Why do we as drivers put up with the ferry companies forcing us to share cabins with people we dont know and in some cases dont want to know? Its bad enough on the Cotentin having to share a bathroom with the guy next door - especially if its rough and he doesnt travel well. Which reminds me, who the hell ordered the bathroom doors for the Cotentin, they are about 2 inches too short and the noises (and smells) which waft from under them can be stomach churning on occasion.
The other night on the Brittany Ferries crossing from Portsmouth to Caen I ended up sharing a cabin with a guy who if he entered the World ■■■■■■■ and Snoring contest would win hands down. How anyone can produce so much noxious gas from one end and noise from the other would I think defy medical science.
Due to my new found friends nocturnal habits, I barely slept, so by the end of the following day I was to put it mildly, knackered.
On other crossings I have endured those who think soap is a type of TV programme and others whos breath could down a bull elephant at a 1000 paces and not forgetting those who after 2 or 3 beers have been everywhere ands done everthing.
Other drivers personal habits aside, there is also the problem of security. Where do you put your wallet, mobile phone and any other important or valuable items when you have absolutely no idea who it is you are sharing with?
Answers and comments on a postcard please to all relevant ferry operators!
i would take my mobile, wallet etc everywhere with me on a ferry in a rucksack and just leave the clothes or any other useless rubbish that i dont need int he truck, basically the bare essentials would be in my bag if i was on a ferry,
never done a trip abroad yet so i wouldnt know bout sharing with other drivers, but i do take some pride in myself, like ill wash and keep clean and not smell. may wear the same jeans for a few days etc unless they get proper dirty. i dont get why some folk just dont take some pride in themselves.
I snore and ■■■■ a lot and hate sharing with a driver who does nowt but moan his ■■■■ off,
you can always pay extra at the information and get a cabin on your own.
you want to try sleeping on the Lovosice Express from Dresden
once talking to someone on portsmouth docks, he told me he tells them at brittany ferries that he’s gay and only wants to share with other gay men !!!
he said to me that he always gets a cabin to himself… never tried it myself… knowing my luck it would have 3 other members of the village people on the same crossing…lol…
i’ll put up with snoring and ■■■■■■■…at least you can still sit in the morning…
twisterboy:
once talking to someone on portsmouth docks, he told me he tells them at brittany ferries that he’s gay and only wants to share with other gay men !!!
he said to me that he always gets a cabin to himself… never tried it myself… knowing my luck it would have 3 other members of the village people on the same crossing…lol…
i’ll put up with snoring and ■■■■■■■…at least you can still sit in the morning…
Remember the boy who cried Wolf?
I can imagine the conversation at the freight booking desk. especially from that nice boy who books you on the boat.
Reference. Length, Nationality.
Oh! are you gay? I have a lovely little cabin for you.
Mind you that cannot be half as bad as when you had to hand your passport in during the crossing. Especially when the chap who looked you up and down before returning said document was not from these parts
I have a cunning plan that usually works.
I get my key or card. Then i go up to the cabin and check out if i have a cell mate.
If i do, then i wait until we are about to leave the port.
Then i tell the bloke on the desk that the cabin door is locked from the inside.
He allocates me another room, and it’s always a single cell, As all the others have been filled by this time.
I have tried that Limey, doesn’t work, they just go to the cabin and bang on the door til it gets opened, then you can go in to meet your naked new friend.
Human rights act,does it apply here or not?I allways kip in the truck,get a good sleep for next shift,bit of a problem if the ship sinks or there is a fire,as know one knows you are there.Shared cabins with snorers,then tired to drive,when on road,have to keep stopping for a kip.Was on a ferry,in the cab,after leaving the dock,saw some crew members climbing in back of wagon to help themselves to loose oranges.Lot of drivers kip in the cab on the ferry,if the officers see you,you get turfed out,but the other crew,turn a blind eye.Pretending to be a different nationalty,doesnt work with cabin allocation either.Or saying you have a illness of some sort,of the loose bowels type.There was a portakabin on a freighter,called it the marriage suite,for husband/wife co-drivers.If sharing cabins,why do i allways get the one thats done the Middle East,dodging camels and bullets.Not interested in a fictous career,just want to kip in peace.Pretend to be a deaf mute helps that scenario.
Allocated a cabin on the Portsmouth-St.Malo crossing a good few years back, I was showered and in the bar before anybody else turned up, got back and the other driver was already in his bunk, cabin absolutely stank of sweat, ■■■■, ■■■■■ and anything else you can think of, woke up the next morning and there was a glass of water on the unit in the middle of the bunks with his ■■■ ends and false teeth in it, dirty git , only consolation was i snore like a pig when i’ve had a beer, bet he never cleaned his teeth before he put them back in either.
Now I am sure I’m going to regret answering this, but I don’t quite understand how this works.
What if one of the drivers is female? Is she automatically allocated a cabin to herself, or does she have to take her chances sharing a cabin with a potential wildebeeste?
(Or some poor bloke has to put up with the loud snoring of an exhausted girlie trucker?)
gogzy:
Re: Cabin Sharing
by gogzy » Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:58 pm
i would take my mobile, wallet etc everywhere with me on a ferry in a rucksack and just leave the clothes or any other useless rubbish that i dont need int he truck, basically the bare essentials would be in my bag if i was on a ferry,
gogzy I’d reccommend you take you clothes with you on a cross channel ferry.
You may have heard of the love boat,but it’s NOT that kind of love boat.
peter mill:
There was a portakabin on a freighter,called it the marriage suite,for husband/wife co-drivers.
I cant remember if that was Coutances (named after the late Ted)
or the Purbeck.They ran from Poole to Cherbourg,afore they were stretched.
Marriage suite? Came back down in a force 10, you got soaked.
Cabins 11&12 were better.
LoadsOfHorses:
Now I am sure I’m going to regret answering this, but I don’t quite understand how this works.
What if one of the drivers is female? Is she automatically allocated a cabin to herself, or does she have to take her chances sharing a cabin with a potential wildebeeste?
(Or some poor bloke has to put up with the loud snoring of an exhausted girlie trucker?)
I would hazard a guess that female drivers will be allocated a cabin to themselves, unless there is another female driver available to share - imagine the uproar in the press if a woman was made to share with a male driver!!
If women are allocated sole use cabins then surely in these days of ■■■■■■ equality we men have the right to a sole use cabin too.I appreciate the reasons women would have their own cabin, however the fact they are treated differently is clearly ■■■■■■ discrimination against men.
The plain fact is that it is all about cost and saving money.
Dave l
On the Coutance and Purbeck the female cabin was the Portakabin on the deck above the outside deck . it was held down by 2 rachet straps. Diesel Kate always slept in them.
A few years ago I was on the SEM boat from Split to Ancona. The receptionist initially said I wasn’t entitled to a cabin as it was high tourist season, I eventually got one after waiting for an hour though.
Hombre:
The plain fact is that it is all about cost and saving money.
Now that is where the nail has been hit on the head.Costs.
If all the cabins were given out to just one occupant,more cabins to clean at the end of the voyage,more time and cost.
I have travelled on various ferry crossings from the UK to europe,and also to Scandinavia,and had to share with people that partake in all the aforementioned habits.
Stena Line’s Harwich-Hook of Holland route always meant sharing,even though there was an abundance of empty cabins on other decks.
The P&O sailing from Felixstowe to Europoort years ago had four berth cabins,so usually three strangers to watch.It was okay if you were a regular,then you could work it so you were sharing with guys you knew.
However,a friend of mine,who was driving for Spalding Haulage,woke up in the middle of the night to find a drunken stranger,whom was sharing the cabin,relieving himself all over my mate’s bed,thinking he was in the toilet!
Nice.
The only crossing where I’ve never had to share a cabin was on Stena Line Kiel-Gothenburg and TT-Lines,Travemunde to Trelleborg,and even when double manning on the odd occasion,a trip to the information desk would result in an extra cabin,free of charge!
