I really enjoyed this trip! I will reserve my single and minimal complaint for the end. Out of all the things that went wrong on our European trip, this mode of transport was a nice bright spot as far as consistency goes.
We booked our tickets on line a while in advance for an overnight ferry from England to Holland. It was booked for the middle of the week, like a Wednesday night or something. With one single purchase, our tickets included a train ride from Liverpool Station in London, the ferry of course, and a train ride into Amsterdam. Oh, and we paid extra for breakfast also, so I can include that too.
We flew into Heathrow and took the Underground straight to Liverpool Station. We had some time to kill, so naturally we hit up a pub outside the station. The good thing about the train tickets to the Stena port about an hour away is that you can take any train, any time, to get to the ship. Their website listed the last trains to leave in time, and we took one sooner. If I remember correctly the ship left port at 9:00pm.
The ship was very similar looking, inside and out, to a legit cruise ship. I have been on several Carnival cruise ships and that's what I was reminded of. The security to get on the ship was quick and easy; random bag searches, where they quickly peered in my suitcase, and I was past this part in under a minute. Definitely beats airport security. We got in and settled into our room, which was a three-person room with two beds. It was actually a decent size, at least compared to what I expect on a cruise ship. They are very proud of their mattresses, displaying the brand name on the door and in marketing material, and with good cause. They were comfy! Our shower was decent and I believe we had free refreshments in the mini fridge. We could not complain about the room, especially for the price! I believe it was 49 euros total for the room.
Needing Internet, we set off to explore the ship. The night we set sail the ship was really quite empty, I don't think there was more than 100 passengers on board. We went to the main floor and explored some. There was a cafe, restaurant, several bars (where I first discovered the mind-blowing two different types of Heineken on tap: Heineken, and Heineken Extra Cold, whose name is pretty self explanatory), a legit movie theater, game rooms, an outside deck, and of course the Internet room. It wasn't until I arrived at the computers that I realized they have free WiFi available throughout the ship! But we were able to check our reservations, and decided to call it a night.
We were woken in the morning by speakers in the room announcing that we were hitting shore in about 30 minutes. It was loud enough to wake us but a gentle enough voice to not be frightening. We got up and ready and headed upstairs for a breakfast buffet. The food was good, a wide selection of traditional Dutch breakfast food (or so I think). We were the last group to finish eating, but the employees around were very friendly and not imposing. We did not feel rushed. We found our way off the ship and quickly proceeded through customs. It was cool getting a stamp on my passport, and instead of the typical airplane logo stamp, we got a ship! I didn't know there was different stamps.
We walked maybe 100 feet outside the ferry terminal and boarded the first train to Rotterdam, where we switched over to another train to Amsterdam. It was an early morning crowd of what I would assume to be people heading to work. The trains left the ferry terminal in 5-7 minute intervals.
All in all, it was a very smooth process, and I would highly recommend this travel option. I want to try the day ferry next time, as this trip I basically only used the ferry to sleep. My one complaint was that the ship ride was too short! I only had seven hours on board to eat, shower, research, and sleep. But if the biggest complaint is arriving too soon, who cares! read more