Ferry Services, shipping and Maritime Discussion

[route101]

Anyone know if places where cruise ships dock like greenock have passport control?

 

[jopsuk]

Any cruise terminal that's routinely used as the first port of call in the UK will have full customs and immigration services

 

[route101]

Any cruise terminal that's routinely used as the first port of call in the UK will have full customs and immigration services

I take it they would bring in officers from a nearby airport .

 

[BestWestern]

I take it they would bring in officers from a nearby airport .

Reminds me of the direct Disneyland Eurostar, the station (Marne la Vallee) has immigration/passport control facilities which are manned briefly for the arriving and departing passengers once a day. Perhaps the staff have other roles too?

 

[route101]

Reminds me of the direct Disneyland Eurostar, the station (Marne la Vallee) has immigration/passport control facilities which are manned briefly for the arriving and departing passengers once a day. Perhaps the staff have other roles too?

Interesting .
Must be the case for some airports , Dundee ( When it had AMS flights ) and Inverness

Must of been officers at scrabster when the ferry to faroes docked there .

 

[Liam]

Interesting .
Must be the case for some airports , Dundee ( When it had AMS flights ) and Inverness

Must of been officers at scrabster when the ferry to faroes docked there .

Most harbours will have immigration staff on hand. IIRC, the immigration/customs man at Scrabster comes up from Wick Airport when required, there are a number of private transatlantic flights at Wick. I would guess that Dundee Airport's staff would be based at the harbour and attend the airport when needed.

 

[Blindtraveler]

The lounge at Scrabster is thank goodness big enough to accommodate a small wroped off area for the setting up of an imigration desk.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Speeking of Scrabster I wonder who will get their hands on Northlink next year?

 

[BestWestern]

The lounge at Scrabster is thank goodness big enough to accommodate a small wroped off area for the setting up of an imigration desk.

Just Googled some pics, it's quite an impressive little terminal!

 

[Blindtraveler]

It is indeed, I rather like it, warm in the bad weather too.

 

[jopsuk]

I take it they would bring in officers from a nearby airport .

Possibly. At Greenock though? Are there cruise ships that call there that haven't called at another UK port?

 

[james60059]

Is Stenas food in the restaurant any good?
I've heard mixed things and personally for me dining at sea is one of the highlights.

When I've travelled Fishguard - Rosslare and v.v I've never had a bad meal on the boat, it's not the poshest of food granted but definitely nice.

 

[Blindtraveler]

You dont need posh, just good honest grub, with a good honest cuppa and if your lucky a good honest drink too.

 

[route101]

Most harbours will have immigration staff on hand. IIRC, the immigration/customs man at Scrabster comes up from Wick Airport when required, there are a number of private transatlantic flights at Wick. I would guess that Dundee Airport's staff would be based at the harbour and attend the airport when needed.

Never thought of Dundee Harbour. Ive been checked at Belfast before funnily enough heading back to Stranraer

 

[stut]

Much as I love the Harwich to Hook of Holland crossing, Harwich terminal is awful (and the cracked A120 leading up to it isn't much better), and in stark contrast to the one at the Dutch end. I know the ferry services have severely dwindled, and foot/rail traffic in particular, but it's a particular, dated, concrete ghost town of a place. And, if you're catching the Cambridge-bound boat train, you're in for quite a wait there...

There's also the question of how you cross the railway when going from the A120 to the ferry. It's a rather inelegant solution. Rather than the access road going over a wide access bridge further upstream, traffic is segregated. Light traffic goes through a slightly terrifying, narrow concrete spiral overbridge (including pushbikes - great fun climbing that slope with a transit van up your backside) whereas HGVs filter through a level crossing.

If I can have a word for one entirely outside the UK, though: Malmo. I've often been the only ferry passenger there. The ferry "terminal" (an oversize portakabin) isn't accessible by foot, so you're basically stuck inside until they either send a port minibus to drive you on board the ship, or a taxi into the city (and you'd better hope the taxi turns up). This is the unregenerated harbour in Malmo, too, so it's a mix of heavy industry, Ro-Ro traffic and industrial decay. OK, barely worth their while building anything more substantial, but it's still a hell of a place to be stuck.

(It's frustrating on the other end too, in Travemunde. Lovely big, new terminal building which, again, you get shuttled to by port minibus. What's frustrating is that there's a railway station, been there for donkey's years, NAMED AFTER THE TERMINAL, which you can see, but can't get to any more. You have to get a rather infrequent bus, which you often miss because the port minibus only comes when the car deck is empty. Hey-ho.)

 

[jopsuk]

has Harwich finished refurbishing the foot passenger linkspan? When I used it last year (coming back from my first trip to the netherlands) foot passengers were being bussed off and on. I was on a bike- you're not wrong about the ramp, though at least there was a large number of us.

I'm intrigued by the Hull-Rotterdam ferry. From what I've seen the car and bike access is via a side door quite high up, with the Hull link span extending across from the roof of the terminal building!

 

[Blindtraveler]

Can't vouch for bikes but according to Wikipedia HGV and car acces onto these ships is totally different and into different areas.

I really enjoyed my trip some years ago on Pride of Hull and would love to sale on her again. Nice food, friendly staff and good atmosphere.

 

[stut]

has Harwich finished refurbishing the foot passenger linkspan? When I used it last year (coming back from my first trip to the netherlands) foot passengers were being bussed off and on. I was on a bike- you're not wrong about the ramp, though at least there was a large number of us.

No, still in progress as of July when I was last on.

From what I understand, "refurbishing" might be a kind way of putting what needed to be done to prevent something rather awful from happening...

 

[stut]

Can't vouch for bikes but according to Wikipedia HGV and car acces onto these ships is totally different and into different areas.

Not quite, on the Harwich to Hoek van Holland. The bikes and cars go together (and there's a lot of bikes, perhaps unsurprisingly for the Netherlands, although a lot of motorbikes too). Both ships have sizeable bike racks, but these often overfill and crew will direct you to attach bikes to suitable railings.

Generally speaking, most cars under 2m will go to the upper vehicle decks, most LGVs to the lower ones and most MPVs, 4x4s, motorhomes and the like to the middle ones.

There is a mixed space, however, for cars over 2m60 and lorries (as I discovered on my last crossing, when carrying a bike on the roof. It's a particular joy, when travelling with a baby, to come down to the deck to find yourself surrounded by nose-to-tail lorries ready to depart!

The departures and arrivals areas at the ports are segregated, however.

 

[47513 Severn]

The Harwich foot passenger walkway seems to have been out of use almost as much as it has been available over the years since it was installed.

For me part of the curiosity value of ferry travel is the terminals, most of which date from times when passenger sea travel was much more popular. Huge departure halls with a handful of passengers present are a regular experience.

The huge new Portstmouth terminal was an unusual and positive move in the face of this trend. Unfortunately it arrived after P&O pulled out of Portsmouth, a fully loaded Pride of Bilbao sailing used to overwhelm the previous building!

Compare the current Portsmouth foot passenger facilities with Dover. There the previous travel centre building, which contained check in desks, shops and a large departure lounge, was replaced with a single desk that doubles up as a staff booking on point!

 

[stut]

Compare the current Portsmouth foot passenger facilities with Dover. There the previous travel centre building, which contained check in desks, shops and a large departure lounge, was replaced with a single desk that doubles up as a staff booking on point!

The bike procedures at Dover are rather curious. You don't actually use the travel centre. Nor do you use that horrendous ramp up to the car check-in (thank goodness!)

Instead, you follow a marked walkway under the flyover to a small gate in a wall, where you simply get buzzed through to the back of the boarding lanes. You then have to head to the Ro-Ro booking-in kiosk to get your boarding pass, and head down to a special lane for cyclists.

 

[DelW]

Any cruise terminal that's routinely used as the first port of call in the UK will have full customs and immigration services

I don't know whether or not that's the case for ships visiting the UK, but cruise ships that I have been on that sail to other countries don't require any passport or immigration checks for day visits to ports of call. Instead, the ship's staff check everyone landing and re-embarking using their passenger ID cards (as used for on-board purchases), which when scanned show an image of the passenger they were issued to. I suspect that those may be coded with with passport details as well.

It's different if landing to stay or transfer to an airport, though, then there are full entry checks.

 

[route101]

So these days we only have ferries to Ireland , France , Spain , Belgium , and Holland .

 

[Blindtraveler]

Thanks in no small measure to the .com airlines although someone Iv talked to recently thinks people are switching back to the ocians as a result of baggage charges, security delays and wripoof everything at the airport, the mentality being if you are going to take better end of a day getting somewhere and part with 50 quid plus on all sorts you may as well make it part of the holiday and not a hassle.

 

[berneyarms]

So these days we only have ferries to Ireland , France , Spain , Belgium , and Holland .

Along with the Channel Islands, Scottish islands, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight and the Scilly Isles!

 

[stut]

So these days we only have ferries to Ireland , France , Spain , Belgium , and Holland .

Passenger ferries. There's still Ro-Ro traffic to other destinations (e.g. Immingham-Gothenburg)

 

[BestWestern]

So these days we only have ferries to Ireland , France , Spain , Belgium , and Holland .

I would imagine most people going further than that would prefer to get there by quicker means, unless they've got 40 tons of freight to shift!

 

[route101]

Along with the Channel Islands, Scottish islands, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight and the Scilly Isles!

Yeah i was thinking more internationally
I know there used to be ferries to Iceland , Norway , Sweden , Denmark and Germany

 

[route101]

Along with the Channel Islands, Scottish islands, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight and the Scilly Isles!

Yeah i was thinking more internationally
I know there used to be ferries to Iceland , Norway , Sweden , Denmark and Germany

 

[AlterEgo]

Passenger ferries. There's still Ro-Ro traffic to other destinations (e.g. Immingham-Gothenburg)

It is possible to travel as a foot passenger on that route, but it is very niche and not easy to book or sort the logistics...