This February half term we decided to take the kids away for a mini break to Amsterdam. We have travelled on the overnight ferry from Hull a few times in the past, but this was the first time we noticed that P & O ferris offer a mini cruise option to either Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Bruges.
On the P & O mini cruise you can either go there and back 2 nights in a row or you can add on an extra night in the middle and stay in the city in a hotel (for an extra charge) We decided to book the 2 night option which allowed us around 7 hours to explore Amsterdam during the day.
One of the best things about going on the overnight ferry from Hull is the convenience from Harrogate. We left our house at 3pm and we were boarding the ship before 5pm. On the mini cruise you don’t take a car onto the ship and instead park up at the port. You do have to pay a parking charge for this (it was £16 for 48 hours)
Check-in was really quick as we only had hand luggage to take onboard. There was a quick bag search by security but we were on the ship in no time at all.
Our first job onboard (The Pride of Hull) was to find our cabin. You can have a look at our video below for a quick tour around our first cabin. I say our first cabin because I noticed that you could upgrade to a top level Club Class cabin for £58 extra and I couldn’t resist…
Our first cabin, an outside Standard 4 birth, was perfectly fine (small but cosy) The Club Class cabin was something else. Spacious, modern decor, a TV, a stocked minibar, robes and fancy Clarin’s toiletries. If you can afford it and there are any Club Class cabins available then it’s a no-brainer.
Once we were thoroughly settled in the cabin, our next stop was dinner. There are three options on board the more fancy option is “The Brasserie”. In here you get full table service and you order from a menu.
The second option is takeaway pizzas served in the coffee shop. I haven’t tried these but they smelled delicious!
The final option (and the one we chose) is “The Kitchen”. This is a huge self-service buffet and there is more chice than you can imagine! It’s perfect for families because you can get your food as soon as you sit down and the little ones don’t have to wait. The selection is amazing!
When we were there I spotted 3 different roast meats served with Yorkshire puddings, at least five different curries (with Indian style sides) which all were delicious (yes, I sampled them all!). Fish, chicken dishes, vegetarian options, potatoes, rice, pasta & vegetables.
There was also a salad bar, soup, cold seafood options including prawns and salmon. For desert there were cheese & biscuits, profiteroles, cheesecake, a hot pudding and also ice cream. Basically there was something for absolutely everybody. There were also fruit juices, soft drinks and coffee, tea & hot chocolate available. You could also order wine and other alcoholic drinks to your table, these were chargeable.
After we had stuffed ourselves like pigs, we decided to check out the evening entertainment in the bar. There are two bars on board; the larger one with the main entertainment, but also a sky bar which had a live pianist and also access to the outside back deck.
When we arrived in the bar there was a band playing already and there were loads of little kids dancing their socks off. Watching the children busting their moves made me feel nostalgic because my kids think that they are far too cool to do that these days and I miss it! At about 8 o’clock there was a game of jukebox bingo & my girls absolutely loved it. We spent a really enjoyable evening playing along.
We knew that we were having an early start the next morning so we were back in the cabin by around 9pm. The ship was due to dock in Rotterdam at 7:30am and you get woken up by the loudspeaker on the ship about an hour beforehand. This was just enough time to get up and showered and then back to “The Kitchen” restaurant for a huge breakfast. Once again we were seated quickly and the food offering was tremendous. There was everything you can imagine in a cooked breakfast along with cereals, porridge, pastries, fruits, cold meats, cheese, salmon. Again you can get fruit juices and coffee & tea is included.
One of the great things about being on a mini cruise is that you don’t want to take your luggage with you, you can leave it in your cabin.
One tip here is when waiting to disembark, don’t rush. It really does take a while to get the foot passengers of the ship so go to the coffee shop buy a takeaway coffee & get a table in the main bar. Let the kids play on their devices or do some colouring and wait until most of the foot passengers have got off the ship. If you don’t you’ll just be stood in a queue.
You do have to go through customs when you arrive in Holland and Belgium but it didn’t take us long. After customs you get straight onto a waiting coach which takes you to Amsterdam. The journey that took about an hour and 20 minutes. The coach dropped us off right in the centre of Amsterdam in front of Central Station. We decided to have brief look round the shops but then headed to a residential area on the canals.
Amsterdam is a really beautiful city. It’s very compact so great for walking around and we stumbled upon a lovely outside play area. Apparently there are loads of these play areas dotted around the city so I recommend spending an hour or two just getting lost & seeing what you find.
As we visited in February it was pretty cold so we decided to head to a café for a pancake. Dutch pancakes are amazing and I’d highly recommend trying some while you’re there. We hit a few shops, bought some souvenirs but decided that we didn’t want to spend the whole afternoon outside as it was pretty cold so after a stop for some famous chips with peanut sauce for lunch we decided to go into a museum in central Amsterdam. The one that the children chose was the “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” which was just located off Dam square.
My kids are aged 8 and 11 years old and really enjoyed the whole museum. It was a lovely & informative way to spend a few hours. The coach wasn’t due to pick us up until 5 pm and so we did a little bit more shopping and finished up having a Heineken in a bar (when in Amsterdam…) and playing a few rounds of cards with the kids. The coach was due to pick us up at 5 pm precisely from the same place it dropped it off.
Top tip: I wouldn’t recommend turning early because you can’t get on the coach much before 5pm so you’ll just be stood in line.
The return trip back to Rotterdam port took a little longer because there was quite a lot of traffic on the road at that time of day. Re-boarding the ship to take a little while because the whole coach was going through customs at the same time however by the time we were on board, we were certainly ready for dinner so we went straight back to the kitchen restaurant and enjoyed another delicious evening meal.
We had considered going to the on-board cinema to see one of the 6 films that were being shown that day but after a full day walking round Amsterdam were all pretty tired.
We had a look around the onboard shops (there is a duty free shop, perfume & cosmetics and a large sweets & souvenirs shop) then we went back to our cabin and watched a film on the TV in there. Mr Mumbler and I took the opportunity to make short work of the minibar.
We been worried that the storm Dennis was going to make for a very rocky crossing, however we all slept so well & so deeply it was like a lullaby! You gain an hour on the way back so we docked at 8:30am back in Hull and once again had a huge breakfast in “The Kitchen.”
Passport control in the UK did take a while, so again, don’t rush off the ship or you’ll just stand in line. Get a coffee and sit in the bar area and wait until the queue goes down.
Once we got back to the car it was just a 90 minute journey back to Harrogate and we were back in our house in Harrogate by 11 am.
It was lovely to get away for a couple of days and if we hadn’t upgraded the cabin both ways, the fare for the 4 of us during the school holiday was £255 which I thought was excellent value for money. If you want to book a mini-cruise with P & O then prices start at just £40per person. Click here to find out more & book
Disclaimer: Prices correct as of March 2020. We paid for the holiday & the cabin upgrade ourselves. P&O ferries kindly paid for our meals so that we would tell you about our experience. The review is honest & is all my own opinion.
