New Stena Hollandica

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS EURO DRIVING FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

The new boat came into service last Sunday (May 16th) on the Hoek - Harwich route.

I was on the daytime crossing to Harwich on Thursday and was well impressed.

I had an outside cabin with a double bed and a single fold away bunk up top.
There was a large trucker sized shower and bog.
Also a TV with UK, Dutch, German and Polish channels.
UK and Continental electrical sockets were provided.

The large “Truckers” restaurant (the entrance to which is hidden away between the stairs, out of sight of the tourist punters :wink: ) has a separate glass enclosed smoking section, which is a huge improvement over the old boat.
The food was excellent and, of course, included in the price of the ticket.
This boat is so bloody high tech, that even the plastic domes covering the salad and sweet buffets are raised and lowered with a remote!!

The new linkspan means that loading and unloading can now take place on 2 levels which should speed up the process considerably in comparison to the old boat where there was only 1 linkspan and vehicles had to use internal ramps on the boat to move from 1 deck to another.

The new Stena Britannica is due to come into service towards the end of 2010.

2

can someone pass this on to Britanny ferries?
No thinking about it, don’t let them see it, they would have 3 to a cabin, and always being the last truck loaded I bet I wouldn’t get the top bunk :open_mouth:

3

whats the crossing time inselaffe? longer at nights?

4

welshboyinspain:
whats the crossing time inselaffe? longer at nights?

Daytime crossing leaves at 14.30 and arrives Harwich at 20.00 (local) 21.00 CET = 6½ hours.

According to the online timetable the night crossing leaves at 22.30 and arrives Harwich at 06.30 (local) 07.30 CET = 9 hours.

However, I seem to remember that the only time I used the night crossing being knocked out of bed at daft o’clock and trucks being disembarked at about 05.00 (local) while the tourist punters were still tucked up in bed.

5

thanks for the info, caught the hoek to harwich years ago and seem to remember being woken up earlier than i thought we would arrive and missed my shower

6

Used the Harwich boat last year and thought it was pretty good, might give this try on the way back from this trip :smiley:

7

i use this crossing on a regular basis 2 to 3 times a week. When arriving into harwich it docks approx 04.15am and the trucks on main deck will be rolling off at about 4.30am so expect an early wake up call!

if your a regular on this crossing then you will know the food is ■■■■■ on the Hollandica and its exactly the same old ■■■■■ they had on the old one. hmmmmm lets see meatballs,meatballs oh look meatballs! oh and some satay sauce! same old same old.Also drinks are very expensive and didnt even get a welcome freebie! they had the automatic dome covers on the old ship. but all in all apart from the same food its awesome. nice cabins, free wi-fi, seperate smoking area cant fault it really.

8

In fairness to Stena, I think ALL ferries have the same food for months if not years at a time. I only use the Stena Ferry about 4 or 5 times a year so think the food is good, but I use Sea France and Brittany ferries all the time and think their food is carp. Again I hear complaints about P&O out of Dover, but on the rare occasions when I use them I think the food is fine. as for price, I bet you spend less money on food and drink on any of the North sea crossings compared to Dover Calais.

9

Yes, there are meatballs. Yes, there is Satay sauce (yum). But these are not the only things on offer on the extensive buffet.

I treated myself to a big pig out on Thursday, as apart from a bowl of cereal while waiting to tip in Holland on Thursday morning, I’d had nowt to eat all day.
Soup, starter, main course and sweet hit the spot very nicely, thank you.

OK, so 50cl of Heineken will set you back €3.10 (€3.40 in the tourist end) but considering that you are getting 2 free meals on the boat, you should be able to handle having to pay for a couple of beers.

The food on the New Stena Hollandica was fine, in my opinion. I only use the Harwich route very occasionally and am usually on the Killingholme boat in and out of the UK. I consider the food on the Killingholme boats to be even better than on the Harwich boats.

And, most importantly, no bloody tourists :wink:

10

I used it Friday night, it’s a nightmare waiting to get down to the vehicle decks…Only 2 lifts and the stairs are invisible! Beautiful cabins with flat screen tv and ace shower. Food is ok, if you are hungry you’ll eat it!

11

I was on the Friday night crossing from Harwich to the Hoek on 28th May.

For the new boat, they have completely revamped the loading system.

On the old boat, trucks were held in the lanes near the booking office until the boat had been unloaded and were then pulled forward for boarding. Artics first, followed by drawbars and finally rigids.
The upshot of this was that I used to be one of the last vehicles on the boat, usually just before 11pm :imp:

However, the procedure for the new boat is different, due to the new 2nd linkspan to the upper decks.
Now, the waiting trucks are pulled forward to the holding area in front of the old coach terminal BEFORE the boat docks (probably to avoid conflicting with the traffic due to come off the boat).

They are using the upper linkspan for unaccompanied trailers and the bottom one for accompanied vehicles.

This means, that as soon as the lower decks are clear, loading can begin, leaving the tugs to chug around on the top linkspan unloading and loading unaccompanied trailers.
So, after an hour’s wait in front of the coach terminal, we were all rolling on board. I was showered and tucking into my scran at 9.30pm :smiley:

This also means that you can now get a full 9 hours break on the boat due to the earlier boarding. As I arrived at Harwich just before 8pm (6 hours from Reading after knitting my own diversion to avoid the M25 and A12 :wink: ), I was fully expecting to have to park up for an hour at the Hoek to piece together my 11 hours ferry rules break thingy.

No need: 9.45 break on the boat and hit the ground running on t’other side. Job’s a good 'un :smiley:

Also, Stena are quids in, 'cos they get the punters on earlier, leaving them more time to fleece them :wink:

bigvern1:
it’s a nightmare waiting to get down to the vehicle decks…Only 2 lifts and the stairs are invisible!

Yeah, the stairs don’t appear to be very well signed.

My Viz Top Tip: Avoid the stairs in the middle and at the blunt end, as all the tourist sheep seem to gather there.
Go up past the punters’ bar on the right hand side at the pointy end and there is a door to the Purple Stairs that nobody seems to use which will take you down to the car decks :wink: