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Thread: Brittany Ferries

  1. #1
    cxmnz
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    Default Brittany Ferries

    I'm going to France in a couple of weeks, and will taking a six hour ferry ride (is ride the right word?) from Portsmouth to Caen on Brittany Ferries. Does anyone know if any of the on board restaurants or shops will sell anything I can eat? I'm going to be taking a load of food with me for the week anyway (the place is self-catering so it won't be a problem once I'm over there), but I'd like to avoid having to lug around a bag of food with me while I'm on the boat.

    Tried having a bit of a search but not had any luck, in fact, a search for 'vegan' on the Brittany Ferries website returns only this of all things:
    https://help.brittany-ferries.co.uk/...oot_mouth_info

  2. #2
    cxmnz
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    Default Re: Brittany Ferries

    As a follow up in case anyone else takes the trip, there's nowt to eat on the boat apart from ready salted crisps. I don't know if the chips in the restaurant were suitable, I couldn't face the crowds of people in there and didn't particularly fancy having any.

  3. #3
    Abe Froman Risker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Brittany Ferries

    Even if they did have some food I'm sure it would be horribly expensive, they take advantage of the fact that you can't go elsewhere.
    "I don't want to live on this planet any more" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth

  4. #4
    Hemlock's Avatar
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    Default Re: Brittany Ferries

    France won't sell anything you can eat!
    Silent but deadly :p

  5. #5
    cxmnz
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    Default Re: Brittany Ferries

    The prices on the boat weren't too bad, considering it is a captive audience, but then all I bought was a bag of crisps and a bottle of water, which came to just over £1 as I recall.

    I wasn't especially well prepared on the way out since I was essentially coming straight from work in Nottingham to the ferry in Portsmouth. There weren't enough seats or space for all the people on the boat, my partner and I ended up sat on a set of stairs probably breaking some health and safety rule - so we booked a cabin on the way back and it was great. A lie down, some DVDs on the laptop and I'd had the time to prepare some food too, much better!

    I managed to fare pretty well in France, by the end of the week I'd learned more of the language than I ever did at school and had been fine cooking and comprehending ingredient lists, much as I hate supermarkets I did manage to get soya milk and even soya cream from one. Didn't even have any near misses despite being with a large number of omnis (though they are nearer carnivorous than omnivorous, and obnoxiously so in some cases).

    I didn't get to eat out at all, didn't even try, which was a bit of a shame and meant missing out on some fun, but I wouldn't have had much fun for me if all I could have eaten was some undressed green salad!

  6. #6
    Why hello! xwitchymagicx's Avatar
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    Default Re: Brittany Ferries

    I have had the lack of food, lack of seats problem on ferries, and I've been on about 3 return ones in that last year or two...thankfully I was only on 1.5 hours!!

    I get so sick of ready salted crisps!!!
    "It's not that people suddenly start breeding like rabbits; it's just that people stopped dropping like flies" - population explosion

  7. #7

    Default Re: Brittany Ferries

    Quote Hemlock View Post
    France won't sell anything you can eat!
    Just wanted to say, I've recently returned from a week in Normandy. We travelled Dover -> Calais via P&O ferries. We stayed in a self-catering gite in the rural countryside.

    I took quite a few supplies with me (soya milk, yoghurts, pure spread, etc) and we cooked in most nights. However, I was pleasantly surprised by what was on offer - the hypermarkets in the larger towns had soya milk, yoghurts, cream, etc. I found tofu and some nice veggie options suitable for vegans in the frozen section. We also ate out a couple of times, and I had a couple of really lovely & HUGE salads (I asked for no dressing).

    So although most things are off the menu, it is possible to survive, and the locally grown produce at the markets is really lovely to cook with
    "I am not mystical: it isn’t as if I thought it had a spirit. It is simply in its element. That gives it a kingliness, a right." [Sylvia Plath]

  8. #8
    brucie-g's Avatar
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    Default Re: Brittany Ferries

    Quote Hemlock View Post
    France won't sell anything you can eat!
    You would be amazed at what is on offer in French hypermarkets these days.
    There is actually far more vegan stuff available there than in British supermarkets including own brand products!

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Brittany Ferries

    Quote fooldramaqueen View Post
    Just wanted to say, I've recently returned from a week in Normandy. We travelled Dover -> Calais via P&O ferries. We stayed in a self-catering gite in the rural countryside.

    I took quite a few supplies with me (soya milk, yoghurts, pure spread, etc) and we cooked in most nights. However, I was pleasantly surprised by what was on offer - the hypermarkets in the larger towns had soya milk, yoghurts, cream, etc. I found tofu and some nice veggie options suitable for vegans in the frozen section. We also ate out a couple of times, and I had a couple of really lovely & HUGE salads (I asked for no dressing).

    So although most things are off the menu, it is possible to survive, and the locally grown produce at the markets is really lovely to cook with
    I went camping in France but in a place that was quite rural with no hypermarkets, I didn't take any supplies and the local shops were dire - all meat and dairy. I guess if I had gone to a place with supermarkets we probably would have been ok.
    Silent but deadly :p

  10. #10
    JC
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    Default Re: Brittany Ferries

    Quote brucie-g View Post
    You would be amazed at what is on offer in French hypermarkets these days.
    There is actually far more vegan stuff available there than in British supermarkets including own brand products!
    I couldn't agree more. I'm living in a town in Brittany this year, and there's so much choice! I can either go to the hypermarket, which is a 20min walk away which sells tofu burgers, vegan ready meals, vegan desserts, loads of different dairy free milks and yogurts, sugar alternatives like maple and agave... it's great. I'm sure there are more hypermarkets too but i haven't found them yet. Even in supermarkets there's still a choice, albeit not as big as in the hypermarkets. Then there are also 2 bio shops that i know about (could be more) that sell loads of vegan goodies - they're not marked as such, but if you read the ingredients it's obvious, plus they'll advertise stuff such as 100% vegetable, lactose free, so the only one you have to watch out for really is honey. Alot of stuff is inadvertently vegan too. I'd definately say i have a lot more choice when i'm living in france than in england

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