Official Tunisia.com Blog

I got the Marseilles in the early afternoon before the day of the ferry so I decided to have a stay in a hotel not far from the port so I chose the Etap hotel which is near the airport which is about 20 minutes from the port. Bless my tomtom which I can recommend as it took me to the front door of the hotel.



The hotel itself is basic however nice and clean with a room costing 41 euro a night +5 euro for buffet breakfast and also WiFi is available for extra cost.



After a relaxing sleep I left the hotel at 7 am to avoid any stress travelling down to the port. The port for Tunisia is on a road that hugs the cost of Marseille so head down the 55 road and keep to the left once you see the ports keep on this road and then you will come to a sign on the road listing the exit for Tunisia and Algeria.



When I got to the ferry port gates I was over two hours early and they where closed this was very stressful as Tunisians queuing is never nice especially in a car on a small roundabout with French policemen getting annoyed. My advice is that if you are a bit early go passed the entrance and park in the nice large car park for a few Euros and relax as the gates will open about 2 – 1.5 hours before the 10am check in.



Once open inside there is plenty of space and you park in you car and wait to go up to the white booths where you will be checked in and the passport tickets and carte gresse which is the V5 of your car for those of you with UK cars so make sure you have this. The god news is that I didn’t have to pay any extra money for the height of the car ☺



Once through this you get into another queue where police men will walk passed with the objective of checking for stolen cars. Once through this you drive passed the Douane, which is the customs cabin where if you are exporting your car you will need to stop and ask the very nice policemen for a stamp.



You then co through passport control and you get into another queue which is the holding place prior to boarding the ferry which is parallel.







The port buildings are old and not that nice which could be said for Marseilles itself which seemed very industrial however the landscape and old buildings looked lovely from my limited visit.



Boarding the Ferry


After waiting in the line for a hour we began boarding the ferry and this was a very standard procedure where you just follow the man and he tells you where to go.

Once out of the car you find your floor and then your cabin and enter the code on your ticket and this will let you inside.





At first impressions the boat is clean if a little tiered in décor the rooms are functional and for me everything worked I had a standard inside cabin and it had four bunks for those not travelling alone. The room had a toilet and a shower which worked well which was nice.

After a little kip I explored the ship and took some photos and had a coffee which at 1.3 Euros was expensive for Tunisia but ok for Europeans (espresso). The staff where chatting about and this gave a relaxed atmosphere and I found myself being spoken to in English so that is not a problem for those concerned.



After the cabins there are two decks with restaurants and cafes the first has the restaurant for booked meals, a la carte and then the self service restaurant.



In the middle of these is a staircase which reaches up to the large café with tvs internet café (which wasn’t open during my voyage) and access to the top deck where I took a couple of photos.











I decided to pay extra for a meal with the inclusive crowed and paid 28 Euros which gave me access for the meals during the voyage. The restaurant itself was ok however the service and food not so great I was placed on a table with some gentleman who where also on their own and not greatly impressed with having an Englishman plonked in front of them. I however managed to get a conversation going and this made the meal pass quickly as the food was not so good a simple affair of salad, shrimp beef with rice and then cheese and apples.



Following the meal I decided to go for a walk about and then to the cabin for some more rest as I had a couple of dvds to watch on the voyage.



For my next meal I decided to try the cheaper self service restaurant. This restaurant was unexceptional however the staff where helpful and to my surprise I found that the same food was here as in the other restaurant and it came in large portions also and with coke etc I paid just over 10 Euros.







In summary if you have kids or want to save money I would bring food as it is better value and you may not like the food on board. The a la carte restaurant maybe better but if you do eat on the boat the self service food is the same as the inclusive restaurant and more relaxed.