Great stuff there guys as ever, you can certainly learn an awful lot on this forum
The Braemar as we all know was significantly delayed yesterday on its inbound journey to Dover. Apparantly this was due to an unforeseen technical problem with a lock gate at the eastern entrance of the Kiel Canal. With speed restrictions in place within the canal and the River Elbe's currents also not in their favour they couldn't make up the delay en route.
Of course this meant that over 900 passengers had an unexpected long afternoon to spend in Dover. Extra shuttle bus services were laid on to take passengers into town. As Kevin says above we really do need to speculate to accumulate least of all for occassions such as these.
Yes, Boulogne is certainly on the pulse and with their spectacular Nausicaa everyone just loves it. The loss of the direct ferry there must have been a bad blow for them but it was still heaving when we were there recently, certainly worth the drive from Calais although I do wish we could still get there direct from Dover.