Dover Calais Ferry – 1) The Pride of Burgundy
The Pride of Burgundy is a cross-channel ferry operated by P&O Ferries on the Dover Calis ferry route. The ship was originally designed to become the fourth ‘European Class’ freight only vessel for P&O European Ferries Dover-Zeebrugge route to be named European Causeway. Due to increasing demand on the Dover – Calais ferry route, the ship was converted to a multi-purpose ferry (passengers and freight) prior to completion with the addition of extra superstructure. It is a commonly stated in ferry publications and website that the original choice of name for the ship was Pride of Lille. By capacity she is one of the smallest Dover – Calais ferries, only taking 1,420 passengers and 600 cars.
This ship consists of 9 decks. Vehicles are carried on decks three to five. Passengers’ leisure area is at deck 7-8. The open deck is at the aft of deck 9.
Sister Ships
Because of her conversion to multi-purpose passenger vessel during construction the Pride of Burgundy has no identical sisters. She does however share a number of mechanical, layout and visual features with the other ‘European Class’ ships in the P&O fleet:-
- European Seaway
- Pride of Canterbury (converted from European Pathway)
- Pride of Kent (converted from European Highway)
Unlike the converted Pride of Canterbury and Pride of Kent, Pride of Burgundy retains a number of cabins on deck 7 though these are not for passenger use of the Dover Calais ferry route.
