*Post edited in 2022 to say that I did consider removing the post after seeing how P & O treated their staff, dismissing 800 of them with no notice only to replace them with cheaper labour. I am a proud trade unionist and someone who believes in fair treatment, and this was absolutely not fair to those staff impacted. I decided to leave the post up as a factual review of my trip at the time, with this disclaimer that I very much don’t support companies who treat their staff badly*
I want to confirm that this post is not sponsored or a collaboration. My sailing to Amsterdam with P & O Ferries in January was as part of a collaboration with Mecca Bingo for the Bonkers Minicruise and in return for my trip, I had to review the Bonkers Bingo experience. There was no suggestion of me reviewing the actual ship or the journey as part of that collaboration, so I’ve done this off my own back because I talked about taking the same trip with DFDS last year. I wanted to be clear, though, and point out that I did end up sailing with P & O for free-it’s important you know that this hasn’t affected this review in any way.
I was very lucky that this trip didn’t cost me anything, because it was in return for me writing about Bonkers Bingo. I’ve just priced the trip up for this weekend with the same cabin we had, 90 minutes wifi on the way out, and breakfast and tea included like we had-£330 approx, although some dates will cost more or less than this amount. That gives you a general idea of the price, though.
Our cabin was a premium one (they’d upgraded us from the standard cabin with bunk beds you usually get) so we had twin beds. There wasn’t a lot of room but then there never is on a ship, although we had enough room to move around freely. We had a little mirror with a stool to sit at, a small wardrobe rail, a small but big enough bathroom with a shower, and, excitingly, a window that let us see the sea behind the boat. This made me really happy, I liked seeing the sea and felt really spoilt.
The ship had a bar, a cinema, a casino, a small games room and a small supermarket style shop. There was also a duty free style shop and a Starbucks. There was a brasserie style restaurant and a buffet style one (which was included in our tickets, so we ate here both nights) The food was decent-not the most amazing food ever, but there was a good selection and you helped yourself to what you wanted. Soft drinks were included within the meal.
The entertainment on our trip was different to the usual entertainment so I can’t really comment on that. There were plenty of seats, though, and lots of options from the bar. I worked my way through the cocktail menu. There was a drunk man causing chaos and staff swiftly dealt with that, removing him for the evening-I wasn’t worried.
We had longer in the city than we did on the DFDS trip despite the coach transfer being 50 minutes longer, at 90 minutes. We ended up with 6 hours in Amsterdam, which was enough time to do a couple of things I’d wanted to.
Would I go again?
I don’t think I’d pay to sail again, on either DFDS or P & O, at the moment. My next trip to Amsterdam (officially not this year but, this is me-I’ll probably end up going this year!) will be a solo trip and I’ll be booking a quick KLM flight so I can get more time in the city, staying for two nights and then flying home again. I do quite like the experience of a minicruise though and so I wouldn’t say I’d never do one again.
Have you done a mini cruise to Amsterdam with P & O before?
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