Over the years
I have covered many thousands of miles on scheduled shipping services. However,
I had until August 09, 2024 not been on a long cruise. Any cruising had been
confined to day coastal jaunts on WAVERLEY and BALMORAL.
In 2005 I set
my sights a little further a field and undertook the first longer distance
voyage on Brittany Ferries PONT-AVEN between Plymouth and Santander a round trip
of approximately 950 nautical miles. Quite a few trips on this superb vessel
have followed since!
The next
logical progression would be to undertake a trip on a cruise ship. This is
something I had been threatening to do for some years but some how I never
managed to get round to it.
However, in
early July 2007 I became aware of a round Britain voyage scheduled for August
2008 on the BLACK PRINCE. Several years previously I had visited the ship during
a turn over call at Langton Dock, Liverpool with a group from the Merseyside
Branch of The World Ship Society and she appeared to be a very interesting
vessel.
BLACK PRINCE is
an old, but none the less interesting ship. Weighing in at 11,209grt she was
built by Lubecker Flender Werke, Lubeck, Germany as yard number 561 for Fred.
Olsen Lines as one of a pair of sister ships – the other sister being BLACK
WATCH.
BLACK WATCH was
jointly ordered by Fred. Olsen Lines and Bergen Line to serve on the Bergen Line
North Sea routes in summer and offer cruises for Fred. Olsen Lines from London
to the Canary Islands during the winter along with BLACK PRINCE. When operating
on the North Sea for Bergen Line BLACK WATCH became JUPITER and BLACK PRINCE
VENUS.
In winter BLACK
WATCH assumed her Fred. Olsen identity and offered cruises from London to the
Canary Islands along with BLACK PRINCE.
Both BLACK
PRINCE and BLACK WATCH offered significant ro/ro cargo and vehicle space and had
the facility to side load. In the recently published Carmania Press book “Fred.
Olsen Line Passenger Ships” a photograph of a then new BLACK PRINCE reveals the
extensive side loading capability.
On the Canary
Island cruises the ships returned with cargos of fruit destined for the UK. Back
in the late 1960s BLACK PRINCE and BLACK WATCH were state of the art ro-pax
vessels way ahead of any similar ships operating in UK waters. Very much the
PONT-AVEN of their day!
The Bergen Line
– Fred.Olsen Line agreement ended in 1986. BLACK WATCH / JUPITER reverted to
Bergen Line ownership and later passed into Greek ownership and a lengthy period
of lay-up.
A different
future beckoned for BLACK PRINCE. She was dispatched to Wartsila, Turku, Finland
for conversion to a cruise ship. This primarily involved the installation of 125
cabins on what had been the vehicle deck and the installation by McGregor-Navire
of a “Marina-Park” facility in the aft area of the former vehicle deck.
In recent
years, many of BLACK PRINCE’s cruises have operated out of Liverpool and she
obviously attracts a large number of passengers from Merseyside and the
North-West who are saved the long journey south to the main cruise departure
ports. She also operates some cruises each year from Greenock, Scotland.
However, the
future of BLACK PRINCE is not assured beyond 2010. She is a rather old vessel
and unless significant upgrade work undertake she will not survive the SOLAS
2010 cull. However, there are
rumours
doing the rounds that given her flexibility and the lack of similar sized small
cruise ships the company might decide to upgrade her to meet the new
requirements - one hopes these rumours prove to be accurate.
Therefore,
BLACK PRINCE faces a somewhat uncertain future and with that in mind it was time
to travel on a ship which I had photographed many times in the past. Cruise
BP819 was booked in July 2007 via
Captain Peter Corrin, late of the Isle of Man
Steam Packet Company, who is now a cruise booking agent.
Now whilst I
often book holidays a good while in advance, I have never booked anything as far
ahead as 13 months – but an early booking discount was a great incentive!
Time passed
surprisingly quickly between July 2007 and August 2008 due to a hectic year at
home which included a house move.
Eventually
August 09, 2024 dawned and in pouring rain I drove down to Liverpool docks in
typical British summer weather!
The directions
received with the ticket suggested that one should not arrive before 14:00, so I
considered myself early at 13:30 and discovered that a lot had already arrived
and parked up in the car parking facility which is operated by YA Auto Logistics
and bookable in advance.
I parked up,
emptied my bags out of the car, these were quickly taken up and put into the
luggage hold of a shuttle bus and within a few minutes the bus was on its way
round to Langton Cruise Terminal. As I disembarked from the bus cases and
luggage were already being off loaded from the coach and taken through to the
ship.
Quite a lot has
been said in the local press and discussed in online shipping forums about the
inadequacies of Langton Cruise Terminal, but the fact is, it works well and the
staff are very efficient.
Passenger
check-in was well organized there were different queues depending on which deck
one’s cabin was located on board.
On presentation
of tickets and travel documents ship account swipe cards were issued, these are
dual function operating as a security pass and an onboard charge card.
Additionally each group of passengers were issued with a numbered boarding card.
Boarding
commenced after only a fairly short wait with passengers being called forward in
groups. Passengers filed through security for the usual sampled search under the
gaze of a policeman with his sniffer dog.
Then it was
through to the transit shed. Much of the open space within being hidden by
screens. On the way the ship’s photographer took everyone’s photographs.
Prior to
ascending the steps to the shell door on deck 4 all passengers had their hands
disinfected with antibacterial foam to ensure the novo virus or other unpleasant
bug didn’t get on board. The hand sprays being a feature of all dining and
embarkation times during the cruise.
Once on board,
swipe cards were shown to the security officer and everyone was photographed by
web-cam – their image going into a database which showed the photo each time the
card was swiped.
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