Pride Of Rotterdam (P&O North Sea Ferries)

Member Name: bould04

Product:	P&O North Sea Ferries
Date:	07/03/04 (8276 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quality ship, Price, Entertainment and food

Disadvantages: Too many decks for trucks, something odd about the pride of hull

In Febuary 2004 i happend to have a very good friend recomend to me the crossing from Hull to Rotterdam with P&O. Having sailed on many of P&O's vessels i thought we would give it a go. We arrived at the Port of Hull at about ten to five in the afternoon, collected our tickets and waited to board. The first impressions of the sheer size of the ship was very impressive, it looked well sat in the evening sun light just before dark.

Boarding.

Once boarding started we were greeted at the reception area on deck 8, our cabin number was 10164, the staff was very helpful and it took no time to find our cabin located on deck 10 forward beneath the bridge on the starboard side. The cabin was of a supperb standard with on suite shower and toilet, a dresser which was from floor to roof much to the delight of my Girlfriend. The Cabins were well thought out with the room they had, one bed tucks up to the wall out of the way and the other swings into a sofa whilst waiting for her to get ready for going out for a meal.

Things to do.

Once we had got our things sorted out in the cabin we thought it was time to find our way round the ship. All together they were 4 of us go on the mini cruise, once we had looked round we got settled in the Sky Lounge on deck 12, we chose some seats by the enormous windows which gave us a supperb view across the city of Hull. We stayed here until the vessel slipped her moorings and was on her way at about ten to nine. The lasses then went for a meal whilst we took refuge in the Irish Bar, in my opinion this bar is not as good as the Sky Lounge but is still a very good place. Once joined by the girlfriends we wonderd into the Sunset Show Lounge, we sat on the upper level in this lounge as it is over two decks. The shows which were on were very entertaining and passed the time well, once all the shows have finished thats when she wanted to get dancing, the dance floor been down a level to where we were

sat gave some very good photo opertunities. They are other things to do than just the bars, these consisted to my knowledge of varoius seating areas, Two cinemas which we did not try out, a casiono were you can loose all your money, a choice of food areas and the food is very nice, a games arcade, ciber cafe, and the list goes on. The passenger areas are spread across 4 decks, Deck 8 is the reception area, Show Lounge, Shops, Seating areas and reteraunt Aft. Deck 9 boasts yet more shops, the Irish Bar, a cafe situated aft above the Resteraunt and over things i cant quite remember. Deck 10 is Taken up entierly by passenger cabins (they are also cabins located forward on decks 8 and 9). Deck 11 is the crew quaters with no passenger access, only the outer deck with the sun lounge is accessable to passengers. Deck 12 contains the Sky Lounge and access to the outer decks which were freezing at this time of year even more so when sailing in a force 11 gale.

The Ship.

I have to say well done P&O for introducing such wonderful ships, against the old ones one of which, The Pride Of York was berthed in the king george dock when we departed and looked very small to the new ones. The only nagging point i can think of is that they have replaced two freight ships as well as the two small car ferries with these giants, a result of which is that many decks are taken for freight units and could of been used for passenger areas. Even though the weather was against us the ship handled it really well and with minimum uncomfort to the passengers.

The result.

What a good time we had on the minicruise, i would be quite happy to recomend this to anyone, top marks to P&O.

Update 1.7.04

We have recently sailed this crossing again, this time the weather was kind to us. The embarkation in hull was a nightmare, i got stopped by the police asking what my intentions of traveling abroad were!. This time we sailed on the pride of h
ull which is the same lay out as the pride of rotterdam but the crew are not as friendly and it just doesnt seem to have the same buzz about it. We were in a inside cabin this time with bunk beds, the cabins are not as large as the outside cabins and the toilet is cramped, still its only some where to put your head down at the end of the day. All in all it was good enough but they is something about the ship what i cant quite lay my finger on as why she is not as good as her sister ship even though they are identical throughout.

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