Short Break On Rose Emblem

[KevinB]

7 minutes ago, Broads01 said:

Thanks for an excellent write up and photos, Jean.

I'm impressed with the service you received from the boatyard and the fact they compensated you. As is so often said, what's important is not what goes wrong but how it's dealt with when it does. As I mentioned about my recent trip with Ferry, I was also impressed with the service, the handover and the boat. I do think they need to rethink their pricing though, especially as when I visited they had more boats not on hire than anyone else.

I agree about the pricing, I’ve spent a lot of time the last few months deciding what to do next Summer, unfortunately had to rule of a few yards I’d used numerous times in the past due to pricing , can’t see us ever using NBD again sadly, not a fan of the “all inclusive” price 

[YnysMon]

Thanks Jean. Losing steering must have been scary! It does sound like you were fortunate to have a very good and thorough handover though. Thats very good news. It’s a big thumbs up that you’ve booked the same boat for your next trip. 

When we hired I was a big fan of the all inclusive price, and probably would be even more a fan with the increasing fuel costs. Judging by holiday tales this year more people seem to be having to pay extra on top of their fuel deposit at the end of their holiday compared to previous years.

 

[kpnut]

Thanks for your write-up Jean. I love the way you keep us in suspense waiting for the next instalment! 
And great to cope with a breakdown and have it sorted so efficiently. 

[Mouldy]

9 hours ago, KevinB said:

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . can’t see us ever using NBD again sadly, not a fan of the “all inclusive” price 

The ‘all inclusive’ pricing will probably work out in your favour if you intend to cram as much cruising as possible during your holiday.  No business will surely introduce a scheme whereby they will lose money on the majority of hirings.  I’m sure that anyone who is happy to potter about, not cover many miles and be conscious of posted speed limits will be subsiding those that tear round the network, flat out, intending to go everywhere in a week.

If we were to return to hiring, I would certainly avoid that type of pricing, preferring to pay for what we’ve used.  There have been several cases on social media where folk have been charged huge amounts for fuel used.  From what I’ve read, these seem to have involved one yard in particular where it has become the norm to dip the fuel after the holidaymaker has left and forward a bill for excess over the deposit or a refund.  I guess that in large yards, with big fleets, it is easier to turn boats around, but obviously has shortcomings and it’s always possible that sometimes fuel doesn’t get topped up.

I still maintain that smaller yards give better service, albeit usually with older craft, but I can’t imagine such problems would be present at the likes of Summercraft, Silverline, Pacific, Bridgecraft or Horning Pleasurecraft.

 

[tim]

Thanks for your tale Jean, I’m just beginning to catch up on here after a hectic few weeks

Sorry to hear of your stearing issue but I suppose these things can happen with anything mechanical, seems Ferry did the decent thing!

[SwanR]

I think as far as the pricing goes, you pay your money and take your choice. We like the way it works and if we're happy with the boat and the price then we take that decision with our eyes open, knowing that's our total cost. Given that we don't now have travel costs to get to Norfolk that also influences our choice of holiday package and destination. 

 

[SwanR]

Boat Review

Here's a rundown of Rose Emblem. I'll try to remember as much as I can but if anyone has any questions please ask. And again, I can only reiterate that our breakdown was handled really well, the customer service from Ferry Marina was excellent. All their staff were very friendly and helpful and a pleasure to spend time with.

We had hired Rose a few years ago and were keen to take her again having seen the modifications made to open up the boat by removing a doorway that had restricted the view from the helm to the stern. There's a more open feel now with plenty of room to move around. Head height is always an issue for us as hubby is tall. He was mostly ok apart from in the rear bedroom which seemed a bit lower that the rest of the boat.

Large windows give a good view from the helm aided by a rear view camera, especially useful for seeing if anything is behind you or positioning itself to overtake. The helm seat is large enough for two and has good legroom albeit that makes the steering wheel further away. I needed a couple of cushions behind me but was very comfortable there.

The galley has been refitted with the changes to the boat so it's bright and in good condition. Better gas cooker than many I've used. And the fridge was plenty large enough for food for a few days. The tv is ok and the aerial is on a pole giving good reception, much better than fiddling around deciding which way to point it and where to position it. There's a car radio as well which again gave decent coverage and good sound quality.

The wi-fi on the boat was easy and better than we've had on a certain other boat we have hired a lot. No need to log in every day. It was fast and worked well everywhere that we cruised. Not a necessity of course but something that many folk like to have. So it was a bonus.

The heating is radiators. Once on they don't take too long to warm the boat through. The only thing you have to be careful of is running time without the engine. So if cruising out of season you may want to consider shore hookup. However looking at the handover form, which is quite generic, I suspect the yard may be telling all hirers not to run the heating for more than two hours once the engine is off. We had a couple of very cold nights, down to about 4 degrees, so were mindful of this when deciding whether to put the heating on or wear a couple of extra layers!

The bed is very comfortable and a good size double. Plenty of hanging space and drawers in the bedroom. Plenty of sockets dotted around the boat. The lights all had individual switches apart from in the bedroom where there were also no bedside lights of any kind and only a light switch by the door. That caused some hilarity for whoever was last to bed. Take a torch!

I think that's about covered everything. All in all a very comfortable boat, easy to moor and steers well. There's a bow thruster which is a must have on our list as with only two of us on board it helps with mooring up. We've already booked it again ... and it's definitely a rival to Swan Reflection which we have hired so many times. 

 

[SwanR]

To round things off for this holiday tale here's the short video I put together.

 

[YnysMon]

We’re the moisture traps provided by Ferry Marina?

[SwanR]

Ah yes, they were. I had forgotten about those. 

[YnysMon]

Thanks for the video Jean. Lovely music choice, as always.

Did the moisture traps help? 

[SwanR]

3 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Did the moisture traps help? 

I'm not really sure. We still had to clear the windows before we could get going in the mornings so I don't know. But it never felt like a damp atmosphere inside. I guess they might come into their own once we get further into the winter.

3 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Thanks for the video Jean. Lovely music choice, as always.

Thanks Helen. The music took me quite a while to settle on. I did have it all done very quickly initially with a nice 60s soundtrack, but then a couple of the songs were blocked on YouTube so I had to start over. It nearly ended up being Hayley Westenra - I've saved that version for myself. But I thought that more people would enjoy the Carpenters.

[Captain]

Hi Jean,

A very enjoyable holiday tale thanks. I like the look of Rose, I hired Jade  back in 2013 and Swan Reflection and Romance on various occasions between 2012 and 2019 however the double helmsman seat, bow and stern thrusters rear view camera and island bed are nice touches. Was the bed a sprung mattress or foam and what did the settee feel like, as I get older I am getting fussy about my beds/berths and it's very subjective as to what is comfortable. I find some beds very hard and others are worn out and soft which can end up being hard as you feel the board underneath.

Thanks Neil 

[SwanR]

Hi Neil,

The bed was very comfortable, I'm not sure what kind of mattress it was. What we often do is take our own sleeping bag which we use on top of the made up bed, so the duvet provides extra cushioning underneath us, if that makes sense. But I'm not good at sleeping away from home, I do like my own bed. However I have no qualms about going out on Rose again.

The seating in the front cabin area was fine. There were a few cushions but I may well take another one or two of my own when we go back, as I do like plenty of support behind me. As I recall the seating on Reflection feels very upright, I didn't notice that with Rose.

They could do with refilming the video of Rose Emblem as they have made some changes. The stern thruster isn't there now, just a bow thruster but a different one than previously and it works really well. The soft furnishings have changed, as you can see in my photos it's all in a grey fabric now. The curtains and window coverings are very good that they provide. 

I also really like the wide doors as opposed to the narrow pairs of doors you get back and front on other boats, which are fiddly to bolt and lock when you go out.

Hope that helps.

[Broads01]

Thanks for the review, Jean. The fit out looks good from the photos. You can see how they've opened it out which is very nice and makes it unusual. The only thing I don't like is that steering wheel which looks like it came from a 1970s car! I do like a proper ship's wheel style but maybe I'm just picky. What did you think of the shower and toilet?

[Captain]

Hi Jean,

Thanks for your clarification it was very helpful and those single doors are better than the fiddly double doors. Interesting they have removed the stern thrusters perhaps more trouble than they were worth and expensive to replace when rarely needed.

Simon,

I agree with your comment on the steering wheel, they spend thousands on a refurb on a modern boat worth perhaps 65k second hand and fit a steering wheel out of a 60s Caribbean or 1k day boat. Saying that it wouldn't stop me from hiring her although I am sure they could have found a better one in an arcade.

Neil 

[grendel]

thank you Jean for the wonderful tale, it was good to hear, problems and all, and i feel that while uncommon issues can be had with any boat from any yard this late in the season, I am glad you were recompensed for the trouble.

It seems to me that some people judged HW's rather harshly for the problems we had aboard on lads week (maybe its just the way I tell it), but they must remember that we have 4 boats out (3 hire and one private) so any engineer call outs will be x4 from the normal holiday tale, and indeed all 4 of our boats needed engineers at some point through our holiday, even the private boat (Broad Ambition) required an engineer to attend from wales. so its good to hear that its not just the one yard that has engineering issues in October, and the support that we had from the engineers was to the same standard as that you had,

we were lucky that we didnt lose any time from our trip - last year we lost half a day on one boat when the gearbox had to be replaced, and then the steering had to be reattached to the boat, but even then half of that crew transferred to other boats while the repairs were accomplished, and that was outside a pub.

[SwanR]

10 hours ago, Broads01 said:

What did you think of the shower and toilet?

This was fine. Photo below. Again, this is changed from how it used to be. It's not a pump action toilet anymore, but has two black buttons which are just at the bottom of the shower curtain by the window in the picture. One to put the water in and one to take the water etc., away. This worked with no problems. We didn't try the shower as it was just 3 full days on board when you think about it. And it's not like it was the heat of summer. But we always had hot water without needing to run the engine.

Ferry Marina provided some small toiletries - shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, soap. And a small washing up liquid and soap for the kitchen. On a short break, washing up once a day, that was more than enough. Tea towel, dishcloth and sponge provided as well but you do need to remember to take your own hand and bath towels.

 

[SwanR]

10 hours ago, Broads01 said:

The only thing I don't like is that steering wheel which looks like it came from a 1970s car! 

 

1 hour ago, Captain said:

Simon,

I agree with your comment on the steering wheel,

Interestingly they had a great deal of trouble getting the steering wheel off. In the photo of the helm position that I'll repost below, you can see a piece of wood under it. Just to clarify, this was a stop gap to try to get the boat fixed. They went down to Brundall for a whole new something or rather that needed replacing once they got behind the helm. However the new part didn't fit the hole they took the old one out of, so they went back to the yard to cut a piece of wood to size and make the necessary holes for the fixings. Having done this they then found the gearing to be different. And even once they sorted that out they then found that the cable was fractionally the wrong size and not going to work. That was when they had to make what I know was a difficult decision for them, to tell us that it couldn't be fixed that day.

The point is that we are expecting they will have had to do some work on the dashboard to tidy things up. I will be interested to see what is there when we take the boat out again which should be next month.

I am reminded looking at the photo that also this was the easiest boat ever to stop and start. To start the engine you turn the key to 3 o'clock for a few seconds and then press the start button on the right. To stop it you simply turn the key back to 12 o'clock. No remembering to turn anything further than that or press other buttons. Wonderful.