I would like to tell you about one of the many sea trips i have experienced going from Hull to Zeebrugge and return trip with P & O Ferries. I cannot rate them high enough.

We had done the Dover to Calais route 3 times and found that for the price we was paying (well we just turned up at Dover at midnight and asked for a 24 hour shopper trip, paid on credit card as they would not accept cash the cost was anything from £25 to £100). We got fed up of that method as it meant we only got 90 minutes break from travelling. I live a good 6 hours drive from Dover. I decided one day to have a look at P&O web site to compare prices by booking over the internet. I was quite shocked in my opinion to find them pricey and also noticed that when you tried to book online there was either a problem with the booking page or the "offers had either run out "or was fully booked even though the web page clearly said places available. Not to be outdone i decided to ring the company direct.

Now ive got to admit, i am a little bit of a scrooge sometimes and if you can get things cheaper i will follow all routes. I decided to hot-foot down to my local travel agents to see what they could do. I honestly expexted there to be a bigger price difference but as i say, you have to explore all avenues. I was, needless to say, left with my jaw resting on the floor with the quote given to me by the local travel agent. The quote they got for me was a good £30 cheaper than booking direct with P&O. Amazed ???? I booked right away for the crossing the day after. So, my advice is to shop around and dont always believe that the quotes you get from the internet are the cheapest.

When its time to board, a chappie comes along and moves the stop cone away from the beginning of the boarding lanes. You follow the directions of the lads who wave you upto the ships Loading bow. You drive up a steep ramp and around the ship so that you are facing the right way for coming off at the other end. If you are disabled they will park you up as near to the lifts as possible. Once onboard the ship, leave your car in nuteral, turn off alarms and hand-brake on. Lock your car up and away you go either by the passenger lifts or the stairs to find your cabin. A point i forgot to mention is on going through passport checkin, you are given all the tickets needed and your cabin numbers. On your cabin tickets it gives you the cabin number and also the colour of the deck you are on. This being either red, blue or green. At least this helps you know which colour deck to go to to fing your cabin.

The ships really are fantastic and kept very clean. The staff are very friendly and helpfull. I love going to reception to order extra pillows for our cabin. They are always delivered within 30 minutes of ordering with no quibbles. This also applies to the free travel mini soaps and shampoos they leave in your cabins. There are 3 levels to the ship that you can explore. Green level contains cabins to the front of the ship and the ships two main restaurants. The restaurants are the Four Seasons with its carvery and buffet-style dining, or the first class menu in Langan's Brasserie, you are guaranteed an excellent meal. Got to admit only ever dining in the Four Seasons. You can pre-book your meals when you book with the ferry company. The Four Seasons meal is approx £15 per person and its one of those, eat what you can, get up as many times as you want and stuff yourself full self service. Ive found that if you dont pre-book and you have not had time to eat say at KFC on your way to Hull, you can book a meal at reception as soon as you get onboard. You dont save that much by pre-booking, probably about £2 per person.

Great evening entertainment in the bars, disco for the children and usually a singer or local group. No babysitting service is provided but you can get an early morning wakeup call with a cup of coffee and tea for a surcharge.