ABOVE: A view across the lounge towards the forward port corner, showing the area in its original state.
BELOW: The counter area on Nisos Limnos - as built, this was set back somewhat from the bulkheads and shared a store with the original ship's shop which faced astern, fronting the forward lobby just aft of the lounge. This layout seems to have changed somewhat with the counter here lying flat along the line of the lounge's aft bulkhead.
Further details of the following areas are available on separate pages:
General overview
The A Deck Cafeteria
The A Deck Britannia Bar and Verandah Bar
The B Deck Side Lounges
The B Deck Aft Garage (later Aft lounge)
The C Deck passenger cabins
Outside Deck Space
The Train/Vehicle decks
The main lounge on the principle passenger deck was located forward and featured views ahead over the forecastle. As built, the lounge was fitted with semi-circular and rectangular sofa bays on the outer areas complete with rectangular tables. Centrally there were individual low-backed seats arranged in groups of four around circular tables. At the aft end of the lounge was a small bar area, from where light refreshments were served.

In Greece, this area served as the Economic Class self-service cafeteria. The division between Economic and Distinguished Classes was achieved in a straight-forward manner, the latter comprising the accommodation on the upper passenger deck whilst the former was located in the lower deck (B Deck as it was aboard
Vortigern). The fittings in the forward lounge were a mixture of new and old, with much of the original semi-circular sofa-style booth seating remaining. The central area featured individual free-standing wooden-backed chairs with larger rectangular tables. As a self-service cafeteria, this area was not ideal, as there remained just a counter area in what used to be the bar servery.
ABOVE: A section of the original semi-circular seating on Express Milos in the forward port quarter. The door visible on the right was for crew use and leads onto a small area where stairs lead down to the vehicle decks and below, as well as another door leading out directly to the forecastle.
Click here to return to the Vortigern index
See also:
The complete 1985 Vortigern deckplan
Vortigern 1969 General Arrangement plan
© matt@hhvferry.com
BELOW: Beneath the windows at the forward end, a small area of seating overlooked the forecastle. This section is seen here in comparative pictures taken in the first (left) and last (right) year's of the ship's career. As can readily be seen, the tough green leather seating of the stylish booths stood the test of 35 year's use remarkably well. In the second picture, the curve of the forward superstructure is clear.
BELOW: Another view of the central area of the lounge, as built, looking across to port. The heavy protective window covers are seen here in use, perhaps in anticipation of a rough crossing.
BELOW: An overall view of the forward lounge on board Nisos Limnos in 2004, this time looking across to starboard.
BELOW: A view of the lounge on board the ship as Express Milos in the Hellas Ferries days.
In the original design, some of the sofa-style seating was not fronted by tables - these particular areas were removed to create space for an expanded central area with a more practical and higher-capacity arrangement than that offered in the original design, especially bearing in mind the lounge's use as a cafeteria.
BELOW: Looking inside the servery shows the area to be apparently out-of-use, with only modest indication of change since the ship left UK service...
BELOW: ...with this old UK Walls logo still in situ, over 16 years after the ship last saw service out of a British port.
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e-mail: matt@hhvferry.com