Sea News...

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• Guest 653

  • Registered: 13 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 10,540
  25 June 2013     06:57234761
  #641       report
  No one can take away the credit due to DHB for the cruise ships they bring to Dover.
  
  Kate's words above show the professionalism, success and hard work put in and it is up to local businesses and WCCTA to make it work for them and their members.
  
  I have been sorting out some old papers at home and came across ones that were about the different tourism initiatives I had been working on over the years, but sadly, none of them were supported by WCCTA, so they didn't go any where.
  
  During 2005, I spent 9 months working on 10 different initiatives and projects. They were costed, fully workable and would have increased tourism no end; many of them were supported by Kent Tourism, but not locally.
  
  Dover and the historic sites and attractions would have been so much better off now (no that isn't conceit), than they are and the Town would have looked better too.
  
  I've wiped the brick-dust off of my forehead and moved on, but (to me) it is all lost opportunities for Dover - one's that Dover could ill-afford.
  
  Once again - well done Kate and DHB.
  
  
  
  Roger
• Guest 640

  • Registered: 21 Apr 2007
  • Posts: 7,819
  25 June 2013     07:11234764
  #642       report
  Ah yes i remember the efforts you made Roger and so do a great many others too Im sure.
  Yes Kate O'Hara is certainly delivering...see post 640 now just gone over the page. The main ship featured..Carnival Legend carries 2100 passengers and 1,000 crew everytime, and she is coming 8 times more this year and that is just the one ship. A huge potential market there for local enterprise.
  email: dover7@msn.com
• Keith Sansum1

  • Location: london
  • Registered: 25 Aug 2010
  • Posts: 23,860
  25 June 2013     08:18234781
  #643       report
  And to add to this, where as over the years the tourists used to be shipped off to canters etc
  
  
  now a lot come into Dover
  ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
• howard mcsweeney1

  • Location: Dover
  • Registered: 12 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 62,352
  25 June 2013     09:13234801
  #644       report
  i remember all those intiatives roger, i still think more support should have been forthcoming.
  
  spot on keith, dover has never had so many cruise passengers in town up to businesses to supply what they want to buy.
• Guest 904

  • Registered: 21 Mar 2013
  • Posts: 312
  25 June 2013     10:41234825
  #645       report
   Keith Sansum1 wrote:

  And to add to this, where as over the years the tourists used to be shipped off to canters etc
  now a lot come into Dover

  
  
  Still a mixed bag I'm afraid - to illustrate this we had an American mother & daughter in the shop last week, they'd popped in to have their boarding passes and luggage labels printed off (ah, the joys of internet booking!) and whilst we were navigating through the depths of the interweb, we engaged in conversation.
  
  "Nice to see you spending your money in Dover, are you staying locally as well?"
  
  "No, we're staying in a little B&B in Canterbury"
  
  "That's a shame, did you not think about staying in Dover?"
  
  "Yes, but the Cruise Line gave us a list of recommended places to stay and none were in Dover..."
  
  
  Dover and Cinque Ports Life Magazines are on Facebook www.facebook.com/DoverandCinquePortsLife
• Guest 660

  • Registered: 14 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 3,205
  25 June 2013     11:23234829
  #646       report
  we served over 900 passengers at Dover Priory when this ship came in,most going to London to visit or catching planes home but the Town was buzzing with loads looking around.
  If you knew what I know,we would both be in trouble!
• Guest 653

  • Registered: 13 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 10,540
  25 June 2013     12:06234835
  #647       report
  The last time I looked on the Port of Dover website, there were links to local (Dover) Hotels and B & Bs. I'm sure the Ramada and Dover Marina Hotel and Spa have links to the various cruise line companies.
  
  
  
  Roger
• Guest 904

  • Registered: 21 Mar 2013
  • Posts: 312
  25 June 2013     13:29234842
  #648       report
  There may well be Roger - but the Cruise Lines themselves are not passing this info on to the passengers. The info they are supplying at the time of booking does not include much, if anything, on Dover.
  Dover and Cinque Ports Life Magazines are on Facebook www.facebook.com/DoverandCinquePortsLife
• howard mcsweeney1

  • Location: Dover
  • Registered: 12 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 62,352
  25 June 2013     15:28234849
  #649       report
  too much money involved in the rip off trips to canterbury and london paul.
  
  was talking to a german couple earlier this year who were stunned to find that not much over a fiver would take them to canterbury and back with a service every 15 minutes from pencester road.
• Guest 904

  • Registered: 21 Mar 2013
  • Posts: 312
  25 June 2013     15:35234851
  #650       report
  Aye Howard, and there seems to be very little we can do about it. I'll have to bend Charlie's ear once more.
  Dover and Cinque Ports Life Magazines are on Facebook www.facebook.com/DoverandCinquePortsLife
• Guest 653

  • Registered: 13 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 10,540
  25 June 2013     22:53234919
  #651       report
  Back in 2005 I created two local tours for the cruise passengers, they were fully costed and itineries written and all venues were very enthusiastic.
  
  I sent them to Kent Tourism and they were very complimentary (as they were about most of the initiatives I had created, it was only locally they were turned down - you are right Howard, they should have been given more support) and forwarded them on for acceptance by the cruise companies and nothing more was heard about them.
  
  
  
  Roger
• Guest 656

  • Registered: 13 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 2,262
  26 June 2013     10:36234964
  #652       report
  Dame Judi Dench is the Godmother of the wonderful Carnival Legend. How fitting, as she is certainly a Legend for sure, very well chosen indeed
• Guest 1694

  • Registered: 24 Feb 2016
  • Posts: 1,087
  26 June 2013     11:06234970
  #653       report
  International Day of the Seafarer. https://twitter.com/search?q=%23thankyouseafarer&src=hash, loads of tweets and lots of interesting info from yesterday. With crews who have been the victims of pirates having all their pay docked whilst in captivity by some ship owners, piracy a growing threat in West Africa and aa continuing threat in the Gulf of Aden, increasingly violent and unpredictable weather patterns at sea, a growing burden of regulation and inspection, shorter times in port and longer, slower main sea passages with fewer people on board to share the workload, it is not an easy life for those who man and navigate the ships which carry the vast majority of the goods on which we all depend. Seafarers and their families, of whatever nationality, deserve our support.
• Guest 640

  • Registered: 21 Apr 2007
  • Posts: 7,819
  27 June 2013     07:17235084
  #654       report
  Well said Neil, excellent piece there. Its a tough world out there. I've never been on board one of those long distance sea monsters but have seen footage in extraordinary weather..and they keep right on going with the ship seemingly dropping 10 floors every few minutes. Rough in all ways...and then on top of the natural problems there are pirates to contend with. Well done all Seafarers.
  If you look at Chris T's map as I call it ( channel traffic ) and zoom out..you can see just how much shipping is out there.
  
  * *
  In post 632 I featured a baby seagull and mother. Well..sad to report that the news is bad. To save everyone having to flick back to 632 I will reproduce the picture again here..
  
  TAKE TWO
  

  

  
  Yesterday in bright conditions two grim looking Jackdaws attacked. They took hold of the little one and started to do what you might expect. Seagulls everywhere rallied in support of mum and dad seagull, and buzz-bombed the intruders..and the Jackdaws withdrew. But only for a short time. They smelled blood..returned in minutes and finished the job on the little one...undisturbed and seemingly well able for the gulls. The little baby gull was torn assunder even though the poor little thing tried to fight back.
  
  Both parents then sat there for the rest of the day with the dead torn half-eaten baby next to them.
  Nature in the raw i suppose..but felt sorry for the poor gulls.
  
  * *
  
  And now the Twilight Zone.
  A couple of days ago the fog began to mostly disappear as we went into the evening and the sun came through bathing the channel in near orange twilight zone conditions. Took the following pictures but they do look a tad unreal..vessels floating in mid air..
  

  

  
  The Santa Maria Manuella gliding down the channel looking heavenly. Tis a long way out but what beauty!
  and now below a huge liner, a whopper among whoppers to be technical..
  The Adventure of the Seas, an enormous 137,000 tons plus monster..wow!
  

  

  
  Dont think that one would fit into Dover, but maybe we could give it a go.
  Hard to get an idea of scale when they are floating in mid air like that
  but clearly very big indeed.
  
  * *
  and now finally
  

  

  
  Slipping into harbour yesterday the Dutch vessel Jantje.. a little beauty.
  Just looking at it and I feel a bit of a shanty coming on.
  
  " twenty men on a dead mans chest
  yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
  drink and the devil have dun the rest
  yo ho ho and a bottle of rum "
  
  there you are.
  email: dover7@msn.com
• howard mcsweeney1

  • Location: Dover
  • Registered: 12 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 62,352
  27 June 2013     08:47235118
  #655       report
  great set of pics paul. i wondered what this was when i saw it from st martins battery yesterday afternoon.
  
  sad about the baby sea gull, nearly had the same problem in next door's garden but it suddenly learned to fly just before my cat could get it.
  
  
  

  
• Alec Sheldon

  • Location: Dover
  • Registered: 18 Aug 2008
  • Posts: 1,036
  27 June 2013     18:04235193
  #656       report
  Great pictures Paul, sorry to hear about the baby seagull.
• Brian Dixon

  • Location: Dover
  • Registered: 23 Sep 2008
  • Posts: 23,940
  27 June 2013     19:04235200
  #657       report
  paulb,simular things are happening up here at sunny hieghts,not only jackdaws but magpies as well are attacking seagulls.
• Guest 673

  • Registered: 16 Jun 2008
  • Posts: 1,388
  27 June 2013     23:43235244
  #658       report
  Unusual to see a warship but passed two this afternoon.
  
  USS Mount Whitney, mentioned earlier in this thread, transited southbound after port visits to Ventspils in Latvia and Kiel in Germany after visiting Lisbon on the way round from the Mediterranean where she is flagship of the US Sixth Fleet. Photographed here at long range with the Thanet coastline in the background.
  
  

  

  
  
  
  At the same time, the German frigate Hamburg was transiting northbound.
  
  

  
• Guest 640

  • Registered: 21 Apr 2007
  • Posts: 7,819
  28 June 2013     07:48235255
  #659       report
  Thanks guys..yep indeed a lovely ship or two there. Terrific Jantje one..
  I better move on before I feel a new sea shanty coming on,,,
  
  " I'm bound for Valparaiso round the horn "
  
  oh stop willye.
  
  Wow re the military hardware Ed. Some NATO heavy metal there..continually needed in an ever unsafe world...
  ...cracking pix.
  
  A minute ago...our 'friend' the JOLINE arrives
  I usually hear protesting voices carried on the wind but all seems quiet today.
  

  
  email: dover7@msn.com
• howard mcsweeney1

  • Location: Dover
  • Registered: 12 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 62,352
  28 June 2013     08:51235279
  #660       report
  pity the warships were a day early, could have scuttled the "joline" before loading its cargo.

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