Ferry company Brittany Ferries has announced its 2024 sailing schedules from Ireland to France, allowing travellers in Ireland to plan and book trips to Brittany and Normandy from now until November 2024.
The operator says it will offer a wider-than-ever choice of routes and departure times from Ireland to France, with sailings year-round from Cork to Roscoff and between Rosslare and Cherbourg.
In a first for the city of Cork, the Ringaskiddy–Roscoff sailings will operate over the winter months 2023/24.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Armorique cruise-ferry will offer sailings to Brittany every weekend during November and December 2023, departing Cork on Saturday afternoons and returning from Roscoff on Fridays overnight. Following a winter refit during the first six weeks of 2024, Armorique will then reopen the Cork–Roscoff earlier than before, returning on 9 February 2024.
Then on 22 March 2024, Brittany Ferries’ 650-cabin flagship cruise-ferry Pont-Aven will rejoin Armorique on the Cork–Roscoff route, giving a total of two weekly departures in each direction throughout the summer and autumn right up until November 2024.
Brittany Ferries, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, first opened the Cork–Roscoff service back in 1978, but up until now it had always been a seasonal service, generally running from mid-March to mid-November.
Brittany Ferries will continue to operate year-round to Normandy from Rosslare, with weekly sailings from Rosslare Europort to Cherbourg operated by the company’s latest vessels Salamanca, Galicia and Santoña.
Additionally, freight-orientated vessel Cotentin will offer a sailing in both directions every weekend on the Rosslare–Cherbourg route, replacing the service that had previously operated from Rosslare to Le Havre.
Hugh Bruton, Brittany Ferries’ general manager for Ireland said: “We’re delighted to make our 2024 sailings from Ireland to France available, with more choice than we’ve ever offered before, allowing our customers to put their French holiday plans in place for this winter, next spring, summer and beyond. And by booking now, they’ll also enjoy the very best choice of sailings, fares and cabins.”
Bruton added": “Last year we doubled our sailing frequency from Cork to Roscoff with the arrival of cruise- ferry Armorique on the route. These sailings have proven immensely popular with Irish holidaymakers, so much so that they’re back for 2024, and for the first time in our 50-year history, we’ll keep the Cork to Roscoff link running this winter with sailings in November and December 2023, and in February and March 2024.”
Altogether in 2024, Brittany Ferries will offer up to eight sailings a week between Ireland and France, as well as four linking Ireland and Spain. The new Ireland–France timetables are available now at brittany-ferries.ie.
