Advantages: Brittish company
Disadvantages: Staff can be rude

...Well what can I say, I am a little cheesed off about how P&O are cutting their services. P&O stated to the press that as of march 2005 all ferry services from Portsmouth to France will be axed, this resulted in many job losses on both sides of the channel. Brittany Ferries the company which is funded by the French government has announced that it is to take over the charter of the Pride of Portsmouth and Pride of Leharve, both are 33,000 gross tons and are worthy vessels for any company. The Pride of Cherbourg is owned by Irish Ferries who P&O charted her off, P&O are sub chartering her out to any one who wants her. One point what I am pleased about is the fact that the Pride of Bilbao (ex Olympia) is staying on from Portsmouth to Bilbao in northern Spain. The history of P&O in Portsmouth. Many years ago Otto Thoresen sailed... Read review

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Advantages: Faster than average
Disadvantages: Poor quality, unreliable, poor service

...We just returned from a couple of weeks in France and used the P&O Portsmouth to Cherbourg Super Cat Ferry. This is supposed to be a fast crossing (in around 2hrs 40 mins) but unfortunatly, the boat is suffering with engine problems, so the crossing times are now in excess of 3 hours. P&O have also rescheduled the timings of the crossings. We were expecting to catch the 19.00 (7pm) crossing, but when we arrived at Cherbourg, found that we were not sailing until 21.00 (9pm) making it a very late arrival back home. I was not impressed with the way P&O handled this - there was very little sympathy and not attempt to contact people who were sailing to advise them of the changes. I would recommend anyone sailing with P&O to phone the day before sailing to check departure times. Had we been ware of the delay, we could have taken time to have... Read review

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Advantages: Modern, Attractive, Stylish, Comfy, Enjoyable
Disadvantages: Expensive at times, can get fully booked

...Travelling on the North Sea has in recent times developed a bad reputation. Passengers usually expect any old tub waiting to carry them on an overnight crossing, with poor cabins and no proper facilities. But no more. P&O Ferries have re-branded themselves with a new cruise-style background, and it really does work. Company Background ---------------------------- The company started in 1966 as North Sea Ferries, a joint venture between P&O and Dutch shipping giant Nedlloyd. Having begun with a passenger service from Hull to Rotterdam, the company quickly expanded to operate a passenger service to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge and various freight routes. Not much changed till 1996 when P&O bought out Nedlloyd’s share to become a wholly owned P&O company. In 1997 P&O European Ferries freight routes from Felixstowe to Rotterdam... Read review

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Advantages: They don't do it now.
Disadvantages: I wish they still did!

...I was sorely tempted to ask for a new catty-gory, when blobbyqueen issued the challenge. I had two, nay three, in mind. The John o’Groats Ferry Company, Pentland Ferries, and Northlink. All of whom (well the first two, anyway) deserve enormous credit for battling over the inhospitable waters of the Pentland Firth in all weathers and all seasons, to provide lifeline services to the Northern Isles. But in fact, this opinion is far better dedicated to P&O, who last autumn lost the contract to provide ferry services from Scrabster (Caithness) to Stromness (Orkney). Prior to this competitive tendering stuff, P&O’s St Ola crossed one of the roughest sea-passages in the world, pre-dated only by Viking Longships. She did so over generations. She carried essential provisions to Orkney, and returned with a hold full of organically reared... Read review

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Advantages: Lovely Ferries
Disadvantages: Reliability

...I have used P&O ferries quite a few times and each time it has been a pleasure. My most recent trip with them was at the end of February when I went skiing. Right from the word go you can tell it is going to be a pleasant trip. When you drive on to the ferry there are people there who tell you where to go. When you climb up the steps and you see inside the ferry you think wow. It is nicely decorated, it is clean and it is appealing. There are a lot of facilities on board so you will have plenty to do during the crossing. There are signs all over the ferry to direct you to certain places e.g. toilets The first place I went when I got on board was the ' International Food Court '. When I got in there I was very impressed. It was well set out, spacious and felt generally nice. The food was of a high quality, and was a great price. I... Read review

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Advantages: Very comfortable ferries, loads to do, generally good service
Disadvantages: The occasional slip-up

...UPDATE: 3/11/04. Renewed membership means every review I've ever written is to come under scrutinous inspection....and must-needed updating. Yep, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) are famous for ferry travel from Britain to Europe. Although they do offer a variety of other services (N.B. despite keeping the name, P&O Cruises is no longer a P&O subsidiary, it is owned by cruise-giant Carnival) this is a hopefully brief history of P&O Ferries. P&O offered ferry services from the early seventies to 1985, when the ferries division was sold to Townsend Thoresen. This was all part of a master plan though as in 1986 P&O actually bought Townsend Thoresen out. Things remained as usual on the surface, the ships keeping their Orange and green-funnelled liveries until March 1987, when the Herald of Free Enterprise sunk... Read review

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Advantages: Quicker than the ferry
Disadvantages: Poor5 service

...I travel regularly to Europe on business as wells as for holidays. Generally this means about 12 channel crossings a year. I tend to prefer the Eurotunnel service for my business trips when time is the most important factor but I have also used the Ferries frequently and over Easter 2001 used the new SeaCat service which has replaced the discontinued Hovercraft service. I thought I would take the opportunity to share my views on the different services. The premise is this, if you are driving over to France or Belgium from the Dover area which is the best service. I am comparing the SeaCat service run by Hoverspeed, the le Shuttle service run by Eurotunnel and the Ferry as run by P&O Stena line. I will compare ease of booking in, ease of boarding and getting off, comfort on board during the journey, smoothness of the crossing, terminal... Read review

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Advantages: good value for money, clean easy to book and relaxing atmosphere
Disadvantages: i cant think of any

...Norfolk Ferries This is the first time i have used Norfolk Ferries as previously i have only used P&O ferries from Dover to Calais but in this occasion i was going from Dover to Dunkerque, 2 hours long. Norfolk as i know have been around for about 4 years and we came across them online as the cheapest deal. The website was really easy to use and we booked the same morning as our trip. I thought the price of £40 for a return trip journey for 2 people and a car was pretty good. Well condsidering prices of other ways eg- Euro Tunnel this was a cheap opition. We decided to travel in the early hours of the morning as this was cheaper and the roads on each side would be less busy. On or way their we caught the 2am Ferry and the way back it was the midnight ferry. There were not many people thereforth catching the same as we did. The trip... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Cheap and clean
Disadvantages: Not the most luxurious ferry line

...When I was living in Belgium, I used to cross the Channel every 4 days, using various companies, methods (ferries, tunnel, seacat etc) and by far the last choice on my list was SeaFrance - desperation if the other companies were fully booked. The company is, as you can guess from the name, French and so are all the staff and signs onboard, so if you feel this could be a problem - be warned. They are very polite and professional and of course their English puts our French to shame so you shouldn't have any difficulties at all. The ferries themselves were functional to say the least, and after using P&O Stena line, they are very very basic in comparison. OK they are cheap and to be honest it's only a 90 minutes crossing so as a regular form of transport then fair enough. However, if you want to treat the ferry trip as part of your... Read review

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Advantages: Gets you on and off the Island!
Disadvantages: way Too Expensive!!

...is full to the brim with people getting their first look at the mainland or looking out for the little island. The crossing is over before you know it, just enough time to have a brew and some biscuits. I have never even experienced a rough sailing as the ferries seem to be fairly sturdy. Additional information ------------------------------- www.wightlink.co.uk Booking enquires: Call 0870 582 7744 or email bookings@wightlink.co.uk Opening Times: Monday to Saturday 0700 - 2100 & Sundays 0730-2000 Closed Christmas Day. Enquiries &complaints: Email info@wightlink.co.uk Opening times: Monday to Friday 0900 - 1630 Please allow 48 hours for a reply. International enquiries: 00 44 23 9285 5230 Switchboard: 0870 240 4323 To contact via post: Wightlink Ltd, PO Box 59, Portsmouth, PO1 2XB Conclusion -------------- Overall I do feel... Read review

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