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| When I was last on these two ships back in 2004, the ‘Europe’ was a clear winner when compared to her sister - still fairly fresh from the refit two years previously and in all round excellent condition for a ship of her age. Three years on and things were alas not quite so promising. That refit had employed the talents (and I hesitate to use that word) of Figura, a company which has regrettably for many years been pretty much Stena’s house interior designers. Certainly not everything Figura do is bad, but they do make some pretty ham-fisted attempts involving undistinguished laminate flooring, plasticy surfaces and unsympathetic colour schemes. The involvement of the rather more capable talents of Steen Friis Hansen for Stena’s most recent newbuilds has most definitely been a move back towards the days when Stena ships were very stylish as well as very profitable – and there is no reason the two are incompatible.
In any event looking around the ship, the decline of the ‘Europe’ was rather evident. Knowing what we do about Stena Line, it is easy to surmise that these Figura refits simply aren’t supposed to last particularly long: the Stena Danica, which received an almost identical interior modernisation in 2003, has historically had massive refurbishments of the passenger spaces every five years or so and this just might be the expected life-span of the fixtures and fittings. The other factor though, and this was particularly surprising, seemed to be just an element of all-round poor upkeep. Rusted window frames, smashed ceiling panels, stained carpets and, my particular favourite, a double glazed window next to Stena Plus which was partly full of water in the manner of a slightly narrow fish tank. Certainly the ship was just about to head off for refit, but these didn’t seem likely to be things which would all be resolved in the four or five days she was due to be in dry-dock for. [Report continues below] |
| STENA EUROPE & NORMANDY January 2007 All 2007 pictures © matt@hhvferry.com |
| Above and below: In places, the Normandy was much worse however with rusted-through deckheads in the forward cabin corridors (above) and what appeared to be some form of mould growing in the corners of the rusty windowframes (this example at the forward end of the starboard-side Deck 7 arcade). |
| Top: The Stena Europe at Fishguard where she utilises the pictured side ramp to load cars directly onto the upper vehicle deck. |
| Above and below: Someone rascals have been taking advantage of Stena's peel-on sticker corporate signage whilst the ship's general condition appeared to have declined somewhat from the immaculate state of three years previously. |
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| Above: The 'Europe' was also, by Stena standards, unusually rusty in certain places on the outside, although with the ship about to head off for a brief dry-docking, some of the more cosmetic issues would presumably be dealt with in refit. |
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| The main disappointment of our crossing on the Stena Europe was that the signature tiered show lounge aft on Deck 7 (originally the Röda Nejlikan Lounge but now the C-View Bar), was completely shut off to passengers. Instead, a small bar was available in the multi-purpose Food City on the deck above, and it was in this space that non-Stena Plus passengers mainly congregated, in addition to the port-side family lounge amidships on Deck 7. Stena Plus itself, on the port-side of Deck 8, remained a haven of tranquillity – this example is certainly amongst the best of Stena’s premium lounges, tastefully converted from its previous guise as the waiter service restaurant and, although the centre section has long since lost its original Bierkeller look, it retains many of the original structural features. [Report continues on next page] |
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| Above and below: The vast Röda Nejlikan Lounge on the Kronprinsessan Victoria in 1980. |
| Above and below: The equivalent space on the former Prinsessan Birgitta over twenty years apart in her guises as St Nicholas (in 1983, above) and Normandy (in 2007, below). On this ship, the space is very largely unchanged. |
| Above and below: The heavily refitted 'C-View' lounge on the Stena Europe (above) contrasts with what is now 'Molly Malones' on the Normandy (below). In the 'Europe's 2002 refit the lowermost tier of the lounge was removed, providing a larger flat area at the base of the stage - and a much less daunting drop from the front of the stage to the floor below. |
| Above and below: A further pair of comparative views, this time taken from the upper starboard-side balconies. |
| Above: A final view of 'Molly Malones', looking aft on the port side. The bar counter is at the very back on the uppermost tier. |
| Above and below: Forward of the showlounges can be found the main lobby with reception desk - seen on the Stena Europe (above) and the Normandy (below). |
| Above and below: A further pair of pictures of the same area - in the Stena Europe picture (above) the firmly closed doors of the C-View bar can be seen on the right. |