Despite doom and gloom forecasts from ferry operators, the abolition of duty free sales has not slowed the demand for ferry day-trippers. Four months after the European Union abolished duty-free sales, thousands of eager British "Booze Cruisers" still pour daily across the English Channel, lured by the cheaper prices in France. Paris and London may be locked in an angry war of words over France's continuing ban on British beef, but day-trippers cannot resist the lure of cigarette and whisky bargains. "If anything, more people have been traveling recently," said Gail Isted, spokeswoman for P&O Stena Line, which carries 12 million passengers a year on its Dover-Calais run.