| LOWER PASSENGER DECK - DECK 7 AFT © matt@hhvferry.com |
| Occupying the aft quarter of Deck 7 (to starboard is Caffé Oliveto - see below), is the latest incarnation of P&O's Silverstone's Bar brand. With a servery fronted in fluorescent green (in the aft, starboard quarter of the lounge, but effectively on the centreline) and various display cases of Formula 1 memorabilia, including a large model of an F1 car forward, this is one of the better versions of this lounge, perhaps only upstaged by the equivalent on board the old P&OSL Canterbury (ex-Fantasia) which featured a model car hanging from the deckhead beneath the skylight. |
| Below: A close-up of the F1 car on Pride of Kent. Just behind this wall is the MegaDrome of arcade games, whilst visible in the background to the right is the spartan aft lobby (see below) |
| Top: Silverstone's on Pride of Canterbury, looking directly aft towards the bar counter and showing the new-style sofas as well as some of the display cases. The Dover gangway entrance for foot passengers is found just aft of this and the adjacent Caffé Oliveto, so for many passengers this will be their first impression of the interior of these ships. |
| Below: Looking forward in Silverstone's aboard Pride of Kent with the bar counter to the right. As ever, Silverstone's is generally quite a dark space, with black carpet, black floor tiles around the servery and plenty of black seating. |
| Silverstone's Bar (Deck 7 aft, port side) |
| Caffé Oliveto (Deck 7 aft, starboard side) |
| P&O Dover raided their Portsmouth fleetmates for the new Caffé Oliveto brand, being an adaptation of the Café Olivos previously seen on Pride of Bilbao. Serving Italian food such as panini and baguettes and salads, this effectively replaces the NYC Deli found on other Dover ships. |
| Below: The inevitable picture... (Pride of Kent) |
| Deck 7 aft lobby |
| Above: Located just forward of Silverstone's (port side) and Caffé Oliveto (starboard) is this aft lobby space. Whether interior designers Barry Finegan could have made it any less interesting or featureless is open to question, and it certainly appears fairly miserable in comparison to Warren Platner's epic lobby aboard the previous P&OSL Canterbury. In their defence, this area is one of the main assembly points for the MES evacuation system (accessed on either beam through the doors visible above) and presumably had to achieve a certain amount of uncluttered space for this purpose. Nevertheless, the lack of windows, decoration and almost any furniture is less than satisfactory. This is the view on Pride of Kent, looking across to port with the entrance to Silverstone's on the far side to the left. Just out of picture to the right is the starboard-side arcade stretching forward. |
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| Above: Caffé Oliveto on Pride of Canterbury, looking aft. The dominating feature are the holes in the large ceiling supports. The main seating area is located on white tiles whilst the walkway areas are again in laminate. |
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| e-mail: matt@hhvferry.com |