Wouldnt give it any stars but needed to share this!!!

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DFDS Seaways, Newcastle to Amsterdam
★★★☆☆
2.7
44.0% of users recommend this
  • Food - quality & variety

  • Entertainment on board

  • Value For Money

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priddyg's review of DFDS Seaways, Newcastle to Amsterdam

“Wouldnt give it any stars but needed to share this!!!”

★☆☆☆☆

written by priddyg on 28/02/2014


Myself, family & friends travelled with DFDS on Sunday 16th February. We are not happy with the way we were treated by staff & have lodged a complaint. I will most definitely be taking this further.
After sending the letter below to DFDS I received a reply saying we must agree to disagree,meaning their bullying security staff are allowed to carry on lying & treat people appallingly.

All 8 of our party were in the compass bar enjoying ourselves when a Dutchman came over to my 25 year old daughter asking her to arm wrestle him, when my daughter refused he tried to punch her, my son & his friend 17 & 16 years old stood up to stop him but was wrestled to the ground & pushed around by the security guards my son's friend had his passport taken off him & told to go to his cabin which he did with no fuss at all. Meanwhile the Dutchman who had caused the trouble was walking around with his mates barking/growling at young girls making sexist comments & was even allowed back in the bar to drink more. An hour later we asked if we could take my son's friend outside for a cigarette, they said yes. The Dutchman started following us so we asked the tallest security guard to help us & he just made out he couldn't understand us, so we took him back to his cabin. Sometime later my daughter took him for a cigarette on the opposite side of the boat where my son & myself joined them, after seeing the Dutchman walk past again my daughter asked the tall security guard if he would stay with us whilst we finished our cigarettes, this time he spoke to us in English saying he wasn't going to do that for us, it was against health & safety then he just walked away. A few moments later the Dutchman came outside where we were & as we decided to go back to the cabin he told my son & his friend he wouldn't touch them on the boat but as soon as we got to Amsterdam he would stab them both. An argument broke out but no fighting out of no where the tallest security guard wrestled my son's friend Jack to the floor, when Jack got up the same security guard ran at him with a flying kick straight into jacks stomach knocking him backwards 2-3 feet. I was asking him to stop but he was just pushing me out of the way( I am 50 4ft 10ins & weigh about 8stone) to get to Jack & my son, a person we didn't know tried to stop the security guards from hurting Jack further,now there was 2 more security guards & a lady guard, the smallest of the guards had my son pinned up against the wall by his neck telling him he was going to spend the night in prison whilst the tallest had Jack in a head lock & he couldn't breathe properly.I was talking to the lady trying to tell her what had happened when she was knocked to the floor by security guards pushing Jack & my son around. It was my son who helped her up & was asking if she was ok, even this incident didn't make the security guards stop. Meanwhile nothing was said or done to the Dutchman & his mates who just stood laughing then walked off. My son & Jack went back to their cabin the lady took my son's passport,she asked me to meet with her next morning at 9, I asked for the security guards names to report them but was told I couldn't have them, the lady wouldn't give me her name either. I stayed there with them but Jack started coughing up blood so I went to reception for a doctor, the lady & a Geordie man called Mark came to see him but he wasn't examined. I stayed with them in their cabin all night because I was worried about their safety. Next morning I went to reception at 9 as arranged & the lady wasn't there, I was told to come back at 10.20 which I did.I was taken into an office with staff that weren't even there the previous night. I was told my son & jack weren't allowed to sail back. I asked if we all could make a statement & we have independent witnesses. I was told NO!! I asked if I could read the security guards statements. I was told NO!! They were written in Dutch. I asked for copies of them. I was told NO!! I asked for the security guards names. I was told NO!! I asked to look at CCTV & was told there are none. We left the boat quietly but as soon as we got off the coach in Amsterdam I was telephoned to say none of us were allowed back on the boat & that our bags have been packed & were left at the ferry terminal.
When we picked up our luggage notes were stapled to them saying'' NOT ALLOWED TO SAIL BACK DUE TO VIOLENT & AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR''
They wouldn't tell us where the airport was or anything about how to get home. The flight cost 8 of us £145 each & the taxi to the airport was €90. We were all marked by your security guards & Jack was suffering for days after We have an independent witness a man from Birmingham who saw the whole thing & is willing to give a statement.
I would advise anyone against travelling with DFDS!!! Unless ofcourse you have men travelling with you because we were a party of 8, 2 teenage boys, 4 young women in their 20s & 2 widows aged 50.

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Yeoman223's Response to priddyg's Review

Written on: 27/04/2016

you should contact the maritime and coastguard agency as the company have a duty of care to its passangers and i think they would be interested in investigating DFDS crew members who behave in this way

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