DFDS Seaways, Princess of Norway, Bergen

I had a horrifying experience on the DFDS Seaways Princess of Norway. The whole boat smells like cigarettes and fish. The customer service is non-existant. The food is extremely overpriced. The cabins are tiny. The boat goes back and forth and thrashes around in the water, you feel every wave. It feels very unsafe. We were delayed 4 hours. People were fighting in the hallway and there was blood everywhere, no one did anything about it. It was disgusting. I spent 250 quid to come home on trains even though I had already paid for my return ferry ticket. It was a horrendous, horrifying experience and I wouldn't advise anyone to take it. If I could give it 0 stars, I would.

I've been travelling across the North Sea since I was 1953, when I was 8 months old, and reckon this is the worst ferry I've ever been on. It felt a bit like a floating motorway service area in terms of ambience, quality and service.

There was nowhere to sit that wasn't a noisy retail area. There seemed to be smoking pretty much everywhere. Prices were high and despite that the choice of bottled beers, for example, was terrible. The draft beer wasn't available anywhere on board. The concept of meat-free food doesn't seem to have reached DFDS; even at the snack bar it wasn't possible to get anything vegetarian and the request for a sandwich without meat was dismissed curtly.

The cabin was cramped and was so poorly sound-insulated that we could hear every word and action from our neighbours (though it's not DFDS's fault that they were also inconsiderate and boorish). Our sleep was interrupted by drunken, aggressive, bawling Geordies who ended up being tackled by the security people.

Disembarkation was a shambles.

Truly a the most wretched ferry I've ever been on.

Disgusted by indoor smoking, not happy with bar prices, and the queuing for embarking and disembarking at both ends (Newcastle was the worst!) has put us off even more than the cigarette stench which permeated most areas of the ship. The fact that I was pretty much stranded, with a full bladder at 3 in the morning, on the top bunk in our cabin has left me somewhat disgruntled too (lol). The food in the buffet restaurant was excellent (we paid £19 pp, not £31) but the 2-course meal on the return journey was not good value at £28 pp, nor was the bottle of wine at £26. This was our venture to avoid airports, but not one we will repeat.

This was our first cruise experience, so we have nothing to compare DFDS Seaways against. However, we were delighted to be onboard, and found the ship (MS Princess of Norway) to be in good order. Overall I would say it was clean, in a good state or repair and well managed. The cabin we had was indeed small, but to be honest, we didn't really care. Service on board was generally poor, with waiting times for food sometimes in excess of 40 minutes. The evening buffet was very good, and we really enjoyed the crabs claws. Prices on board are expensive, but this may be true of most cruises. The biggest let-down, I think, was the entertainment. The bands (Royal Alligators 6/10 and Moccha 3/10) were generally poor and the magician tried hard but could not produce anything more than a 70's style show. Would we sail with DFDS again? Yes, DFDS are pricing at the bottom end of the market, and you get what you pay for. For a first cruise, it was a pleasant experience.

the whole experiance with DFDS Seaways, Princess of Norway, Bergen was the most horrendus weekend of our lives. there was a incident on the ship on the way to amsterdam and we had to be moved rooms, three of us were put into a room for 2, then the receptionist announced to whole ship on the tannoy our names and rom number so we had to move again, in 2 nights we had three rooms!! the attitude of the staff was not helpful, we had to speak to the english police on the phone in the middle of reception so everyone in reception knew what happened, we had to stay on the ship in amsterdam and wait for the amsterdan police then had to pay 30 euros to get into amsterdam, we were made to feel like the criminals but we were the victims, we went through the complaints procedure and were told that the staff handled the situation very well in a caring and sensitive manner, ha what a joke! we are now taking things further. a simple appology would of been nice.

The Bergen route is now stopped. I travelled on the Amsterdam mini cruise and found it excellent valueThey have a two-for-one offer on at the moment at www.amsterdamminicruise.com and it works out at £67 for two people

I would not sail on the Princess of Norway again, it turned out to be a very expensive short break. Breakfast was cold, beer wine and spirits very expensive, smokers are made to feel like lepers, cabins far too small, noise in the cabin when the ship is sea is horrendous. The waiters are friendly.

An enjoyable mini cruise spoiled by ship to hotel transfers there and and a similar experience on our return trip with us having to hire a taxis to take us back to the ship. DFDS's failure to respond to our complaint also not too good.

One reason we took this trip with DFDS Seaways was because of the nightmare of queues at airports. This was almost as bad. The consideration given to the needs of the passengers when boarding and leaving would be more appropriate in a troop ship.