Which ferry will you actually be on, and what is it like? Ships rotate between routes, so the honest answer is usually “probably this one, but check”. This page is organised by how well we know each ship: the ones we have sailed on, the ones we have only photographed at the terminal, and the ones we know about but have not seen.
Note that Portsmouth is no longer a single-operator port. Brittany Ferries runs France, Spain and Guernsey; DFDS runs Jersey. Those are different fleets.
Ships we have sailed on
Two ships, one trip, August 2025.
Normally on Brittany Ferries’ Spain routes, but sails to Cherbourg on some crossings, including the one we took. Sister ship to the Saint-Malo. We had a four-berth outside cabin on deck 8: simple, clean, and it worked well for a family of four. See Portsmouth to Cherbourg.
One of Brittany Ferries’ LNG-hybrid ships, brand new for 2025. We sailed Saint-Malo to Portsmouth on her: two vehicle decks, a genuinely good sundeck, and noticeably new throughout. Sister ship to the Santoña. See Portsmouth to Saint-Malo.
Ships we have seen and photographed
Photographed at Portsmouth, which tells you they are in rotation here and nothing more than that. No cabins described that we have not slept in.
Guillaume de Normandie
Seen moored at Portsmouth. The regular ship on Portsmouth to Caen since April 2025, replacing the much-loved Normandie which had sailed the route since 1992. Hybrid LNG-electric, around 1,300 passengers.
Galicia
Seen departing Portsmouth at sunset. Tied most closely to Portsmouth to Bilbao, with decor inspired by Galician culture and Spanish crew on board.
The two Channel Islands ships
Researched, not sailed. What follows is from operator and trade sources. We have photographed Stena Vinga at the quay and seen the DFDS Jersey sailings on the departures board, which is a much weaker claim than having been on the ship.
Here is a small thing that delighted us when we worked it out. The two ships serving the Channel Islands from Portsmouth, run by rival companies on rival routes, are sisters. Both were built in 2005 for Bornholmstrafikken in Denmark, both around 125 metres, both carrying up to 400 passengers. They spent their early careers on the same Baltic run and have ended up on opposite sides of the same English harbour.
Islander
Brittany Ferries, still widely called Condor Islander. Works Portsmouth to Guernsey up to six days a week, daily from 1 November 2026. Built in 2005 as Dueodde, later Straitsman on the Cook Strait in New Zealand, arriving in the Channel Islands in 2023. Conventional ro-pax, not a fast catamaran: 400 passengers, cabins in one to four berth, including pet-friendly ones. From 1 November 2026 she moves to a Portsmouth, Guernsey, Cherbourg triangle.
Stena Vinga
DFDS, on Portsmouth to Jersey since the service started in March 2025. Built in 2005 as Hammerodde, Islander’s sister. Around 400 passengers and 200 cars, 40 cabins, a restaurant, shop, cinema and recliner lounge. Chartered from Stena Line so far, but DFDS is buying her outright.
Stena Vinga becomes Corbière Seaways
Worth knowing if you are booking Jersey for later this year or beyond: the ship is changing name. DFDS completes the purchase in November 2026, reflags her to the UK register, and renames her Corbière Seaways.
The name came from a public vote in Jersey. DFDS asked islanders for suggestions, got close to a thousand, shortlisted four (Corbière Seaways, Mon Vie Seaways, Ormer Seaways and Vega Seaways) and put them to a vote that closed on 19 July 2026 with just over 700 ballots cast. La Corbière is the south-western tip of Jersey, the lighthouse you reach across a tidal causeway.
So if you see Stena Vinga on one booking and Corbière Seaways on another, it is the same ship. We will update this page when the change actually happens rather than switching early.
What’s actually on board
A few more corners of the ship. These are from the Brittany Ferries crossings we made.
An onboard poster we photographed confirms the fleet news directly from Brittany Ferries: two brand-new ships for 2025 (“Saint-Malo” and “Guillaume de Normandie”), and new Guernsey crossings now departing from Poole, Portsmouth and Saint-Malo.
What to expect generally
Across the newer Brittany Ferries ships the layout is similar: a car deck or two for cars, motorhomes and caravans, a choice of cabins or reclining seats, at least one bar and restaurant, a sundeck, and a kids’ area. The longer routes to Spain carry more on board than the short Channel crossings, because passengers are aboard for a lot longer. The Channel Islands ships are smaller and plainer than any of them.
Which ship you get is not usually something you can pick when booking. It depends on the sailing, and vessels do get swapped at short notice for maintenance and refits, so treat any ship named on a route page here, including ours, as likely rather than guaranteed.
Ship details checked in September 2026 against operator information and trade press. Photographs are our own, taken in August 2025.