About this time of year, I make a bi-annual, cross channel trip to Belgium and France by car, actually not so much a trip as a S.A.S raid……….shop and scarper!! This round trip is a non stop journey taking approximately 16 to 18 hours in total, depending on traffic conditions. Due to my ever advancing years, these excursions have become ever increasingly tiring. With my usual companion, namely my son, being unavailable this time, I had to find a solution, as I was only to well aware that Mrs P. would not relish such an undertaking and I certainly didn't fancy making it alone.

One idea I considered was to make the same journey but with an overnight stay at a hotel in Calais, being fully refreshed for the return home the following day, thus making it an acceptable proposition for Mrs.P to agree to. Various internet searches were made and on conclusion, a rough total costing of approximately £160.00 was arrived at. Reasonable enough considering the amount of savings I would be making on my purchases of tobacco, alcohol and other bits and bobs.

Whilst ruminating the dates on which to go, my Uncle Alzheimer, a frequent visitor of mine, must have nipped off for a while, for I suddenly recalled the P & O mini cruises that we had embarked upon in the past both to Amsterdam and Bruges. So, dispelling some misconceived notions held by some that I am 'a tight arsed Yorkshireman', being aware that it would be more expensive than my aforementioned idea, I made a unilateral decision to splash out on the mini cruise.

My immediate choice was for the Amsterdam one but unilateralism ended abruptly at that point. Mrs P. promptly overruled that as she recalled our previous visit there when we, (or me I should say, as I got the blame despite being totally innocent), got lost and ended up walking around and around the same streets in which scantily clad women were seated in every house window we passed!

Booking the cruise.

This can be done either on-line, by telephone with their call centre or no doubt through a travel agent, the latter option not one I explored however.
On going to their website at www.poferries.com via Google, this gave me access through a sub-heading directly to the section on all their mini cruises from Hull, Portsmouth and Dover. What a wonderful surprise greeted me, it just so happened there was a current BOGOFF (2 for the price of 1) currently available which I admit, brought a smile to my face.
As my interest was centred only on the one from Hull to Bruges, I clicked the appropriate heading and was taken to an information page outlining what is available during the 2 night stay onboard, entertainment, dining and onboard shopping etc, along with details for taking a vehicle or extending your stay in the chosen destination.
The actual booking procedure is extremely simple to follow, dates of travel, numbers of people, type of cabin required, of which all are on suite but vary in price, I plumped for an outside one which is a higher grade than the inside ones, pre booking of meals which gives a 10% saving on buying on board for dinner and breakfast both ways, the details of the person making the booking, which then gives you a total cost before actually committing to the booking. This amounted to a total cost of £177.00, which included a £2 credit card charge, fuel surcharge of £8.00 ( thanks for that Messrs Brown and Darling) and return coach transfers from Zeebrugge to Bruges.

As I have said earlier, a bit more expensive than my other option, but hey, what the hell, let there be no expense spared for me!

As I have a distinct dislike of entering my card details willy nilly onto numerous websites, I then contacted them by telephone (08716 645 645) and spoke to a charming and extremely helpful lady, who quoted me a price £1 more than the on-line price. On casually mentioning to her the price on-line, she immediately without any hesitation stated she would book it for me at the on-line price. The telephone process was speedily completed and the booking verbally confirmed and I was told I would receive an e mail with a reference number for me to give when collecting my tickets at the port in Hull. My mobile phone number was requested and given in case there were any last minute problems which may necessitate them contacting me whist on route to Hull.
The lady also gave me the times when boarding would start, asked my method of getting to Hull and details of the parking. This did come as a bit of a shock as, on previous occasions we had been, parking was free, this has since changed however and there is a £5.00p per 24 hour stay charge now in force.

How to get there.

Just an easy straightforward drive of little over an hour for us to reach Hull, so not a problem. The port is easy found, being well sign posted as one drives into Hull but for anyone requiring directions or even other methods of getting to the port, all this information can be found on the P & O website, thus alleviating the need for me to detail it.

Arrival and Boarding.

On our arrival at the port, it was easy to locate the P & O terminal and adjacent pay and display car park with ample parking spaces available, the charges, as previously mentioned were £5 per 24 hours and any subsequent 24 hour period or part thereof, making it a total of £10 for our stay.
The machine accepts coins or credit cards which enabled me to use my cashback credit card and therefore saving me a whole 10p! Mock not for every little helps.

Into the terminal building and to the reception desk, where we checked in, handing in our reference number and passports, to be given our boarding tickets. Printed on the tickets were our cabin number, the deck colour, prepaid meal symbols and coach transfer stubs from Zeebrugge into Bruges.
The staff were very pleasant and directed us to the departure waiting lounge on the upper floor via a security check of course. Access to the upper floor can be made via stairs, escalator or lift, which catered for any disabled passengers.
The lounge was clean, spacious with plenty of seating and at one end a vending machine 'cafeteria' area with tables. The machines dispensed snacks, sweets and drinks etc.
When boarding commenced at the given time, we patiently remained seated whilst the usual typical mad dash to be first in the queue (something which happens in all modes of travel and which I still cannot comprehend for the life in me why) was over. After this, we serenely embarked via a covered gangway to be met by friendly ships staff who directed us to our deck where we collected our cabin keys.

Our cabin was compact, comprising of 2 bunk beds, the top one being folded in it's up position against the bulkhead (wall to landlubbers), allowing the bottom one to be use as a seat. .
A small dressing table, mirror and stool, small shelf with an electric socket above and underneath the shelf, two coat hangers, there were also two coat hooks on the back of the cabin door. An extremely helpful information page was on the bulkhead which gave lots of very useful information about facilities available onboard during your stay, safety etc. A read of this enabled me to locate the cabin's air conditioning control situated on the deckhead, which once again, is the ceiling equivalent to non sea- faring folk.
A small bathroom with shower, toilet and washbasin, above which was a mirror and electric shaving socket, plus the usual complimentary sachets of soap, shower gel, shampoo and shower cap. Two clean white, large towels were hung on the rail at the side of the washbasin
A small tip in that if taking a kettle to make a drink, thus saving expense of purchasing such onboard, or a hairdryer etc, ensure you take a 2 pin continental adaptor and although they can be purchased onboard, they are more expensive than a shop bought one from the high street shops.

Returning to the subject of information sheets, there is one which can be picked up from the side of the information deck which is excellent, as it outlines all the onboard entertainment available which includes different bars, cinema, casino, children's play area, games zone etc, along with opening times. A map is also included on the reverse side, showing complete details of each deck, which are colour coded as were the matching carpets for each one and give all the locations of where everything can be found making it a simple matter to make your way around, even for the first time traveller.
Rather than opt for the more lively (and noisier no doubt) show bar with it's resident band, bingo and disco, we opted for the more 'sophisticated' moonlight bar with the resident pianist come singer doing short but frequent 'spots'. The pianist was pleasant enough tinkling the ivories but to imitate a 'forgiving and nice' Simon Cowell, his singing was not the best by any means!
Our drinks cost £9.49p for a 70cl bottle of red wine, beer at £2.80p a pint and lager at £1.55p, these were the only type of drink purchased so cannot give any other prices.

There are three options to eat onboard, the pre paid (£46 in total) 4 season's carvery, which could also be had by paying onboard at the full cost (£51.40), Langans Brasserie, waiter service, with a varied a la carte menu costing £19.95p for 2 courses or £23.45 for 3 courses respectively. The final choice being the Continental café serving freshly baked pastries, sandwiches coffees and teas.
Our 'all you can eat' restaurant evening meal was serve yourself throughout and had five courses and a very good choice from the cold buffet , carvery and desserts available. Two choices of soup, fish, cheese and meats in the cold buffet with various salad accompaniments, roasts from the carvery, curries including a vegetarian one plus naan bread, poppadoms and pickles, a variety of vegetables and then a choice of hot or cold desserts before ending with a selection from the cheeses and as much coffee as one wanted to finish. Wine with the meal could be ordered from the efficient waiting staff but my extravagance did not stretch that far.
For those with children, there was also a section of hot children's choices to select from, sausages, beans chips, fish fingers etc.
Breakfast also had a wide choice to suit all tastes, cereal, different bowls of fruit, toast, preserves, continental cheese and ham or my choice, the full Monty English.
Whilst it must be said that it was not 'haute cuisine' by any stretch of the imagination, it certainly was excellent value for money.

The onboard shops were split into three, a tobacco and wine with a very good variety of wines and a few beers of which some were on offer. J.P Chenet, red, white or rose were a snip at a box of 6 for a mere £11.99p, as they retail back home at over £4.00p a bottle. A further excellent offer was three x 3 litre boxes of Ernest and Julio Gallo cabernet wine for £24.
Needless to say I took full advantage of both these and a further plus was that by buying bulk, that's 6 boxes or more, the crew will meet you in the terminal building on disembarking with your goods loaded ready onto a trolley, or if you have taken your car, they will take it to the car deck for you. This bulk purchase however must be made on the outward journey only for this service to be supplied for your benefit.
I also did a check of the cigarette and tobacco prices in order to compare with prices in Bruges and subsequently discovered as there was little difference, bought them onboard using the trusty cashback card once more.

A shop selling a host of confectionary, biscuits, preserves and suchlike, along with small gifts, books, newspapers etc was checked but the confectionary seemed on the expensive side to me so was duly ignored.
The main shop was the one which sold perfumes, spirits and other non wine and beers plus a few miscellaneous gift items, handbags, electrical items and ship's souvenirs. This was a shop not to be ignored with its extensive range and purchases of spirits, some of which were very decently priced offers and the customary perfume were taken advantage of.

Arrival at Zeebrugge.

On docking at the port, we disembarked, after once again waiting patiently for the impatient to rush to be first off, again a pointless exercise as there was room for all on the awaiting coaches for everyone transferring into Bruges. It was only a 20 minute drive from the port to the drop off point at the central station in Bruges, arriving around 9.15 am, which gave us almost 8 hours free time to do as we wished.
Bruges is without doubt a beautiful City, with its cobbled streets, wonderfully ornate architecture, canals and bustling Main Square. We did however on the odd occasion get a 'whiff' of blocked drains on our walkabout, I did actually convince the Mrs that it was nothing to do with the beans on my breakfast plate! During the warmer seasons, canal trips are available but not on our visit obviously. The horse drawn carriage tours were operating but we didn't bother, using 'shank's pony' instead to get around.
A plethora of chocolate and lace shops abound on almost every main street in the centre of town and to my delight some wonderful beer shops which were extremely interesting.
Tobacconists are somewhat scarcer to find however and required my asking for directions to one. It turned out to be a huge bonus as the one directed to, called Jerry's, was also a café bar as well in which it was possible to actually have a smoke whilst enjoying our coffee which came with a small aperitif of amaretto and a foil wrapped biscuit. At only 5 euros (under a fiver in our money) for both, one ordinary and one latte, I found that to be more than reasonable, which resulted in a further visit or two later in the day. I made a purchase of King Edward cigars from there, more of a token of appreciation for the welcome and friendliness of the staff than anything else. Well that is what I told the Mrs anyway!
There are so many places to choose from to obtain either a snack or more substantial meal and our choice was the Den Gouden Cop on the edge of the main square. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal of Flemish stew, frites and salad, washed down with some wonderful wheat beer. The total cost was 38 euros, roughly £32 and whilst there were cheaper places to eat, it is another example of my willingness to open my wallet.

It is a wonderful place to visit and well worth looking up the place on the internet before booking to see if there are any special events occurring. The Christmas market was actually being set up whilst we were there along with an outdoor ice skating rink in the middle of the main square. The market was not actually open whilst we were there, for which my wallet was eternally grateful, although it probably would have been a very enjoyable experience to look around it.

After a coach back to the port at 5.pm, from the initial drop off point and a smooth return embarkation, following a further booking in process prior to boarding, enabled time to shower and brush up before the evening meal.
The return passage to Hull, enjoying a relaxing evening in the moonlight bar before retiring, left us totally refreshed next morning.
Disembarking about 8.30 ish in Hull went smoothly and no problem with customs, despite a trolley laden with alcohol and cigarettes!

Just one final tip is that it is an early start if you wish to have breakfast, so it is worthwhile remembering that the clock goes forward one hour on the outward and not to stay up too late in the bars drinking as this could leave you a bit 'cream crackered' for your day in Bruges.

So what is my recommendation? A very highly enjoyable little break and at the BOGOF price, a bargain not to be overlooked, superb value for money even in my book, for considering all my purchases, I actually saved somewhere in the region of £500 after deducting the cost of the trip. Is that not good value I ask?

There is no doubt whatsoever that I certainly will be 'bogging off' again in the future with these mini cruises.