MV Bretagne was ordered by Brittany Ferries in the late 1980s in order to increase capacity on BF's routes, and to set a new standard in on-board facilities. Bretagne was one of the first true cruise-ferries, offering cruise-type facilities on a ferry route. Built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, Bretagne was launched on 4 February 1989 and entered service on 16 July the same year. Bretagne's interior was furnished in typical 'Breton' decor featuring original artwork by the Scottish painterAlexander Goudie. Bretagne was used on the Poole-Cherbourg route between 26 February 2007and 10March 2007. She then became the only current passenger vessel in the Brittany Ferries fleet to visit every port served by the company and to have operated on all the current routes. It was originally planned that she would return to Poole in January 2008 to cover for the absence of the Cotentin. In addition to sailing to Cherbourg alongside the Barfleur she would also have sailed between Poole and Santander at the weekend departing Poole on Friday night and arriving back on Monday morning. This plan was dropped shortly after the publication of the 2008 timetable and Bretagne instead covered for the refit on the Mont St Michel on the Portsmouth-Caen route. In early 2009 Bretagne underwent a £5million refit. The work included creation of 50 'Club 4' cabins along with refurbishment of the rest of the ships cabins, refurbishment of the self-service restaurant, refit of the 'La Gerbe de Locronan Salon de Thé' to create a WiFi cafe area and rebuilding of the reclining seat lounges to create new lounge areas for business, reading and watching television. On Monday 22 June 2015, Jean-Marc Roue, president of Brittany Ferries announced that a new vessel is to be ordered sometime in 2016. This vessel will take on all the routes currently served by MV Pont-Aven. MV Pont-Aven will therefore be transferred to the Portsmouth/St Malo route which MV Bretagne currently serves. MV Bretagne is likely to be sold or scrapped. However the ship to replace Pont Aven was cancelled and thus this ship and Bretagne will continue to serve their current routes.
Routes
Bretagne currently serves the Portsmouth to St Malo route daily but has seen use on Portsmouth-Caen as refit cover and also the winter only route of Plymouth-St Malo. She also sailed between Portsmouth and Santander during the winter in the mid-nineties. Though generally found on the Portsmouth to St Malo route Bretagne will also operate on other routes, normally in Winter, such as Portsmouth to Cherbourg and Plymouth to Roscoff. Bretagne has previously been used on Spanish routes, operating between Plymouth and Santander. Bretagne also sailed between Roscoff and Cork summer only service for a number of years.
