P & O

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 ...
...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 ...

robert_parnham 21.12.2007 · Read full review
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...- a cruise on the P & O Cruise ship Aurora. As many will probably know, this had a particularly virulent bug some time ago resulting in the ship not being allowed to dock at various ports for fear of infecting the locals, so armed with that knowledge and the impending festivities, I viewed the holiday with some trepidation. The price of the cruise in the brochure, for a cabin on A deck, which is what we had, is listed at £3000+ per person, but I ...
...we were each given a P & O credit card which is wonderful, I could shop till I dropped and everything went on hubby's credit card, which was registered when we first boarded. Seriously, there was one sort of general store, a beautique and a "designer shop" which charged exhorbitant prices for pretty average clothes. There was also a jewellers but daren't risk putting the odd diamond on the card, he just might have noticed when it came to settling ...

patriciat 26.12.2003 · Read full review
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I never thought that I would ever be that old that the prospect of cruising would appeal to me but how wrong I was … it’s not that I’ve got old (38 and holding fast!) it’s just that I had completely the wrong idea about cruising. Chances are that you have similar misconceptions – if so read on … My first cruise was in 2000 on the Maiden Cruise Break of P&O’s then brand new ship, Aurora. The cruise was booked ...
...and I was convinced that I was going to be the youngest on the ship and wasn’t really looking forward to the whole experience. That cruise turned out to be such a success that she and I did another one last year and have just returned from another in June this year. The cruise this year was called "Renaissance and Rivieras" and called at Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Livorno (the port for Pisa and Florence), Santa Margherita, Calvi, Palma and Gibralta. ...

mgrigsby 02.08.2002 · Read full review
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Pride of Hull and Pride of Rotterdam. During 2004 I have had the pleasure of 3 minicriuses with P&O from the port of Hull. The first 2 times we sailed on the Pride of Rotterdam and the third time we sailed on the Pride of Hull. P&O are the first to point out that when these ships were launched they claimed the title of the biggest ever car ferries and still keep to this day. Whilst P&O enjoy this I would not be surprised if Irish Ferries were a ...
...6 months. The Pride of Rotterdam was the first to be built at a cost of 90 million pounds, it took less than 14 months to build her, she was built at Fincantieris Marghero yard in Venice and weighs in at 59,925 Gross tons and has a length of 215.1m. Both the sisters are identical in looks and layout. They were designed especially for the Hull to Rotterdam Europoort crossing, each vessel boasts 546 passenger cabins with a total of 1376 beds be it ...

skynet1 12.07.2004 (13.07.2004) · Read full review
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P&O Cruise aboard The Oriana – 11 nights. OR205 12th to 23rd May 2002 - “Canaries Collection” Southampton Madeira Tenerife La Palma Lanzarote Lisbon Vigo Southampton O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O P&O Cruises operate some of the finest ships afloat. They are tailored very much to the British and Anglophile market. The emphasis is heavily towards understated stylish good taste rather than the glitzy Vegas razzmatazz. All ...
...offering Cruises of differing lengths. Alternatively you can fly out to the ships elsewhere in the world. For example, you can join a ship for just a part of its World Cruise. O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O GETTING THERE. Saturday evening, London Battersea Park 11th May. Midnight. Some 9,000 women in decorated bras set off to walk a marathon in aid of breast cancer. An uplifting sight, but I tore myself away and went home to ...

CharlesYarwood 07.12.2002 · Read full review
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In February of this year some friends and me decided that we needed a cheap break away. I looked around the Internet and came across a site called www.firedup.com. This site has since closed down but at the time they were offering a mini cruise to Spain for £35. The ship was called the Pride of Bilbao and leaves from Portsmouth on the Saturday and arrives in Spain on Monday and then you have little time off the boat and then back to Portsmouth by ...
...the boat was described as luxurious with bar, disco, pool, Jacuzzi and two restaurants so we booked the trip. We arrived by 8 on the Saturday and set sail by about 9pm. My first impression of the ship was clean and well presented. We went to put all our stuff in the cabins and to be honest this was the bit that horrified me the most. I am claustrophobic and was worried they would be to small but to my suprise they were about "10,7ft. The beds were ...

ribena 28.05.2001 · Read full review
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P & O have had such bad press lately I thought I would write down my experiences with this company since 1980. The first cruise with P.& O. was on the Canberra in 1980, visiting several countries in the Mediterranean. We went with a couple of friends and had a wonderful time, feeling and being treated like royalty. It took us two years to save for this trip and it was worth every penny. The excitement of leaving Southampton with "You are Sailing" ...
...think!!!!). We chose P & O's smallest ship, the Victoria, visiting eight countries in the Mediterranean, Gibraltar, Rome, Menorca etc. This ship has now been taken out of commission, which is a shame, as being small we got to know almost everyone and made some good friends, who we still cruise with. For our 40th Wedding Anniversary in 2003 we booked up a cruise leaving from Southampton to America, Canada and Newfoundland and back to Southampton, ...

Youngatheard60 25.01.2005 · Read full review
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I should like to dedicate this op to all those who have not been on a cruise before or been on a P&O cruise on the Oriana. If you read this from start to finish you too could want to be spoilt for life. I hadn't cruised with P&O before this trip and it has definitely changed my understanding as to what is real value for money on a holiday. My biggest problem is in trying to be brief - I could write a book on this voyage but I will spare you that! ...
...this holiday about 18 months before setting sail and the purpose for this special treat was to celebrate our 25th Silver Wedding Anniversary. The fact that the holiday would also include our daughter's 13th birthday was an extra. Although I had been on one cruise before, a Thompson Mediterranean disaster, my wife had been on many P&O cruises before we married and swore by them. Indeed, we actually got engaged on the 'old' Oriana when we had the pleasure ...

Marchant 21.11.2001 (18.03.2002) · Read full review
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Remember this is a 'Ferry' not a Cruise ship as such... If you board this boat expecting to be on the QMII then you will be very dissapointed...but then it is (as I say) a Ferry and an excellent one too. I have travelled on this Ship about 7 times with my car over the years, its far bigger than the Brittany one that goes to Santander..and much more to do on board. I reccomend paying the extra to get a Club Double with windows, for this you get ...
...windows, plus complimentary Champagne and Chocolates. Its better to book this cabin on the outward journey to Bilbao as you get two nights in it, on the way back you may as well book a standard cabin as its only one night...but book early as the Club cabins on the outward bound journey get booked up v quickly. The first time I travelled this route I did nothing but complain...about the food the blocked toilet noisey mini cruise passengers etc....but ...

Greenpeace 13.05.2005 · Read full review
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Having never cruised before, having read a bad review regarding Ocean Village and knowing that Ocean Village was being marketed at "People that don't do cruising", I was unsure as to whether this was going to turn out to be a nightmare week on a floating Butlins. I couldn't have been more wrong. This was a Mediteranean cruise, starting in Majorca and taking in some fantastic destinations including Tunis, Rome, St Raphael and Barcelona. Ocean Village ...
...biking, although they also offer the more traditional excursions with guided tours for the less active, like me! But you are also free to just get off the ship and do your own thing or stay on board the ship and use the facilities. We had an outside cabin, and I was very surprised at how spacious it was, apparently all cabins are the same size whether they are inside or outside. There was a fridge, tv, tea and coffee facilities and a hairdryer. ...

Sliv 07.07.2004 · Read full review
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...pleasurable break away courtesy of P & O North Sea Ferries, I felt that I would like to share my experiences with you all so that you can judge for yourselves whether or not a minicruise is for you. To set the scene, I had booked myself and my fiancee onto the Hull to Rotterdam Return Motorist MiniCruise sailing at 21:00, driving my little Citroen Saxo over to Europe. I had also booked cabin accommodation, with a Standard 2-Berth Bed Outside Cabin ...
...enjoyed our break away with P & O North Sea Ferries. The crew on board were great, very friendly and efficient, the facilities were fantastic (like a hotel on water) and the whole experience was exciting from start to finish. The only disadvantage was that it had to end! We are now looking forward to our trip to Bruges in the near future...updates to this review will be added after we return! Thanks for reading...if there is anything else you would ...

son_of_a_teacher_man 03.06.2005 · Read full review
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...Well after going through Eurotunnel, P & O and Seafrance quotes and deciding that we were in no rush and would appreciate a break in our trip from the Midlands to Le Touquet decided that the ferry would give us time for a quick lunch and a potter around the shop. The tunnel worked out at £162 for our 2 night Friday to Sunday trip with both crossings early afternoon. Seafrance was £100 and P & O were £89. We went with P & O because of the priority ...
...the Seafrance site. These options are of course priced extra, £12 for the priority loading and £24 for the club lounge or £30 for both. We went for both, both ways and boy was it a good decision. The costs were for both of us and the website includes the cost as per group. Not sure how large a group they would allow under one cost as there were only two of us traveling. We were first on and first off the ferry at Dover and Calais. We checked in ...

zoetna 18.11.2008 · Read full review
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This ship was very good value for its price. First of all I'd like to say that some people expect this ship to have massive rooms and 100 different places to eat, but can I remind you that the pride of Bilbao is for mini-cruises, meaning that it won't have as much services!! I went with my sister and mother from Friday to Monday, with a booking with Gold Crest, which was excellent and Gold Crest provides the transport to Portsmouth, where the ship ...
...to be a friendly atmosphere, and got the card key for my cabin which was on deck 5, with a window. I had a little trouble getting in as I didn't put the card key in far enough- oops. But when I got in I was that little bit disappointed - the room was rather small, however if you think about it, the rooms in a mini-cruise ship like this won't have rooms as big as the bedrooms in your house, the cabin had two tables, a chair and an en-suite bathroom. ...

carrrotts 17.08.2008 · Read full review
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The story I am about to tell is one with which many of the older contributors to this section will aprreciate and identify with. I might well only be 21 years of age, but I am sufficiently astute to recognise that P&O Cruises is not the company it was back in 1988 when I took my first cruise! Lord Sterling of Plaistow...now there's a title that should strike fear into any adversary...well, maybe not! Hardened cruisers of my parent's generation will ...
...food, superb company, and exotic destinations. I was fortunate enough to experience this for myself aboard P&O's legendary SS Canberra for five experiences I shall never forget. Canberra really was the last real ocean going cruise liner, and very few can match what she had to offer. Sterling's empire may have grown, with his fleet of two £250 000 000 liners Oriana and Aurora, and the ageing Victoria, but the entreprenuer seems to have overlooked ...

PaulCatterall 05.04.2001 · Read full review
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A review of my honeymoon, on the Ocean Village and why not to do it! I booked a honeymoon cruise onboard the Ocean Village cruise ship, for a one week cruise around the Mediterranean, I had to pay just about full price, just under £1000 each for a outside cabin with a window on the "D" Deck – the view from the window was obscured by a giant lifeboat just outside. We knew about the lifeboat blocking the window prior to our cruise, but I could not ...
...downgrade - as it was our honeymoon after all. No problems booking, the travel agent were very helpful and advised that this would be the best type of cruise for us as a young honeymoon couple because the ship is very informal, lots to do onboard, Facilities include: eight bars, four places to eat, two swimming pools (one with swim-up bar), a kids centre, cinema, casino and nightclub, Ocean-view gym (with a full range of treadmills, rowing machines, ...

jmryanuk 28.12.2003 (29.12.2003) · Read full review
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Review of P & O