DFDS Seaways (Scandinavian Seaways) > Reviews > Sail away with DFDS

Author's product rating:   

Reliability	Quite reliable
Comfort	Comfortable

Advantages:	Easy to book, cheap, comfortable cabins
Disadvantages:	Not much time at the destination, fairly basic

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Back in February I won a mini-cruise to Amsterdam in a competition. Personally, this is not the sort of holiday I would have chosen for myself - firstly you only get one day in the city itself and I would have preferred to have had a longer stay, and secondly, I'm sure most of us have seen Titanic, and we all know how that ended!

~About the trip we booked~

There are several different trips that you can book with DFDS, but due to this being a prize, we were not given a choice in this. As well as the mini-cruises we booked, there are also Holidays which I believe entail staying with a Centre-Parcs once you get there, or you can book a simple ferry crossing as foot passenger or with a car. You can sail from either Newcastle (or technically North Shields) or Harwich. The ship we were on was The Princess of Norway.

The mini cruise we won, departed on Wednesday afternoon, arriving in Amsterdam on Thursday morning. You get until around 4pm to look around the city, before getting back on the ship and returning to the UK at around 9.30am the next morning.

~Booking~

Although this was a prize, I still had to book in the normal way, the only difference being that I had been given a code to input onto the web booking form, entitling me to have this free. You can book either online at www.dfdsseaways.co.uk or over the phone by calling 0871 522 9955. If you want to book by telephone you will need to pay a booking fee, something that is becoming quite common with a lot of companies now. The fee is £20 for Ferry Service Transport, Holidays and Motoring breaks, and £10 for Short Cruise Breaks.

I booked online, as this was a condition of the terms of my prize, however I would have chosen this method anyway, as I find it more convenient and I don't see the point in paying an unnecessary booking fee. I found the website very easy to navigate - there is an option on the homepage stating 'book online' which takes you straight to the booking form.

The form itself is simple and set out in steps. You can also use this form to get a quote for a trip, by only using the first few steps.

The first step is to select dates from the calendar provided, as well as number of passengers and vehicles.

Step two is to choose your cabin. At first this list can seem quite daunting, as there are quite a few cabin options to choose from, but you will notice that next to each cabin is a letter 'i' which, when clicked will bring up a picture of the inside of the cabin and give you information about it. There are two classes to choose from 'Seaways Class' which is standard class, and 'Commodore Class' which is basically first class, and costs a lot more, but you will get better rooms and exclusive access to the Commodore Class restaurant if you choose this option - no need to dine with the little people!

Moving on, the next step is to select any meals you would like included. Booking meals are optional , but by booking online it states that you can save up to 15%. If you don't choose to buy your meals at the same time as the booking, you can either buy them whilst on the boat, or you are permitted to take your own food. We chose the latter option, as I went with my sister who is a very fussy eater- to be honest I'm surprised she hasn't dropped down dead with malnutrition, with such a limited diet!

You are then given the option of buying Travel insurance, which for a 3 day mini-cruise is only £9, so quite reasonable.

The last steps in booking are to enter your name and address, and payment details.

Once you have submitted your booking, you will be sent a booking confirmation, with a booking reference number. You will need to either print this email or write down the number, because you are not actually issued with a paper ticket, nor do you receive any correspondence through the post to confirm you have booked. I printed the email twice, and saved a screenshot of the email to a memory stick, as well as filing it in a folder marked 'Do not delete' just to be safe!!

The email you are sent includes a link to a fact file, which has some information, such as the currency used on board (both euros and sterling) and what times you need to return to the ship. Personally I did not find this all that useful, as a lot of the info didn't really seem to apply to us. There is a section of the website entitles 'Travel Information' which I found was much more useful to me than the fact file.

Something else, I must mention, is that you are given the option of having a sightseeing tour included for free with your booking. Initially when I booked, I chose this option, but after speaking to other people who had been on the same breaks, I changed my mind, as you only get a limited time in Amsterdam as it is and I'm told the sightseeing tour takes 2 hours. Even if you have chosen this option, you are under no obligation to actually go on the tour.

~Getting to the Ferry Terminal~

Our trip went from North Shields to Amsterdam. Luckily I live in Newcastle and my sister lives in Durham, so we were both pretty close to it. There are coaches that leave from outside of Central Station to the terminal pretty regularly, or if you prefer you can go via the Tyne and Wear Metro, but you will need to get off at Percy Main, not North Shields. If you want to drive, car parking will cost you £6 a day, which would have made it £18 for the full 3 days of our trip. We managed to get a lift, and I noticed that there were lots of sign-posts to the terminal.

~Check-in and Boarding~

You will be given boarding times on the booking confirmation. Our ship left at 17:30 but we were told we needed to check in and board the ship between 15:00 and 16:45. The Ferry terminal at North Shields is quite large, and has toilets on the left as you go in, a small café where you can get something to eat before you board, and a check-in area to the right.

When you go to the check-in desk you will need to present your booking reference number, and you will each be given a boarding card. It is very important to keep this boarding card safe, as it also acts as the key to your cabin door, and you need to present it at various points, such as getting on the coach once you're there and when buying anything from the duty free shop.

Once you have went through passport control, you can board the ship and there are stewards waiting who will check your boarding cards and point you in the right direction of your cabin.

~The Cabins~

As I mentioned, in the booking stage, you are able to see a picture of the cabin. I was quite surprised when we got to the cabin, that it actually looked just like the picture! I honestly thought, that it would be a very awful version of the picture, but it was pretty much the same.

The cabins are very basic (in Seaways Class at least), but are functional, and I don't think they really need to include anything else. The cabin we booked had bunk beds, but you can also choose a double or twin beds. The beds have reading lights above each. There is a small sofa, a little bedside table, and a dressing table, with a stool, and a light above it. You also have your own bathroom, which has a wash basin, toilet and shower. There are hooks and coat hangars, but no wardrobe space as such, but if you are only going for 2 nights that shouldn't be too much of a problem. There are two point plug sockets, so if you need to take any electrical appliances with you, you will need an adaptor.

There is also an air conditioning unit - when we went it was roasting hot, and even on the coldest option it wasn't all that cool. The duvets supplied were pretty thick too, which didn't help. There is a radio on the wall which has four channels, all in Dutch, but some of the music you will recognise. Announcements are also made over this radio - such as safety announcements and when the shops open etc…

The cabins are cleaned and bins emptied whilst you are out of the room. You are supplied with towels and these will also be replaced with fresh ones while you are out.

~Facilities On Board~

There are lots of facilities on board - a guest service centre, which is basically like a reception, where you can get information and also have your boarding card replaced should you lose it. There is a cinema, which shows fairly recent films - some of the ones I can remember being on when we were there were Enchanted, Juno and I am Legend. All films are in English.

There are several restaurants and Café's some of which need reservations, others which don't . As I said, my sister is quite a fussy eater, so we didn't actually eat in any of them, but we wandered through, and I didn't think it looked like they had much variety on offer. Also, I am told that they are very expensive.

There is a 'casino' at the back of the bar, which basically consists of a blackjack table and a roulette wheel. The whole time we were there I never saw anyone use this facility.

There are two bars, one of which seemed to play music on a jukebox, the other of which had live entertainment. This was the one we went into on both nights. The live entertainment came on at about 9pm and was two singers, who sang English songs with a Dutch accent! They were OK, I suppose, but don't go expecting anything too fantastic! Also, they sang the same songs on both nights, which I thought was a bit disappointing really. There is also a dance troupe (if that's the right expression) who were…well…interesting. The first night I thought they were quite good, the second night, however they were just plain weird, with glow-in-the-dark costumes and strange ballet! Also, there was a bit of a David Brent moment when the Cruise Manager got up to sing, and totally took over the set - this was obviously rehearsed, as it happened both nights, but it was quite cringy - it was like he was trying to be better than the live acts.

The drinks in the bar were quite expensive and also limited. They serve a wide range of cocktails, but we ended up drinking Carling as it was one of the cheapest things there - and still nearly £8 for two pints. You can pay in either sterling or Euros.

Facilities available vary from ship to ship, so it may be worth checking the website for further info.

~Arrival~

Once you arrive, as soon as you go through passport control on the other side, you are then directed to a coach park, where you can get the coach to the city centre. The coach took about 40 minutes to get there, and you are dropped off at the Victoria Hotel, which is the same place you must board on your way back. On the way back we were told to check-in between 3pm and 5pm, so you don't get much time in Amsterdam itself, considering it was about 10.45 when we arrived.

~Cost~

Depending on what trip you take, it can actually work out to be pretty cheap - we went the first week of May, and had we paid for the trip, the mini-cruise would only have cost us £122, so just over £60 each, which is pretty reasonable - I guess they really make their money from the amount that you spend on board. I believe that during the winter you can get a crossing a lot more cheaply as the seas are usually rougher, and not as many people want to go. If you want a price, you can get a quote from the website.

~What I thought~

I found the whole booking, check-in and boarding phase to be very easy and straightforward. Once on the ship, despite being quite basic, the cabins were very clean and functional.

Before I went, I read a few reviews here and on other sites, as well as speaking to friends who had been already. A lot of the reviews I read seemed to have been written during the winter months, and I was told lots of horror stories about people being extremely seasick and spending the whole time in the toilet! Needless to say this put me on edge. Although we did take travel sickness pills, I think we were very lucky as the sea was very calm, but even so, I would be reluctant to go at any other time of year, because of what I have been told.

One of the most annoying aspects of the trip, is that once you board the ship there is a lot of waiting around doing nothing between the time you board and the time the ship moves. All the café's and the shop are closed until about half an hour after you sail, so although you can still look around the ship, it's quite boring as there is nothing to do.

I would be prepared to go again, but I think it might be more fun if you went with a group of friends, as at least that way you could entertain each other while waiting for the ship to move! I know a lot of people have stag and hen parties on these trips, which again, is a good idea as it is a fairly cheap holiday.

I realise that this trip will not be for everyone - if you are expecting any sort of luxury, I would suggest something else, there is no doubt that this is very basic in terms of accommodation, but I feel that this is reflected in the price, and personally I enjoyed myself, I suppose the trip is what you make it.

Lastly, I would like to apologise for the length of this review. It is a lot longer than most reviews I write, however, before I went I found it difficult to find all the information that I needed for my trip in one place, and so I hope this helps at least one person planning to sail with DFDS. If you managed to read all that, thank you (and well done!).