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LD Lines closes Dover-Boulogne passenger service.


Will
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And another thing...

When I made the booking that has just been cancelled, I was unable to use my 'frequent travellers' number - it just doesn't work any more...

And I notice 'Pierre's Blog' (contact their chief exec) has disappeared from their website.

Now, forgive me for being suspicious, but...
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Not sure where the one crossing per day comes from. Maybe because the night departure arrives the next morning?

This is what the Transmanche Ferries timetable says is on offer year-round:

Departure Newhaven Arrival Dieppe Crossing Time Ship Name
09h30 14h30 4h Seven Sisters
22h30 03h30 4h Seven Sisters

Departure Dieppe Arrival Newhaven Crossing Time Ship Name
05h00 08h00 4h Seven Sisters
18h00 21h00 4h Seven Sisters

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Half of the Portsmouth-Le Havre sailings are currently suspended after the Norman Arrow apparently collided with a buoy near Le Havre.

Edit - and the same with the Boulogne route: apparently engine problems with one of the ships: "due to a technical problem on one of our ships, the 13.00 and 19.00 from

Dover and the 11.00 and 17.00 sailings from Boulogne are cancelled."

The Le Havre incident has now been acknowledged by the company and it has published the following: "The 18.30 sailing from Le Havre to Portsmouth has been cancelled due to

technical issues please contact LD Lines for further

information.30/08/10".

These quotes come from LD Lines' own updates; by all accounts the Norman Arrow problem will cause many more sailings to be cancelled. According to another source: "Norman Arrow, suffered an impact with a pile at Le Harve. Three holes in

shell plate in way of forward engine room. Forward engine room is

flooded as is engine and gearbox. Bow damaged also but not as bad.

Repairs to be made in Dunkerque as soon as possible."

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The Rosslare to Cherbourg ferry is operated by Celtic Link, using a ship (Norman Voyager) chartered from LD Lines. It was started by LD Lines, then run as a joint venture between the two companies for a short time, but Celtic Link isn't exactly well known for good reliability and good practices so the arrangement came to an end.

http://www.celticlinkferries.com/

The service between Rosslare and Le Havre was, I believe, operated for a short period under the joint arrangement, but Celtic Link now operates all of its French services from Cherbourg.

 

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It would appear that everyone else at LD Lines has followed him.

I'm booked on the (now defunct) Dover Boulogne crossing later this month & have failed to make any contact via emails / phone after many attempts.

Do they still exist or are they just on holiday?

Anyone know a secret number to call to avoid their automatic switchboard?

Thanks, more in despair than hope

Michael

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Thanks to Will for the original posting, my parents booked with Ld lines via Ferry Savers, just before Will's post,  it was only by chance, I visited this sub heading. Happily Ferry Savers at 19.30 last night agreed to refund my parents money and they have booked with P & O, I just find it strange, that no email alerts were sent out, especially as the majority of booking are made by internet. I just wish tickets were transferable with Euro Tunnel.
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MiMo - I have a booking on that route for October. I managed to get through to LD on their normal number. An unusually grumpy member of staff said they would have got round to contacting me eventually, then offered a couple of options - a free transfer and no additional charges on any of their other routes or they would transfer my booking to a similar timed P&O ferry.

They did not mention a refund, but agreed to one when I asked for it saying it will take up to 25 days to appear in my bank account!

I had already checked the P&O website and learned that the relevant crossing for me was £20 less than I had paid LD, which is why I asked for the refund to make the P&O booking myself (rather than them keeping the twenty quid if they made the transfer for me)!
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Hi,

The other day I was saying how good LD were in booking us on the Dieppe - Newhaven crossing yesterday. because of the Boulogne saga.

The boat docked at Newhaven at 10.20pm it took another hour to get off and get to emigration, this after a 500 mile drive with another 1 1/2 hour drive home, and it was hissing down most of the way home, we got in at 11.15pm last night, Knackered.

Colin E
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Phew that was lucky then Colin, if you had to drive all the way to calais that would have been another hour and a half and the immigration can take just as long. Bit mean of GOD to make it rain on you after that long drive, If I were you I wouldn't go to church this Sunday to show God how upset you are with him. [:P][:D]
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Hi Colin , you said;

 The boat docked at Newhaven at 10.20pm it took another hour to get off

and get to emigration, this after a 500 mile drive with another 1 1/2

hour drive home, and it was hissing down most of the way home, we got in

at 11.15pm last night, Knackered.

It reads like you got home before you got off the boat!

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  • 2 weeks later...
I have some sympathy with Colin because I also get quite fed up with the jobs-worths at Newhaven.

It is not LD's fault, it is the totally over-the-top and super slow attitude of the staff who work in the port at Newhaven. They are pathetic going out and they are pathetic coming back again. It is the worst port on either side of the Channel.
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  • 4 weeks later...
They (l.d.lines) should have left the norman arrow on the dover boulogne service in tandem with a conventional ferry as the new dock area at boulogne was perfectly suited for her. On the other hand when they removed the norman arrow and started to use the norman bridge ( yes the one that is now on the france / spain run ) they had all manner of probs with difficulties berthing this boat , this is probably the main reason this service has been dropped due to endless waits to embark and disembark , one journey I did on the norman bridge took almost 3 hours in total instead of the publishe 1hour 35 mins.

casa99.
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