Pont-Aven engine room fire
Thankfully no injuries but may affect some booked obver the next three days:
Brittany Ferries statement in full:
Following the incident that took place on board Pont-Aven this morning, the ship has now diverted towards the port of Brest in Brittany. The ship had departed Plymouth at 15:45 on Sunday 28th April and had been due to arrive in Santander, northern Spain at 12:15 local time today.
Pont-Aven is carrying 766 passengers and 142 crewmembers, and there were no injuries as a consequence of the incident.
The ship is now due to dock in Brest at around 15:00 local time this afternoon. On arrival, all passengers will be able to disembark. Those travelling in a vehicle will have the choice to cancel their booking with a full refund and to transfer to Plymouth on this evening’s 23:30 Roscoff to Plymouth sailing. Alternatively, if they opt to continue their journey to Spain by road they will receive a contribution to onward travel costs and compensation for the delayed arrival and inconvenience. Arrangements are also being made to allow those passengers travelling by foot to reach their destination.
When the ship arrives in Brest, Brittany Ferries’ technical teams will embark and will commence a full investigation into the how the incident occurred, and to assess what repairs will be necessary and how long these will take.
Once again Brittany Ferries would like to offer its sincere apologies to all passengers affected by this morning’s incident.
Comments
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It looks as though Pont Aven is out of service until 12 May 2019
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We are booked on the PA for next Tuesday, 7th May to Santander. Not heard anything yet from BF. Their website is basically saying nothing, so presumably we have to wait and see what they propose.
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Well no, you don't HAVE to wait and see - you can phone them right now.
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It’s quite clear on their website -
"…sailing has been CANCELLED. Please call 01752 648637 for advice and alternatives. Please accept our apologies …"
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Quite so, David. I’ll fly and stay in a good hotel. It saves time and avoids those awful camp sites I’ve heard of. 👍🏻
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Evening
I returned from Spain on the Pont Aven to Plymouth last Thursday. It was a perfect crossing sailing wise, but going on deck several times during the 20 hour crossing the smoke and fumes from the chimney stacks were horrendous, almost felt sorry for the dog owners out on deck
Never seen it like that in 10 years of crossings on this ship. I asked at the information desk if there was a problem but was given the run around. I also thought that the boat was slower than usual, but maybe I wa just enjoying the Kronenbourg a little? When we docked at Plymouth the smoke from those chimneys was chugging. Maybe there was a problem but with tight schedules was ignored? Hope all goes well with repairs as we like the Pont Aven with comfy cabins and good catering.
JK
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Getting worse....next appearance on the B/F timetable is now 20 May 2019 .
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I have tried phoning BF all morning, all lines are permanently engaged and the web site only shows cancellations to the 2nd May. This is like it was when the PA was taken out of service in 2016; we were told there was no sailing 24 hours before we were due to sail and plans had to be changed rapidly.
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Finally got through to BF, there are no vacancies on any crossings to Spain until mid-May so we have opted for St Malo and the drive down. BF are giving £150 towards additional expenses. The sooner the new boat comes into service the better!
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Hi Landy, friends were affected by a cancelled sailing a couple of years ago and I was with jeering if the offer from BF of £150 is in addition to a price adjustment or refund of the original cost?
ViaMichelin gives the cost of your trip at £232 including £119 in tolls.
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The cost of the ferry was also adjusted although as Voyager Club members we got 30% off the Spanish crossing but only 10% off the French crossing. The difference for the single crossing came to about £50 so the total allowance is about £200. This is about the same as we got in 2016 when the PA was last taken out of service. The £50 difference shows how much more economical it is to go all the way to Spain on the ferry.
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We're booked on the Pont-Aven in our motorhome for the Tuesday 14 May crossing. We've rang Brittany Ferries who said the Pont-Aven is due to come back into service on 12 May. She said they've shut down the online booking until the 19 May in case there is a further delay and to stop further people booking. As the damage was only assessed at Brest on the 30 April I can see the 12 May date slipping...
If our crossing gets cancelled we will either cross to northern France and slowly make our way to Spain or try and change to an Economie sailing to Bilbao.
We're not planning to come back to the uk till mid July so hopefully our return sailing from Santander will be ok...!
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Update: now had email from Brittany Ferries cancelling our sailing from Portsmouth. The Pont-Aven is now coming back into service on 14 May and we will be sailing at 18:00 from Plymouth to Santander due to and I quote ''...Pont-Aven is currently unable to operate at cruising speed''. We will check with BF again on Monday 13 May before we hack all the way down to Plymouth to find it's not there..!
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Link from BF enthusiasts website.
https://brittanyferriesnewsroom.com/pont-aven-will-resume-service-on-14-may/
We return from Santander in July. Will need to change our overnight stop from Morn Hill to somewhere further west!
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Thanks for the link Pliers. Lets hope it doesn't 'lose' another engine... We are coming back in July as well, depending on time of arrival in Plymouth we might just 'head for home'.
Think i will still give BF a ring on Monday and ask them how much compensation they are offering to pay for my diesel to drive to Plymouth and back instead of Portsmouth...haha...
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We too are due to return on Pont Aven in July.
From what I understand from the timetable currently on BF website, although there are no PA departures from Portsmouth (in line with the press announcement), there are incoming PA ferries into Portsmouth in July (including the one we are booked on).
i tried to ring BF this morning to clarify, but lengthy queue on their phone. So I have now emailed seeking clarification.
Returning via Plymouth is not really ideal for us, as it would double the UK mileage home, and therefore we’d probably want an overnight stop.
if/when I get a reply, I’ll post details on this thread.
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As the press release has said Pont Aven will be operating all its Spanish sailings in and out of Plymouth.
Your option will be to switch ships or switch return departure port if you want to arrive at Portsmouth rather than Plymouth. You will find Brittany Ferries customer service very obliging when you do get through to them, and you might even get some compensation.
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Agree, it's all very ambiguous.
Latest update from BF website:
All Spanish services on the PONT-AVEN will be operating out of PLYMOUTH until the 9th June. If your sailing is among those affected, we will contact you soon, by email and SMS. Our contact centres are currently exceptionally busy so you may prefer to contact us on customer.feedback@brittanyferries.com if you have any concerns.
No mention of what is planned for after 9th June, and, as you say, the timetable is showing Portsmouth departures for those dates.
We return from Santander on July 8th, it doesn't matter to us if we arrive in Plymouth or Portsmouth, but we've an overnight camp site booked at Morn Hill. Will have to keep an eye on what's happening while we're away.
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Have just phoned BF and spoken to a very helpful lady in customer services.
I queried whether BF were offering any compensation for the changed port of sailing. She said BF are offering £40, this will be put back onto my credit card I booked with. Happy with that. Checked my email account when I came off the phone and I'd received email from BF with revised invoice showing £40 credit. Very efficient.
I queried our return sailing from Santander, which Pliers, is also on 8 July. She said this is currently back to Portsmouth. BF are going to review the sailing timetable/schedule based on how the Pont-Aven does over the next few weeks. That is why, currently, the sailings are stated as being to and from Plymouth up until 9 June.
Not too worried either way, one of the advantages of being retired...
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Thanks for the update, Kartman.
We leave Portsmouth on the Cap Finistere, on the 22nd of May, to Bilbao.
Hopefully, everything will be sorted with BF well before we return. But really feel for the many people booked on these crossings without motorhomes / caravans who will have booked non refundable Travelodge or similar accommodation near the ports.
Have a great trip, and look out for us on the ferry from Santander, we have a 2 berth Swift 480, will try to post a photo.
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On the BF Newsroom website the date of 14th May is mentioned but there is no mention of 9th June. It also says;
A replacement fourth engine will return Pont-Aven to normal operational speed. However, several months in dry dock will be necessary for this work to take place. The work will be scheduled for early 2020.
This does not mean that it won’t sail from Portsmouth before then but persons affected may be wise to pre plan accordingly.
Also seen other forum comments re the £40 payment being too little as the crossing from Portsmouth is more expensive so should it not be a refund of the difference plus the £40.
At today’s diesel prices and assuming 25MPG towing anyone having to travel more than an extra 85 miles each way will be out of pocket.
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Looks like it has broke down again
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Hi, more details as posted in another thread.
https://brittanyferriesnewsroom.com/pont-aven-will-sail-to-brest-for-steering-gear-repairs/
The problems have affected others as the Armorique has been taken off the Roscoff route, and all these sailings cancelled, to cover the Roscoff to Cork route.
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This could be why our 2nd June / Poole-Cherbourg BF booking was cancelled a couple of weeks ago and reassigned to a later departure....which was not acceptable as we had site bookings. There were no sailings the previous day at the preferred time and the afternoon sailing was fully booked. We have had to accept a 'next day' sailing...losing a nights pitch fee...we are on the contentin peninsular for the 'D' Day anniversary before moving south....
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An e mail from Brittany Ferries today on the subject of the on going repairs to their ship Pont Aven says "we hope to have her back in service around the beginning of June".
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