Ferry to Holland

[Fitterbyfifty]

Has anyone any experience? What are they like? Any advice on cabins? Thank you!

I haven't taken a ferry to Holland but I've taken many ferries to France. We always get a cabin, I remember one particular journey we decided to go up on deck to stretch our legs. We found the ship lurching, people throwing up and within 20 mins we were all feeling rough. We returned to our cabin, where we hadn't been aware of any lurching where we all soon recovered !

I have taken the ferry to Holland

Daytime trip so didn't bother with a cabin

I found it very relaxing

And there is a fantastic fish and chip shop just out hook van Holland port

We’ve done the Harwich to Hook of Holland - overnight on the way out and during the day on the way back. Really easy, straightforward and relaxing, we paid for a cabin on the day sailing to have some where to go, private toilet if it was rough! Cabins were fine - we had an outside one, 4 bunks, reasonable amount of space and ensuite toilet and shower. No long queues to check in or to go through passport control either!

We’ve done Harwich to Hook of Holland twice. Easy and relaxing. Cabins are cheap in day crossings and we find it worthwhile to have a base to relax and dump our bags.

Yes, I take them often. Do you mean from Harwich or Newcastle?

Either could work for us actually but leaning towards Newcastle or Hull.

I’ve done Hull-Rotterdam, very easy, very civilised. I went overnight there and back, got a cabin. No problems at all, but this was before Brexit. Not sure was customs is like now off course. I was on a bike, with a group of cyclists, so we were always sent to the front of any queues which helped!

Having said that, it’s a P&O route, and I’m not sure I’d want to travel with them if there was an alternative.

We've done Newcastle to Amsterdam twice (pre-Covid). We had the cheapest cabin you get (sorry can't remember what they're called). We loved it, would definitely do it again.

I think it's marvelous to get hotel+travel as a combined package. Was happy with my trip.

Oops, didn't really answer your question. The cheapest cabin had a shower & toilet and a comfy enough double bed (I'm sure twins are available). The only thing I would suggest is read up on the food options before you book. The restaurants onboard are quite pricy but they usually offer a discount on booking. You can also bring your own food but it'd have to be picnic stuff. There's places to sit & eat this, mostly outside so if the weather is bad, the competition for inside searing obviously increases.

I have recent (post firing-the-workforce disaster) experience of P&O from Hull to Rotterdam (Europort).

It was fine. Exactly the same as it was pre-Brexit and pre-firing people. The level of customer service was high previously and it is high now (though with a slightly formal eager-to-please tinge now). Boat is clean and seems safe (!) and the cabins are comfortable, though I would seriously recommend avoiding inside 2-berth cabins if at all possible because they're very closed in and claustrophobic.

The Club cabins are really nice. We ate in the Kitchen (buffet) restaurant and the food was great. Entertainment a bit loud for us, but sees you through a few hours (Deck 12 more relaxed music than main stage on deck 9, where there's a show stage).

Book breakfast and dinner. The only alternative is to bring your own (and leave any leftovers as can't take many types of food into EU now) or queue for hours and hours and hours for a toastie/pizza/croissant at the "Starbucks" cafe. Seriously dire food, and seriously slow (even though not long) queues.

The Newcastle one can be something of a party boat; people use the boat as a mobile pub then continue in Amsterdam before getting the next one back. In my opinion it’s well worth getting the top-end room to have some space and peace.

Thanks everyone especially @HappyAsASandboy for the detailed description! We only actually plan on taking it from Holland to the Uk - I wonder if that makes a difference @NotKevinTurvey ? Also there will probably be 5 of us which I guess makes cabins trickier! Could we fit 5 people into a 4 berth cabin?

You can add a cot to a four-berth cabin, but if it’s not for a baby or toddler they won’t normally let you book five people into a four-berth.

The boat in your direction will definitely not be a party boat. Those who’re doing the boozy weekend thing will be feeling very worn out and sleepy by then.

On the P&O ferry you can't book a person without a bed for them, including for my two year old! There are 5-berth cabins though - a double bed with a single bunk above and a single bed with a bunk above all in one room with an en-suite. Those are our preferred cabin (though we also have to book an inside (no window) 2-berth because there are 6 of us not 5).

The P&O from Hull-Rotterdam is very family friendly. There's a small kids area with mini air hockey, small soft play, a kids movie screen, colouring sheets etc, a magician did balloon animals at family tables in the buffet restaurant, and he did a magic show after dinner in the kids area. I didn't get any "party boat" vibes at all, though what happened after 10.30/11pm is an unknown as I'd taken the kids to bed!

Thanks! Mine are all teenagers/preteens so nobody will fit into a cot. Glad to hear there are 5 bed cabins too.

There was no loud partying on the ferries we took, but I can't remember if we were on a weekend ferry or not. Perhaps the luck of the draw?

We take the Newcastle-Amsterdam one at least twice a year.
Highly recommend getting the commodore deluxe cabins and making sure it's the King Seaways ship (rather than the princess seaways) as you get a lounge with free drinks. It also includes breakfast.
Also prebook your dinner.

We have done the Newcastle - Amsterdam a few times with DFDS. We had a 5 berth cabin and it was great. Nice food too!

We always use the Newcastle-Holland route for our summer holiday, It's great. We used to book the standard 4 berth cabins but splashed out on larger delux cabins once the dc grew into massive teens. It's still a squeeze but fridge, TV & WiFi are worth the extra £. The food in the buffet restaurant has definitely gone downhill over the last10 years but it's still ok. My DC are too old for the kiddy activities now but still do the dolphin spotting etc with ORCA

I have a post-Brexit question about taking the ferry from Newcastle. Can you still take your own food on board? I take it there is no Dutch customs post checking your luggage for a ham sandwich before you get on in Newcastle?

Our car has been given the once over by sniffer dogs a few times but they never found the picnic bag 😉
I think that foot passengers aren't able to smuggle their own food & drink aboard as easily though.

On the ferry from Hull you can definitely take food on board. But there's a great long list of what you can't take off the boat into Holland :(

No restrictions coming back. Their food has more stringent standards than our relaxed ones, so we welcome EU food through our borders!