MS Pride of Rotterdam

The "Pride of Rotterdam" (along with her sister ship "Pride of Hull") is the P&O Ferries flagship of the fleet and is one of the world's largest cruiseferries. Working alternately each ferry departs at 9pm each evening and makes a 12 hour night time crossing of the North Sea working the route between the ports of Hull (East Riding of Yorkshire, England) and Europort in Rotterdam (Zuid-Holland, Netherlands). The construction of the cruiseferry was carried out at Fincantieri's Marghera yard in Venice. The "Pride of Rotterdam" took less than 14 months to build.

Facilities

The facilities are based over 12 decks. The main public rooms and services centre around atrium area on Decks 8 and 9. Deck 8 incorporates the bureau de change, continental café, shops, and a children's area, as well as the hotel facilities reception. Dining facilities are located aft side of the ship.

As of 2006, the cyber cafés that once operated on the vessel are out of service. These are now used for storage purposes but may in future reopen as alternative retail space.

The entertainment facilities include a casino, Irish bar, two cinemas, an arcade for children and a double-deck show lounge.

Deck 9 boasts a fully equipped business centre, wine bar, and an a la carte restaurant. There as also a lounge bar and restaurant exclusive to freight drivers.

Decks 8 and 9 are connected by processional staircases port and starboard, while all the connecting decks are accessed by a main stairtower.

The Pride of Rotterdam has 530 cabins with a total of 1,360 beds. Passenger cabins are forward on Decks 8 and 9 and aft on Deck 7, as well as being located throughout Deck 10. The vessel is managed by a crew of just 152, whose accommodation is on Deck 11.

At the base of the funnel on Deck 12 lies a multi-functional sky lounge — the only public space — designed for access to the teak-planked sun decks outside. This sky lounge also serves as a piano bar and breakfast area.

Vehicles

For speed of turnaround, the car deck is accessed through a side entrance in the ship and consequently separated from the main freight deck entrance. The 2.7m-high car deck is designed to accommodate 250 cars, caravans etc.

The freight capacity of the Pride of Rotterdam is 3,345 lane metres. These freight decks are accessed via an 18m-wide by 12.5m-long stern door/ramp from Hamworthy KSE. The main deck is completely flat for the easy loading of trailers. On boarding, the vehicles travel up one side of the vessel, turn in the spacious bow area, and then proceed back towards the stern on the other side.

On Deck 3, a total of 1,483 lane metres (3.1m wide, 7m high) can be employed, while on Deck 5, the upper trailer deck is accessed via two Hamworthy KSE hoistable ramps, giving a further 1,560 lane metres. Each ramp is 58m long and 3.4m wide. While the deck is 4.8m in height, it is open aft, permitting the carriage of hazardous cargo.(All lower decks (3-7) are locked out during sailing hours (Lift and Stairway uses).) At the aft end of Deck 7 there is an exclusive area for drivers, featuring 14 single and 39 double cabins.

ee also

*Largest ferries of Europe

fi:M/S Pride of Rotterdam