Our history 1990 - 1999

At the start of the 1990s, The Observer readers voted us their ‘Favourite Ferry Operator of the Year’. It was a profound illustration of how far we had come from loading crates of vegetables onto a chartered freighter on a cold New Year’s Day in 1973.

What followed was a decade of fleet regeneration that brought modern, luxurious cruise ferries to our lines and showcased our commitment to providing the best service. Passenger numbers flourished and more awards came rolling in.

Upgrading the fleet

The first ship to receive an overhaul was Quiberon, which operated on our Plymouth to Roscoff route. Her £1 million refit gave her quite the spruce up with a new restaurant, expanded bar area, and bigger duty-free shop amongst other updates. Going bigger and better, it was Duc de Normandie’s turn for a facelift in 1991. Her £3 million refit was extensive and included a major upgrade to her passenger accommodation. She returned to the fleet in 1992 to serve alongside our new-build ship, Normandie, on our most popular route, from Portsmouth to Caen.

In fact, 1992 saw the arrival of two new super-ferries as, alongside Normandie, we also welcomed Barfleur. Built for the route between Poole and Cherbourg, at the time, she was the largest ship to ever dock in Poole.

Traffic grew exponentially on our route from Poole to Cherbourg in the early 1990s. In 1990 alone, passenger volumes on the route had almost doubled. Seeing this opportunity, we chose to enlarge Barfleur, even as she was in the yard under construction, and added more cabins, extra car space, and larger public areas to cope with the demands of more passengers. Barfleur’s arrival saw a further increase in our passenger volumes of 19%. The route was doing even better than we had forecasted!

The time had come for a new flagship, and we welcomed Val de Loire to our fleet. With this modern ship serving alongside our two new builds, we boasted the youngest fleet on the Channel. Setting sail on our Plymouth routes in the summer of 1993, Val de Loire raised service to a new level of elegance in ferry travel, featuring beautifully appointed Commodore Class cabins, two cinemas, a swimming pool, and even a medical centre. When it sailed to Cork, it was the largest ferry to have sailed to Ireland.

Further evidence of our superior service came when both Normandie and Bretagne were given five-star ratings by the AA, making us the only company to receive this accolade for ferries operating on the Channel. Barfleur also won awards for her onboard service, winning four for her self-service restaurant.

On television in 1994 - Ireland brought its traditional step-dancing to the masses when it hosted Eurovision and filled the interval with a storming performance called ‘Riverdance’. It was an overnight sensation that catapulted lead dancer Michael Flatley to stardom. Turned into a blockbuster stage show, it has been performed to millions across the globe and is still touring today.

A year to remember

In 1994 the Channel Tunnel opened. This could have been very bad news – but instead it reinforced our commitment to ferry services on the Channel. We reported a four-fold increase in traffic on our route from Portsmouth to St Malo, which was served by Bretagne then as it still is today. But it was our involvement in some of France’s most important moments that made 1994 a year to be proud of.

Half a century had passed since 156,000 Allied troops had landed on Normandy’s beaches in the D-Day Landings. At least 2,500 of those soldiers gave their lives on the first day with 425,000 casualties reported on all sides in the ensuing Battle of Normandy that raged across the Norman countryside, and which left its towns and cities in ruins after 80 days of fierce fighting.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the landings, in June 1994, the world’s spotlight turned to spectacular events remembering this historic day. Normandie carried the largest contingent of military vehicles across the Channel since D-Day itself. She sailed amongst 2,000 vessels in an armada made up of every type of ship – from aircraft carriers to motorboats. It included the Royal Yacht Britannia, carrying Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister John Major, and President Bill Clinton to attend commemorations in Normandy on the anniversary of D-Day itself, 6 June.

A month later, we were thrilled to carry a very different contingent as the official carrier for the Tour de France. In honour of D-Day, one stage took place in Portsmouth and another left Cherbourg for Rennes. A special sailing from Portsmouth to Cherbourg for the event carried hundreds of competitive road bikes – a unique sight in Normandie’s garage!

At the end of the year, we sailed to Rouen on our very first annual Christmas and New Year cruises.

The digital age arrives

With reservations continuing to grow apace, the time had come to look to the future. So, we put our best foot forward in embracing a new-fangled thing called ‘the world wide web’. When we launched our website in 1997, it was just a handful of pages – a simple shop window that showcased our timetables, and special offers, and featured a small selection of holiday properties. There was no way to book online and the fanciest thing it could do was to send out a brochure. Today, we have four different passenger websites in the countries we operate with thousands of pages. Around 75% of bookings are now made online.

In sport in 1998 – Allez Les Bleus! France hosted the FIFA World Cup and beat four-time winners and hot favourites, Brazil, in the final. It was an emphatic 3-0 victory in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris.

In the lead

By the end of the decade, we were carrying more than half of all the passenger traffic on the Western Channel. This was some achievement for a company set up to transport humble artichokes and cauliflowers! With seven ships sailing on six routes, we transported 2.65 million passengers and 173,000 freight units in 1999. Even though we had the youngest fleet on the Channel, we were not going to sit on our laurels. Determined to provide the best service and set ourselves apart from our competitors, we had further regeneration plans for the 2000s – including a bespoke-build flagship.

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