus from there to sheffiels then the bus from there to leads from to York then to Scarborough endding up at take 2 days to do it in and tell us all how you got how you got on and tell us if you have a bus pass could you do in on one of those

How about the ferry from Bergen (Norway) to Hirtshals (Denmark)?

We don't have buses come into the Dock unfortunately. I think it's a great idea.

I used to clean the Pont Aven years ago and she is a beautiful ship. Please do a review.

I did Portsmouth to Santander on the Pont Aven with my motorbike. It took over 2 hours to disembark due to malfunctioning bow doors. Speaking to another traveller this had been a regular occurrence for more than 2 months. Not a good start to my Pico's tour.

Excellent 🍺🍺🍷🍺🍺⛴⛴⛴⛴⛴⛴⛴⛴

Love the ferry videos it’s a way of seeing another place in a day. Plymouth don’t look to passenger friendly. Buses coach ferry train plane. But no cruise trips please.

Hi. I've just noticed that you can do a mini cruise from Plymouth to Santander for £99 including cabin both ways.

This video encourages me to find other operators than Brittany Ferries next time I cross the Channel.

Good review, certainly looks average, I'd have expected better from Brittany Ferries. I'd have used a few hours in France to buy some groceries 🤣 have you thought about the Newhaven Dieppe ferry? Good rail connections at both ends!

Love your videos, but having been many times on Armorique I felt the title of this video was too negative - we love this ship! I do understand what you say about the port experience for foot passengers - we take the car and the port is fine for motor vehicles. I think the ship is lovely - yes some aspects are a little dated but it's part of the charm. And actually while Pont Aven has more facilities, I thought it felt more dated and lacked the 'cosier' feel of Armorique. I wonder if part of the issue with this journey is travelling during a quiet time - the atmosphere in the summer seems quite different. Agree with you Roscoff is lovely & would love to see you do a video exploring the town some time. Keep up the good work 👍

You are in my neck of the woods. I live in Plymouth.

It’s a shame the food is not a bit better on these longer crossings including to Spain as although I have not travelled on Brittany Ferries the reviews are not great. Looks an ok ship though with good deck space. I just wish the Norway/Sweden Ferries still ran as they would be much closer to me than the ones from the South Coast. I guess you just have enough time in port as it’s similar to the DFDS mini cruise to Amsterdam, where you have around 4 hours though P&O gives you longer from Hull.

The railway station and the docks have always been a 30 minute walk and anyone planning a journey will know this. A £5 taxi ride is good value compared to 16.10 Euros for "average" fish & chips.

Armorique used to be just freight only then after a while let passengers on its just a basic no frills ferry where truck drivers could get there heads down and get some food which was rubbish as the french crew did not bother about the look of it some times you get that ship on plymouth to bilbao via roscoff

Hi mark, was 91 quid for a return ticket? Or each way? If return, I’d say that’s extremely reasonable.

Love the ferry reviews but omg please don't start doing cruise videos 😂 I watch a lot of travel/transport content and I am so completely uninterested in cruises, but RU-vid *keeps suggesting cruise content* no matter how much I say I'm not interested. Don't add weight to the algorithm, please! Anyway, that's my purely personal reason for wishing against them. Love your videos, and thanks for another great one.

ref cruise 7 days to Norway. Stunning scenary but expensive on land

It seems that Brittany Ferries see foot passengers as a bit of an inconvenience, if you turn up with on a bike, you are a double inconvenience 😂

Seems a bit of a mare Mark tbf. Still a great video👍🏻

Poole to Cherbourg on the Barfleur

How about some Greek ferries? Island hopping around the Cyclades??

As for WiFi, was disappointed that Irish Ferries also charge. I think Stena give it free?

Mark, looks like these were not your best days mate. Hope nothing was going on 'in the background' that coloured your mood..? That 'person' who wouldn't take your £30 for the day room should be fired! Talk about paying lip service to customer service!!!! Jeeeez! Roscoff is one of those North Western French coastal places I've always wanted to say 'been there' about, but not quite got there. Nearly did some years ago (from the land side) but got out voted 😶 Hope the next one is a better experience for you but, as always, it's the honesty of your travelogues that wins out 👍

I'd recommend DFDS Newhaven-Dieppe as an altenative.

We liked the pride of Bilbao, we are on the Galicia to Bilbao in June , been on it before , not impressed , it’s just convenient, we also like the mont st michelle

If it's a 45 minute walk, it's more like 2-3 miles than a mile and a half! My "local" railway station is about a 25 minute walk, and that is 1.3 miles (apparently).

Question, Plymouth - Roscoff or Portsmouth - Cherbourg?

If Brittany Ferries cannot be bothered to improve their facilities at Plymouth, cannot be bothered to offer more than the bare minimum in their cabins, cannot be bothered to improve the on-board food, and cannot be bothered to train their staff to be helpful and pro-active, then I will not bother to travel with them. Thank you for your informative review.

Finally in Plymouth

Never had a problem with Brittany ferries, food okay therefore and holiday deals can be a bargain. I find it easier to talk to them to get a good deal

Why not try Newcastle to Amsterdam with DFDS?

Myself And My Wife Done This Trip on foot In 2015 , We Where Shattered..

Millbay Docks belong to Associated British Ports. They are interested in freight and cars, not passengers. I understand they are well aware of the weaknesses as far as foot passengers are concerned, but there are just too few for it to influence them to make improvements. And when passengers are going to blame the City Council or Brittany Ferries, why would they?

All the good Brittany Ferries, ie. Salamanca, Galacia etc are actually owned by Stena RoRo and are on a permanent charter to Brittany Ferries.