Porth

We are trying to organize with BF a crossing in March and to tie in with the arrival in Spain of our house contents. Equally we come with two small dogs.

The 'cruise' ferries do not seem to accommodate our dogs save for the metal cages and that is neither for them or for us.

The economy sailings which come with heavily annotated warnings from BF as to facilities access to decks lifts lack of restaurants and the like has done exactly that put us on notice.

Has anyone please used this service? In the alternative we have the drag all the way through France then to Bayonne and crossing the border and then of course the drive down past Valencia.

Would welcome your thoughts

best wishes

EsuriJohn

Your research should have shown that the cruise ferries do have a small number of dog friendly cabins. Definitely on the Cap but now also on the Pont I think. They are very popular so you have to be quick and book early. The cages are not quite as unfriendly as you might think lots of people use them and there is an exercise area just outside so most people seem to spend most their waking time with their pooch up on the top deck. They even eat up there from the cafe which is close by.

bxpuser24710519

Never done the cheaper version the normal is bad enough for me Not a good rough sea traveller. The Pont Avon has metal cages which for my small dogs and their beds have been fine for the time they are on it. I use the tunnel now and then the drive down to Ayamonte from Calais. 2 overnight stops Tours/Poitiers and Burgos. Plenty stops to eat and exercise the dog, the French Aires are great for that and picnics. Might use the dog friendly cabins if had to.

Dick Dasterdly

My favourite route by far going down to Spain is the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo.

I have a longish journey down to Portsmouth so I get a good nights kip in a cabin on the Ferry ready to start out fresh early next morning.
Dogs are allowed to stay in vehicles on that route if preferred.

Then it's an easy run down the west side of France towards the border from St Malo, with an overnight stay at ibis beside the motorway at Bayonne, (dogs allowed into rooms).
Next day an even easier drive arriving just South of Valencia by 3pm.

The only bit of hassle is driving the busy UK leg and going through a few toll booths near the French border.

Bri and Katee

I will give up to date information here for you Porth, as we have just had to do similar.

BrittanyFerries offer pet friendly cabins on the 'cruise' boats, Pont Aven and Cap Finisterre, also both of these ships have pet cages as well.

Your problem is that pet cabins are usually snapped up as soon as the timetable goes online. We had real trouble getting anything at all. We need to travel back to the UK in March and return to Spain in April. All of the sailings showed no pet space at all. I resorted to calling the BrittanyFerries booking line and explaining my problem. They were helpful and went through their bookings and turned up a couple for me.

For all the sailings from Spain to UK in March, only one sailing had any pet space available, that was a cage for our pup. Having no choice we had to accept it. Then on the way back UK to Spain in April they only had 3 dates with cabins available and each of those was a cancellation! So we got a cabin.

The cabin is always a 4 berth outer cabin (with a window) the current price is about £170 for one of those plus if I remember a supplement for the dog.

All of this information is only 2 weeks old we booked on the 3rd January.

The alternative is to fly. We checked that out, some companies notable Monarch will fly animals from Manchester and I think Stanstead to Alicante which is where we wanted, but again its such a convoluted process, taking animals to freight terminal, having to call them for prices as nothing is advertised etc etc.

Porth

thanks we used to live near St Malo on the Rance estuary so know the area well. It looks as though we will go that way. The 'cruise' liners as you rightly say do have do friendly cabins but again and in line with your comments are booked up early. Hence only availability economy.

Many thanks for your comments and help