Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Flip

Original poster

Has anyone sailed to Bilbao, Spain?

17 replies

jessi · 30/03/2005 11:48

Hi There
I was wondering if anyone has sailed to Bilbao in Spain from Portsmouth, and if so what it was like. We are thinking of going this way but the journey is 2 nights and one days sailing and we can't work out if this would be a nightmare with two little ones?! I am told that the ship is like a liner 'The Pride of Bilbao' and has kids area, theatre, indoor swimming pool etc. I would love to hear anyones experience of this trip or a long-ish boat trip + kids.
Thanks!
Jessi

OP posts:

Tinker · 30/03/2005 11:51

Are your kids good sailors? My daughter puked all the way on a relatively calm Channel crossing so Bilbao would be quite and adventure! Suspect the boat is fab though, Brittany Ferries are quite posh.

Original poster

jessi · 30/03/2005 12:00

Hi Tinker
I have no idea, they have never been on a boat lol!
I am hoping it would be an adventure, make a change from flying for once?!!

OP posts:

sunnyskies · 30/03/2005 12:04

I haven't but friends did -it was about 10 years ago but they said kids had a ball!

BethAndHerBrood · 30/03/2005 12:20

I've been on the pride of bilbao - i think!! It was a long time ago though!! We always sailed when we went on holiday, i always really enjoyed it. The bigger boats are great, there are allsorts of things to do.

My problem now is not the kids and seasickness, but DH and seasickness!! He's only got to look at the sea and he feels peculiar!!!! So an overnight crossing is always better for us, because the kids go to sleep, and DH just stops in the toilet the whole trip!!!

We're flying this year!!!

Trifle · 30/03/2005 12:24

My friend did this route a month ago although went Bilbao - Portsmouth. The ferry crossing was £250 one way, pretty expensive but petrol, overnight stays would probably have equalled that. He was taken aback by the prices on board. The cost of food and drink was astronomical. Something like £3 for a latte coffee. He was pretty bored so went to the cinema 3 times (£4.50 a film). He didnt have any cash and only had a credit card (not debit) for which they wanted to charge him £10 commission to withdraw £30 on it. The route you are proposing takes a day longer than the return trip so it might be worth checking out the possibility of driving one way and boat back. If you do get the boat, make sure you take plenty of money and/or loads of things to eat.

bensmum3 · 30/03/2005 19:40

I don't know about that particular journey, but we travel by boat a lot and all the children I know who get sea sick also get car sick, I'm not saying it's 100% sure but if your children are ok in a car and the crossing is calm ,and you are confident, I would imagine they'd be ok.

emmatmg · 30/03/2005 19:50

Yes i've been on that boat on that route and TBH it was an absolute nightmare. Going across the bay of Biscay(sp?) was like a living hell because we had storm and everyone was being sick and I mean EVERYONE.

I had to see the ships doctor because I was so ill I had to get something to knock me out.

Uggghh! It was awful.

The return journey was fine though, and the cinema and facilities are good.

Just DO NOT travel if there is anything even remotely like a a storm.

Oh and get a cabin with a window because not having one made the sickness and everything 1000 times worse.

Anteater · 31/03/2005 00:40

agree with emmatmg, the Bay of Biscay can be VERY rough, even the crew were throwing up on the crossing we made.. Saying that the adults all seemed to far worse than the children..

Original poster

jessi · 31/03/2005 11:55

Thanks for all your messages. I am so unsure what to do! I will definitely stock up on food and provisions , thanks Trifle for that tip.Anteater and Emmatg, what time of the year did you travel? P&O told me that the Bay of Biscay can be rough between september to Feb, we are going at the end of May and the lady said it was normally OK at that time of year? The thing is dh and I are crap flyers, both terrified of flying and thought this would be a more adventurous and less stressful journey! Are we kidding ourselves?! We also like the idea of having our car in Spain, so we can see abit more of it this time.

OP posts:

StuartC · 31/03/2005 12:02

Le Havre to Bilbao is only 611 miles - how about driving?

emmatmg · 31/03/2005 12:21

Can't remeber exactly but I remember it being quite cold so was probably winter/spring.

I have also sailed to Santander but that was fine in both directions.

TBH, as awful as it was I would definatley do it again instead of flying. We have 3 boys and the thought of getting them on aplane fills me with dread. We did it once when we only had 2 children and vowelled never to do it again.

I suppose it really does all depend on the weather.

logic · 31/03/2005 12:28

I have done this. Although it was quite fun - got to see some dolphins - I was very, very sick. The Bay of Biscay is notorious for bad weather and choppy seas. The ship was nice though, expensive as someone else has said, but the restaurants were lovely.

bubblerock · 31/03/2005 12:40

Hi Jessi, I've done that trip 8 times in total always travelling in either November or February so very rough seas, these were the mini cruise 4 day trips on the pride of Bilbao so basically we only had 4 hours on land then back on the stormy seas!

We loved it even with a storm force gale on our last trip, the entertainment has always been brilliant and I had my hair done in the salon on one trip. We also took lots of food with us as we were on a v low budget so had pot noodles, cereal bars, crisps etc... The mini cruise was only 59.00!

We have 2 kids now and I would definately take them on it as opposed to flying, we're actually thinking of doing a real cruise. There is space on the ship for the kids to run around and have a boogie on the dance floor whilst you're sitting back with a glass of wine - definately a great chilled out way to start any holiday.

I would imagine it is a lot calmer in the summer but all of the kids on our winter trips were running around as if nothing was happening whilst we were clinging to the rails and trying not to fall over (they wouldn't serve hot drinks as it was too rough and recommended we sit on the floor!) We did also get back a day late because we were basically being thrown about by the waves and not making any progress. We still loved it and enjoyed the drama it was good fun.
Anyway, that's my experiences! Have fun whatever you decide x

Original poster

jessi · 01/04/2005 20:26

Thanks so very much all of you who replied. It is booked now so you all helped me decide it was the right choice!
Thanks and hope you all have happy holidays ahead too,
Jessi

OP posts:

Stillwearingskinnies · 25/10/2025 12:26

Hi @jessi Just wondered how your trip to Spain went, as we're thinking of doing something similar next year and we're also apprehensive about the ferry

crackofdoom · 25/10/2025 16:05

I've just seen how old this thread is- bless!

We drove down to Spain and took the ferry back from Santander to Plymouth. I'm trying to remember how long it took, but it's a bit quicker now- not much more than 24 hours, I'm sure (might take an extra couple of hours to get to Portsmouth). It was the Pont Aven I think.

We loved it! The weather was fine (September), and there was loads to keep me and the DC occupied. We did a quiz, but my favourite thing was that there was a volunteer on board from (I think) the Whale and Dolphin Trust, who gave us a great lecture on whales and dolphins, and then we all went and looked for some from the top deck with her (didn't see any, boo). Apparently they're volunteers, and get to travel back on the ferries FoC for a month or so at a time, doing their cetacean counts.

I didn't find the food or drink to be particularly expensive- the set menus are good value (and good quality, as you'd expect of a French ship!)

fussychica · 27/10/2025 16:40

After several very rough crossings at various times of the year we don't do it anymore. We take the ferry to Caen and drive down to the south of Spain taking a week or so to get there and usually 3 days on the way back. Lots of wonderful places to stop and as we're retired we're in no rush.

Flip