We recently took a family holiday to Holland, sailing over on the P&O ferry from Hull to Rotterdam then driving to Holland Centre Parcs and stopping for a few extra days to do some (child friendly!) things in Amsterdam. We had a brilliant time and it was really cheap compared to most August abroad holidays, so I thought I’d share a bit about it.
Despite the ferries being on our doorstep I’ve never actually been on them before, I was worried about sea-sickness and the kids not sleeping. My eldest has just finished reception so it was going to be his first summer holiday off school and I wanted a week away booked to have something to look forward to and break up the 6 weeks off. After pricing up other holidays abroad in August and being shocked at the cost a friend suggested we look at the ferries.
The first benefit of the ferries is price, you pay per car and cabin rather than needing to book by seat on a flight (I have 2 kids over 2 now so it would have been 4 seats to on a flight). The ferry came it at around £500 return but for this you get 2 nights ‘accommodation’ and therefore 2 extra nights to the holiday! The second benefit is a speedy to start to the holiday. With no airport parking/waiting/general faffing around and no long drives, we left home at 5pm on Friday and by 5.45pm we’d checked in, parked on the ferry deck and got to our cabin.
T
he cabin was certainly cosy but the kids thought it was amazing and spent ages climbing on and off the bunk beds.
There was a lot to do on the ship. My 2 year old spent ages in the small soft play and my 5 year old in the kids TV area watching Tom & Jerry. There was also a cinema with kids films on and we watched the children’s show which was ok for a free hours entertainment but not the best! At 8.30pm we set sail and went up on deck to watch as we headed down the Humber, there were some fantastic views. At 9pm both kids were flagging so we grabbed some drinks (there’s a good Starbucks and lots of bars to choose from) and headed back to the cabin. Unexpectedly both kids went straight to sleep and slept all night! It was a calm crossing but I think the gentle motion of the boat really helped them sleep.
In the morning we went to the restaurant for breakfast, it was great food and an excellent selection but a bit pricey so on the way back we just went to the Starbucks for coffee, croissants and yogurts. At 8am we docked into Rotterdam Europort, returned to the car deck and by 9am we had gone through passport control and were driving in Holland!
My first error was to not realise the volume was turned off on the sat nav so we headed off on a lovely straight open road and completely missed our exit so had to pretty much start again. After rectifying that the driving was really easy, everything is so well signed and the kids were happy in the back with all the fruit and brioche rolls I’d smuggled out of breakfast.
It was around an hours drive to Amsterdam where we were staying for 2 nights with a friend, my son’s godmother who recently moved over there. Despite what I had heard and assumed about the city it was very child friendly. There’s a huge park, Vondel Park, with lots of different play areas and trails where we spent a lot of time, plus there’s lots of other parks and splashparks around the city. We all enjoyed strolling around the canals, going on the trams, watching children’s entertainers in some of the squares, stopping for drinks and ice creams and my eldest liked looking at the buildings and amazing architecture.
We spent a full day at Nemo, the children’s science museum, which was probably the best attraction and day out we’ve been to. It was all hands on activities to show children how science works, going up 5 floors with a different age range on each floor. Here we made balloon powered cars which we got to take home. We had to drag both kids out at the end of the day!
On Monday afternoon we then drove 40 minutes to Centre Parcs. There are around 6 across the country but we picked De Eemhof as it was the nearest to Amsterdam. On first arrival you could have been in Sherwood Forest with flat roofed lodges blended into the woods, lakes and rivers running through it and obligatory ducks and swans on the lodge patio to feed each morning. The village centre was similar with a few shops, restaurants and the indoor swimming pool/lagoon with slides, rapids and kids pools.
However, about a 5 minute walk out of the village centre there was a wide river with a beautiful marina and beach! A boat went across the river each day to the town of Spatzenburg so we got off the site and went to look around the town. There was a festival on so we watched shows and got a bit of culture seeing traditional Dutch dress, crafts and performances.
There were lots of activities at Centre Parcs that you could book on the water. There was a banana boat which looked great and you could learn to sail in a sheltered bay.
There was also a small farm on the site which was free to go in and both my kids loved. A mummy pig had just had 7 piglets so we went to see if they’d grown each day. There were donkeys, goats, sheep and an area with guinea pigs and rabbits that you could hold.
The weather was the same as the UK, we had a few sunny days then one day when it rained all day. There was plenty to do indoors though. The Action Factory was an indoor centre with a great soft play, arcades, kids activities and a free kids show and disco. This was a picture from one of the kids show where they all got on stage with the character ‘Orry’ at the end.
The food was good in the restaurants and around the same price as UK food. It was really healthy though! I ordered a kids sausages meal and it came as handmade sausages on a skewer with a bowl of rice and bowl of melon. Even the kids ice creams all came with fruit in which I was pleased about, my children not so pleased.
It was really good value for money and at least half the price of a UK Centre Parcs, we paid around £700 for a standard lodge Monday – Friday. They give you 3 free activities which we used on my son and husband doing laser quest and my son doing the climbing challenge. Extra activities are a lot cheaper than the UK (11 euros for an hours laser quest!). The lodges were slightly more basic than the UK and parts of the park were a little bit shabby but it had everything we could possibly need to keep 2 children (and ourselves!) happy and entertained.
After 4 great nights we packed the car and left the site around 3.30pm on the Friday and drove the hour and a half back to the ferry port. We arrived early and were one of the first on the boat as it opened for boarding at 5pm. We had another fun evening on the ferry, another dodgy kids show and another very good nights sleep! It was a bit choppier coming back and I felt a bit sick but the kids were fine. The best bit was that we docked at 8am and by 9am we were at my in-laws in East Hull having sausage sandwiches for breakfast! We had the full day to unpack and get back to normal.
The kids are asking when we can go back to Holland on the ferry and we’re already looking at booking again for next summer. Overall it was one of the best holidays we’ve had and I’d definitely recommend a holiday from Hull on the ferry!
