Normandie Express - 2018 Season

[TonyMWeaver]

Not long been home after spending the day on 'Normandie Express' from Portsmouth to Cherbourg. Docked back in Portsmouth at 1845 and walked through my front door exactly 1 hour later. Weather was lovely, apart from a slight chilly breeze in Cherbourg. The sailing over was fairly busy, around 600 passengers (Bank Holiday Weekend), the crossing back was very quiet, only around 150 passengers. I did some live feeds on my Facebook profile for anyone who wishes to see them. 

https://www.facebook.com/BFMunchkin/media_set?set=vb.746585226&type=2

[Cabin-boy]

On NEX now waiting to leave Cherbourg. She's looking very clean and might have been given new upholstery during her winter lay-up. Ed. 

[Cabin-boy]

We had a fantastic crossing yesterday evening - very possibly one of best ever and certainly the fastest.👍

The channel was as calm as I've ever seen it and the ferry can't have been more than 10% full.👍

We left 10 minutes early and got into Portsmouth 20 minutes ahead of schedule, so only 2 hours and 50 minutes at sea. Perfect and no time wasted.👍

But...see 'Grumps corner'

Ed. 

[TonyMWeaver]

On 05/05/2018 at 15:28, Cabin-boy said:

On NEX now waiting to leave Cherbourg. She's looking very clean and might have been given new upholstery during her winter lay-up. Ed. 

She's definitely had new upholstery on the chairs, no new carpet though. A new coat of paint and some new lighting in the garage. If it wasn't for the speed limits so far out of Portsmouth, NEX could do that crossing in 2 hours 30 minutes with ease.

[Cabin-boy]

We'll be back on board tomorrow morning. Hopefully it'll be as calm and quiet as it was on Saturday. Ed. 

[Cabin-boy]

Our trip back on NEX on Wednesday morning was fine. There was a slight swell running in the channel but there was only a gentle rocking motion on-board. Again we left 10 minutes early then waited parallel with HMS Queen Elizabeth until Cap Finistère had come through the narrows. Once under-way again, we got to Cherbourg on time at 1pm and were out through the immigration and customs checks by 1.15pm. All very efficient. The car deck was around 70% full, by my estimations, with at least 4 camper-vans. However that only translated into around 30% capacity in the cabin. Most of the cars were two-up so I can only assume that there were very few foot passengers travelling. The few children on board were able to watch free movies on both legs (Despicable Me 3 out and Paddington 2 back) which helped them pass the time and were much appreciated. It was my first trip on NEX since 2015 and reminded me just how practical and satisfying it is to be able to cross the channel in 3 hours. It allowed us to have breakfast at a reasonable time at home, a picnic lunch on the beach near Granville (in the bright sunshine - which continued during the three days in the UK), an afternoon snack on-board and still get to our final destination for dinner at 8pm (rather than an arrival at silly-o'clock). I would really appreciate them running her to Ouistreham as well as Cherbourg (as they did back in 2010 - or even Le Havre) to give alternative options and would then be inclined to make more-frequent use of her. Ed

[David Williams]

9 hours ago, Cabin-boy said:

reminded me just how practical and satisfying it is to be able to cross the channel in 3 hours.

And that is the dilemma. BF push the cruise aspects of the standard crossings, however they are not as relevant on the Eastern routes (Cherbourg, Ouistreham & Le Havre).

NEX is a bit like ferries were like many years back  - ie rows of bus like seats & only make sense if the ports are convenient (and Cherbourg is not that convenient to many places !).

I would like to see NEX in Ouisterham again, however that is unlikely given the increased capacity arriving next year. Unfortunately squeezing 3 crossings a day into the P-C route lead to inconvenient timings (apart from the changeover day).