Portsmouth to Caen ferry advice

[BillWright]

Hi. We are getting the overnight ferry on Sunday evening from Portsmouth to Caen.
I see from the timetable that the ship we will be on arrives in pompey at lunchtime.

Does anyone know what time they start loading? Strangely I would rather sit at a bar than out in the rain queuing.

I couldn’t find any info on the web or from BF themselves.

 

[wessie]

not sure you are looking at the right timetable. Those BF boats are not static for long.
I assume you are on the 2330 sailing on the Mont St Michel. This arrives from Caen at 21.15 and they will start loading you about an hour later.

Brittany Ferries

www.brittany-ferries.co.uk

 

[mw3230]

Perhaps a quick call to BF may assist

 

[BillWright]

not sure you are looking at the right timetable. Those BF boats are not static for long.
I assume you are on the 2330 sailing on the Mont St Michel. This arrives from Caen at 21.15 and they will start loading you about an hour later.

Brittany Ferries

www.brittany-ferries.co.uk

I stand to be corrected but I read it as the mont st Michael gets in at 1500hrs. The Normandie gets in at 22;00hrs. Your BF link went to the Caen departure.

 

[wessie]

I stand to be corrected but I read it as the mont st Michael gets in at 1500hrs. The Normandie gets in at 22;00hrs. Your BF link went to the Caen departure.

this is the Portsmouth to Caen timetable

Brittany Ferries

www.brittany-ferries.co.uk

you need to look at both timetables for the time your ferry gets into Portsmouth from Caen (my first link showing M leaves Caen at 1630, arriving in Portsmouth at 2130)

Then, looking at the link in this post, your ferry then leaves at 2300, arriving in Caen at 0645.

 

[Bigcats]

You have to arrive a certain time before (I think its 90 minutes) because you can get checked by customs and they are very quick to get the others off and you on and away.

 

[BillWright]

this is the Portsmouth to Caen timetable

Brittany Ferries

www.brittany-ferries.co.uk

you need to look at both timetables for the time your ferry gets into Portsmouth from Caen (my first link showing M leaves Caen at 1630, arriving in Portsmouth at 2130)

Then, looking at the link in this post, your ferry then leaves at 2300, arriving in Caen at 0645.

Sorry, you’re right, My mistake.
No point in getting there before 20:30hrs then.

 

[wessie]

Sorry, you’re right, My mistake.
No point in getting there before 20:30hrs then.

My son lives near Portsmouth. We usually meet in the Sovereigns McPub next to the Travelodge for something to eat before I venture across to the check after 9pm. No point getting past customs before 10pm.

 

[Santa-2512]

I did the night boat ,Pompey to Caen - i arrived just after 8pm, front of the queue

Then your standing for the next 3 hrs !! in the open with feck all to do .. The terminal is not close to the embarkation lanes

They board the other boats first, and bikes are not front of queue lol

we got on the boat just after 11pm, and didn't get into our cabins until almost midnight

Then its a hunt for food, a quick drink and bed,

Coming back is better, at least your near to the terminal !!

 

[Wapping]

I did the night boat ,Pompey to Caen

Madness did the night boat to Cairo.

 

[wessie]

Then your standing for the next 3 hrs !! in the open with feck all to do .. The terminal is not close to the embarkation lanes

hence my advice to go to one of the two pubs by the entrance until at least 2130. Hot meal, a glass of weaker beer and most importantly, a decent bog.

 

[matgriff]

I did the night boat ,Pompey to Caen - i arrived just after 8pm, front of the queue

Then your standing for the next 3 hrs !! in the open with feck all to do .. The terminal is not close to the embarkation lanes

They board the other boats first, and bikes are not front of queue lol

we got on the boat just after 11pm, and didn't get into our cabins until almost midnight

Then its a hunt for food, a quick drink and bed,

Coming back is better, at least your near to the terminal !!

We found exactly the same when we took this route in 2021, we arrived at the terminal at the stated time, then spent what seem like forever waiting by the bikes outside with nothing to do, luckily it wasn't raining. But I remember that they definitely didn't let us board the boat until just before sailing time, then just a quick beer & bed. Overall it was a good service though, apart from the fact that they confiscated my leatherman multi-tool at customs as it has a "locking blade" I did argue that it was an essential part of my bike toolkit, without success. I did get it returned by mail after we got back (£20) next time I'll not be so honest. Luckily no tools needed in the two weeks we were in France

 

[Wapping]

We….. then spent what seem like forever waiting by the bikes outside with nothing to do

The state of the modern biker. Expecting to be entertained every minute of the day.

Engage with your mates in bikermate banter and do as we do…. Take cans of gin and tonic.

 

[er-minio]

Remember to start your engine AS SOON AS YOU GET TO THE GARAGE when disembarking.
Then rev your bike up for the following 20 minutes before anything starts moving. Other bikermates love breathing your fumes. People in nearby cars too.
Then proceed to not move when asked by the staff and get stuck, and then get off the boat by pussyfooting the bike around clearly being incapable of maneuvering a motorbike at slow speeds on slightly slippery surfaces.

At least this is what I learnt observing one of the spastics in a group traveling on the same boat as us yesterday.

 

[matgriff]

The state of the modern biker. Expecting to be entertained every minute of the day.

Engage with your mates in bikermate banter and do as we do…. Take cans of gin and tonic.

"Modern Biker".... I'll take that as a compliment, backhanded or otherwise Gin & Tonic was already consumed by the wives on the several stops that we made on the journey down & bikermate banter was continuous through the cardo headsets.

 

[Wapping]

"Modern Biker".... I'll take that as a compliment, backhanded or otherwise Gin & Tonic was already consumed by the wives on the several stops that we made on the journey down & bikermate banter was continuous through the cardo headsets.

It wasn’t all bad then?

 

[Santa-2512]

Remember to start your engine AS SOON AS YOU GET TO THE GARAGE when disembarking.
Then rev your bike up for the following 20 minutes before anything starts moving. Other bikermates love breathing your fumes. People in nearby cars too.
Then proceed to not move when asked by the staff and get stuck, and then get off the boat by pussyfooting the bike around clearly being incapable of maneuvering a motorbike at slow speeds on slightly slippery surfaces.

At least this is what I learnt observing one of the spastics in a group traveling on the same boat as us yesterday.

I was the last off the boat when i went

Only because if i did fall off, i wasn't doing in front of an audience

 

[matgriff]

It wasn’t all bad then?

No, I guess I just wanted to say that other than sitting waiting, taking the piss out of each other, having a G&T etc there wasn't anything to do, if it had been raining it would have been pretty grim. Next time I'll cut the arrival time at the port down to the minimum. I think the boat was docked for about 90 mins or more before they let us on, would have been great to just ride straight on and then get to the bar

 

[Wapping]

there wasn't anything to do

Take a pack of cards. Play Eye-Spy. Add up car registration plates. Read the Beano. Turn off your mate’s kill switch. Blip the throttles in turn to play a tune. Watch YouTube videos. Post “Here we are….” to FaceBook. Laugh at your mate packing, unpacking and then repacking his enormous panniers of ‘must have’ wonders.

The ferry company has no obligation to give you something to do whilst you wait, so you are obliged to entertain yourselves. It’s a tough life, sometimes.

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Myself and my wife travelled from Portsmouth once. Never again, the place is a fcking shthole.
Not sure if that helps the OP though.