Brittany Ferries Portsmouth - St Malo with toddler and one year old - what kind of cabin?

[Piccalilli2]

We are travelling to France next June with 3 yr old and 1 yr old and looking into going Portsmouth - St Malo overnight with Brittany Ferries. The 1 yr old will still need a cot but it's not clear from the website how babies are accommodated in the cabins and what type of cabin we would need. Has anyone done this route with small children - any tips?

You will need a 4 berth if you need room to put the travel cot. Double check that they have arranged the travel cot as we nearly ended up without one despite booking.

If you ever travel out of peak season or if money is no object , consider upgrading to the club class cabins. We got a brilliant deal when we went to Holland last Easter - double bed, TV complimentary mini-bar

If it were me I'd go Poole - St Malo on the fastcat so I didn't have to worry about the overnight.

Done Portsmouth -Caen. Go for the biggest cabin you can afford (we went for Commodore) - is a 4 berth as you'll need space for a travel cot (would take your own as the one you can hire is quite small and was a tight fit for my 1 year old).

Thanks dinkystinky. We're thinking we will go for the commodore as it won't be school hols so not as expensive. Thanks for the tip re the travel cot, we were hoping to avoid taking but dd2 will be 16 mths so it sounds like we will need it.

I remember looking in horror at the travel cot provided by BF, but weirdly DS1 slept incredibly well in it. DS1 is now 6 & has crossed back on forwards on BF in every imaginable way (we live in Brittany) we returned last night on the St Malo o/night after half term in the UK showing off DS2 (10 weeks) who slept equally well swaddled in a sheet next to me!
The commodore is definately worth the extra if you can afford it it is more like a hotel room than a poky little cabin, if your accomodation is providing a cot I would risk a BF cot for your 1 year old...

Commodore, definitely.

We did it with DS just before he was 3 and he slept on a Ready Bed (which we brought). It fitted between the two beds in the bedroom area so we could sit in the sitting bit watching telly and drinking wine. It is, incidentally the single and solitary time DS has ever slept through the night.

When DS was a bit younger we always just co-slept on ferries - plenty of room in Commodore beds, if you don't mind the idea of co-sleeping.

Be warned they get you up excruciatingly early in the morning btw.

Thanks all for the advice. I think we will go for the commodore and I like the suggestion of a ready bed for dd1. I really hope we can get away without the travel cot for dd2, then we can bring back more wine!

The Bf travel cots are like laundry baskets that hotel maids use! 4 of us plus ds in a cot went in a 4 berth this year and there was absolutely no room to move! Luckily we all slept really well (thanks to travel sick pills!).