Trip from Amsterdam to Newcastle (England)

[Starbucks Queen]

Well, I am not sure whether this is the right place to put it really, it´s a travel-report.. or whether it should have gone to the "European ferries" section. Moderators, am asking for advice - you´ll know where to put it in case I put it wrong..



Just came back from a so-called Mini-cruise and I can´t let that
pass by, without telling you folks, and provide a travel report for
you since some of you might be interested in how the ex. Brittany
Ferries very own floating block of flats, now named KING OF
SCANDINAVIA for DFDS is performing.

I have got a sort of soft spot for the DFDS service, since I been on
the Prince of Scandinavia first in 1997 and later on onboard some of
their other ships so be warned in case you loathe DFDS.

I have been booking on some of their special offers in the past as
well, usually that was around 60 Euros or so, you could get the trip
for that price, the only trap was, that you could go just on a few
selected dates. This was different with the "King of Scandinavia
welcome mini-cruise" - the starting-from price was for 49 Euros, but
actually I got told that you can´t have it for that price, no matter
which day you go - since you need to pay some fuel-surcharge, and as
well the cabin. In the past, the price was for the trip - and
recliner. But nonetheless, ended up booking and included the buffet
too, which turned out to be cheaper than at previous trips.

Taking the ICE-service Basel-Amsterdam it took us just 6 hours to
get there, some time strolling around in Amsterdam and finally at
16.30 waiting in front of the Victoria hotel in Amsterdam to get one
of the chartered busses to the terminal at Ijmuiden. Getting one of
these busses was a bit of a mess, since there is alot of traffic on
that road, and as well other busses which are not chartered by DFDS
go there. There was already a crowd waiting for the busses,
obviously some folks who did take the chance to get to Amsterdam not
just for shopping but for booze and probably weed too - at least
this is what I did believe, when seeing some of these
folks´behaviour. As well the motto of the party was for sure "wear
the worst stuff you own". Nonetheless, finally we caught one of the
busses and were at the terminal within a half hour, one hour before
departure of the ship.

The ship itself looked ok on the outside, thanks to fresh paint and
a new livery. Less blue on the bridge and keeping the blue
horizontal stripes on the hull was a good thing they did and the
DFDS logo does look just right on the ship. When onboard, a steward
did direct us to our cabin No. 871. One good thing about DFDS, when
passengers go onboard they always care that there is enough staff to
direct passengers to the right cabins. The cabin was located on deck
nr. 8 and the first thing I noticed was, that it was far too warm in
the cabin and thought the problem could be solved by adjusting the
air condition.
The reception area looked like before, and they have left all the
models they had during the BF time there. I am not sure, but since
some of the models feature ex. German ships, I dare to say, that I
am sure these ones have been there already during TT-Line times.

Booked a table for the buffet in the Seven Seas Restaurant, which is
in fact the ex. self-service area, but with totally new interior,
they took all the red/yellow interior and it´s more wood and green
now and looks very modern. As well some pictures on the wall are
still the same, and others are new.

Walking on deck to see the departure, one could see DFDS took care
of the decks too, all very clean and not rusty or anything. The
forward observation deck was of course THE place to go for this and
it seems not many people did know that it does exist, it was in fact
empty while during BF times this seemed to be more well known,
taking in mind how many people have been there.

18.30 was time for the buffet and I am usually very positive for the
DFDS buffet, they have not yet disappointed me very much. Although
in the past they have been overpriced and if you are more interested
in the warm food than in the cold starters and the dessert and the
Danish pastry then you could have been disappointed.
Like usual I did go for fish first, salad and did not take much
notice of the warm foods. Thouigh, I have seen what they have and
they had 4 different warm dishes this time, which did look very
delicious and for those ones who were into less classy stuff, there
was a stand with fast-food as well.
There were many choices of dessert too, and I dare to say that there
was something for everyone and it tasted very good. Indeed, I must
say that was one of the best buffets I had onboard a DFDS ship, and
it was cheaper as well.
There is no chance to compare with BF - food, BF just did never get
it THAT right I must admit here.

After eating a bit too much it was time for a stroll-around and
since I have been onboard a few times during the ship´s BF time, I
did look for things that changed of course. The recliner chair area
does not exist anymore, there is a rather odd looking sports bar
there, now, and all the colorful seats are there too, while in the
Columbus club they have brown wooden ones. Rest of the Columbus club
looks same like during Brittany Ferries time.
New chairs as well in the Cafe ´n bake - which was previously that
other self-service area where they have the (for me annoying)
children play area too. They do offer toasts there, and sandwiches
and the delicous Danish pastry and fresh made coffee which is a very
good change instead of the Nescafe stuff they served before which
tastes only good - thanks to the chemical industry.

Noticed one thing - don´t laugh.. it did smell extremely good
thoughout the whole ship, they either had a really big accident in
the parfumerie recently or they use something else to clean the
ship. Is of course a change to what you usually get, smell of diesel
and such, and in the worst case rotten fish.

Been for a while in the Columbus club but really horrible
entertainment has made us leave soon. Why they don´t employ a DJ
simply, rather than having a really bad band that does ruin all the
good classic songs ? Same goes for the piano-player in the Admiral
Pub I mean, if he´d have just played the piano and shut up it would
have been a nice place to stay really. That is something that DFDS
really must fix. Although most of the folks seemed not to take
notice of the horrible performance given by the band.

The cabin was still too hot when we returned, but the crossing was
at least calm. One more good thing - the horrible wake-up music is
gone and got replaced to the usual announcement that the breakfast
is ready. That´s really something I like to hear much more than that
horrible music which you could not turn down, as you could have a
bit of a nap then - until another announcement did tell you when we
arrive and how the weather in Newcastle is.

Instead of the big breakfast, walked up to "coffee´n bake" and had a
piece of Danish pastry and a coffee.

Transfer to Newcastle station and few hours time to stroll around.
The city does look different than the more Southern English cities I
have seen, but nonetheless interesting - I simply like stuff that
is "different" - and so is the language of the people as well. You
can go, and see the castle, and the several bridges or you can just
stroll around or you can go to one of the shopping-centers in the
city when the weather is so that you do not need to see the sky.
There were quite some Dutch women onboard whom I did see again in
these shopping-centers, I would not be surprised if DFDS does market
those cruises as "shopping-cruises" for the Dutch around Amsterdam.

Time to go back, and the bus was not so crowded this time - and they
did need just one bus and not a few of them. It´s been a Sunday and
probably that was not so tempting for the people from the island
than the Friday night cruise which did leave many of them totally
worn out as I did see on the Saturday morning.

Since the temperature in the cabin was still hot, decided to tell
the reception and without alot of fuzz we were given cabin nr. 1054
on deck 10. What a difference, with a porthole, much bigger, lockers
etc. A good change indeed, and the receptionist told us that they do
still struggle with the aircondition on that ship, it´s too cold in
some places and too hot in others and they had to transfer some
passengers already to other cabins. It seems they still are not so
familiar with the ship though, but they do really their best, to
make it comfortable for everyone.

On the way back they had the same horrible band playing in a really
wrong way, but the club was not so crowded anymore and to find a
quiet place, the sports bar was ideal, it was literally empty and
they had just music playing there. One thing was disturbing, they
had two big screens, which did show movies. I did ask myself - what
is the sense behind showing a movie, playing music the same time ?
You don´t get what is the story about and it´s just disturbing.

The "new" cabin had a good working air condition although it was not
cleaned so well as the other one. There was some work going on, on
deck 10 too, they are replacing some of the commercial - posters and
stuff and obviously some work was going on in the commodore class as
well.

The next morning we had the breakfast buffet in the Seven Seas
restaurant and it was again so, that no matter what one liked, there
should have been stuff for everyone. Typical for DFDS coffee comes
in a pot, which the waiter brings to you. Just that now they had
used thermo-pots so you go to the table and have hot coffee there
already. While I thought that these were left from the ones that
were on the table before us, asked the waiter who said that is fresh
coffee. Mentioning that on the "Prince of Scandinavia" coffee was
always brought so I was confused he mentioned that he worked there
too, for almost 10 years but previously on the "Duke". Mentioned was
as well that the Duke was liked much more by the crew as the cabins
for the crew were bigger and the distances to walk not so big - well
it´s a smaller ship after all.. though interesting to see how
different crew and passengers see a ship.

The trip eventually came to an end, time to go to the - empty again -
observation lounge and watch the arrival. They were so wise to
announce that passengers should rather take some time instead of
crowd in the reception area. Wise, because that is one thing that
can really get a pain, people crowding there already one hour before
arrival. A few hours in Amsterdam again, and train taken back to
Basel.

So to sum it up - it´s DFDS´gain and BF´s loss for sure. But I must
admit that the ship is a better DFDS ship than it was a Brittany
Ferries´ship, it has more quality now than it used to have, and more
style as well, and a crew which appears to like the job and who is
very professional about what they are doing.









[/img]http://i2.tinypic.com/sl6ufo.jpg[/img]

ok and here´s a better photo of the ferry.. not taken by me though, all others are.

www.faktaomfartyg.com/king_of_scandinavia_1987_b_4.htm

i2.tinypic.com/sl6wrs.jpg

[Dane]

Very nice.

Thank you.

[Mike C]

Cool, Thx!

[Neil]

Chivapcici: entertaining travelog, good photos, thanks. If we had a ship like that on the northern run, it would be a tourist attraction in itself. 'Tis to dream.

[NMcKay]

the problem with a vessel like that. is that it becomes more hotel than ship.

[Starbucks Queen]

Klatty Teen, this is not the PROBLEM of the vessel but the advantage of the vessel !!! Or.. what is the problem ?

Let´s say you are on a trip and you leave in the evening, and arrive next morning. You want to sleep somewhere, take a shower, have a breakfast and enjoy the trip to your destination. This is what you get onboard this sort of ship - well you could call it a long-distance ferry. Right, you take the Airbus A330 to cross the Atlantic and not the small Cessna so to say

Or.. let´s do a trip on the Queen of Tsawwassen and everyone bring your sleepingbags along or so.. no that is not what it´s good for.. or even the Mill Bay haha

If you had a ship like this, and you have a route long enough for an overnight-crossing, then you´d have the right route and the right ship. For your short routes, you have the right ships though.

[Neil]

Agreed. What is the problem with a ship that's like a hotel? What's wrong with having more than just the most basic amenities? If BC Ferries had an actual ferry liner, they might even be able to run it down to Tsawwassen, say, twice a month; I'll bet the coastal cruising market would support an occasional Tsawwassen-Port Hardy- Prince Rupert run.

[Low Light Mike]

Ms. Chivy:

thanks for taking the time to write about your trip.....very interesting.

a question: do you like to explore the entire ship at the start of the voyage, or do you take your time and see the different decks and areas "bit by bit".? Also, do you get a map of the deck-layout, or just explore and be surprised by what you find?

I like to read the deckplan first, and then explore as much of the ship, at the start of my trip. I like to know where I'm going on the ship.

What's your approach to this, on a muti-decked ship like that?

[NMcKay]

the problem is that you dont get the same expierience on a hotel, as you would roughing it on a vessel with the exposed sides, and the rust....heh...

[Starbucks Queen]

flugelhorn said:

Ms. Chivy:

thanks for taking the time to write about your trip.....very interesting.

a question: do you like to explore the entire ship at the start of the voyage, or do you take your time and see the different decks and areas "bit by bit".? Also, do you get a map of the deck-layout, or just explore and be surprised by what you find?

I like to read the deckplan first, and then explore as much of the ship, at the start of my trip. I like to know where I'm going on the ship.

What's your approach to this, on a muti-decked ship like that?

In this case, I did head right to the cabin and then on deck. But this only, as I have been travelling onbaord this ones several times already when it was sailing as the "Val de Loire" for Brittany Ferries.

So, let´s suggest I have never been onboard - first thing I do, is checking the deckplans. There are deckplans on each deck, so passengers do not get lost. (they DO - anyways though). Then, I check out where the restaurant/buffet is ! Not because food is all I think, before I go onboard but I usually do have a train-trip of 6 hours or more behind me, when I finally stand on the ship´s decks.
Taking the luggage to the cabin, and then take the camera and go on deck. I do LOVE deckspace really !! Especially that sort of, like on the "King" where you can overlook the bow and walk all around the ship, to the stern where it is sheltered and with good luck can take one of the plastic chairs to sit in the sun.
Time to eat something, and after that time to explore more of the ship´s decks. Then choose, where I go - for the evening, let´s have some life-music in the "Columbus Club" or sit at the bar and later go on deck again.

Hm.. well, multi deck or not - I have not done it much differently than on any of the single-decked day-ferries here.

Klatawa-Teen:
The ship really does not have a problem and nor do it´s passengers have Hm..but you do have a probelm with it right ?

Theoretically: It´s a floating hotel with a huge garage underneath. As well as theoretically BCF ships are floating garage with motorests onboard and some are just floating barges with the ability to load cars.

Practically: These ships - well, take the "Spirit of Vancouver Island" - which is indeed, like some of our day-ferries.
Put one deck extra on it, which has cabins for 1000 passengers, and one cafe. Put the whole thing together again and sail a route where you: Leave 18.00 and arrive next day around 09.00. The feeling is not hotel-like at all. The only difference is, that you just have to sleep somewhere, while you are onboard. And, since when you take that trip - you don´want to arrive knackered but you want to have a comfy bed, and wake up, have breakfast and walk off. Because the time is usually "bit more" than on a typical Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay run, the companies like to entertain us with stuff like life-music - on SOME ships.
You can of course go on deck if you have enough of the music or in case of bad weather have to "feed the fishes". Most of these ships do have alot of deckspace.
And rust ? Hey since they´re neither built of plastic or concrete, they do this, too of course

People onboard: It´s a mixture of people who need to go from A to B because of work, because of holidays. Truckdrivers of course too, and ones like me who "abuse" the ferries for a weekend-cruise.
Hotel ? Not at all.. more of what they advertise some of their trips "Mini Cruises".