Hi,

I thought I would share this information with you all.  I was due to travel back to Spain on the 4 October, but received a telephone call from P & O to tell me that they were closing the route.  Apparently the Pride of Bilbao is at the end of it's life and they will not be purchasing a new ship.

The last crossing is the end of September.

We travel from England to Spain and return once a year, so if anyone has any suggestions for alternatives I would appreciate it.

I know Britanny Ferries do the crossing, but are very expensive!

Regards

Joan Moorhouse

There used to be a firm called Transmediteranea but I don't know if they still do a similar route.

...and another nail in the Pompey coffin...

Press release from P&O;

P&O Ferries to withdraw from Bilbao service in September

P&O Ferries has given notice that it is proposing to withdraw from the Portsmouth - Bilbao route at the end of September 2010, when the charter of the ship it uses for the service, the Pride of Bilbao, comes to an end.

In the meantime, the service will operate normally and bookings up to and including 27 September are unaffected. P&O Ferries will be contacting passengers with bookings beyond that date in order to make alternative arrangements or offer refunds.

The company says that despite a concerted effort to improve the financial performance of its 15-year-old service, losses continue and are unsustainable.  Staff are being advised today (Friday) as the company begins consultations with representatives of its workforce in order to mitigate potential job losses. The months ahead will be used to try to offer alternative positions elsewhere in the company’s route network. A total of 252 people work on the Pride of Bilbao including 130 agency staff. A further 12 staff work in the company’s shore operation in Bilbao.

Chief executive Helen Deeble said: “We have examined every option very carefully and have been trying for more than three years to find a suitable replacement ship in order to continue the service profitably. The Pride of Bilbao has served us well but is now an old ship nearing the end of her commercial life and needs to be replaced.

“However, we have reached the sad conclusion that such a replacement vessel is not currently available and as this loss-making route is unable to fund the cost of a new purpose-built ship we have no alternative other than to close it.”

P&O Ferries are currently contacting all customers whose sailings have been affected. If you have any queries please call our contact centre on 08716 642 642.

Brittany Ferries will be the only remaining operator on the route, serving Santander rather than Bilbao.

Have a sneaky feeling however that Portsmouth-Santander is Summer only; during the winter the service is from Plymouth...whether that situation will change in the light of P&O's withdrawal is another matter...

At least, unlike some airlines we could mention, P&O have given plenty of notice of the cessation.

Definitely a blow for Portsmouth though.

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In some ways I can see why this route isn't as popular, as the P&O ship takes alot longer than the Brittany Ferries.

Thanks for the update. we have done this route many times and even with young children we have always enjoyed it......... the ship is on its last legs though............ I only hope that if there is not an alternative carrier or route then the airlines re instate some of their cancelled routes.......... if not maybe time to start buying shares in The Chunnel

This is indeed bad news for those of us who regularly travel Brittany Ferries.

Until recently BF were relatively quiet and, I found, always cheaper than P&O. I'd guess this was because they only sailed from Plymouth, which is a bit off the beaten rack unless one lives in the West Country. But recently they've started alternating between Plymouth & Portsmouth to Santander. It's no surprise that P&O threw in the towel. Who in their right mind would travel in the filthy rustbucket the "Pride of Bilbao"  when they could do so in the  fabulous, clean, six-year-old Pont Aven, often more cheaply? A typical fare is £250 one way for a car and a 4 berth outside cabin (ony using the two lower bunks).

Browsing the BF website I see they are laying on extra sailings - four a week - and my guess is they'll carry on beyond November if the business is there. At present they sail from 14 Feb - 14 Nov.

GuyT......... you are right, the pride of Bilbao was a old  filthy rust bucket but as a child I travelled this route and have remained loyal........ latterly shares in P & O helped.As one gets older out with old and in with the new is not always a fate we may wish to endure.

As long as a Portsmouth or Southampton route to Spain are made available I would love to carry on sailing but as you said unless you lived in the west country Plymouth is not really an option.

I`ve heard a whisper that LD Lines are looking at the Portsmouth -Bilbao route,nothing definate yet.Also it might be possible that Acciona might come back and have a look.They were operating 3 years ago when P&O`s 20 year lease was up.Acciona operated alongside P&O for about 8 months until P&O signed the 3 year deal wicjh takes them to Sept 2010.I month after signing Acciona pulled out.Maybe now that the competition has given notice that they are pulling out Acciona may return.

One thing is for sure,if someone doesn`t take over the route,Brittany Ferries will screw the prices right up.

Jimbo

At the risk of going off topic, wouldn't a ferry to the south of Spain be more popular. How many people actually want to sail to the north and then drive another 1000km to the more popular south? Obviously, the journey time would be longer but I would definitely be interested in getting to the Costa del Sol with a car not involving a couple of days driving.

I think Norm that it would be far too expensive to sail the extra distance,remember,not only would you be crossing the English Channel,The Bay of Biscay,but also down the Atlantic Ocean for the length of Portugal and then have to do a left turn at Gib and into the Med.Not sure how much extra time that would take,but I`m guessing at least another 24 hours.

Anyway,the scenery is much nicer driving from North to South of Spain than it would be looking at a wide open sea.

Jimbo

Norm; an interesting proposition but a bit of a non starter I think since such a trip would be probitively expensive to operate.

Yes it would be nice to have a service from say Portsmouth or Southampton to Algeciras or Cadiz, but I dont think many haulage companies would use it. Its one thing to have your drivers lounging around for 24 / 36 hours, quite another if they are unproductive for three or four days...

Consider too the type of ship required to operate the service; nothing less than a vessel similar in size to Pont Aven would suffice to cope with the demands of a full blown Atlantic storm. A ro-ro ferry would not suffice.

The whole point of the Santander / Bilbao destinations is that jointly they serve all of Spain, South Western France, and Portugal. A service to Cadiz or Algeciras would be ideal for say the Algarve or the CDS but totally counter productive for someone wanting to go to Murcia or Valencia; they would still have a 1000km drive in front of them after disembarking. The only plus point over the Santander / Bilbao route would be avoiding Madrid (and if you use the M50 around Madrid thats not really a problem anyway!),

Pont Aven is the biggest ferry in Northern Europe, and carries 650 vehicles; to make a Cadiz / Algeciras route viable the new vessel would have on a par with this capacity and be full both outbound and inbound and I doubt that any company would be prepared to operate under anything less; to do so would be financial suicide

As a pipe dream its nice; in reality I dont see it happening!

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Your quite right Foxbat,the reason I use Bilbao- Portsmouth is that I get a 24 hour tachograph rest break in each direction.Brittany shot themselves in the foot when the Pont Avent came on and they reduced the crossing time to about 19 hours I think it is.Defeats the purpose of the 24hr rest for freight drivers at least.Good for cars and caravans etc,just less time at sea.

I also can`t understand why people get panicky over Madrid nowadays.A few years ago when you had to use either the M30 or M40 it was complete madness,but now coming south at exit 21 on the A1 take the M50 follow that all the way around till you come to the R3 for me and then follow sign for Valencia and it brings you on to the A3 at Arganda del Rey 34km south of Madrid.

If you were going for the CDS,then just keep on the M50 till the R4 or N4 if you don`t want to pay the toll.

If P&O insist that this route is not viable,then they have themselves to blame for encouraging the £39 mini cruise fag runners,who make a complete ass of themselves getting drunk and annoying the passengers who are paying real money to get their cars and motorhomes on.

I`ve just received my confirmation for the 3rd Feb on the first Bilbao-Portsmouth run after refit,but come July and August,freight gets put on a waitlist and you sit and wonder if you are getting on.Personally,I`ve been very lucky getting on,but I know many drivers who have been left on the quayside.

Jimbo

 An alternative to Bilbao is Santandar  served by a 2-day/1-night crossing from Plymouth.

chordiant;

quote; An alternative to Bilbao is Santandar served by a 2-day/1-night crossing from Plymouth. unquote

Hi,

If you read through the whole thread you will see that this option is referred to several times; it's operated by Brittany ferries using the ships mv Pont Aven and / or Bretagne.

In fact as from March of this year, Brittany Ferries are adding a second ship on the Santander route.

Pont Aven will sail alternately between Plymouth-Santander-Plymouth and Portsmouth-Santander-Portsmouth.

The new ship, 'Cap Finisterre' will alternate between Portsmouth-Santander-Portsmouth and Portsmouth-Cherbourg-Portsmouth.

Plymouth will have one sailing per week on Sundays and Portsmouth will have 3 sailings per week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. 

So ten months before P&O pull the plus Brittany Ferries are filling the gap and effectively stifling the opposition.

This could be another reason why P&O are pulling the plug; with Brittany's flagship on the route and a brand new ship, P&O are effectively being forced to retire...

fb

Bit late to this debate. 

Only used the P&O service once in 2007 to Bilbao and back and we swore never again.  If felt like a second rate car ferry. I can understand why it's closing down.

In the 70s P&O used to run a ship from Southampton to Tangier, calling at Lisbon.  They marketed it as a mini-cruise but it also took vehicles. We used it to go to Morocco with a car and caravan in November 1971 and returned March 1972.  Really nice. I can't remember how long it took, may have been 5 days. 

Personally I hate the drive through Spain (especially the middle 'boring' bit) as I'm always the passenger / navigator but I love the French stretch which I think is the best bit of traveling by car.

Sonia El,

The Pride of Bilbao is a car ferry,not a cruise liner.The Pont Aven of Brittany Ferries is also a car ferry,the only difference between them is about 30 years.When I first started travelling on the Pride of Bilbao just over 8 years ago it was a fairly smart ship,the problem now is that it`s getting old and needs a lot of costly maintenance mechanically.The furnishings have suffered in my opinion because of the fag runners who come by the coach load for every sailing and get totally Pi***** out of their skulls and vomit all over the place which doesn`t help any carpet to survive for long.

I was on the first sailing after refit from Bilbao last Wednesday 3rd Feb and the Spanish crew  members had a protest march at the port which was covered by Spanish TV.

Jimbo

Jimbo has hit the nail on the head.......... the pride of Bilbao became a cheap booze cruise for many.......... from the drunken behaviour to severe bad language............. not the sort of start to any holiday I would wish to endure especially with children......... 

Jimbo: how are the cabins after this "refit"? As long as they're OK, not really bothered about the rest - can quite happily lock myself away with a good book for the duration, but if it's as bad as some seem to be suggesting, I may give it a miss.

Roberto,

The "refit" is done in Falmouth,where the ship goes into dry dock to get the barnacles scraped off the hull.Then it`s mainly work in the engine room I think.There has been a bit of painting done and a general clean up inside.

The cabins are ok,comfy bed and clean toilet and shower.

I spend most of the time in my cabin now since they withdrew the Drivers Lounge last year and turned it into a smokers room we have nowhere other than the bar areas to sit and I`m not there for a "drinking session"

It still siuts me better than Brittany to Santander as on the P&O I get my own cabin,Brittany makes drivers share a cabin unless we pay an extra £30 each way.

On P&O my food is included in my freight ticket and on Brittany we need to pay but with a 50% discount.

Lastly,for me at least,P&O are cheaper than Brittany.

Jimbo

 It looks like Brittany Ferries have announced they're going to take on the route (eg. according to VillaSeek blog and a few others) --- though yeah, I'm not sure if it's going to be as cheap as the P&O ferries one. Of course, Brittany already do the Plymouth-Santander crossing. I think this new route might not happen until summer 2011 though, so it might not really be any good for the OP.

Tom