DFDS Seaways, Newcastle to Amsterdam

The food. It was shocking and the prices charged for a pathetic buffet were too expensive. £75 for two people and two cokes. How can you justify this its shocking. I will be going on every social media site I can to highlight this behaviour. I knew before we sailed that I could get a £10 deduction per person but we thought we would just get sandwiches on the ship. Oh no! The shop does not sell food so we had the option of dinning at £34 a head or buffet at £30 a head. Its an absolute disgrace the way you treat your customers once you have them captive within the monopoly of your boat.

my wife and i travelled on DFDS seaways for the first time and to be honest it was very pleasant and had a good time througout nice staff clean cabins {although would be better with a kettle in cabins}.the night time entertainment was great and a comfy sleep afterwards.BUT the next day i had fish and chips £16 and the wife had a bowl of chips £7 in the lighthouse cafe SO DISSAPOINTING.the fish was well over cooked although it didnt seem to take long for the order to arrive it was the smallest fish i have ever been served and rubbery the chips must have been cooked about three times... we wish we had complained but didnt want to make a fuss.we will travel on dfds again but make sure we take plenty packed lunches for the journey.

In September 2015 we booked online a May 2016 sailing with DFDS Seaways. Now we need to cancel this booking as our overseas travel plans have changed. After a four day run-around with DFDS, we discovered that we had actually booked with a company called Aferry - the booking confirmation does not use this name. The "Manage Booking" section of the confirmation led us back to DFDS, who couldn't help us because apparently we hadn't booked with them - but we used their website!

It took another two days to find the contact information for Aferry. Now we have been told that our booking is non-refundable, so Aferry/DFDS has just made 115 GBP, and will be able to resell our booking to someone else. What a great way to make money! At no time, nor on any of the booking information were we informed that the type of booking we were making was non-refundable. However, the email confirmation information we received said there was a 25GBP fee for cancellation. Too late we discovered that the information is buried in the fine print of the Terms and Conditions (pages 6 & 7) We feel that information should be made clear to the customer at the time of purchase. How hard is it to include the phrase: "This booking fee is non-refundable" and omit the misleading information on how to manage the booking?

We were just stunned that such a big company as this one would deliberately go out of its way to a) obfuscate the terms and conditions; b) mislead with incorrect information; and c) not even bother to state clearly on the booking that the booking fee is non-refundable. Very, very shady business practices in our view. Perhaps this is how they make their money - by duping unwary customers.

Booked a Commodore cabin as I thought it would be roomy and better than a normal cabin. Well, it would have been if they hadn't put a stupid extra bunk bed in the room. Bedding was clean though the room was stifling hot and I had to have the air conditioning on full which was very noisy so couldn't sleep. The bathroom stank of sewerage and the grouting and cleaning issues need addressed so I didn't have a shower as it was too dirty. Before we left I checked the menu in their restaurants and they don't really offer any choice for vegetarians so I thought it would be 'safer' to use their Seven Seas buffet as I was sure they would have had more veggie options there. WRONG... oh my goodness, where do I start with this, it was disgusting. Everything was out of a packet and cut into small pieces, the quality was really poor. Oh, and only one veggie option of a veg pie!!! YUK. ALSO BEWARE OF THE WAITERS AS THEY TRY TO FORCE PEOPLE TO BUY THEIR NAFF WINE AND BOTTLES OF WATER, WE SAID NO BUT THE COUPLE NEXT TO US SAID THEY'D HAVE ONE BOTTLE AND THE WAITER BROUGHT THEM TWO OF EACH, SWIFTLY CRACKED THEM ALL OPEN THEN SAID HE COULDN'T UNDERSTAND THEM WHEN THEY TRIED TO COMPLAIN AND THEY JUST HAD TO PAY FOR THEM, VERY BAD PRACTICE AND SHAME ON DFDS. We didn't use the bars, clubs or cinema as we were so disgusted by the food but in the morning the decks were covered in sick and smashed bottles and glasses which the guys were trying to clean up with hoses. However, the breakfast in the morning was very good in the commodore area. If it was in the other part, I would have declined judging by the dinner the night before. Travelling back with Brittany Ferries as won't use DFDS again.

We are regular travelers with DFDS to visit family in Holland, but have been getting increasingly more angry with the behaviour of other passengers. They are allowed to walk round carrying glasses and bottles of beer resulting in them being sick and the crew having to then clean it up. On a recent crossing we were woken at 2-30 in the morning with passengers playing football on deck 9 at the top of the stair well and generally making a nuisance of them self, stopping other passengers from sleeping. All this behaviour went on right under the noses of the staff who did nothing about it.

We would also like to complain about the costs, we can't seem to find the advertised crossing costs, and we tend to go in the winter months, eg in Feb. we paid £270 return for a car + 2-passengers, and if we went at the end of May (28th) the price shoots up from an already high price to £503 return. It has only ever been a convenient way of traveling, but we are going to have fly in the future as you seem to be concentrating on the Mini Break passengers who in our opinion are causing the problems with the bad behaviour.

Its a shame because we did use to enjoy crossing with DFDS, but alas probably no more.

We went on DFDS on saturday 5th April 2014 , It was the first time i had been on DFDS I have travelled on other ferries in the past but found yours to be the best !The food was amazing and our cabin which we upgraded for space we had 5 beds but there were only 3 of us! but the space we had was great ! the entertainment at night was good too,it is very modern and clean I will definately book again and my friends too even if it is next year because I had a great time comfortable sailing too thank you DFDS your the best !!!!

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.

I went over from Newcastle to Amsterdam in my Landcruiser and trailer carrying stuff for my villa on Kefalonia Greece in 2012. It cost me around 250 pounds and was a good crossing and was happy with it. Last Feb I went again with exact same car and trailer full of furniture again for my Kefo villa which cost 250 pounds. At the check in car park the girl ask me what we had on the trailer and I said furniture. I was then pulled over and without anyone checking the load was asked to pay a further 190 pounds because my furniture was classed as freight!!!! A total and utter rip-off but they have you by the short and curlies. If they have these ridiculous small print clauses then why didnt I get stung first time and why don;t they make it more clearer.

The boat..

Not much to do!!! 

People drinking own alcohol from cans and wine bottles on the deck.

Overpriced food..   We ate the buffet which cost £80 for 2 with 1 drink each. The food was excellent but not worth the money we paid. We also ate at the cafe which is very over priced but the portions were big. 

Casino is only a few tables and slot machines more like a arcade.

bar was ok it had a guitarist who was singing songs. 

The boat was clean. 

The cabin was clean but the wall are super thin on all sides so we can hear everything in the other cabins.

Staff was very good 10 out of 10. 

Free transfer to amsterdam thumbs up for that.

We were only given 4 hours to return back to the bus which is very short considering it took so long to get there which made the trip NOT worth it.

We travelled as a group of four and got a great deal. Interestingly when we rang DFDS Seaways direct for a price we found there was a £10 booking fee.

A friend told me to ring Amsterdam Mini Cruise as you do not pay the booking fee when you ring this number. T

Loads to do on the boat and prices weren't as high as I expected. Will definitely do this again