Mainly good reviews on Jean de la Valette maiden voyage

MOST of the passengers on the maiden journey of the Jean de la Valette from Trinidad to Tobago reported smooth sailing. The vessel arrived at the port in Port of Spain at about 10.30 Thursday morning with about 700 passengers and 130 cars. "The best we get in years," a female passenger told Newsday.

"Best sailing, nice sailing, excellent," another female passenger commented. "Luxurious," a male passenger simply commented. Another passenger described the ferry as a step in the right direction. "The sailing was very comfortable, very smooth," he added.

Another passenger said the sailing was very fast. A few passengers, however, had complaints, mainly about the lengthy time to disembark and the overall sailing time.

"They keeping us back. You know how long we on the boat to come out?" a passenger complained. "The worst. The worst. Same three and a half hours (the minister reported the sailing was under three hours)," a male passenger complained. One woman said she preferred travelling on the TT Spirit.

Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan told the media everybody seemed to be very happy with the journey. "Obviously this is the first sailing from Tobago to Trinidad and if there are any logistics to be corrected it will be corrected to ensure the passengers are allowed to disembark the vessel in the shortest possible time. So we have a little tweaking to do there and we should have that corrected by this afternoon."

He said the sailing was under three hours and reported there was an emergency with a passenger in Tobago yesterday morning which delayed the sailing. He reported the captain was quite comfortable with the sailing and said it is possible to make the journey in two hours.