18th July 2018, p.m.
At the beach near Brindisi
We had booked a local taxi for late afternoon to take us, reluctantly, to the new ferry terminal here at Brindisi. This evening we are to embark on the ship PRINCE; not the one we have sailed on last year, but the ship we knew originally as CESME back in 2007. She was built in 1974, and her gross tonnage is shown as 13,336.
She was in port, in her new colours for the Arkoumanis family, the European Seaways owners. She looked freshly painted and gleamed in the sunlight as we checked in. She was previously used as an accommodation ship (WIND AMBITION) and her use on this new service on 12th July from Greece had been delayed due to faulty fuel. As my friends said, with new fuel on board this much-travelled veteran did depart Igoumenitsa the previous evening, and our booked crossing actually became her first departure from Italy. We were happy to be the first passengers on board.
They also said she would be instantly recognisable to anyone who knew her as either Norway Line (or Color Line)'s VENUS or DFDS's KING OF SCANDINAVIA. We will be sailing overnight from here in Brindisi over to Igoumenitsa, the coastal port in north-western Greece. It is also across the water from the island of Corfu, with frequent ferries sailing between the two.
It was good to look around this little ship and admire the way the money has been spent to make the newly decorated insides of the ship look good, but there were many reminders of her previous name and use.
All was well until we realised that sailing time had come and gone and the reason was a lorry that was stuck on the stern ramp, half in and half out of the ship. She has the original narrow stern door and we thought that the ramp was in fact too short for the angle needed to get vehicles on to the car deck. It took over an hour to get the lorry on board - goodness knows how!
Once we realised we were not going to sail for some time, we headed for a bar and hoped for something alcoholic; that proved to be a problem as the Barman apologised but said that drink supplies had been ordered but had not been put on board. Ah well, it will have to be fruit juice or cola again. Instead we headed for the self-serve restaurant and discovered there was pasta to eat, which didn't immediately look appealing.
We eventually sailed at 9.30 p.m. from Brindisi, heading for Igoumenitsa, here on PRINCE.
Ships seen in Bari: Rigel II, GNV Azzurra
Ships seen in Brindisi: Prince, Eurocargo Catania
To be continued...