On this route there are two boats run by stena but the difference in service is miles apart the dutch run boat has far better food and service compared to the English crewed one surely you would expect the same standards on both boats. if you are not a regular on the English one then you can kiss goodbye to any manners or service from the crew to the point when queuing for a drink they will serve their mates before you!!! I’m sure they would be the first to moan if they were replaced by a dutch crew but tbh would be the best thing to happen to them
I agree 100%, they have been like this for years, the Dutch crewed ship is far superior for service and quality of food.
I remember getting on “Brittanica” in Harwich. As I was walking into reception to get my cabin sorted. An English female crew member shouted.
“Are they letting you on already?”
“Yes…Why?” Her reply at the top of her voice…
“■■■■ ME…THEY HAVEN’T GOT ALL THE OTHER [zb] OFF YET!” 
Hasn’t it always been like this? When I first went over harwich hook, there were four boats, the st Edmund and st George on the Brit side, and Prinses Beatrix and Koningin Juliana on the Dutch side. Although the Edmund and the Beatrix were the newer boats, the Dutch ones were always the best for service and general friendliness. As a 9 year old I always got freebie sweets and drink from the Dutch crew!
Gary
I’m astonished that the crew are even Dutch/British in the first place, rather than Filipino, Polish or Russian like the other 99% of Dutch and British flagged vessels.
Being regular to Northern Ireland and used to be regular on Calmac ferries I am yet to meet Polish staff…
orys:
Being regular to Northern Ireland and used to be regular on Calmac ferries I am yet to meet Polish staff…
lol really Irish ferries all eastern European crew about 50/50 on the 08.55 stena sailing from Holyhead to Dublin all deck crew are phillapino or eastern European loaded out on the 10.30 Belfast to Birkenhead yesterday all deck crew eastern European not saying it is a bad thing but you cannot deny the reality of it
Outside of ferries where in many cases local crews have been retained, especially in roles that interact with the public, the civil merchant fleets as a whole of all western European nations are now almost entirely crewed by either eastern Europeans, largely Poles, Russians, Croats or Bulgarians or by Asians, generally Filipinos but increasingly Chinese, Burmese and others. The British registry is now in fact a flag of convenience and more ships flying the red ensign are actually foreign owned than British owned. The British flag is seen by foreign ship owners as a flag of credibility while being more convenient that other western flags. German container feeder ships are now often registered in the UK, with a British red ensign flying astern but you wont find a single British citizen onboard. Sometimes, though increasingly rarely the captain will be German, the other offices will be Polish, Lithuanian or Russian and the deck crew will be the same, or Filipino. The only reason these German owned ships register in the UK is that to register the same ship in Germany they’d have to employ two engineers, while Britain only requires one so its cheaper for them to employ one Russian under the British flag than two Russians under the German flag. Its all a complete farce. The shipping industry has been a cut-throat place for decades and its gone unnoticed ashore because its out of sight and out of mind, except to those tens of thousands of British, Dutch, Norwegian, Danes, Germans etc who’ve lost their jobs. Sadly all of the same trends that have been going on since the 60s and especially the 70s in shipping are now taking place in European road transport.
mazzer:
orys:
Being regular to Northern Ireland and used to be regular on Calmac ferries I am yet to meet Polish staff…lol really Irish ferries all eastern European crew about 50/50 on the 08.55 stena sailing from Holyhead to Dublin all deck crew are phillapino or eastern European loaded out on the 10.30 Belfast to Birkenhead yesterday all deck crew eastern European not saying it is a bad thing but you cannot deny the reality of it
Don’t be silly, this is orys you are talking about and he only see’s what he chooses to see and that isn’t what the rest of the UK population see.
robinhood_1984:
Outside of ferries where in many cases local crews have been retained, especially in roles that interact with the public, the civil merchant fleets as a whole of all western European nations are now almost entirely crewed by either eastern Europeans, largely Poles, Russians, Croats or Bulgarians or by Asians, generally Filipinos but increasingly Chinese, Burmese and others.
I am not talking about merchant fleets and other, as I think raymundo would have more to say on that, I just say that being Polish myself it’s easy for me to recognize Polish or Eastern European staff in various places, and as you rightly said, when it come to ferries, in many cases local crews have been retained. I think the only one I had encounter with Eastern European staff was Transeuropa Ferries (RIP). I just wanted to put that bit straight, nothing more, and now we came to the same point.
GBPub:
Don’t be silly, this is orys you are talking about and he only see’s what he chooses to see and that isn’t what the rest of the UK population see.
Obviously I suffer from the same problem as robinhood, as you can see above 
orys:
Obviously I suffer from the same problem as robinhood, as you can see above
and what problem is that?
That we both see that not every member of staff on the ferries is Eastern European yet.
orys:
That we both see that not every member of staff on the ferries is Eastern European yet.
I doubt that ever will be the case. Smaller ferries that operate on shorter routes don’t generally have crew that live on board so those ones, such as in the Scottish islands will probably always have locals on as to employ a Pole and also supply him/her with accommodation on land will be more expensive than employing a local. Out side of that, any ship now flying the British flag has to pay a crew member from any EU country a British wage and not as was the case until a year or so back, a wage according to the country of origin of that crew member. That is why P&O for example flagged out their British flagged ships on the Hull to Rotterdam/Zeebrugge routes to the Bahamas so that the Poles working on board could still be paid lower wages, though Poles and other eastern European EU seamen didn’t make any sort of majority on those vessels as far as I’m aware as they were already largely Filipino crewed with maybe a few Polish seamen or engineers and perhaps some of the catering staff.
bigvern1:
I remember getting on “Brittanica” in Harwich. As I was walking into reception to get my cabin sorted. An English female crew member shouted.
“Are they letting you on already?”
“Yes…Why?” Her reply at the top of her voice…
“[zb] ME…THEY HAVEN’T GOT ALL THE OTHER [zb] OFF YET!”
Yes I only used this ferry once,late 90s fri.boss said I was booked to sail fri. night.Went to office to be told not booked on fri or sat.Rung boss who wasn’t pleased and the arrogant a.sole in the office didn’t help.Boss said ring back later.Shift changed so I tried my luck,didnt get on fri. boat but sailed sat,what a performance that was
regards dave.
orys:
robinhood_1984:
Outside of ferries where in many cases local crews have been retained, especially in roles that interact with the public, the civil merchant fleets as a whole of all western European nations are now almost entirely crewed by either eastern Europeans, largely Poles, Russians, Croats or Bulgarians or by Asians, generally Filipinos but increasingly Chinese, Burmese and others.I am not talking about merchant fleets and other, as I think raymundo would have more to say on that, I just say that being Polish myself it’s easy for me to recognize Polish or Eastern European staff in various places, and as you rightly said, when it come to ferries, in many cases local crews have been retained. I think the only one I had encounter with Eastern European staff was Transeuropa Ferries (RIP). I just wanted to put that bit straight, nothing more, and now we came to the same point.
GBPub:
Don’t be silly, this is orys you are talking about and he only see’s what he chooses to see and that isn’t what the rest of the UK population see.Obviously I suffer from the same problem as robinhood, as you can see above
I’m saying nowt, my blood pressure is high enough as it is ! 
this was always a beautiful crossing and the cost of it reflects in it. was used by many good companies and always of a good standard, but im sure anybody on here who uses it regular like myself will have noticed how much it has changed for the worse. Now would say 70% eastern block. They NEVER used this route until Stenaline thought it would be a good idea to get more business to pay for the new ships which has cost them millions to give all the eastern block companies a special deal to fill the boats up. Nice. What about the loyal customers who have used it for years?!