Mitzyboy

Before I went away there were varying reports so I thought I would let you know how it went.

We caught the ferry at Bilbao 12.15 12th December. People had told us the vessel size had been reduced, and we had heard of bad service on board also, as well as bad weather crossings. Our expectations therefore were not high.

In fact I have to say that the staff on board the Pride of Bilbao were nothing but extremely pleasant and helpful. We were allocated an inside cabin on deck 6. Cabin was two single beds, basic dressing table and mirror plus separate bathroom.

On board there was a Costa Cafe, Posh Bar (with Tapas), A serve yourself restaurant, a buffet restaurant, another retaurant with a la carte option, a pub with large screen TV, and the Club room at the rear. Also there was a swimming pool and exercise room on deck 3.

We had dinner at Langdons (I think) restaurant that night which cost just over £45 with wine for three courses. It was actually very nice.

The Captain told us we were going to have some rough seas in the early hours of the morning. In fact although we were rocking about a bit, it really wasn't that bad and we slept relatively easily through the night.

Two Coffee's at Costa with two Bacon and sausage baguettes, which we had for breakfast, would set you back £11.00.

Another day on the sea (we were due in Portsmouth around 6.30pm) and boredom sets in .......... unless you drink and eat, theres very little else to do!

Cabaret is in the Club bar. I stopped to catch it once and I have to say it was terrible. They also play bingo

There is a sealife officer on board who informs you about the wildlife you may see .... after looking for a while you start to go boss eyed, as the chances of you spotting something are pretty slim I'd guess. We did however get to see some Dolphins swimming along side (right time right place for once), and the wife apparantly saw some fin whales blowing in the distance ..... she only knew that cos the sealife officer told her!

Whole thing was just over £600 return. It was certainly more relaxed for me, rather than 2 x 11 hour days driving followed by another 4 hour drive in the UK and financially I dont think it was too far out.

If you book it though I'd warn you that the first time I went on it was just over £500. I took a phone call half way through the booking, and when I went back to it, it threw me off the site and increased the price by £100!!

All in all I was pleased with the service, staff were pleasant and helpful, boat was clean, beds were almost comfortable and had I taken my shorts I may have been able to have a swim to pass a bit more time ........ take a good book!

bob_day

Thanks for an informative post. We are taking the ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao and back again for the first time in March. We had originally planned to fly and have booked two return flights with Monarch, which incidentally we wil not now use and the cost of changing them is more than just booking new flight sometime later in the year should we want to take a trip back to the UK. Anyway it dawned on us that if we took the ferry in March and again in May we would have been able to transport everything that we need to take over for the full time move.

Being new to this ferry booking game I wasn't sure whether we should book early or last minute to get the prices, or who the best websites were for discounted tickets. I watched Portsmouth/Bilbao on a couple of ticket sites for a while leading up to Christmas and it was consistently £510 for a Merc ML, 2 passengers and an outside cabin. After Christmas I thought I may as well make the booking only to find it had gone up to £580. So I checked the P&O website and it too had gone increased in price. I spotted the voucher code entry on the P&O booking form and a quick web search produced a number of P&O voucher codes. I popped on of these in and the far dropped to £450 return. Instant saving of £130. Ain't t'internet wonderful.

We are looking forward to the trip even though I hear it can be a little bumpy. I'd also heard tell that prices on board were extortionate but those you quote above seem reasonable enough. Did you book Langans in advance of the trip?

Was Internet connectivity for your own PC available anywhere on board as I would prefer not to miss a day's email.

Time to find out if we have sea legs or not.

pete_l

I've done the Plymouth/Santander run a few times, and I've never come across
any website that offers different prices from the operators. (Maybe I just
haven't tried hard enough). There also doesn't seem to be an optimal time for
booking - whether early or late, I've always been quoted the same price -
although there are peak and quiet times (reflected in the prices) you don't seem
to get extra discounts for booking them early. Obviously, if you leave it too
late, the ferry may be full, but that's a different issue.

bob_day

Bluedog and a couple of others were consistantly giving lower pricing than P&O's own website for the exact same journey

EsuriJohn

Our experience last October was almost exactly the same but I used the cinema. Went to see two films (one each day) that I had seen good reviews for and that passed the time from dinner to bed and breakfast to lunch. Never saw the pool but will take cossie next time.

Mitzyboy

Ahhh I forgot the cinemas .... about £5.00 each and new films.

I searched a lot of sites before Christmas and couldn't get a discount anywhere. We booked a couple of weeks before we left and the return on 3rd Jan was the last one for a month I think

It wasn't too bumpy at all Bob .... I dont suffer from sea sickness to be honest, but the roughest part was on the way to the UK, and it didn't seem to cause anyone trouble, even though the captain said it was going to be rough

Lionda

I went on a day trip from Portsmouth to France once

Cape Blue

I've done that trip on a number of occasions, most times I felt a little queasy but on one trip I was as sick as a dog as it was very rough in the Bay - the only consolation was that around 80% of the boat was also sea sick, as were the majority of the crew.

If you can face it get into their pool on the lower decks - apparently it helps.

Mitzyboy

Keeps all the sick in one place?

jdr

lol...

outside keeping an eye on the horizon helps a lot if you feel sicky.

Cape Blue

That did occur to me as I entered the pool

Lionda

Tried that but just froze stopped me feeling...no....stopped me BEING sick, just for a short time then i had to go back inside to warm up

jdr

It helps calm the brain, it is receiving conflicting signals from your body and your eyes.
Below decks your eyes give the message everthing is smooth, when they see the horizon they give the same you are moving message as your body.

Splatt

Both times I've done the crossing have been thoroughly enjoyable, once to Santander and once to Bilbao, I must say I preferred the pride of Bilbao even though it is an older ship. I too thought that Langdons Brasserie was very nice, in fact we had the place to ourselves!

Didn't much fancy a swim either, it's a bit like pulling off the motorway into a service station and having a play on a driving game.

The only thing about the Pride of Bilbao that caused me concern were the toilets... I'll leave it there shall I.

The worst part of the journey last time was getting off at Santander amidst strikes (5 hours wait) and then limping across Spain in a 7.5t van that had sprung a fault and struggled to get to 50. Watching the roadsigns; 'Zaragoza 300km', 10 minutes pass, 'Zaragoza 290km', and so on on a long straight dull road. Yech.

Lionda

But I only went from Portsmouth to France and back, Portsmouth to bilbao, Santander or wherever would kill me - well it would certainly put me off my food for a while .... or maybe that's a good thing