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  lol! Norman Wisdom...like it!
  
  You speak with a far greater knowledge on the subject than me Ed but are we really sure the Brave Merchant is a good choice for the Dover-Boulogne run. What it shows to me is a shift in the marketing.
  
  The new route started off in fine style with the Norman Arrow ( after a temp vessel), aiming surely, and fairly and squarely, at the Tourist market. We remember the initiatives with RogerW and LD Lines about tapping into the new tourist potentialities. I still have the photo of Nick Stevens and Roger lurking somewhere in my near distant archive. Using the seacat type vessel was designed to catch the tourist eye as the restaurants and shops of Boulogne were seriously interested in an influx of trippers from the UK all spending bigtime. And why wouldnt they be.
  
  The Norman Arrow wasnt fully functional in all weathers so a swift departure there to sunnier climes. Enter stage left the current incumbent..the Norman Spirit. This ship has worked away through the winter in regular but low-key fashion. But now when it sees a chance to flourish on the horizon, spring being around the corner, it is also moved on. Enter stage right...the dour but functional Brave Merchant, with no tourist trappings at all. You cannot market a ship like that to the general public as a tourist vessel, "cruise the channel on the Brave Merchant..I dont thinkso..." which seems to indicate that the have essentially abandoned the tourist market. Seafrance and P&O market their ships in a "the holiday starts here" way and people believe it and like it, because its accurate. I myself always use Seafrance and indeed your holiday begins once you get onboard.
  
  So have LD LINES shifted their expectations on the Dover - Bouolgne route? it seems that way.

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