Ferry Travel With A Toddler

This Easter we finally had the chance to visit family back in the Netherlands with our 18-month-old toddler, after more than two years of travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was the first time we travelled abroad with our son.
In the past we have made the same journey via plane or train, but we decided against both of those options for different reasons.
Flying would have been the quickest option, but it's not very environmentally friendly. And the thought of having to deal with additional luggage and a pram through the airport did put us off as well.
Travelling by train would be the best option for the environment, but the duration of the journey (go down to London, Eurostar from London to Rotterdam and then another train to our destination in the Netherlands) is just too long to keep our son entertained at his age. But we will probably use this option again once he is a bit older and when he might actually enjoy a longer train journey.
So that left us with one more option that was an unknown to us as well: taking the ferry from the UK to the Netherlands. The advantage of that option is that we could take our own car with all the things we needed to bring. And it would break down the journey into parts that were manageable with a toddler: 2.5-hour drive from Cheshire to Hull, overnight ferry crossing, and then a 2-hour drive from Rotterdam to our destination. And there would be plenty of time in between for breaks.
I wanted to use this article to describe our experience of that ferry journey, as it might help other parents who are planning a ferry trip with a toddler and want to know more about the practicalities.

The P&O ferry from Hull to Rotterdam leaves at 20:30, so we set off early afternoon to make sure we had enough time to drive to Hull and have a little coffee break before boarding the ferry. It was around 16:30 when we arrived at the ferry terminal.
The check-in process is really straight-forward. You drive up to the entrance, hand over your passports and the staff check your booking details. They will print your boarding cards (including any meal vouchers if you have prebooked them) and your cabin key cards (you get one for each person on your booking).
Then you are asked to drive to the customs check. There the border staff will have a look in the boot and under the bonnet of your car to make sure everything is okay.
And after that you drive up the ramp to enter the ferry's car deck from the side. Once onboard the staff will guide you to the right space to park your car. A word of warning here: depending on where you are asked to park it might be hard to open your car side doors fully, as the cars are parked in fairly tight. It's something to keep in mind if you are planning to take larger items from your car.
After we had parked we took our things and made our way to the lifts to go and find our cabin. It's wise to have your overnight things packed separately as you don't want to carry your full holiday's luggage to and from the cabin. We took the following:

• Rucksack with clothes, nappies and snacks for our son.
• Rucksack with overnight clothes and toiletries for our selves.
• Small carry bag with some toys and books to keep our son entertained during the journey.
• Travel cot.

That was easy enough to carry between the two of us, and we choose to take our son up in a carry sling.
Be aware that once you have left your car you are not able to get back, so you want to make sure you have everything you need. And don't even think about taking a pram onboard, as the corridors and cabins are too narrow to use it.

Both the outward and return journey of our trip were onboard the Pride of Rotterdam ferry. On the outward journey our cabin was on deck 10. We had booked a standard 4 bunk cabin on the outside (so it has a window). Based on the photos of the interior on the P&O website I was expecting to be able to fold up one of the bunk beds to create some space to put our travel cot. But when we arrived in the cabin it turned out this one was refurbished and the bottom bunk beds no longer fold up.
For a moment I worried we would struggle to put the cot in, but it turns out our travel cot fitted exactly in the space between the beds.

For reference, our cot is a Hauck Dream N Play and its dimensions are 128 x 69 cm. That is actually larger than the maximum dimensions mentioned on the P&O website (80 x 50 cm), but I don't know if there are other cabins where it wouldn't fit.

The whole process of arriving at the terminal to being in our cabin took less than half an hour, and it was completely stress-free (which is important when travelling with young children!).

After settling in we decided to explore the ship and have a wander around the decks with the shops, bars & restaurants. We also had a look on the top deck for some nice views over the estuary.

The onboard restaurants open around 18:00 and we soon after that headed down to The Kitchen, which is the buffet restaurant. We had pre-booked our evening meals with our tickets (toddlers eat for free), so we could go straight in.
The buffet offered a variety of meal options, and we were able to choose some suitable food for our son as well (thankfully he is an easy eater). We noticed from some other tables that the staff were happy to heat up any baby food, so that seems another option if you prefer to bring your own.
There were plenty of other families with kids eating at the same time, and it seemed there were plenty of high chairs available as well.

After finishing our meal we had another walk around before heading back to our cabin. The ship was due to depart around 20:30. When that time came the ship's captain announced over the tannoy that the ship was departing. Then there was one more announcement to let people know about the start time for breakfast the next morning. But after that the tannoy stayed off until the morning. So if you are planning to put your child down to sleep, it's probably best to do that after the ship's departure.

We got our son ready for sleep and gave him a last bottle before putting him down in his cot. Even though the website mentioned that a standard cabin would not have a kettle, we found our cabin did have a kettle (and some coffee and tea). And that was useful to have to warm up the milk bottle.
After putting our son down we got ourselves ready for bed as well and spend some time reading before going to sleep. One thing we did find is that the reading light in the refurbished cabin is a bit on the bright side to keep on all night (as a night light), so we opted to use a nightlight app on my phone instead.

Sailing was pretty smooth, and you don't really notice you are going across the sea (no swaying), but the weather was relatively quiet. Things might be quite different if there is a storm, but I can't comment on that.
The only things you notice during the crossing are some engine vibrations and the noise of the air-conditioning in the cabin. None of it felt disruptive to us, and we slept relatively well.

The next morning the tannoy woke us up around 07:30 (Dutch time) and we could see the coastline appear through the window. After a quick shower and getting dressed, we opted for a light breakfast at the cafe.
Then we packed up our stuff and waited in the cabin until the tannoy announced that car drivers should head down to go to their car. After the ship had moored up and the doors were opened we could make our way out following the staff's instructions. Once we were on dry land we had to queue for passport control, which ran pretty smoothly. And then we were ready to continue our onward journey in the Netherlands.
The time from getting to our car to leaving after passport control was again less than half an hour.

A few days later we made our way back to Rotterdam for the return journey.
We arrived around 16:30 and got our boarding passes at the entrance gate. After that we had to wait in a queue for half an hour until boarding started, unlike our first leg where we could drive straight onboard. That's something to keep in mind, because even though the website mentions that check-in starts at 15:00, you would be waiting in your car for quite a while with no facilities to use.
When boarding started at 17:00 we had our passports checked and then drove back onboard the Pride of Rotterdam to park our car.

Then we made our way to the cabin. For the return journey our cabin was on deck 8. This cabin still had the original layout and decor as displayed on the website.
While it looked a little more dated, we did have the option fold up one of the bunk beds and use that space to set up the travel cot.

The travel cot would have probably fitted in between the beds as well if you rather want to use the bottom beds. One advantage of the folded up bed was that there was slightly more floor space left for our son to play on.
The reading lights in this cabin were not as bright, so for this night we actually choose to leave one of them on as a night light.

The journey itself went in the same way as I described for the outward journey, other than the slightly later departure time (21:00). And that's a good thing as we now knew what to expect.
Because our cabin was on the same deck as the bar I was a bit worried about noise levels, but we didn't hear a thing. To be fair we were a bit further to the front of the ship, so for other cabins located closer to the bar it might be more noticeable.

The next morning the ship arrived back in Hull and after driving off the ship we had to queue around 15 minutes for the border check. And after that we were on our way home again.

For us this was the first time travelling by overnight ferry and our experience of it has been really positive. Both journeys went smoothly, and we felt pretty relaxed, as did our son.
The only negative point I would make is the fact that P&O as a company does not have a great reputation since their sudden sacking of 800 UK staff in early 2022. But that criticism is only for the higher management, as all the staff we dealt with (both onboard and at the ports) were very polite and helpful.
But we will most probably use this route again when visiting family in the future.