George. Posted June 6, 2013 Report Share Posted June 6, 2013 have you ever been in leith? almost an hours walk to the city, shopping there is no where near as good as aberdeen (much more spread out) plus it will make the boat journey longer and therefore more expensive for passengers.......... wish folks would quit with these foolish IMO ideas! Yes, I've been in Leith once or twice, I'm Edinburgh-born and can happily walk from the docks to the centre of the city in half an hour although there is a good bus service to use if you wish. There is good shopping available and apart from that, it is the capital city. The boat journey will be about the same or have you never noticed the amount of time wasted in travel to Aberdeen to keep to docking times? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineer21 Posted June 6, 2013 Report Share Posted June 6, 2013 spent over 2mnths in leith docks i can assure you when its raining, its a cold windy place, roads have small pavemnets (not made for lots of ppl pulling luggage) buses are a long way from the docks themselves (the side the ferry would berth. its not that easy! capital city? what does that matter? there isnt anytime wasted that iam aware of, yes boats can go faster, at a cost much higher fuel consumption, more uncomfortable. aberdeen will always be the best solution, and im led to belive aberdeen has major changes in pipeline which should help the north isles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tiodylb17 Posted June 6, 2013 Report Share Posted June 6, 2013 Aberdeen is fine at the moment , just a shame at times unreliable but if they have plans to change things it might improve that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted June 6, 2013 Report Share Posted June 6, 2013 There might be a logical alternative. A brand new dock outside Inverness. And maybe even the threat of this would encourage Aberdeen Port to get on with upgrading their harbour entrance. And maybe Scrabster could be some sort of alternative at least in the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuckleJoannie Posted June 6, 2013 Report Share Posted June 6, 2013 Aberdeen harbour plan to extend into Nigg Bay, just south of the city http://news.stv.tv/north/205382-aberdeen-harbour-board-plans-to-expand-the-port-into-nigg-bay/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMc Posted June 6, 2013 Report Share Posted June 6, 2013 Scrabster or Gills gets my vote. One daytime and one nighttime six hour crossing per day from Shetland, got to be better than one overnighter. Would be an easy 13 hours Lerwick to Glasgow / Edinburgh including the drive, or 9 hours to Inverness. Even better if someone ran a fast train from Thurso. Might stop us moaning about Orkney having all the benefits of numerous short crossings a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyboy Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 have you ever been in leith? almost an hours walk to the city, shopping there is no where near as good as aberdeen (much more spread out) plus it will make the boat journey longer and therefore more expensive for passengers.......... wish folks would quit with these foolish IMO ideas! Your Joking surely.The East end of Princes St is 30 minutes at most.Maybe about 10 minutes on a 22 bus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 What's wrong with the north boat going back to where it docked in the first place - Leith?!?!Well if that is a serious idea then perhaps the fact that there is a linkspan at Rosyth which means building a new one at Leith is most unlikely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineer21 Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 that too justme, would need serious investment in leith to make a ro-ro there. iam not joking not everyone walks at warpspeed many older or with buggies etc it will take 45mins to the shopping centre at top of princess street.mabye if the trams stopped at the new ferry terminal....... this is all pie in the sky anyway.... serco are hardly gonna move anywhere the contracts have slim profits already they just wanna keep running Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fusion Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 an idea would be to move it to the new deep water piers in aberdeen, (if they get planing permition) yes it will be a further walk but at least its still aberdeen. then they gould get bigger and better ferries, id love at least one boat to be like the narrona. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 Scrabster or Gills gets my vote. One daytime and one nighttime six hour crossing per day from Shetland, got to be better than one overnighter. Would be an easy 13 hours Lerwick to Glasgow / Edinburgh including the drive, or 9 hours to Inverness. Even better if someone ran a fast train from Thurso. Might stop us moaning about Orkney having all the benefits of numerous short crossings a day. You might sell it to passengers, but its a crap idea for freight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suuusssiiieee Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 Having had the delight of sailing with the good ship Hrossey over the weekend down to and up from Aberdeen here are my thoughts on the new Serco experience.. The mid ships bar extension is excellent, there is more space to sit down and generally the bar now feels more cosy than before. I would however add a tv up towards the end of the bar towards the canteen as by sitting up around that end the one and only tv is to far away. It is important to state you are an islander and show your islander card (or even boarding card) as the nice people behind the bar will not themselves ask you if your an islander even if they have seen you travel dozens of times in the past. You will save 25% on food and drink so remember to do this EVERY time you purchase anything on board. A friend travelling with me didn't do this once and was charged full whack. Food is generally good although i did not purchase a breakfast as £9.95 is frankly taking the p*ss. I did note a very small uptake for the exclusive £18.50 lounge. When heading down the midships bar was lively and packed whereas the "lounge" had 4 people in that space, a total waste in my opinion. I don't really think that idea works and hopefully that space that is so under used can be put to better use for ALL passengers to enjoy and for free! The recliners at the front should not be there for reasons mentioned before, they will not be a great place to sit on a bad night. The area at the shop could have had 4 booths with horseshoe seating to make is feel cosier rather than look like one side of a 747. Overall not bad although there is still room for considerable improvement. I have also filled up these opinions on their on board feedback form. Again my main gripe has to be the completely unnecessary tannoy call at 6am down and 6.30 up. There should for people in the cabins be an opt out option (more so if you are travelling only as foot passengers) should you wish not to be awakened at that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suuusssiiieee Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 I see on facebook this morning a photo mock up of the new look the ferries will sport on their hulls after drydocking - bold choice to go all white, it will be a nightmare to keep tidy.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suuusssiiieee Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 (edited) On another site there is a photo of that horny viking Magnus adorning the funnel of the Hamnavoe in drydock, so indeed no more "N" logo. *Edit found link to the new look: http://www.orkneynewstoday.co.uk/new-viking-livery-set-for-northlink-boats/ Edited January 18, 2014 by suuusssiiieee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papsy Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 its just a way of saving money,(no blue paint to buy)they don't care how the ferrys look as long as they make money in which there no doing this weekend.they should have sailed lastnite but to no avail, theres no wind sooth of fair isle so they could have gone slowly till they got there and then put on more engines,dont think there getting soft they are soft,vos trapper left lastnite at 4 knots and the Shetland fishing boat venture left this morning and was donig 12 knots bye fair isle this after noon. I think its about time they renewed the officers aboard and got some right seamen,if they had been paying off in Aberdeen the next day they would have sailed,i think the level of seaman ship aboard the north boats is declining and should be addressed a.s.a.p,theres thousands of pounds worth of fish, shellfish and salmon going to be days older because they cant read a forecast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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