Swedish firm’s two biggest vessels get extended and upgraded facilities
At the end of February 2022 the Swedish ferry company Stena Line’s two largest ferries, Stena Hollandica and Stena Britannica, completed a €1 million refit to provide brand new onboard facilities.
The North Sea vessels, which sail twice daily between Harwich and Hoek van Holland, were in dry-dock in the EDR Shipyard in the historic Port of Antwerp to undergo their regular annual maintenance to keep them up to the company’s high standards.
While there they also received some exciting new additions to the onboard services on offer for passengers.
Duty Free sales on routes to the UK have been booming since Brexit, with onboard spend per passengers increasing by 118% in 2021.
To cater for this huge demand Stena Line has added a new additional Duty Free shop to each vessel, extending the retail floorspace on both ships by 40 per cent, allowing the company to greatly increase not only the capacity of goods on sale, but also extend the range of products on sale by almost a third.
Dog ownership has also been booming during the pandemic and with more people than ever travelling with fury friends, pet lovers have a brand new option. For the first time ever on the North Sea, Stena Line are offering dog-friendly cabins.
15 of the vessel’s 500 cabins have been converted to allow passengers to travel together with their happy dogs. Dog-friendly cabins are suggestions that passengers have been requesting via the company’s satisfaction surveys.
Meanwhile, for those passengers that enjoy the wide selection of onboard facilities, the vessels’ two popular Barista Bars have received a new stylish Scandinavian look and feel.
Each of the vessels top of the range Captain’s Suites have also been refurbished to maintain the high standards that Stena Line’s premium customers demand and expect.
Erik Thulin, Trade Director for the North Sea said: “Our annual dry-docking programme is key to keeping our vessels ship-shape and continue looking so good. It also allows us to be flexible in responding to our customers’ demand, so we’ve taken the opportunity to extend our onboard Duty Free offer, to provide for more products and more bargains for our customers.”
