written by on 02/04/2010
Me and my husband just got back lastnight on this cruise. We would not go again and hardly enjoyed it at all. We were terribly sea sick and spent a good percent of the time laying in bed being ill because we were sailing in a force eight gale. My husband normally has the most cast iron stomach on the planet yet even he couldnt manage the exceptionally rocking ship. The captain did not inform us of this severe weather until we had been sailing for a couple of hours out of portsmouth so we had no option but to stay on the ship and deal with it for the rest of the trip. We couldnt wait to get home. The town of Bilbao was pretty though. There was nothing open as we arrived there at 7am. When the shops did open we didnt find the spanish particularly friendly. You only have about three or four hours there until you have to be back to reboard the ship so not much time to look around at all. The cabins onboard are very cosy, not very big but very warm and snug. The beds are very comfortable and warm. The ensuite toilet and shower room are very clean. The food is pricey but if you have sea sickness like we did (and many other people on board) you probably wont have to buy any anyway. My advice is only to do this trip if you know you can handle the bad weather and sea conditions. Neither of us have been sea sick before and didnt expect to. As a result it hit us like a tonne of bricks. I feel let down by P&O for not providing any information on how often the sea conditions are bad on this cruise (just read the reviews). We only paid £75.00 for the two of us for the cruise but I still feel ripped off and let down even for that price. P&O should do more to inform passengers of the dodgy sea conditions on many of the trips and give passengers the choice to cancel before they get on the ship if the weather is bad. The captain knows exactly what the conditions are before he leaves the dock so why not inform the passengers and give them the choice before deparure. I wouldnt bother with this trip.
written by morisien on 29/03/2010
- entertainment was poor
- too little time spent in Bilbao
- not a big choice of Restaurants on board
- entertainment space too small to accomodate people on board and you end up standing
- swimming pool is the same size as 4 bathtubs put together and was always full
- inside cabin was way too small
- not all equipment in gym works
- there is not much to do if you do not like the entertainment, cannot go to the pool and go outside because of poor weather.
written by on 02/12/2009
I arranged a 3 night trip for my friends 30th, I expected it to be a bit 'rough around the edges' due to the cost being so low. When departing we had a delay and did not arrive in Bilbao until 4pm, so only had about 3hrs in Spain, in the dark. This was due to the bad weather. Therefore, we ended up on a 4 night cruise. Be aware of this when booking time off of work. The cabin was small but fine. We had underestimated the travel sickness and spent the first 24hrs in our cabin, unwell. Tablets and ginger biscuits did not work for us.
There were a few 'characters' on our ship and I would say that 85% thought they were at a Jeremy Kyle audition. Apart from the Langans bar/brasserie the rest of the ship was like a floating Butlins. As we were leaving the ship we learnt that some men had been arrested on board and as we sat and waited one woman went to punch another.....I rest my case!
We both had facials, which were fantastic. The cinema was great but the entertainment was very aged, I guess it catered to the customers they get.
I certainly would not go on this trip again, you get what you pay for.
written by on 29/10/2009
Cabin near engines, hardly any sleep, never saw entertainment, not enough seats. More like a booze cruise, saw more whales on the boat than in the sea. Bilbao city tour excellent. Food excellent, highly recommended in carvery. Nightmare getting off boat
written by on 02/08/2009
Just returned from our first (and last) P&O mini-cruise and it was like Butlins On Sea! Cabins were small, very difficult to get hot water for a shower and not even a kettle in there to make a drink. I had been warned that the Bay of Biscay could be rough but wasn't expecting it to be that bad, kids were throwing up all over the place! Food was good but expensive. Entertainment was good but the same every night. You were charged for the cinema which I didn't realise. Swimming pool was freezing. Not enough sun loungers on the decks. Staff were okay but most of them were Spanish and their English wasn't brilliant. Wouldn't go again.
written by on 19/08/2008
For what we paid, this Bilbao P&O Mini Cruise holiday was acceptable but it has to be said, we will not be doing this again. Staff spoke basic English and most passengers suffered from REALLY bad sea sickness. All in all I think this cruise is only good if you want cheap cigarettes from Spain... I don't advise it.
written by avvy1 on 03/06/2008
Me and my boyfriend decided to go on the Bilbao cruise for a weekend away and expected nothing like what we got. The cabins were very small, and I was unable to upgrade us to a club class - I have no idea why!!!
The tour operator we went through said the coach did picks up the M1 corridor, when we asked where we could be picked up, none of the locations we could get to were offered!
The Ferry, consisted of 8 decks - 6&7 were the ones which contained the entertainment and restaurants. The others were where the cabins were found. The ferry had a cinema, casino (very smoky!! - I nearly gagged when I went in!!), games rooms mainly for kids, entertainment bar, restaurants etc.
To be honest not a great weekend - we got to Bilbao on the Sunday to find out that none of the shops were open - just as well as most of the them were either tobacco shops of coffee shops. Long way to go for that, as I could have just gone to Costa Coffee!!
The noise of the engine and the constant shuddering is OK for those that can sleep through anything, for those light sleepers I would say a definite no no!
I always wanted to go on a cruise, but am glad I have now got it out of my system as I don't think I will ever do it again!! Boy, were we glad to get back to Portsmouth and onto dry land!!
written by on 27/01/2008
Roug weather so lots of people being sick haha so we got to food easily .We enjoyed rough weather.Cold when landed in Bilboa and disapointed with town but ship was good
written by MARK HILLMAN on 26/10/2006
I have never seen anything like it in my life. For 2 1/2 days we endured storm force winds. Everything on-board the P&O Bilbao mini cruise shut down for safety reasons. All the bars, restaurants and all entertainment (except the bingo). People were lying in the foyers, trying to make themselves as comfortable as possible and trying not to be sick. We were unable to use the carvery or the restaurant due to us feeling so ill. Our excursions in Spain were also cancelled because we didn't arrive until 2:30pm. We got off the boat and all there was to do was to sit at the bar/cafe for 2 hours. No shops were open either. Very disappointed.
written by Lawler on 28/06/2006
Although we thought it was boring on the Pride of Bilbao P&O mini cruise, this was due to the weather being poor. I expect it would have been alright if we could have sun bathed. The Cinema was cool, but you could hear next doors film sometimes! The main bar annoyed us a little, as it was built on an uneven surface which didn't help when the boat rocked!
The sea was rough constantly, so we could only manage to drink on the first night, so it wasn't much fun, and it left us with very little to do.
The food is expensive, and the cheaper of the 3 restaurants served the same selection of food every night.
The rooms were small, but they were not that bad, and the shower was brilliant.
We definitely won't be going again. It's put us off for life!!
written by rebmark on 20/11/2005
During trip we had gale force 9 storms.Spent most of the P&O Mini Cruise to Bilbao in our cabin as children were seasick.
Resturant staff not very helpful.Trying to get a buttered roll like asking for a 5 course meal.
Seemed like every person on board was smoking. Ship stunk of tobacco throughout. Only place you could escape smoke was the posh lounge. Never again!
written by Lee Shaw on 31/08/2005
We found the food on the P&O Mini Cruise to Bilbao, to be very expensive for what you got. If you like baguettes and Paninis you will not be disappointed, because this appeared to be the only thing available after 11am, unless you really want to get ripped off in Langhams. £12.50 for a breakfast that you wouldn't feed your dog, is absolutely disgraceful, along with the waiter that served us.
I would recommend the carvery, and also the little bar on the back deck, which does lovely hot dogs.
We also found that you can drink until 3am, but there was no food available from 11pm, so if you feel hungry after a drink, you better prepare a packed lunch.
I will give praise to the two young ladies that entertained the children, as they did an excellent job at keeping the little rascals under control.
The Cruise Director was very smug, with an over sized suit and a repertoire of jokes that dated back to the Titanic, and that is being very kind.
The boys and girls in the Cabaret were excellent, along with the members of the resident band, although their routine was very short-lived, which was a shame.
The disco had it's moments, until the DJ felt ill one evening, but this wasn't all bad, because the lighting engineer stepped in to spin the wheels of steel (bless him).
When we stopped at Bilbao to disembark, we decided to take a 20 minute train journey into Bilbao. Unfortunately they forgot to tell everyone that nothing opens until 10 o'clock, which meant a quick Pannini again, and time to jump back on the train to catch the boat.
Apart from that everything was fine.
The hot dogs at the rear bar are well worth sampling, and the duty free shop is fairly reasonable for a glorified Ferry.
Do you have a question about this product or company? Simply type it in the box below and one of our community will give you an answer
Once we've checked over your question we will put it live on the site and our strong community of experts will hopefully give you some great answers that you find useful.
We will email you when the question is on the site
373509_Richie42's Response to avvy1's Review
Written on: 12/06/2008
Hiya,
<br/>don't judge all Cruises the same as the Bilbao.
<br/>The Bilbao is not a Cruise but a glorified Ferry.
<br/>A good Cruise will cost you anything from £2.500 per person upwards, which is slightly more than £100 each you and your fella will have paid for the Bilbao, which isn't bad for a four day trip on a boat. I pay that for the wife the kids and myself to go from Greenwich to the Tower of London on a pleasure boat.
<br/>You get what you pay for (isn't that the truth)
<br/>Take a Proper Med Cruise with Princess or Royal Carribean and you will certainly notice the difference, the Bilbao is ok for the money, but remember it is only a ferry with a bit of entertainment to boot.
<br/>Happy Days
<br/>
<br/>Rich.....