PO Ferries-uk Avis 

Ok the boat was fine but I am outraged by their phone charges.

They charged me over £39 to book a ferry from their UK call centre on my UK phone while I am in The UK.

That is absolutely criminal and they never told me that it was a super high cost call to wait to speak to a person.

Absolutely deplorable behaviour by a previously respectable company.

I will drive to the Hull port and book face to face in future, it will cost less than £10 in petrol.

I bet these rob dogs will try to charge me £7 car parking while I book a passage!

Worst customer service on board.. employees talk to each other like your not there

couldn't care less, brasserie closed when listed as should be open, dirty, food in food court unappetising and not pleasant. I used to think that it was impossible to slip beneath the standard of dfds cross channel ferries but over the last year p and o have forced their standards to a new low. When will they realise that there exists a large population who would choose to travel on a vessel where proper restaurant facilities, properly prepared and served, are available. The staff don't like the deterioration in standards and are happy to share that unhappiness.

Turned up no ticket ,no problem paid extra as expected such an easy experience

The ferry from Calais to Dover was delayed by 4 hours on Thursday - 3rd Aug instead of leaving at 19:55 left close to midnight. To compensate the delay and gave us food coupons for £4 pounds.. good enough to buy P (peanuts) and O (Olives). Wish their management team waits for the ferries for 4 hours and then gets £4 to spend on their ferry!!.. Treat your customers like you would want to be treated.

Inconsistent, don't communicate and poor customer service from booking to the ferry.
When the contact centre answers they don't listen so you have to repeat, as a frequent user they don't remember anything you do,they try and sell upgrades (priority boarding), the email confirmations are hot and miss and you cant keep track of outstanding booking.
Calais is mostly late but the Uk outbound works.

Service in the lounge depends on who is serving ranging from good to well unrepeatable.
Customer service escalation is not available
so ordinary it untrue
basically this is a production operation and customers don't count

Sad but true

Horrible travel with p&o, staff were rude and not helpful at all. I would not recommend taking them especially summer time. Only had two check in open whilst DFDS had 8, resulting in missing our sailing and seeing our boat just start boarding as we park up for the next one, it is ridiculous. Also waiting 1h between passport control and check in. Disgraceful.

Ive booked a ticket from dover to calais and as there was a terrible traffic from london all throughout last Saturday ive decided to call them and ask for reschedule of the time. Ive been notified that they can do it on the phone at £20 or in port at £60 so from obvious reasons chose 1st option and paid extra for 15.40. Arrived in port at 15.12 and been notified that i can not go on this ferry despite it being so early and will let me go on next one at 16.40 without charhes. Happily agreed to it and proceed. Now here is the best part of this whole JOKE the ferry did not leave the port for at least next 2 HOURS making me late for my appointments in Calais... no appology or mention from the company about refunding even part of my costs cause why would they.
So please go ahead and book with P & O ferries if you like flushing your money down the drain. Absolutely aweful service and customer manners. Very dissatisfied with overall experience definatelly wont be coming back as travel on regular basis, so many better companies to choose from.

I made my first trip to Dublin with my school at the age of 14. That was in 1957, and the operator of the ferry from Liverpool then was British Railways via their two vessels the Munster, and the Leinster, which not only carried freight, but, also after calling in at Birkenhead, loaded cattle for the journey, too. These ships had no stabilizers, and yet, it was the journey of a lifetime for a kid of that age. I enjoyed every minute of it, maybe because I was the only pupil not to get seasick. I have made several journeys from Liverpool to Dublin since as I have a house in Ireland. The current three ships operated by P & O are clean, and with all the facilities you need, for an 8 hour sea crossing, including 2 all inclusive adequate meals and a constant supply of hot and cold beverages, which are also included. Good on you P & O, and thank you for the service. Most of the traffic is for unaccompanied freight but truckers do use the route as well. If you want to avoid long car journeys from the North West, and travel to Dublin in comfort, then I suggest that you consider this ferry. You can book an en suite cabin and relax on the crossing but I do miss all that rocking and rolling that the Munster and Leinster used to provide, as these 3 ships, Norbay, Norbank (sisters) and European Endeavour, (unrelated) are well equipped with modern stabilizers, however, that's just me. I'm sure I'm in a minority by appreciating being tossed and turned whilst crossing the sea. Make the longer journey part of your holiday, and appreciate it as an adventure. Put sailors hats on the kids and let them take part in the role play; far better than an X Box, or whatever.
Enjoy the experience

Brian

Travels other day don't change euros on the ship the rates are rubbish and if you can pay in pounds

I took the ferry from Liverpool to Dublin very early in the morning, on my motorcycle. The ferry was 90% lorry freight and it was nothing short of amazing to watch the guys in their swivel seats shunting upto a container, hooking it up and pushing a container at insane speed into the ferry. It was astonishing to watch. After parking on the ferry the passenger accommodation could be described as very basic. On arrival you get a greasy spoon meal , which I must admit tastes just as good going up as it did going down. The ship rolled like a pig.
After the meal everything closes down, there are a load of couches, and blankets and pillows are given out. Most of the recipient s are lorry drivers.
Unfortunately there is a 52 inch TV which has no sound, subsequently the traveller is treated to a vast compilation of gastro-intestinal gurglings and farts for the entire crossing, the smells are also interesting.from the jellatinous lumps that decorate the lounge couches buried beneath their blankets.
The ship is so slow you could achieve your old age pension before you arrive.
I doubt the ship is equipped with an electronic means of speed monitoring. I think the European endeavour was originally supplied with a calendar and a tape measure.
If this ship was crossing the sea of Galilee, Jesus would get to the other side first. The only facility for the traveller is a coffee machine that runs out of water two hours after the ship has sailed. I tried to explain to I think a Spanish person that the coffee machine had run out of water and got " is good yes?"
This crossing of the Irish sea is the longest in maritime history, even the weather crosses more quickly, and there is not a lot of difference in prices between Irish ferries and p&o. I have tried both and I know which I prefer....

Absolutely disgusting. Almost all areas in the boat smell either of urine or horrible food - not an enjoyable trip at all. Will definitely be paying more to use the channel tunnel next time.

It's a shame they put no effort into improving the hygiene on their boats.

traveled yesterday from Calais to Dover on Pride of Kent ferry (11:55AM)... most bars and restaurants closed, toilets very dirty and very smelly !!! floors in the toilets full of urine and feces. This ferry should be withdrawn from public use as it creates possibilities to spread bacterias and dangerous viruses and even may cause an epidemic spread !!!

We had a nightmare with our trailer breaking just before taking the ferry between Calais and Dover. Luckily we had bought a flexi standard ticket, and as the 1 day delay turned to a 3 day delay, each night I rung customer support to change our date. Each time the phone was picked up promptly, the staff were efficient and kind, and we were able to change our ticket no-charge! Excellent.

I have been using P & O Ferries for years.

I am sick of the bad attitude and horrible staff particularly in Calais.

The last thing you need is after having driven for hours to be greeted with such misery. It's happened on a couple of recent trips. It's like they are doing you a favour.

I missed my original ferry because I had a problem on the journey. Then got the bad attitude an extra charge and a 3 hour wait.

Hateful

I always have used P & O Ferries where possible to travel between Dover and France. We always eat at the Brasserie too.
Today I tried to book and took advantage of an offer plastered all over the booking form, 15% off, great! Well no not that great, you must travel between 15th and 31st October, yes that's me on the 17th October…… The booking page just dumped my booking and so I started again, and again, and again!! I rang their office, Matthew "you must read all the terms and conditions, it's only for a return journey' me 'but it doesn't say that, it just says travel between Dover & Calais' 'just read the terms'!!!
So I did, and I then booked with their competition.
How stupidly negative is that? I want to book and they manage to put me off!!! They have lost my mid October booking, my mid November booking and my mid December booking, not to mention the £30 each time for our 2 dogs and the meals each journey in their Brasserie……
Yes it's very powerful stuff that negative advertising, at this rate they will be sailing empty ferries, whist the competition enjoys their business.
Mind you the train version's advertising is even worse! Should I mention that the Brasserie, despite being very good, always serves really cheap and nasty tea, hard to believe isn't it!!
To top that when I emailed the customer services their response was that they would write to me within 14 days, Wow, fantastically good customer service that, not to mention Matthew's lack of help!

Having travelled from Holyhead to Dublin and back for about the last 15 years with both Irish Ferries and Stena Line I was used to turning up at the port, checking-in, driving on and driving off at the other end without ever having ID requested - it simply is not a requirement for checking in with either of these operators. Whilst I usually try to remember to bring some sort of ID I, in fact, often didn't have either my passport or driving license with me as it is not actually a legal requirement for travel between the UK and Ireland.
So, on trying P&O Ferries for the first time for the return leg of my last trip to Dublin, when I realised I hadn't brought either of the above documents with me I didn't foresee it would be a problem...how wrong I was! I also discovered they have the worst level of customer service I have ever encountered anywhere, anytime, never mind between ferry operators.
On approaching the P&O check-in booth at Dublin Port I was first ignored by the female check-in agent. After enquiring if she needed my booking reference she abruptly replied 'No!...just ID!' When I asked what ID she required she said passport or driving licence. When I explained I didn't actually have either of them with me her tone became condescending at the apparent lunacy of someone trying to check-in for a ferry without a passport or driving licence. Her tone then progressed to impatient (she clearly wanted to be anywhere else on earth rather than sitting there doing her job) then became aggressive as she slammed down the telephone receiver several times when failing to get an answer from her supervisor or security. When a security agent eventually turned up (un-uniformed wearing a hi-vis tabard over jeans and t-shirt) he advised that a manager had said I could only travel if I could get my passport or driving licence faxed to them. This was not an option as both documents were at my UK home address where nobody else was present. After relaying this information to the mysterious non-appearing manager I was informed that I could not travel, with that decision being final.
On being given that information I then drove the approximate 1 mile distance to the Stena Line port office where I purchased a one way car+driver fare, proceeded to check-in and board their service and drove off at Holyhead without once being asked for any form of ID.
I have subsequently emailed P&O customer services pointing out that at no stage in their booking process for the Dublin to Liverpool route does it state that you will be required to produce either a driving licence or a passport and because of that I believed I should receive a refund on the fare. As stated before it is not a statutory requirement to have either of these documents. In line with the atrocious level of customer service thus far experienced with P&O my email has been completely ignored.
Well, that was my one and only ever attempt to travel with P&O, never again.
One final point, there are many negative reviews of P&O to be found on other sites also. It is notable that, unlike other companies who do in fact put customer service at the heart of their operations, P&O do not make any response or replies to negative reviews. Just shows how arrogant and complacent they are that they don't give a stuff about their customers!

I booked a round trip Dover-Calais,Calais Dover.The ferry was late about an hour for departure.Due to that i was 10 minutes late for return jurney and was charged an extra £60.Where is logic?Also the older Guy siting in ticket booth was inpolite ,rude and having no idea what custumer service is.

I used to travel regularly with P&O on the Rotterdam-Hull route but abandoned it for what seemed like the superior service and price of DFDS from Ijmuiden.

Travelling back over Easter I decided to see if things had improved over the last four years and wanted the benefit of a later departure so we could take our time on the journey.

Using the P&O website, I tried to book the passage on the road in Germany with a Premiun Club Cabin ticket, two adults and car for a price of EUR461. The first time the payment failed and I immediately had an email about suspected fraud from American Express Nederland. After phoning them and removing the fraud block I tried the booking again. This time the payment failed with an error message, clearly without getting as far as the payment gateway. The booking was still in the system in the morning, with the same accommodation and price and I tried at least half a dozen times to buy the ticket but always had an error message. The system also showed that the booking would be kept for half an hour but, as it had already been kept for several hours, I did not lend much credence to this statement. I tried calling the P&O centre (using the German, UK, Irish and Dutch numbers) and received the message, after choosing “Urgent” as an option, that I would be forwarded to the 24/7 harbour team. This resulted in a short burst of music and then being disconnected.

I kept trying to call en route to Rotterdam but the only option was to press on to the port. On arrival, the accommodation was not available and the price had jumped from EUR461 to EUR581. To add insult to injury the terminal was unable to take payment via American Express by which point your employee was so disgruntled with the system she urged me to complain. I had to pay with a card denominated in RON which meant a poor exchange rate and a charge for a transaction in a different currency. I did complain, by email, and did not even receive the courtesy of a reply.

The cabin was dirty, had cigarette ash in the wash hand basin and the toilet did not flush.

The experience has taught me a lesson: don’t ever travel on P&O again, I will probably make another dozen crossings this year but will ensure they are with DFDS. It is sad to see how far P&O has fallen as a company and even to compare today’s experience with the great service provided in the days of North Sea Ferries.