The Crossing
March 17th, 2005
We left York slightly early hoping we can have our last fish and chips at Newcastle. The dock itself is 8 miles out of the city, where there is an outlet mall and a boring pub. No fish and chips!
If there is no decent meal at the port, I wonder what meal the ferry will have? I wanted to play it safe so we went to Tesco to grab some grub. Cheeses, crackers, cold meat, fruits, I certainly didn’t want to travel with an empty stomach. The ferry terminal only serves hotdog and sandwiches (not even so fresh) and we ended having a picnic in our car while in the queue to pass through the customs,

Tickets, information of Commodore Suite

Security check and customs was short and quick, in a very orderly manner we boarding the ferry. I say orderly as I live in Greece. Taking a ferry in Greece means a lot of pushing and shoving.

View from the port hole

As soon we found our berth, we were so surprised of the service. Little did we know that we that the commodore suites we booked was spacious and has steward. Fruits and mini bar, sign of good service and my worry of having a bad meal disappeared. After a pleasant tea, we went out as the Princess of Scandinavia left the wet grim port at past 3pm. It was rather a mix emotions to have left England and away from my sister and friends. Are we really off to Norway?

Leaving Newcastle

The mouth of River Tyne obviously had been a very busy docklands before, you can see remnants of the docks dotting along side. Some old buildings are slowly restored and wont be long it will be like the docklands in London where residential flats have sprung. As seagulls hover above us we could see the lighthouse and off we entered the North Sea.

It was so calm, we went around the ferry, port to starboard, fore to aft. Bingo at 5, movies all night for 40 SEK Swedish crown, a bar, a casino, two restaurants and shops. You certainly wont get bored and it felt like more on a cruise ship than a passenger ferry.

We walked around the deck to whet our appetite as we had a booking for 7pm dinner at Blue Riband, which was the biggest surprised of the trip.
After the meal we went for drinks at the pub and went to see some Scandinavian entertainment at the bar. The wine had an effect on me and the movement of the ferry, sailing smoothly in the North Sea makes me want to crawl to bed, which was turned down.

Entering the North Sea with North Shields behind.

A good night sleep was all I wanted for another day ahead , the drive from Kristiansand to Oslo.