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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