A walk through Stena Mersey recorded in photographs, starting upon entering the main vehicle deck and walking towards the bow end of the passenger accommodation on deck 5, finishing with a view of the bridge on deck 7. All pictures unless otherwise stated were taken onboard Stena Mersey during her Monday layover in Belfast during July 2015, and are © Copyright Steven Tarbox/NIFerrySite unless otherwise stated. This page is extremely image heavy and so may take a while to load on slower connections. There are plans to eventually replace this page as part of a wider rebuild of galleries across this site, which should improve loading times. 2014’s interior gallery is archived here for those who wish to compare.
Since this onboard tour was photographed, the Stena Plus lounge on both STENA LAGAN and STENA MERSEY has been relocated. Photographs of the improved Stena Plus lounge and the area occupied by the previous lounge can be viewed here
NIFS would like to thank Dave Keery, Scott Mackey, and the crew of Stena Mersey for making this photo feature possible.
Approaching the ship
Approaching Stena Mersey at Belfast’s Victoria Terminal 2. © Steven Tarbox
View of the vehicle deck entrance/stern door and lowered ramps. © Steven Tarbox.
View from the stern ramp of the main vehicle deck and the ramp leading to the upper vehicle decks (on the left). Just visible in the centre is the raised door to the lower hold (the row of lights in the background of the picture). © Steven Tarbox
Passenger escalator
Its a long way up!!!!! Looking up from the bottom of the escalator on Stena Mersey’s deck 3 (main vehicle deck) to the main passenger deck (deck 5). The direction of the escalator changes depending on whether passengers are boarding or disembarking the vessel. © Steven Tarbox.
Lobby at top of the stairs
Welcome on board! Foyer at the top of the escalator from the main vehicle deck, deck 5, Stena Mersey.
Entrance Lobby and guest services
Stena Mersey entrance lobby with guest services desk. The onboard shop is to the left of the picture. © Niferrysite
A view showing part of the onboard shop on Stena Mersey. The shop sells a selection of items including but not limited to Fragrances (some good deals when I was onboard), sweets, souvenirs and gifts, and travel essentials. The member of crew manning the shop seemed very knowledgable and keen to offer assistance in choosing fragrances. The shop itself Faces Guest services © NIFerrySite
Stena Shopping. Steven Tarbox
Stena Shopping (Stena Lagan). © Steven Tarbox.
Teen Town
After a short link corridor, these gaming machines can be found to the left, opposite the entrance to the cinema. © Steven Tarbox
This view is of Teen Town and the exterior of the Cinema. Again this is facing the rear of the vessel. © NIFerrySite
A view of the slot machines adjacent to the arcade machines in Teen Town and the exterior of the cinema. The cinema entrance is to the left. © NIFerrySite
Another shot of Teen Town on Stena Mersey. © NIFerrySite
Cinema
Stena Mersey’s cinema from front to back (looking forward), July 15. © Steven Tarbox
An alternative view of the cinema on Stena Mersey from front to back (looking aft). © Steven Tarbox. Free internet access
Internet access. These desks which are at the end of the cabin block on deck 5 and adjacent to “Teen Town” and the Cinema have replaced the pod lounge, which has made way for an extended Stena Plus lounge. Free wi-fi (wi-fi@sea) is also available throughout the vessel. © Steven Tarbox.
Cabin accommodation (corridor), deck 5
Corridor through the passenger cabin block. This runs straight through this area and can be used as an alternative to the main corridor for walking between the front and rear passenger areas. © NIFerrysite
Main corridor, starboard side
The main corridor runs along the starboard side of the cabin block on deck 5, and is dominated by this diagram of the ship and information about both the ship and route(s) they take. The other side of the corridor features windows looking out onto the sea. (Stena Lagan – identical). © Steven Tarbox
Facing forward again, this is the end of the main corridor facing the News Room. The corridor through the passenger cabin block emerges to the left as well. © NIFerrySite
A closer look at the News Room. Just visible on the left of the picture is one of a number of large mirrors onboard the Stena Mersey. Also to the left and out of shot is where the corridor through the passenger cabin block emerges. © NIFerrySite
The News Room
The news room. The barista cafe is just beyond the frosted glass in this picture. © Steven Tarbox.
Another shot of the news room, this time looking towards the main corridor. © NIFerrySite
Barista Cafe
Continuing our walk towards the bow (front) of the ship, we next pass through one of the main seating areas, the Barista Coffee Shop. © Steven Tarbox
The counter in Barista. Under previous operators, this was a second bar. © Steven Tarbox
Barista, central seating area. In this view (looking back towards the the news room), the children’s play area is just visible on the right. © Steven Tarbox
The Barista Coffee House, Stena Mersey. © Steven Tarbox
Children Play Area (Curious George)
The Curious George children’s play area is located at the rear of Barista, on the port side. This area has been improved with the addition of the climbing wall and the structure on the left since our visit last year. On our overnight crossing during July, a puppet show was put on for the children early during the crossing, which was well attended (and well received by the parents!). © Steven Tarbox.
A closer look at the improvements made since last year to the Curious George children’s play area. © Steven Tarbox
Central staircase and lobby
The 2 main walkways through Barista merge here in-front of the staircase to the main cabin deck. These double doors lead to the pod lounge, Stena Plus, and then the Met Bar and Grill, as well as the truckers restaurant. © NIFerrySite
The central staircase which leads to the majority of the cabin accommodation, located on decks 6 and 7.
Stena Plus (relocated in early 2018)
View of some of the seating inside Stena Plus. This area has been enlarged since our last visit, by expanding on to the area previously occupied by the little used pod lounge.
Another view of Stena Plus. This part of the lounge would have been occupied by the pod lounge last year. © Steven Tarbox
View from the main entrance of Stena Plus looking left into the new section. © Steven Tarbox
The Met Bar and Grill
As we continue past the Stena Plus lounge, we come to the main seating area and sole bar/restaurant – the Met Bar and Grill. The large majority of seating is situated to the port side of the vessel, with the counter serving food and drinks to the centre. The starboard side houses the galley, and at the forward end the truckers restaurant.
The food counter (and bar to the left). This was installed by Stena a couple of years ago, and has greatly increased the speed at which food is served, as well as helping with the flow of customers. Many dishes are still cooked to order in the galley, with the most popular dishes also kept constantly available on the hot plate on this counter. Before Stena Line service, this area was just a bar. Initially, Stena used the existing bar counter to allow customers to order food, which was cooked to order. This was both very inefficient and confusing to passengers, however, the current arrangement appears to work very well. © Steven Tarbox
A shot along the hot plate showing some of the selection of foods ready to be taken away when placing your order. Items such as Steaks and Pizza’s are still cooked to order and brought to your table. Food was found to be tasty, well cooked, and good value (for a ferry). © NIFerrySite
Panoramic view taken from the extreme port-side corner of the vessel, and showing the entire Met Bar and Grill area. The dedicated truckers restaurant is behind the blue glass to the left of this picture. In DFDS/Norfolk Line and Norse Merchant service the area in the foreground would have been part of the combined passenger and truckers restaurant. The area beyond the TV screen would have been part of the bar seating. The changes made by Stena reflect the stronger targeting towards the passenger market the route has had under the ownership of the Swedish company. © Steven Tarbox. (click for a larger view on flickr)
Forward seating area of the Met Bar and Grill onboard Stena Mersey. The windows look out over the bow of the ship, giving excellent forward views. This area is now open throughout the crossing, in contrast to being shut when meals where not being served under the previous operators. N.B. THIS AREA IS NOW STENA PLUS . © Steven Tarbox
A view of the seating area in front of the food counter and bar. Under previous operators this area was dedicated to the bar only. Along with the rest of the ship, this area has been extensively refurbished by Stena Line over the past few years. © Steven Tarbox.
Truckers Restaurant
An area not normally seen by non-freight drivers! The truckers restaurant is still recognisable as the old combined freight driver and passenger restaurant (albeit shrunken in size, with the area behind the blue glass now part of the passenger facilities), however it has been refurbished and looks much more modern than it did under previous operators. © Steven Tarbox.
Alternative view from the entrance, looking forward towards the bow.
The hot food counter of the freight drivers restaurant. This is instantly recognisable as the old hot food counter used by the previous operators, despite the addition of the wood paneling during refurbishment. The original floor tiles remain and the layout is the same. Drivers help themselves to beverages from the area in the top left of this picture. © Steven Tarbox
Passenger Cabins
Picture of a standard outside cabin on deck 6. All of the cabins onboard Stena Lagan and Stena Mersey have received new Dux mattresses, and are largely similarly laid out. TV’s have also been fitted to all cabins, in this case it is on the wall behind the photographer. This is a 4 berth cabin – the 2 upper bunks are retracted. © Steven Tarbox.
Bonus – a view of the bridge!
The spacious bridge onboard Stena Mersey.
Stena Mersey – port side bridge wing.
