Duinrell by ferry from Hull

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We’re going to Duinrell this year and travelling by the overnight ferry to Rotterdam. Never travelled by ferry before and just looking for any tips. Especially what to do on the day we arrive and the day we leave. Ferry gets in at 8.30am but we can’t check in at Duinrell till 3pm. Any ideas what to do with this time? A nice place to stop for lunch and the same for the return with the ferry not departing till the evening.
Also, I’ve googled what we need for driving our own car over there and have the triangle thing, the covers for the lights, the UK sticker and breakdown cover for Europe. Have I missed anything?
Thanks for any top tips and advice!!

You can arrive early and use the facilities.
This is what it says on the website:
From 11 am you can check in, pick up the key and information folder and park one car at your accommodation. As a camping guest, you can park your car outside Duinrell until 1 pm. Your accommodation is usually not ready until 15:30 (camping 13:00), but you can already use our facilities.

It only takes an hour to get from Rotterdam to Duinrell, so you will need a little stop. I’d go to Madurodam or Butterflies at the Vliet.

Aim to get on the ferry around 5ish so that you can settle in and walk around a bit before getting food

You could go to The Hague on the way: scheveningen is a nice beach next to The Hague with loads of lunch options. You could visit the Madurodam which is a miniature model of the country.

Rotterdam, delft or Leiden are alternative cities that wouldn’t be too much out of your way.

You need a high Viz as well. Something in that luminous yellow colour and I think a breathalyser kit too. The ferries are fine. You can get a meal or visit the cinema. You can get a cabin too.

We've driven over from Hull a few times though to Center Parcs rather than Duinrell.
I found that if you booked the dinner on board it helped pass the time. However in the morning it's a mad rush. They wake you up really early and we never managed to get breakfast. So first thing is to find somewhere nice for breakfast,
Rotterdam isn't very nice so head out of the city.

Look for a boat trip to see windmills on the outskirts of Amsterdam or the Keukenhof gardens.

The keukenhof is only open mid march to mid may when it is the tulip season and Amsterdam is out of your way although not too far away.

I think the breathalyzer kits are needed for France but not the Netherlands.

I agree that it is not worth getting breakfast on the ferry as you have to get off it early. It can sometimes take a bit of time to get off and go through passport though so probably worth having a drink and snack with you.

on the ferry for the evening food you can choose between the buffet restaurant, the a la carte or pizza from the Starbucks.

If you do want to see windmills go to kinderdijk, it is near Rotterdam

is Rotterdam not worth a visit? We were thinking about doing day trips to Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, but will give Rotterdam a miss if it’s not great?

Thanks for the top tips so far everyone. I’d love to see the windmills so will definitely look for a boat trip. Will do the breakfast off the ferry option too so will advance search somewhere nice not too long a drive.

Does anyone know do we need to book food on the ferry and what’s a good time to arrive in Hull to get on it?

When we last did north sea ferries there was an option to pre book meals at a discount when booking. Might be different now.
Be aware that traffic through Hull is a nightmare. If you are on the A63 at 4pm it's very slow so plan for it taking longer than you think to get to the port.

Rotterdam is an amazing city with so much to see and do. It just doesn't have the traditional "Dutch look" as it's instead very modern. From there you can take the Waterbus and change en route to get to Kinderdijk, the famous row of windmills, though check which Waterbus services are running as sometimes they curtail some of them. Would also recommend going up the Euromast in Rotterdam and a Spido boat tour of the harbour area.

Rotterdam is a good city. Combined with Amsterdam and Hague it’s worth going to. You can combine it with kinderdijk.

zaanse schans near Amsterdam is an alternative place to go see windmills. Boat trips in the Netherlands are great but not sure it’s the best way to see windmills.

I think the ferry starts serving food from 6 but you can also go quite a bit later. You don’t need to book in advance but if you know where you want to eat it can be worth doing as you get a cheaper price.

if you want to get to hull earlier you can also do a trip to the deep before getting the ferry. It’s close by.

For Hull I would say get there early and go to the Deep it's a great place and some really cool bars/cafes etc nearby to grab a bite and a few snacks before heading to the ferry terminal

If you decide not to go to Rotterdam then try Utrecht instead, and go to kasteel de haar nearby aswell.

Rotterdam is definitely worth it! Not a traditional tourist destination but plenty of interesting postwar architecture and other attractions. The NYT just in the past weeks brought out this great travel guide (opens for me on Samsung but you might have to read it with Javascript blocked on your browser to get around the paywall, or just check on archive): https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/05/11/travel/things-to-do-rotterdam.html

As to nice beach restaurants, Scheveningen beach(really its South Beach or Zuiderstrand) is actually quite touristy since it's accessible directly by tram and with lots of cheap hotels around. The much more attractive option is Noorderstrand which is luckily the stretch running directly from Kijkdiun to south of Scheveningen lighthouse. It's not directly accessible by car - you have to walk through a stretch of dunes or simply straight down from Kijkduin. The beach restaurant De Kwartel, directly by Strandslag 9 about halfway down to Scheveningen, has seriously good food. Their neighbouring tent, de Fuut, used to have very nice music but I don't know if they're still going.

Utrecht is a good idea but if you would prefer to minimize the driving then Delft is also lovely and more en route to Duinrell

Echo everyone who says great stuff about Rotterdam, amazing buildings. The crazy indoor market is fabulous for every age with loads of great food and really near the Cube houses.

Ooh following as we're heading back to the uk on the hull ferry and spending a day in Rotterdam beforehand some good tips here thank you!

Were going this first week of Sept. Watching for advice!

Me and DH went to Holland in April and went on the Hull ferry.

They start letting cars on at 5pm. We get there about 4.30 and there were only about 15 vehicles in front of us. So we didn't have a long wait and got on the boat, put our stuff in the cabin and went to have a drink.

We could see the queue and it got longer and longer so the later you get there the longer you have to queue to get on plus the ones on first are off first and the last ones have to sit and wait much longer.

We ate in the brasserie and that has to be booked.

There are 2 cinemas onboard.

We have been to Holland many times and love Delft, The Hague, Amsterdam, Leiden, Utrecht. This year was the first time we had been to Rotterdam and must admit neither me or DH liked it very much.

We have been to Duinrell a few times. Wassenaar is a really nice town with some nice restaurants, a good supermarket and some nice shops. The ice cream shop there is well worth visiting (it usually has a long queue). There is also a nice beach

As PP said, you can check in at Duinrell and access the park and pool(s) (depending on what access you have). We went Hull/Rotterdam last year and got to Duinrell around 10am. We were all in the outdoor pool by 11 and then by the time we'd finished there and had lunch, we were able to access the accommodation