On 23rd March, me, Martin and two friends of ours (Another couple), drove over to Hull to begin our three day mini cruise to Bruges. A friend of mine had told me about the P&O Mini Cruises, available for travelling to Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Ostend also, a couple of months before as she had been on one herself. In the winter months, P&O run a fantastic "2 for 1" deal, meaning that the entirety of the travel required for the trip only cost us £37.50 each. This included two nights on the ferry, and transport from Zeebrugge to Bruges and back again, making it the bargain of the century. The ship set sail on Sunday 23rd, arriving in Belgium on the morning of the 24th. We then spent the day in Bruges, and sailed home again that evening, arriving back in Hull on Monday 25th. We sailed on the Pride of York, and whilst it showed its age a bit in terms of the decor, and general wear and tear on the outer of the ship, it was otherwise a decent place to be for a couple of nights.




The drive to Hull itself did not fill us with hope, if I'm honest because the weather was absolutely atrocious! We had wind, rain and even a pretty scary hail storm before we arrived safely at our destination. Checking in as a foot passenger was surprisingly quick and[bxA] easy, with a quick stop and search through security before settling in the waiting area. It turns out that we had been a bit hasty with our arrival, as we had to wait about an hour or so before we were able to board the ship. But, seeing as we had never done the trip before, we wanted to be early rather than late. The time passed quickly enough, however, and we were soon on the ship and making our way to our cabins.






We had booked two cabins, one for each couple. I will say straight from the off that they are very small, and a lot of people would probably be quite disappointed with that fact. However, having travelled on ferries regularly when I was younger, I knew what they would be like. Despite the size, the cabins had everything we needed - a set of bunk beds (I took the top one!), desk, stool, large mirror, pre-hung coat hangers attached to a high shelf and a little bathroom. It was very much a "sit on the toilet with your feet in the shower" job, but was perfectly adequate for our needs and included a toilet, sink and shower. The cabin was meticulously clean, although our bathroom did smell bad when we first entered the cabin! The only downside was that the cabin only had one European wall socket - which we knew about and had prepared for, but more than one would have been quite handy for charging our phones.









Soon enough, we were leaving Hull and decided to go for a wander on the deck. As you can see from the images, the weather had calmed down considerably and it was like the freak storm had never happened! We were treated to a lovely sunset (Although it was setting over Hull, which is not the prettiest of cities) and before long we were heading out into the North Sea. We went back inside after departing, to see what the ship had to offer. As it turns out, it had quite the selection - a "duty free" much like you would get at an airport, with a separate shop for liquor and wines, two restaurants, three bars, a coffee shop, casino and even a cinema. We decided to find out which bar was the quietest, which turned out to be the Piano Bar, get some drinks in and while away the evening playing some games.





To be honest, we expected the bars to not only be hideously expensive, but also have quite a poor selection of alcohol on offer. Much to our pleasant surprise, both of these factors were the complete opposite. They had a selection of cocktails for £6 each, as well as the usual wine, spirit and beer offerings for little more than you would pay down your local pub. There was an offer available that we took advantage of; four "world beers" for £12, which we thought was a pretty good deal. On the offer was a mixture of beers that we hadn't tried before and ones that we enjoyed already, and being the craft beer drinkers that we are, we stuck to those quite happily for the rest of the night. These included Leffe Brune and Blonde, Shephard Neame, Whitstable Bay and a couple of others that I can't recall.









Towards the end of the evening, we were getting bored of the bar we had set ourselves up in and decided to try another, via another wander around the deck to clear our heads a little. After all, we had had quite a few beers, and being on a ferry at sea does make you feel drunker than you actually are! We also checked out the liquor shop, which wasn't open on our first trip around. Whilst we were there, I saw a couple stocking up on cases of wine, but to me this seemed pointless - we were travelling to a foreign country, did they not want to pick any up there? Regardless, the prices were fair-to-middling, with no real offers jumping out at us and the selection is what you would get at your average supermarket. On the other hand, there were decent prices on tobacco, with my friend picking up a multi-pack on our return trip. After our little wander, we ended up settling in the Boulevard Bar, which was much smaller but had exactly the same prices and offers as the other bar we had been in. The rest of the night was spent playing Cards Against Humanity, which is the best game to play when you're having a few. Very rude, obscenely offensive and very highly recommended - unless you're easily offended, of course.





We eventually retired to bed just before midnight, with the ship docking at 8:30am the next day. However, because of the time difference, we lost an hour's worth of sleep, which is all too easily forgotten about when you're drinking on a boat! Nevertheless, I woke up in good time, and after grabbing some bottles of water from the coffee shop, was greeted on deck to a beautifully sunny morning on the sea. Not long afterwards, we docked in Zeebrugge and our day in Bruges began! Stay tuned for the next post, where I will be showing you how we spent our day in the city. Lots of beer, food and beautiful views await!