Triangle. What a stupid concept for a TV series. I can't possibly imagine what the BBC thinking back in the early 80's; "I know, let's set a soap opera aboard a North Sea ferry…"?
Ok I see a couple of problems with this; firstly it's never going to be an English 'Love Boat'. No matter how many times Kate O'Mara titivates the audience with her face-down topless sun bathing; the whole thing is still going to end up about as glamorous as the Dagenham branch of 'Ritzy'.
Secondly the North Sea isn't particularly well known for its calm tropical waters and bright sunshine. So regardless of how you dress it up, it's destined to be nothing more than mediocre.
But then fast forward 20 years and it seems that P&O might have managed what the BBC never could; the North Sea has become civilised, thanks to a pair of the world's biggest car ferries.
MINI CRUISE
This is all started because we were looking for a short break somewhere that wasn't going to break the bank, but was a touch different. As if ordered up by the god of email, right on cue, an email arrives from P&O ferries promoting their overnight mini cruises to the continent.
The offer was 2 people for the price of 1, including a car, to either Rotterdam or Zeebrugge. The advertised price of £60 for 2 people was impossible to find on the website and it was quoting prices of about £200 for the journey with no signs of the discounted dated on sale.
But a quick conversation with their call centre revealed the price we wanted on a sailing that fit in with our diary. And for just an extra £6.00 we could upgrade to premium outside cabin. So in just a few moments a deal was done, we were also offered the option of pre-paying our meal vouchers (which included a 10% discount).
There were no tickets, we just gave the details of the car and our names then all we had to do is turn up in Hull at about 5:00pm with our passports.
BOARDING
Having the port in Hull meant quick and easy access from the motorway and a total journey time of less than 2 hours from our home in South Derbyshire.
It turned out that we timed it correctly. There were quite a few cars parked up at the rather grand looking passenger terminal as well as about 5 cars in the queue for the check-in kiosk. We joined the queue and as check-in opened and we were through in a few moments.
At the kiosk we were given our boarding cards (for the outward and return journey) and the cabin credit card style keys. We were then waived through security up onto the roof of the main building to board. And this was the first time it really dawned on us how big this ship was. Here we were, already 4 stories in the air going up a ramp onto the side on the ferry. The car deck was deck 7 - and there were 12 decks in total!
The ship doesn't sail until 9pm, but the idea was to get there early and enjoy the facilities. There are two identical ships and they only sail at night, spending the day in port at either end.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The "Pride of Rotterdam" appeared to be pristinely clean, even on the car deck. Although 'car deck' is probably not a very good description; the layout and general feel was more like a multi-story at a shopping mall, all white paint and gleaming signage.
After leaving the car there were no obvious staircases so we had to wait quite a while for a lift to the passenger area. At deck 10 we got off to find our cabin (which was one of about 500 on this deck), which turned out to be a chore. All the corridors looked exactly the same and the sheer length of the cabin numbers (ours was 10288) made it difficult to interpret the signage.
Eventually we found it and were very presently surprised.
THE CABIN
I'd been on overnight ferries before and the accommodation was basic to say this least, but this, well, it was in a different league.
The general impression was of a really modern well though-out space. Just inside the door was a hanging space for clothes together with a little built in table and chair and some nice well though out lighting.
In the main part of the cabin there was one sofa (which converted to a bed) and the other bed was stowed in the wall leaving plenty of floor space. The furniture and the general finish was a mixture of cherry colour wood and contrasting carpet. To be honest it looked like a small scale hotel room and I've been in plenty of Travelodges that looked rubbish by comparison.
The en-suite shower room was compact but also excellent. Again a mixture of wood, granite, mirrors and very nice lighting gave the impression of a quality hotel bathroom - all-be-it on the small side.
The toilet was the world's loudest vacuum style system and the seat looked a little tatty (I suspect from using incompatible cleaning products rather that anything more sinister) and there was decent sized shower.
Toiletries were provided (shampoo, shower gel, soap) as well as towels. There was also a disposable bath mat, which was great for the first person in the shower, but the second one in had to make to with wet cardboard underfoot. The shower itself was pretty powerful and had "massage, power and spray" modes, but required minute adjustments as the line between scalding and freezing water seemed to be unnecessarily awkward.
The cabin also had air-conditioning as well as a public address system built into both the shower and bathroom.
THE PUBLIC AREAS
The ship was so large, it took a little while to get your bearings, but once you worked out what was where it was fairly straight forward. Essentially there are 3 decks of public space (decks 8, 9 and 12) - with most of the cabins on 10 and a crew deck on 11.
Towards the front of the ship was the "Sunset Show Lounge" a double height night-club style venue with a stage and live band. In this area was also the casino and the two cinemas (although the cinemas didn't start until 10pm) and an Irish bar on the lower level. Although it was nice, the smoking ban hasn't been applied to ships yet and they seemed to be holding some sort of cigarette smoking competition in there for the duration of the sailing.
Towards the centre of the ship were the main reception desk, three shops and the continental café (serving expensive tea and coffee). There was a perfume shop, 'duty free' shop (which opened 30 minutes out of Hull) and a general store selling sweets and newspapers. Apparently there used to be a cyber café too, but this appeared to have been partitioned off in anticipation of forthcoming new retail offering.
There was also the obligatory ball-pit for kids and a bureau de change, together with two nice staircases on either side of the ship which provided a panoramic view of the sea.
Then you basically have the choice of 2 places to eat; the Four Seasons Buffet Restaurant or the Langan's Brassiere. The buffet was all you can eat, but required a pre-paid voucher (either purchased from the reception desk or when you booked your tickets), but the pricing was a little steep at £16.75 for dinner and £8.95 for breakfast).
We decided on both occasions to sample the almost faultless food at the brassiere, which was nicely furnished and had attentive service but a fixed price of £18.50 for 2 courses or just £21.95 for 3. Apparently we could have used the pre-paid discounted food vouchers as part payment for the meal, so it could have been a little cheaper.
Outside the brassiere was a "wine bar" and a rather nice quiet area with comfy sofas and chairs in which to relax.
Finally there was the non-smoking skylight bar on the top deck, which was a most agreeable place. Spacious tables, nice décor and a piano player made this bar our venue of choice for evening drinks. This bar also provided the only outside access to the aptly named "sun deck" (seeing as the majority of the overnight sailing it's dark outside).
It must also be said, this boat primary function is transporting freight. The trucks are loaded into a separate area and the drivers are well catered for, having their own cabins, bar and restaurant in a separate part of the ship.
OUR CROSSING
I don't cope well with sea-sickness, so I was delighted to find out that it was forecast to be a force 8 gale, with driving rain for our outward crossing. So much so, that the outside decks were placed off-limits almost as soon as we were out of port.
Fortunately my sickness tablets did their bit, but awaking at 3am (in need of a tablet-top up) found the ship to be rolling and pitching well together with constant thudding of the stabilisers obviously hitting very large waves. A look out the cabin window revealed a pretty violent sea which help put the little the turbulence we experienced in the cabin into perspective.
We also found that sleeping the wrong way around on the bed (head towards the middle of the boat) made it more bearable; and we recommend asking for extra pillows as the provided ones feel thin and cheap.
ROTTERDAM
We were awoken at about 7am local time by the piped sounds of tranquil harpist through the PA system, followed by announcements in three languages advising us of retail and eating opportunities before we disembarked.
As we were returning on the same boat, we could leave all our luggage in the cabin for the return journey.
The disembarkation was quick and painless and Europoort is the size of a small city in itself. However it provided quick and painless access to both Rotterdam (about 20 minutes away) and Amsterdam (about 40 minutes drive) together with the rest of Europe.
The return journey was pretty much the same as the outward trip, save the fact the seas were calmer and the ship generally appeared to have more people on it.
Certainly I would do it again; moreover I would regard this as a better and faster route to the continent (for us northerners) than the more traditional Dover to Calais. In all, it was two of the most pleasant days away we'd had in a long time. The modern, slick ship, value price and the sheer difference of it all made for a memorable break.
It does appear, 20 years after 'Triangle' was killed off, the North Sea has finally got its chance to be glamorous.
Thanks for reading
Rob
PS This is in the P&O section which confusingly also included P&O cruises (which are a completely separate company) - but seeing as the picture appears to be a car ferry I thought this was a good place for the review!
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