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We left Sète promptly at 1900. By all accounts, price increases by budget airlines allied to the special offers from COMANAV’s French agents Euromer had boosted passenger numbers on this sailing and, although we were advised that there were about 300 on board, it felt like rather more although certainly not challenging the 1,600 passenger limit which the ship apparently is certified to carry. The majority of travellers were Moroccan but there was a fair smattering of French. Quite what the experience would be like with many more passengers is open to question. Certainly the ship, which had been in only modest order when we boarded fairly speedily declined into a rather abject state after departure. Having thought about this in advance, and given our cabin was not en-suite, the first thing we had done once on board was to have a shower in the public block down the corridor. This proved to be an astute move – the conditions were fairly squalid as it was but a visit later that evening revealed that things were rather worse – the showers were now all thoroughly filthy whilst finding a clean and functioning toilet seemed a near impossibility. The thought arose that perhaps the ladies toilets would be in a rather better state but that was soon dismissed – if anything, the proportion of these filled to overflowing with who knows what was even worse. One regret was our failure to bring our own toilet paper with us on board – clearly one of the first things that COMANAV passengers do is to strip all the public lavatories of this valuable commodity and it was by some luck that I came across an unattended roll by the sink in one of the cleaner toilet blocks. Fully expecting its forgetful owner to emerge from one of the cubicles, I stuffed it under my t-shirt and ran away from the scene of the crime hoping that no-one had seen me make off with my priceless loot.

Evidently loo rolls were not the only thing past passengers had been interested in pinching. Our cabin presumably had once been properly fitted out, but now it was rather bedraggled – someone had at some stage on a previous crossing evidently attempted to kick the door in and comparing to other cabins which could be viewed on the same deck, none of which had a full complement of fittings, we were missing the curtains from the window (although the curtain rail remained), curtains around the bunks, the arm-rests and back to the chair, one of the lifevests, and the ladder to access the upper bunk. Fortunately the two berths and the sink in the corner were there, and that was all that really mattered. On the underside of the upper bunk was a farewell inscription from the cabin’s final P&O occupant: “Paula Mason Turd [sic] Officer 24/9/02”.

MOROCCO, SEPTEMBER 2006
Part One: Oujda (continued)
Sète - Nador
2006 pictures © matt@hhvferry.com

Above and below: The new Club Class lounges on the Super Vikings (above) were Townsend Thoresen's premium service in the 1980s. The same lounge is seen on the Oujda in 2006 (below).

Above: The Deck 9 lobby aft of the old Club Class lounge, where the weather report dates back to 2002.

Meals in the Oujda’s cafeteria are included in the price, but we took the option to pay the 10 Euros to further upgrade to the restaurant. The payment or not of this charge quickly formed a de-facto class barrier with, as far as could be made out, almost all the European passengers upgrading together with what appeared to be the wealthier Moroccans. The food however was essentially the same between the two outlets, although it seemed that as well as being waiter-served, a slightly wider variety of vegetables was served in the restaurant. Our table of six was made up of a pair of friendly French ladies of Moroccan descent who were heading to the town of Oujda itself on holiday and a riotously camp Moroccan dance instructor who was returning home from a season teaching in Perpignan. Last to arrive was a further French lady who proceeded to berate the other three for speaking Arabic at the table rather than French which could be understood by all (well, all except me who could pick up just about every third word). The food was of rather modest quality - usually a bowl of rather salty soup to start, a meat dish with veg for mains and, if we were lucky, some type of fruit for desert. The starter and deserts were usually perfectly fine. The meat courses swung from just-about-edible to near-vomit inducing.

Rather unexpectedly, my main course on that first night was served on a Color Line ‘Captain Kid’ plate – quite how this ever ended up on this particular ship was and still is a total mystery. Conversation around the table meanwhile turned to the ship herself, and the regular passengers were unimpressed. On the other hand, everyone raved about COMANAV’s flagship the Marrakech – the dance instructor noting that “she is beautiful, much nicer than this old thing. More like the Titanic – très beau!” with a flick of his fingers to his lips to amplify the impression.

During dinner, the weather turned and the ship began to experience some quite distinct slamming. This was quite a unique form of the affliction as, rather than at the bow, it affected most severely the aft half of the ship. When the Viking Venturer was rebuilt in 1986, she was fitted with a completely new hull bow section, running from amidships forwards. The aft part of the original hull was then attached to this, the new upper vehicle deck built above and then the original superstructure put back on top. This surgery has left the ship with all sorts of lumps and bumps in the hull and evidently the waves were catching on these, producing the violent slamming experienced in the restaurant. The staff and regular passengers carried on unperturbed, but it was somewhat disturbing for the rest of us; the next day, one of our dinner companions darkly confided that the previous evening she had felt compelled to pray for our safe arrival! [report continued on next page]

Above: The lounge's bar counter.

Above and below: The forward section of the former Club Class lounge has had the reclining seats removed and a dance floor installed. The picture below shows the space on the ship as Pride of Hampshire in 2002.

Above: This painting entitled 'Old Portsmouth' remains at the forward end.

Above: Our slightly bedraggled cabin.

Above: The starboard side promenade on Deck 9.

Above and below: The forward of the two upper lounges on Deck 10.

Above: The after of the Deck 10 lounges was permanently locked on the Oujda but was visibly unchanged from its time as the cinema on the Pride of Hampshire, as pictured.

Above: The main signage on board the Oujda all dated from the P&O era.

Above and below: The forward outside deck with the original builder's plate still in place.

Above: The view over the ship's bow.