monasqueen

I've been keeping an eye out on the Steam Packet's sailing updates, and am still waiting for further news in respect of today. MONDAY, 25 DECEMBER 2023 Douglas Heysham Departure: 08:45 – Manxman Expected Arrival: 12:30 Due to a rapid deterioration in the Company’s staff morale this sailing is subject to disruption/cancellation. To give these sailings every opportunity to take place, a final decision will be made by Father Christmas by 07:30hrs. Heysham Douglas Departure: 14:15 – Manxman Expected Arrival: 18:00 Due to a rapid deterioration in the Company’s staff morale this sailing is subject to disruption/cancellation. To give these sailings every opportunity to take place, a final decision will be made by Father Christmas by 07:30hrs.

It's in relation to NIC.

No worries. Arrow has gone out. There should be newspapers, butties, and Christmas cards and parcels on the Island tomorrow.

Just noticed. She's gone onto the Edward pier!

She went out in about a force 6 this morning. It took 4 hours 35. The return journey took over 4 hours. Needless to say, tonight's sailing has been cancelled. Time to send Arrow out again?

Sounds nice, but it will be back well after the last bus has gone.

Has she actually been allowed out in any weather yet? Does anyone know how she copes with it?

I think my newsagent had the wrong story - the distributors are now saying "Friday 8th Dec, National newspapers arrived at 06:45am. Manx Papers have arrived and all vans are now on the road." Arrow is still over 2 hours out, so the local papers must have been hidden somewhere.

The outstanding newspapers from yesterday are being shipped in today on Arrow, which will arrive around 14.30. I wonder if Tesco's bananas are on her, too? 😁

Apologies to all. Something had changed, and I was misled. Hope all goes ok tonight.

Clearly the sea is still too wet - tonight's round trip has now been cancelled. No newspapers again, folks.

Up sh1t creek, where it was lost last time round.

According to Manx Radio - "The 8.45am crossing from Douglas to Heysham has been called off due to forecast adverse weather. Ronaldsway Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for heavy rain." So it cancels for rain now. Postal services are at a standstill, as well as newspaper (and other) supplies.

It's made National BBC TV News. Another good advert for the Island.

The problem relating to the indecent haste to get out of Heysham early this morning could not, surely, have been caused by tides, or siltation. It was high tide at 00.33 at Heysham, by my reading of the tide table. Or am I more than usually confused? (Am I similarly confused about the need to get out of Douglas early this evening? Departure from Douglas 19.05. Low tide in Douglas 19.37. Pretty close, perhaps.)

Heysham tide tables are available on line, and give expected height, but the one I've found for Heysham today doesn't seem to help explain the problem. https://www.tidetimes.org.uk/heysham-tide-times-20231130

As I heard it, certainly on day one of the problem, the crew had been told they could not use their showers. Low level, not a basic requirement, eh? And they need their caffeine fix too - would you like to go to work without one? And, potentially, survive without one for a full week?

Try this - https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/manxman-not-expected-to-be-perfect/ They've already had since August. How much longer do they need? Trying to keep going until after the guarantee period expires?

That must have been a while back. They've tried to fix it so that the Exec Club membership card operates the door (like it did on Ben !) but every time they got it working for the card, it upset another system on board, so they had to go back to temporary cards, as described by 2112.

Yes, but apart from the door locking system for the Exec Lounge, which has never worked, I'm not too sure what else there still is - I haven't been round looking. It seems there's something new every time I get on board, anyway.

The papers did get on board - amazing! But we did leave late! I didn't go looking for teething troubles, but.... 1) The deck 8 Ladies' toilet has still not been fixed. 2) The Blue staircase lift was unusable. 3) The water system was unusable (other than for flushing and washing hands) - there were no hot drinks available all trip, apart from in the exec lounge, where someone had found a kettle or two, and boiled bottled water. Will that do for now?

The departure time was 09.04 this morning (Steam Packet's figure). Speed across was about 18 knots - more than the current "normal". Slightly more vibration, with an occasional thump and rock as we hit a little wave (or was it a whale?). The mid passage update gave an estimate of 12.25 at the harbour entrance, and about 10 to 15 minutes to get onto the berth. The first part of the estimate was about right, so looking like the magical 3 hours 30 would not be far off.. but.... berthing took one helluv a long time, and Steam Packet's reported time of arrival was 12.55, making it more than the 3 and 3/4 hours scheduled crossing time. And that's without mentioning any of the "teething problems" that we encountered on board.

Left Heysham this morning at 02.05, Due in Douglas at 05.50, according to the Steam Packet's website. She's going very slowly, and on board information shows she is due "on the head" at 07.00. The newspapers will be late.... again. The lack of information is deafening. Low tide was at 05.10, and if they have to avoid up to 2 hours either side of that, it might help to explain, but why can't they be open about it and tell us? Punctuality for the 12 months to 31 October is reported to be 86.1%. Most of that drop will be from when Manxman came on the scene. That is dire, even if reliability is good, at 98.9%.

She was due out of Heysham at 14.00, and left at 14.30, so must have tried to make a bit of time up. Bet she vibrated a lot!!!

Timings given on the Steam Packet website are normally "ropes off" to "all secure", as in early this morning - · Heysham Departed at: 02:00 - Douglas Arrived at: 06:36. Just a bit more than 4 hours 35! Why?? The figures given on the ships' AIS are Douglas, "on the Head", just outside the harbour, and Heysham, somewhere around No 7 buoy. Again just outside the harbour. Times between those points are currently close on 3 hours 45. You've then got to add the time needed to turn round, get back onto the berth, and get the ropes secure. And then there's the time it takes to discharge (but that doesn't get added to the voyage time - it's an added extra). The morning trip from Douglas to Heysham today took 3 hours 48. A good trip for this ship. The same trip last Wednesday was Douglas Departed at: 08:37 - Heysham Arrived at: 12:38 = 4 hours 01 Just a random date I kept figures for. We quite often did the trip in less than 3 hours 45 on Ben, and she'd plough through some heavy weather!