LD Lines MS Norman Spirit - Further Ferry Information and Vessel Description
The MS Norman Spirit is a passenger and vehicle ferry, used by LD Lines on their route from Portsmouth, England to Le Havre, France. When built, the then Prins Filip incorporated several state-of-the-art safety features, such as flood barriers on the vehicle decks. Current passenger facilities include a number of bars and restaurants, lounges, shops and children's areas. Wireless internet access is available throughout the ship. For full information on LD Lines - Click Here.
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The Norman Spirit offers a fantastic range of facilities including a choice of bars, cafes and Restaurants. Choose from the Little Italy self-service restaurant, Blue Mountain Café Express coffee lounge, The Dirty Duck Pub and for Club Class passengers, the Cotton Club. As well as this the Norman Spirit has three large lounges furnished with very comfortable armchairs to aid a comfortable relaxing crossing.
The Norman Sprit also offers a great choice of leisure facilties including Ocean Shopping, Computers with internet connections (You can also login using your own computer using Norman Spirit's Wifi connection), a games room featuring the latest arcade games and slot machines and a childrens play area to keep the little ones entertained during the crossing. |
LD Lines Norman Spirit Ferry History
The Norman Spirit was built for Belgian operator Regie voor Maritiem Transport (RMT) in 1991 as the Prins Filip, entering service in 1992 on their route between Dover and Ostend. She remained in service with RMT when their UK port was switched to Ramsgate and until their operations ceased in 1997.
Following a lay-up in Dunkirk, she was acquired by Stena Line in 1998, renamed Stena Royal and initially used on freight services between Dover and Zeebrugge on charter to P&O Stena Line. In 1999 P&O Stena Line decided to extend the charter and transfer the ship to their premier Dover-Calais route. Stena Royal was extensively refurbished to include the P&O Stena 'Brand World' concept and entered service on the Calais route as the P&OSL Aquitaine, following the naming pattern for P&O Stena Line vessels.
P&O Stena Line was a short-lived venture, ending in 2002 when P&O acquired Stena Line's share in the operation. However, the P&OSL Aquitaine remained in service, initially under the name PO Aquitaine, then as the Pride of Aquitaine from early 2003, until May 2005 when she was withdrawn following a review of P&O's operations.
In October 2005, she began sailing on her present route between Portsmouth and Le Havre as Norman Spirit. LD Lines, a French-owned company with existing ferry operations on the Mediterranean Sea, began this service following P&O's withdrawal from it the previous month.
In June 2006 Norman Spirit was reflagged to the British registry from the Italian second registry. She is now registered in Southampton, this was previously Genoa though when she entered service with LD Lines she was registered in Dover.
In August 2008, LD Lines announced that from late 2009 the vessel will be used on their new link between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Dover
LD Lines MS Norman Spirit Ferry Statistics
- Length - 163.4 m
- Breadth - 27.6 m
- Draught - 6.35 m
- Speed - 21 knots
- Built - 1991
- Vehicles - 700 Cars, 110 Lorries
- Passengers - 1850
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