Ship: Pride of Bilbao
Route: Portsmouth to Bilbao (Spain) (Mini-Cruise)
Date: March 2004
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Before the ship:

There are several ways of getting to the Ferryport at Portsmouth. First of all is drive and leave your car at the secure multi-story car park (about £8 per day) or by train. Taxis from the startion to the ferryport are about £4, or it is a 20minute walk.

Facilities at the port are functional. There is a bar, shop, and cafe. Prices are reasonable and the area is clean.

Check-in and boarding:

Check-in is very straight forward, and will not cause any trouble. You need to go to the main P&O desk to initially check-in, they will give you boarding cards. Boarding is normally via Gate 2 and they re-scan your tickets. Before leaving the terminal you will need to put your bags through a scanner and then yourself walk through a metal detector. (Advice: I normally shove anything metallic into my coat pocket and then put the coat through the bag machine.)

The Ship:

A small history of the ship:

The Pride of Bilbao is roughly 17 years old, and has been operating between Portsmouth and Bilbao for the last 14 years. Its capacity is around the 2500 passenger mark, but the ship is that well laid out that even when full it absorbs people easily.

The ship is well maintained with comfortable cabins, the ship does offer cabins below the car deck, but these are down to choice. I always opt for above the car deck. Cabins are varied. 2 Berth (Upper and Lower), 2 Bed (Both lower), 4 Berth etc.

There are basically 4 venues for eating:

International Food Court - This is the basic self-service restaurant. Prices are reasonable and meal deals are becoming evident.

Cafe Olivios - This is a small cafe based around an italian theme, offering pizza's and sandwiches.

Brasserie - This is the top restaurant onboard and also the most expensive. Food is very high quality from what I have been told.

Four Seasons Carvery - This is a set three course priced meal (£15 + drinks). The food here is again excellent and the restaurant overlooks the front of the ship. The spanish waiters/ess serve drinks and the starter to your table. You help yourself to the main course and sweet. There are several options for main course and the meats are carved to order. Portions are large.

Entertainment:

This is again varied, there is a quiet reading area at the front of the ship, along with a small piano bar. There is the standard casino area, just in front of the main show lounge. The show lounge is at the back of the ship and there are two bars here. Live entertainment is on in the evenings and late into the night. The entertainment is varied and sometimes themed cruises are operated. There are two cinemas that show movies throughout the day and night.

Biscay Dolphin Research:

The ship is involved in Biscay Dolphin Reseach and has a full time wildlife office (Clive). There are presentations in the cinema along with sighting groups during the day. There are normally numerous sightings during the voyage. In particular I have seen several dolphins and even a whale. Would recommend a good pair of bino's.

Bilbao:

The ship stays in Bilbao for around 4 hours, (basically the morning). P&O do organise some shorebased excursions or simply wander off on your own. The port building here is basic, with a small shop and cafe. If you bear in mind the ship only calls twice a week it is not to bad.

Crossing times etc:

Portsmouth to Bilbao is around 36 hours, and Bilbao to Portsmouth is 28hrs.

Departures are normally: Sat and Tues at 8pm from Portsmouth.

Overall:

The crew are a mix of Spanish and English, the crew also cannot do enough to help. If you are after a cheap introduction to cruising - this would be a good start.

Other facilities on-board include:

Swimming Pool, Sauna, Gym, Shopping Centre, Beauty Centre.

The cruises operate all year round and can either be booked directly with P&O or they are frequently advertised in the papers. The cruise is normally around £99 per person, but obviously varies. I got mine on a two for one deal at £79

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Ship: Pride of Portsmouth / Pride of Le Havre
Route: Portsmouth to Le Havre (France)
Date: Numerous dates
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Before the ship:

For foot passengers there are several ways of getting to the Ferryport at Portsmouth. First of all is drive and leave your car at the secure multi-story car park (about £8 per day) or by train. Taxis from the startion to the ferryport are about £4, or it is a 20minute walk.

Facilities at the port are functional. There is a bar, shop, and cafe. Prices are reasonable and the area is clean.

Foot Passenger Check-in and boarding:

Check-in is very straight forward, and will not cause any trouble. You need to go to the main P&O desk to initially check-in, they will give you boarding cards. Boarding is normally via Gate 2 and they re-scan your tickets. Before leaving the terminal you will need to put your bags through a scanner and then yourself walk through a metal detector. (Advice: I normally shove anything metallic into my coat pocket and then put the coat through the bag machine.)

Car drivers, you check-in and are then directed to the lower section of the car park and await boarding. Cars are searched at random.

The Ships:

The ships are basically sister ships and are around the 14 year old mark. The ships have been operating this route for the last 10 years or so and if full can carry around 1600 people.

Both ships are well maintained a offer comfotable cabins towards the front of the ship above the car deck or some cabins below the car deck. The cabins below the car deck can be very noisy.

The ships are laid out identically to each other and contain the following facilities:

Eating areas:

International Food Court - this is the self service restaurant - the food is of a high standard here and reasonably priced. There are some meal deals now available. There is a childrens play area at the back of the restaurant.

Brassarie - this is the best and most expensive eating area onboard. The food though is meant to be excellent and cooked to order.

There is also a coffee shop onboard that serves the standard range of refreshments at a good price.

Shopping:

There is a large well equipped shop aboard, with plenty of deals to be had. The crew are helpful hear and will assist in taking purchases to the cardeck if required. You can also pre-order any drink, as this cannot be sold until 30 mins after departure - this is handy on night crossings where you want to get to sleep as soon as possible.

Entertainment:

There is a cinema onboard along with in the summer season some live entertainment in the bar area.

Overall:

The crews onboard are mixed - English and Portugese. I have not encountered any language problems and all the staff are very helpfull.

The Crossings: Departures are

Portsmouth: 08:30, 15:30 & 22:30 mostly
Le Havre: 09:30, 16:30 & 23:30 mostly

Overnight sailings are the most expensive fare wise, plus cabins are more expensive at night. Especially in high season.

If you just want to do a return crossing to get some cheap drink and cigs, you can do so and not actually get off the ship. I have occasionally done an overnight crossing from Portsmouth with a cabin and come straight back. If you speak to the reception desk after the ship leaves port, you can arrange to "Remain on Board", you do however need to have the same type of cabin both ways. The crew will then ask you to remain in the cabin whilst in port, a sign is then stuck to your cabin door (normally saying "Out of Order", this will mean that the crew will not disturb you in port and also if the cabin has been sold for the return voyage, the passengers will then contact reception and be allocated a different cabin.

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Ship: Pride of Cherbourg
Route: Portsmouth to Cherbourg (France)
Date: Numerous dates
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Before the ship:

For foot passengers there are several ways of getting to the Ferryport at Portsmouth. First of all is drive and leave your car at the secure multi-story car park (about £8 per day) or by train. Taxis from the startion to the ferryport are about £4, or it is a 20minute walk.

Facilities at the port are functional. There is a bar, shop, and cafe. Prices are reasonable and the area is clean.

Foot Passenger Check-in and boarding:

Check-in is very straight forward, and will not cause any trouble. You need to go to the main P&O desk to initially check-in, they will give you boarding cards. Boarding is normally via Gate 2 and they re-scan your tickets. Before leaving the terminal you will need to put your bags through a scanner and then yourself walk through a metal detector. (Advice: I normally shove anything metallic into my coat pocket and then put the coat through the bag machine.)

Car drivers, you check-in and are then directed to the lower section of the car park and await boarding. Cars are searched at random.

The Ship:

The Pride of Cherbourg is roughly 9 years old, and has been operating between Portsmouth and Cherbourg for the last 18 months. Its capacity is around the 1600 passenger mark,.

The ship has recently undergone a major £1 million refit and is very well maintained. It has a limited cabin capacity so bewarned they sell quickly. Overall it is a bright and comfortable ship.

Eating areas:

International Food Court - this is the self service restaurant - the food is of a high standard here and reasonably priced. There are some meal deals now available. There is a childrens play area at the back of the restaurant.

Brassarie - this is the best and most expensive eating area onboard. The food though is meant to be excellent and cooked to order.

There is also a coffee shop onboard that serves the standard range of refreshments at a good price.

Shopping:

There is a small but adequatly stocked shop, with plenty of deals to be had. It does not offer quite the same range as the Le Havre vessels.

Entertainment:

There is a play zone for the children, this however is located under the car deck. There is I belive a Cinema onboard, but despite being on this ship several times, I cannot honestly remember.

The bar area is excellent, and is themed out as an Irish pub, at the back of this is a large conservatory with plenty of seating. This gets cold at night, but is very warm during the day.

Overall:

The crews onboard are mixed - English and Portugese. I have not encountered any language problems and all the staff are very helpfull.

The Crossings: Departures are

Portsmouth: 11:15 & 23:45 mostly
Le Havre: 06:30 & 18:00 mostly

Overnight sailings are the most expensive fare wise, plus cabins are more expensive at night. Especially in high season.

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Other choices for Portsmouth to Cherbourg.

P&O offer during the summer season a fast craft alternative, although this has experienced numerous technical issues over the past few years. Facilities are limited onboard as you would expect.

Also during the summer season the Pride of Bilbao (ship reviewed at the start of this posting) operates a Friday night caberat cruise. The ship leaves Portsmouth at 8pm and arrives in Cherbourg at 7.30am on Saturday. The ship then returns at 1pm.

Be warned this crossing can get very noisy in the terminal area and also in the bar, which stays open until 5.30 am. It is normally very full with party-goers who are out for a good time. There is live entertainment and discos. The cabin area is however quiet.

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I hope these reviews help, If you want to know any thing else etc, please ask.