DFDS Tor Line…Immingham - Cuxhaven
These are very much trailer only vessels but they can take about 6 or so drivers at a push. More often than not I’m the only driver onboard but at times it can be fully to capacity, especially when you get the Poles using it to bring back old British trucks they’ve bought for export as was the case last week.
The standard of food on the Tor Belgia I found to be very bad, it is simply left in the drivers mess by a member of the crew at the set time, its up to you wether you go and eat it, let alone remember to go and eat it. The food on the Tor Dania is substantially better, maybe due to the fact that the cooks on there are Polish rather than Filipino as on the Belgia and you actually eat the same food as the crew, with the crew who on the Dania are a mixture of Poles, Russians, Romanians, Lithuanians and Latvians…and ofcourse, this vessel is under the British flag ironically.
The cabins are generally quite spacious and all are en-suite with toilet/shower etc. All have two or three beds in them which does sometimes mean you have to double up with a total stranger, not something I like but they do try and keep different nationalities apart where possible. The main problem is that these ships are getting pretty old now and some cabins have terrible rattles that cannot be stopped, the Tor Belgia seems worse for this, to the extent where sleep is almost imposslbe at all.
There is very little to do for entertainment, the Tor Dania does have quite a large collection fo videos to watch. The Tor Belgia has all the equipment but absolutely no videos or dvd’s, only shelves of empty boxes.
The crossing itself is on average 24 hours, although it can be a few hours shorter, or longer and it does tend to leave at very unsocialble times of the night and get into Cuxhaven the same time the next day/night.
The length of the crossing can be handy if you wish to use it was a reduced 24hr weekly rest, or if you’ve had a short weekend at home, you more often than not make up the reduction of rest on the boat before you disembark. Also there is quite a lot of parking directly outside the dock gate if you dont wish to start driving at 2am for example when the ship docks and the A27 autobahn is only about a mile from the port and very easy to get to.
All in all I dont enjoy the crossing, its very long and boring but the Tor Dania is bearable, the Tor Belgia is another story. Sometimes they do operate other ships on the route, but as of yet, I have not sailed on any of those.