On 2008-05-23 20:58:42 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon
said:

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Andy Hall
saying something like:

snip

The ships are well used because trouble has been taken to provide each
group of customers with what they want.

I wish they'd come and do something in the Irish Sea. Irish Ferries
aren't *too* bad, but Stena are a bunch of pirates.

I really despair.

It's perfectly simple to have a customer service ethic and a range of
products and services to sell them. None of these ships are exactly
small, although the Baltic ones tend to be pretty large - something
like 12 decks.

I've used Brittany Ferries a few times. The standard of the better
cabins is just about acceptable, but the quality of the food is utter
crap.

It's a pity that the Isle of Man is where it is. If it were
somewhere off of Cardigan Bay, it would be possible to have a Mariehamn
arrangement.