How much were 200 smokes in those days , duty free ■■? cant remember , i am talking 1972 ish !! I remember there was “crew rates” , i think , 15/- for 200 ■■? thats 75p in new money !!! We used Normandy Ferries , Dragon , Leopard and sometimes the Panther , stinking old tub that was , The Dragon and the Leopard were well up together for their day , You got a book of vouchers when you booked , meal , cabin , duty free , breakfast , good if you had a “Co Driver” or hitchhiker !!! you got “double bubble” !!!
Hello, I took this picture as we were leaving Dover Eastern Dock’s in the early 80’s I have no idea of the name of the boat in the picture but hopefully somebody reading this will know 
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mushroomman:
Hello, I took this picture as we were leaving Dover Eastern Dock’s in the early 80’s I have no idea of the name of the boat in the picture but hopefully somebody reading this will know
Would that have been the ARGO? it seemed to have a bit of an identity crisis, known also as the NORCOVE and LANDI on several different charters.
Wheel Nut:
mushroomman:
Hello, I took this picture as we were leaving Dover Eastern Dock’s in the early 80’s I have no idea of the name of the boat in the picture but hopefully somebody reading this will know
Would that have been the ARGO? it seemed to have a bit of an identity crisis, known also as the NORCOVE and LANDI on several different charters.
Looks like either the nf Panther or the nf Tiger who alongside with the nf Lion ran the Dover Boulogne route for P&O Normandy Ferries before Towsend Thoresen took over
Jacko 22 , you beat me to it !!! I was going to say Panther or Lion , I would go for the Lion !!! What was that smell on the Panther , never did find out !!! It was always there though ,
Was still in short trousers when i had the pleasure of a day trip to Boulogne on one of those boats!
markgilly:
I have Done most of the routes and still can’t say I have had a good meal on any of them
You obviously never traveled on the Sealink ‘Earl Granville’ which in the late 80’s was on the Portsmouth - Cherboug route, the food was the best ferry grub I have ever had before or since, a carvery with ham, beef & lamb joints, fresh veg, boild & roast potatoes and a platter of sirloin steaks that was re-filled as soon as it emptied. Followed by a tremendous desert section!!
There was also a bloke who worked on it who for a very small fee would wash & dry your clothes and drop them off at your cabin, very usefull if you were on a ‘turn around’ & needed you clobber for another trip.
Ross.
Found this site for Dover Calais ferries old & new
doverferryphotos.co.uk
Well done Jacko 22 and Old Trucker, I have just looked at the above website and I think it does look like The Tiger or The Panther. If you see the Easter Bunny dont forget to ask him for your prize 
These were the times when the crew mingled with the peasant truck drivers. It wasn’t that long ago but this service was probably one of the last to invite drivers to the crew-bar, after a swim in the onboard pool.
Which route?
SUPERCUBE:
lenny, IIRC it did not sink but lay on its side just off felixstowe, bit like the HOFE at Z/B, that would have been a couple of years before the HOFE.
another one was SOUTHERN FERRIES southampton-lisbon, i was in lisbon when there was a military coup, all borders were closed so the only way out was by boat, we were all parked in the docks and had to wait for the boat, i believe it was named THE EAGLE, it took a full load that weekend and i was in line for the next boat which would return on the wednesday, it was a day late coming back because they had loaded a trailer with a tracked machine on it, something like a huge digger, on the way over crossing the bay of biscay, the machine had broken loose, smashing everything on the car deck, when i got off at soton there was what had been a fridge trl, now just a set of tandem axles and the rest of the body in a heap beside it. mangled cars and caravans were everywhere.
there was chaos at soton because everybody without exception had to leave portugal by boat, the spanish and french hauliers were arguing that they should not have to pay because they didn’t want to get on the ferry to england in the first place, the italians, german and dutch wern’t so bad off, mileage wise, but the vehicles were still impounded until the freight was paid, then they still had to go to dover to get back home. as was mentioned earlier, i got home without touching france. result.
Do you mean this one.
The other SNCF boat on Dover-Calais was the Champs Elysees, typically French it had a belligerent crew, crap food & stank like only a French boat can. I got stuck on it for 9hrs coming home once in 88/89ish, the St Christopher had got wedged broadside in the entrance to the harbour at Dover so we had to sit outside getting bounced around for about 6hrs, I was one of only half a dozen people who weren’t sick, my mate was honking up so much he nearly brought up his toenails, after that he went on UK work & AFAIK the only ferry he’s been on since is the one at Woolwich
The Scandinavian boats were in a different league, decent resturaunts, discos, good cabins & friendly crew, you also got time to enjoy it all. Some of the freighters were not so great though, I went on one from Immingham or Teesport (can’t remember which) to Tromso in the mid 90s, I was the only driver on, all the rest were unaccompanied trailers, I ate with the crew which wasn’t too bad, but conversation was limited to say the least, it got a bit bumpy halfway across & we spent nearly 2 days heading in to the waves, not good as the waves were originally coming at us from the side, so 2 days of full steam ahead had actually put us further away from port than we were at the start of the storm, I was on that crate for 4 days in all, most of it spent up on the bridge with the rest of the crew, to be honest I thought I was a goner more than a few times on that crossing, it’s amazing that the things stay afloat, the Captain said it was the worst seas he had ever seen, it got there in the end though, luckily I reloaded in Sweden so apart from the Malmo-Travemunde & Zeebrugge-Dover part of the journey I was on dry land thank God, after that I took the train wherever possible, not an experience I ever want to repeat.
SUPERCUBE:
lenny, IIRC it did not sink but lay on its side just off felixstowe, bit like the HOFE at Z/B, that would have been a couple of years before the HOFE.
another one was SOUTHERN FERRIES southampton-lisbon, i was in lisbon when there was a military coup, all borders were closed so the only way out was by boat, we were all parked in the docks and had to wait for the boat, i believe it was named THE EAGLE, it took a full load that weekend and i was in line for the next boat which would return on the wednesday, it was a day late coming back because they had loaded a trailer with a tracked machine on it, something like a huge digger, on the way over crossing the bay of biscay, the machine had broken loose, smashing everything on the car deck, when i got off at soton there was what had been a fridge trl, now just a set of tandem axles and the rest of the body in a heap beside it. mangled cars and caravans were everywhere.
there was chaos at soton because everybody without exception had to leave portugal by boat, the spanish and french hauliers were arguing that they should not have to pay because they didn’t want to get on the ferry to england in the first place, the italians, german and dutch wern’t so bad off, mileage wise, but the vehicles were still impounded until the freight was paid, then they still had to go to dover to get back home. as was mentioned earlier, i got home without touching france. result.
I was in southampton when they were removing the aftermath of that crossing I tnink it was a cat D8 that had broken loose all the caravans were mulched to pulp and I can remember an army bedford 4x4 truck about two feet wide they must have filled some skips lol I carn’t recall if it was when the customs were on a go slow or I was waiting to board that night but I was driving a low loader and had problems getting on a ferry after that for a while as they would not let us on if the sea was rough and the deck offficer would come and check the load to make sure it was secured correctly before allowing us to board. There was another Ferry from Southampton at that time which you got a free bottle or ciggies “Seagull Ferry’s” but you needed them as they were flat bottomed boats I only used them once after taking wings section from Preston to Toulouse and we returned empty as you brouht the carrying frame back and I am sure that only carried 12 drivers as well as did a lot of them in the late 60s and early 70s if you went from Immingham on Tor line they used to take round to hull to go North Sea Ferrys if you were not one of the first twelve drivers.
Wheel Nut:
These were the times when the crew mingled with the peasant truck drivers. It wasn’t that long ago but this service was probably one of the last to invite drivers to the crew-bar, after a swim in the onboard pool.
Which route?
go on then malc as nobody is going to guess - is that dave richmond seated at the back of the shot, with DFDS freebie t-shirt on?
Malc, still waiting for your answer?
An onboard pool Malc 
, you are not thinking of The Greece/ Syria Ferry are you .
jj72:
Malc, still waiting for your answer?
Not Dave, just a lowly crew member wearing company issue freebies.
mushroomman:
An onboard pool Malc
It was an open topped heated pool, some people may call it an oil tank with the top cut off 
Newhaven Dieppe ferries, Had a few ro/ro running for a few years,only got pics of the Senlac,Chartres,when it was Sealink.Had a few rough crossings on here when i use to go with my Dad in the early days.
I remember before thejubillee way was built you had to go throgh town past the railway station. And then when it was built it went out over the sea and back to the dock gates. those were the days!!!