Pont Aven
Operated by Brittany Ferries
Pont Aven
Operated by Brittany Ferries
Operated by Brittany Ferries on the Santander Plymouth, Roscoff Cork & Plymouth Roscoff routes
Pont-Aven is Brittany Ferries' flagship and possibly the most luxurious ferry currently in operation. The ship itself boasts stunning features, including a superb pool and leisure area, a wrap around promenade for pleasant deck strolls, and a dramatic five deck high atrium with panoramic views from the lifts. Pont Aven of course also meets all of Brittany Ferries' high standards in dining and facilities, with an a la carte restaurant, cocktail piano bar and 2-storey lounge bar and entertainment area.
The Pont Aven boasts superb onboard cabin accommodation setting new standards in comfort and style. All 650 cabins have air-conditioning with individual temperature control, en-suite bathrooms, comfortable seating and a radio. The ship also features around 50 reclining seats and for added comfort you can purchase a sleep pack with blanket, sleep mask, ear plugs, and a shower pack with soap and shampoo gel plus disposable towel.
Pont-Aven offers all the dining options you would expect on a cruise ship, from the à la carte Flora Restaurant to the self-service restaurants, La Belle Angèle and Le Café du Festival, with food freshly prepared by our skilled French chefs. Pont Aven's main lounge bar ‘Le Grand Pavois’ serves a range of cocktails as well as beers and wines, hot and cold drinks plus snacks. With seating on two decks joined by a large sweeping staircase, the bar area has a real cruise ship feel. It is also the focal point for entertainment provided by magicians, singers and bands and there are a number of flat screen televisions showing big sports matches and news updates to ensure that you never get bored. This stylish cocktail bar, adjacent to Le Flora Restaurant ‘Le Fastnet’, is the perfect place for an aperitif or a post-dinner digestif and the relaxed mood is enhanced by the pianist. During the summer season and on busy off-season crossings you can enjoy Pont Aven's pool and leisure area bar ‘Les Finistères’ which serves wines, beers and soft drinks.
Pont Aven boutiques are on decks 6 and 7 and offer a fine range of spirits, wine, tobacco, perfumes & cosmetics, leather goods, confectionery, toys, fashion, decoration, souvenirs, newspapers, games, cameras, sunglasses, jewellery. Purchases made on board may be paid for in Euros or Sterling. Payment can be made in cash, by credit or debit card. Prices are shown in both currencies and you can combine different payment methods.
In addition to the Cinema's, bureau de change, casino (slot machines) and live entertainment, there is a magnificent indoor pool area which offers guests the chance to unwind, relax on a sun lounger, sip a drink at the bar, or have a splash in the pool with its great sea-views. For a stroll, the Promenade allows you to walk all around the ship, while the ship's top deck offers a calm spot to relax, while enjoying the sea air and incredible views, particularly when entering or leaving the port. Pont Aven features a number of lounges onboard where you can relax including a reclining seat lounge (for those that aren't travelling with a cabin), Commodore lounge (an exclusive room for suite passengers, and includes access to two side patio areas) and a spacious lounge on the mezzanine level of the main bar with comfortable lounge chairs and sofas. You can also take a free audio guided 21 stage tour explaining the decoration and art works aboard the ship.
Young children can enjoy fun and games in the playroom and the games room will keep teenagers entertained throughout the trip. Highlights include the latest video games and an air hockey table.
There are a number of cabins adapted for disabled passengers and all decks are accessible by lift.
Please Note: Whilst we have taken great care in making our Pont Aven guide as accurate as possible, onboard facilities, services and entertainment may vary depending on the date and time of year that you travel, facilities mentioned may change without notification and ferry companies reserve the right to operate vessels other than those mentioned at time of booking without prior notification.
out of 5
83% of our customers recommended this ship
"Happy sailing "
Having just come back from a trip to Northern Spain, I can report a drama free journey and smooth crossing. It was busy, but it was August after all. Boat was clean and comfortable and made for a relaxing start and finish to our holiday. Would recommend.
"Fantastic Ship"
Fantastic ship, with excellent amenities and excellent entertainment.
"Noisy "
Quick and easy boarding procedures, ship appeared very clean. Cabin was very small but as we just used it for sleeping it was adequate. Pillow was rock hard so not for me but the shower was exquisite! I have to say that I have never been on this ferry before and this was the loudest I have ever been on.
"Ferry crossing"
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"Excellent "
👍
"The best "
Good
"Very positive experience "
All very efficient. Especially impressed with the quality of the food as well as the service of the catering team. Really polite, helpful and professional.
"Overwhelmed "
Very impressive.
"Lovely Trip "
Pleased to have sailed from Plymouth to Santander and looking forward to booking next years trip soon
"Poor food"
All fine except for the food in the cafe. The evening meal for us as vegetarians was either a tiny tiny lasagna, which we didn't go for or ratatouille, which was just over cooked slop, served with massively over cooked peas and virtually cold rice. Come you can surely do better than that, I'm not madly fussy but that was poor.
"Not impressed "
Not impressed. Two used cups one with used ear buds in our cabin. Went for the al a carte breakfast sent mine back because it was cold, the replacement came minus the extra tomatoes I had ordered and that was colder still plus the toast just wasn’t good. The waitress who served us just said sorry.
"Holiday Sail"
A brilliant Sail loved every minute the only problem was getting off the boat was slow then when we did we had another long queu at border force in total 3 hours
"Good crossing, thanks."
Great to be back on the Pont Aven after too many years not visiting France! Very friendly staff, good catering, lots of space for everyone on board. Extra entertainment provided by the hi speed jets which kept flying past!
"Removed items "
Very good ship staff was friendly but I was very disappointed and annoyed with the customs at the port as they removed my camping multi tool and so far have not returned it despite several emails and paying for mailandsail
"Not the best"
The outbound sailing went well with no hucups,but the return journey was put forward twice and delayed 7 hours which severely messed up the homeward trip which resulted in having to book a hotel on the Friday evening and travel home on Saturday when we should have arranged home on Friday
"A luxurious route to Spain "
Our crossing was very comfortable with a very quiet Bay of Biscay and a delicious evening meal.
"Ok apart from the delays"
Generally good but too many delays
"Great first time "
Clean, well staffed, friendly and helpful too. Really surprised at how good the food was, and really reasonably priced.
"Plymouth to Roscoff trip"
Confusion when boarding from Plymouth. Surely as a safety aspect it would be better if foot passengers embarked before cars etc embark?
"Nice experience but late"
Good service
"Late ànd later"
Entertainment staff good, bar staff good. Texted it was gonna be nearly 2hours late a week beforehand and then due to a technical problem was almost 5hours late.
"Experience on Plymouth to Santander ferry"
We travelled from Plymouth to Santander and return on Brittany Ferries service Pont Aven. Facilities on board were excellent, nice bars, good food, clean cabin. The only issue was that a week before were told the departure time was now 2 hrs later but with no explanation- is it actually a re-timetabling? It means departure is quite late and you feel you are on board all the next day. Original departure times would be better.
"Peter"
Very good service - cabins tight with use of ladder (not for all) and long queues in restaurants but overall excellent service, Delay in arrival time - no explanation offered
"Plymouth/Santander Route"
Generally the voyage was very enjoyable both ways. The cabin was comfortable and clean, the ship was clean and the staff were very helpful, cheerful and polite. Both ways the ship sailed late, therefore arriving late but that wasn’t too bad. What lets the service supplied down at both ports (I appreciate this isnt the fault of Brittany Ferries) are the Customs facilities; in both directions it took us over an hour to get through Passport Control and that is something for the Ferry Company to consider because it ultimately became a disappointing end to an enjoyable voyage.
"Great first and won’t be last trip "
It was fantastic from start to finish - staff, service, food, timetable all first class
"Fantastic "
From start to finish the journey was brilliant staff excellent internment brilliant but I will try to upgrade my cabin size on my return I would like to point out the problem with first contact on the Internet concerning the size of my motor home I put in my vehicle registration number and you came back with the dimensions for that registration only to find out later it was 25mm higher than your estimated size and I had to pay a further £43 because you said it was wrong I will still travel with you but be very careful with my booking kind regards Ronnie Andrews
"Lack of communication "
The boat itself was good. One way there was a delay of about 3 hours because 1 of the engines broke and there was a real lack of communication which is not good when you have connecting transport to catch. When departing the boat nobody tells you which way to go and then the H&S decided the foot passengers needed to wait for a bus to go to the ferry terminal and your luggage gets loaded on and off the bus separate which takes more time if your in a rush to catch a connection. The turn around of the cleaning of the boat is short, so if you have a cabin bear this in mind.
"Plymouth to Roscoff return "
Very good across all areas
"Nice ship, appalling food."
Late leaving, late arriving - I arrived at planned accommodation at 4am. The hot food in the ‘canteen’ was appalling.
"Great way to travel to and from Ireland "
Beautiful ships. Quick and uncomplicated boarding and arrival. Friendly staff
"Plymouth to santander"
We were so hot in our 4 berth room. With 4 people. The air conditioning was barely working. We went to the information desk twice and we’re given another room to go to, which would have better air conditioning. This is at 11:30, I placed the card in the door to open it and two people were sleeping in there!! Absolutely terrible that they’d given us a room with someone in it. We were then given another room and after lugging our stuff across the ship, the air con was no better. We also did not have any pillowcases on our pillows in the second room so had to go back to our first room to retrieve our original ones.
"Great travel - unfair charging for seating "
The ferry was bright, clean and modern and the staff very approachable and helpful. We were charged £5 for seating yet the seating area was almost empty. Other than that, it was a pleasant experience and one that I’d happily do again.
"Week return to France for Holiday"
Relaxed, nice food, no queues and airport stress
"SANTADER TO PLYMOUTH 5.9.22"
Impressive ship with good catering facilities and friendly staff. BUT the free Wi-Fi was only available in a limited area and not in the cabins. The ferry was an hour late docking at Plymouth; explanation and apology given and cause due to poor weather. The delay aused consequential delays for those traveling a long way.
"Plymouth to Santander"