DFDS ferry review: Amsterdam (IJmuiden) to Newcastle in a 4 bed pet-friendly cabin

Moving from the US to the UK with a dog is a bit of a hassle. I’ve written in much greater deal about the process here, but long story short – you can’t fly from the US to the UK with your dog in the cabin with you.

They can be transported in the hold, but our dog is only ~10 lbs and so we wanted to have her in the cabin with us. That meant we had to fly to Europe and take a ferry over to England on an approved pet-friendly route. We chose to fly from Washington D.C. to Amsterdam on KLM, then we took an overnight ferry with DFDS from Amsterdam to Newcastle.

A few years ago we took an overnight ferry from Liverpool to Belfast which I reviewed here, so I thought it might be interesting to review the ferry from Amsterdam to Newcastle as it’s an interesting way to travel between the Netherlands and UK and could be a good option if you’re planning on visiting the north of England or Scotland rather than London or the south of England.

Booking The Ferry

We originally booked one of the pet-friendly cabins for £153 (~$203) as foot passengers. When initially entering our dates and passenger numbers, after selecting that we’d be foot passengers, the option to include a dog disappeared and it said we had to contact them to make a reservation with a dog.

I dropped DFDS an email and they replied stating that this was an error on their site – that we could book a ticket online. They said we should ignore that warning and we’d be given an option to book a pet-friendly cabin which, sure enough, was an option. If you don’t see a pet-friendly cabin for your dates, that likely means they’ve sold out of them.

Our trip was originally booked for mid-March, but the vet paperwork for our pup got delayed and so we didn’t end up moving until the first week of April. We’d already booked our seemingly non-refundable ferry journey by that point, so I thought we’d lose our money.

Thankfully DFDS were happy to change our dates to a few weeks later for a £20 fee, plus the difference in the higher price of the ticket for the date we needed. That was an additional £51 (~$67.50), but it was far better than having to pay the full price all over again.

In addition to booking a cabin, you can prepay for an evening meal in one of the restaurants, as well as prepaying for your breakfast which gets you a discount. Prepaying for your evening meal is worth doing as you can select a dining time and a table will be reserved for you. If you pay on the day, you might have to wait for an available table depending on how busy it is.

As you can see above, we booked a dinner buffet for each of us and the breakfast buffet for each of us. This came to a total of £76.90 ($102) which isn’t cheap, but also isn’t outrageous for two people where they have a captive audience, especially with it being an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Something to bear in mind when paying is that Visa, Mastercard and PayPal are accepted, but not Amex or Discover. I didn’t test to see what would happen if I tried to pay with an Amex card in my PayPal wallet.

DFDS Check-in In Amsterdam (IJmuiden)

We arrived at Amsterdam airport early in the morning and the ferry wasn’t due to depart until 5:30pm. We decided to hang out at the airport for a little while seeing as there were a bunch of cafes, restaurants and stores. However, our dog Truffles started getting a little antsy; she’d done fine at Dulles airport and then on the flight itself (the transatlantic crossing was her first ever flight), but Amsterdam airport seemed a little overwhelming for her after that and so we made our way to the ferry terminal earlier than planned.

The reason we’d chosen to route to the UK via Amsterdam is because the transfer from the airport to the ferry terminal was the easiest. In France, we would’ve had a 2+ hour drive from Paris to one of the many ferry terminals around the French coastline to the UK, whereas an Uber ride from Amsterdam airport to the DFDS ferry terminal in IJmuiden was only 20-25 minutes long.

We were, unsurprisingly, the first foot passengers when we arrived at 11am.

Knowing that we’d be on a long ferry ride with limited opportunities for activity for her, I took Truffles on several short walks down the road to the end of the water.

If you get to the ferry terminal early and want something to eat, there was a fish & chips restaurant that seemed popular.

We weren’t sure how pet-friendly the waiting area was, so when hanging out there we just had Truffles stay in the carrier we’d brought her over in on the plane. It ended up being an awesome carrier and I’d highly recommend it (here’s our affiliate link). The carrier was a backpack which made it easy to transport her, plus it was well-ventilated and surprisingly spacious inside. Even better was the fact that the back unzipped and folded out to expand the netted space even more, so she was very comfortable inside.

Check in was available from 1pm, so we went up to the desk as soon as that was open. The agent was friendly and spoke very good English. Seeing as we were entering the UK with our dog, we had to show the UK health certificate we’d had to arrange from a US vet beforehand, then she had to have her microchip scanned to ensure everything was in order.

We were provided with a booklet letting us know all the important pet information for on board…

…then we were handed our keys. These were credit card-sized and made of card or thick paper, but could be held against the cabin door’s sensor to enter rather than inserting it into a key slot.

Boarding The DFDS Ferry From Amsterdam (IJmuiden) To Newcastle

Shae and I were pleasantly surprised that even though the ferry wasn’t due to depart until 5:30pm, boarding started at 2pm. It had been a very long day (we didn’t get much sleep on the flight in economy), so being able to head to our cabin a few hours earlier than planned was awesome.

Most people traveling from Amsterdam to Newcastle on the DFDS ferry do so in their own vehicles, but there were also quite a few foot passengers. Most foot passengers had minimal bags, but because we were in the process of actually moving overseas, we had more suitcases than your average people.

Rather than going up the escalator, one of the employees helped us get up to the next floor on a stairlift/elevator. I headed up first with several of our cases, then Shae headed up with our other cases and Truffles on her back.

From there, we headed along the gangway on to the boat.

Once on board, another helpful employee assisted us with our bags and took us on a slightly roundabout routing, but one which used elevators rather than having to lug all our suitcases downstairs to Deck 4 which is where the pet-friendly corridor is.

Our 4 Bed Pet-Friendly Cabin

As mentioned above, all of the pet-friendly cabins are on Deck 4 and we were in cabin 4203. In addition to them being on Deck 4, they also have four beds – two below and two bunk beds on top.

Even though there were only two of us in the cabin (plus Truffles), it’s still a fairly tight space with very limited space for luggage. Although we didn’t need to use the top bunks ourselves, we did fold them down in order to put our suitcases on top.

The top bunks have a weight limit, but we were still able to fit several suitcases on top without needing to worry about that.

Truffles quickly made herself at home.

Back by the cabin entrance there were some hooks and clothes hangers, as well as a couple of ladders in order to access the top bunks if needed.

Also on that wall was a loudspeaker system. You’ll hear several messages come through that speaker when departing and again in the morning, so there shouldn’t be much danger that you’ll oversleep. The announcements aren’t obnoxious though and they don’t go on too late in the evening or start too early in the morning.

Beneath a small shelf was an ottoman and a mini trash can with sections for recycling too.

Above that small shelf were some power outlets, plus there were power outlets by the bed. I think these were UK plugs, but perhaps they were European power outlets. Either way, we had to use our adaptors to plug in our US devices to charge overnight.

Each cabin has its own private bathroom which is also a wetroom.

The shower was surprisingly good as the water pressure was much better than I’d anticipated. There was also a shower curtain which did a good job of ensuring the rest of the wetroom didn’t get quite so wet.

Maybe it’s just because we were so exhausted, but the beds in the cabin were extremely comfortable. There was no thermostat in the cabin (that I noticed), but they kept it at a reasonable temperature. The duvet/comforter was thicker than you might expect which is great for coziness, but it did mean we got a little warm in the night at times. Still, we had a very nice nap when first boarding and slept extremely well overnight as our room was so dark.

Dog Amenities On DFDS Ferry From Amsterdam To Newcastle

Dogs can be on board the ferry in one of three ways:

• In your vehicle (if you’re driving)
• In a pet-friendly cabin
• In a kennel in the “Dog Hotel”

Leaving your dog inside your vehicle isn’t ideal because it’s a long ferry crossing and you can’t return to your vehicle once the car decks close at departure and they don’t reopen until 10 minutes before arrival. That means your pup won’t be able to use the bathroom for the entire crossing.

If you’re in a pet-friendly cabin or if you book a kennel in the “Dog Hotel”, you can take your dog to the pet relief area.

For those in a pet-friendly cabin, walk all the way down the hallway to the end; there are signs pointing you in the right direction.

At the end of the hallway, there’s a clearly marked door. Exit through there and you’ll see yellow pawprints on the floor.

They lead left to the Dog Hotel for those who’ve booked a kennel rather than a pet-friendly cabin…

…and straight ahead to get to the pet relief area. That’s on Deck 6, so you have to walk up a couple of flights of stairs.

Truffles was fine peeing on the artificial grass, but refused to do anything else. However, simply walking around on the pet-friendly deck area on Deck 6 helped move things along.

It was then time for Truffles to say goodbye to Amsterdam for the first – but hopefully not last – time.

Sky Bar

We napped for a couple of hours after boarding, then left Truffles in the cabin to head up to the Sky Bar to have a drink as the ferry departed.

Again, considering the ferry has a captive audience on board, the drinks prices at the Sky Bar weren’t unreasonable.

It was a little breezy out, but with a light jacket on and it being a sunny late afternoon, it was a nice spot to have a drink as we left.

Dinner At Explorer’s Kitchen

When booking our tickets for the DFDS ferry from Amsterdam to Newcastle, I’d prebooked our dinner at Explorer’s Kitchen.

I hadn’t known at the time that we’d be able to preboard so early, so I’d booked our dinner for 6pm. I’d figured that way, we could have dinner shortly after departure, then we could head back to our cabin to sleep if needed.

That meant that after having a drink at the Sky Bar, we went down to Explorer’s Kitchen for dinner. Their buffet was unexpectedly good, both in terms of the wide range of cuisines and the quality of the food.

Explorer’s Kitchen is buffet style, with pasta, Asian noodle dishes, curries, sushi, and much, much more.

Picking 6pm as our dining time ended up being a great choice. It wasn’t very busy when we arrived, but the lines for the food were getting longer by the time we were done.

Tap water is complimentary (I think), but there’s also a drinks menu that you pay for separately at the end of your meal.

Other DFDS Ferry Dining Options

The other restaurant dinner option is Bistro North Sea which has two and three course a la carte options.

If you want to have an adult beverage, in addition to the Sky Bar, there’s both Columbus Club nightclub and Navigator Pub.

For those in need of a caffeine fix, there’s Coffee Crew.

If a soft drink is all you need, there’s a vending machine with those available.

Amenities On The DFDS Ferry From Amsterdam To Newcastle

In addition to all the dining and drinking options on board, there are all kinds of other amenities.

For those interested in whiling away the time watching a movie, there are two movie theater screens, each one showing three different movies over the course of the voyage.

Both cinema rooms are on Deck 8 behind some nondescript doors.

There’s a small arcade game area with video games, an air hockey table, etc.

For something a little more relaxing, head up to Deck 10 where you can chill in a Relax-O-Matic chair for only €4 (~$4.60) per 8 minutes.

If you need some retail therapy, they’ve got you covered for that too. There’s a large duty free store selling candy, booze, clothing, souvenirs and much more.

On Deck 6 there’s a Guest Service Center where you can get assistance. Opposite that desk there are also lots of sheets with more information about kids activities that are on Deck 7, a map of the boat, location of various activities and amenities, etc.

Wi-Fi On Board The Amsterdam To Newcastle DFDS Ferry

For the first hour or two after departing Amsterdam, we still had internet connection on our phones (we were on Google Fi). That ended up disappearing until shortly before arriving in Newcastle, but neither of us had to work and so we just made do with no internet for ~12 hours which was a little weird, but thankfully we slept through much of that!

The ferry does have Wi-Fi available if you want/need though – here are the prices. In case you’re curious about why you’d want to book a 44 hour package, you can take the ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam, spend the day in the Netherlands capital and then return to Newcastle (or vice versa) so that Surf MiniCruise package presumably gives you connectivity in both directions.

Breakfast At Explorer’s Kitchen

We’d set our alarms early (for me) the next morning so that we could beat the breakfast rush.

Once again, Explorer’s Kitchen had a great selection of food options for breakfast – many hot items, cereals, breads and pastries, yogurt, etc. Tea, coffee and juice is also included and is brought to your table by servers.

Disembarking

Once we neared the port in Newcastle, we brought all of our bags out of our cabin and took them up to Deck 5 or 6. It subsequently turned out that we should’ve just stayed on Deck 4 as that’s where we’d be disembarking from (apparently the deck number depends on the sea level when arriving).

One of the ferry employees helped us bring our bags back down, then he loaded all the large ones on to a cart.

He then waited while we showed all our pet paperwork at the immigration desk, then he continued pushing them to the entrance/exit hall where we unloaded it all.

General Thoughts On The Sailing

Shae and I both really enjoyed our trip on the ferry. At 15-16 hours long, it gave us an opportunity for a good night’s sleep which we really needed.

Ever since I was a kid and my family took a ferry from the UK to France and back for a holiday, I’ve been prone to seasickness. Despite there being some mildly rough seas and a few noticeable (but not major) waves, I was fine having taken some Dramamine before we departed. I’d highly recommend taking a Dramamine pill even if you don’t normally suffer from seasickness as that’s not the kind of thing you want to regret once it’s too late. I’d gotten the less-drowsy version so that I wouldn’t have a problem waking up the next morning.

Special Mention – Excellent Service

I wanted to add this section to specifically highlight that we encountered excellent service at all times, not only on the ferry journey but any other time we interacted with DFDS employees.

When emailing them with a question regarding our initial booking, I received a proper human reply addressing my specific question, rather than them directing me to some random FAQs page. When having to call to adjust our dates a few weeks later, the phone agent was very friendly and helpful.

At the ferry terminal in Amsterdam, the employee who checked us in was very friendly, plus she helped us with using the stairlift to maneuver our bags up. Once on the boat, another employee proactively helped us take our bags to our cabin seeing as we had so many compared to your average passenger and he seemed keen to help.

I stopped by the guest services desk to get some change for the vending machine and she was very friendly. She was still there the next morning and was as perky as ever.

We had the same server in Explorer’s Kitchen for both dinner and breakfast and she was lovely, attentive and helpful. She also remembered us from the night before which was impressive seeing as there are hundreds of people on board on each sailing.

Then when we arrived in Newcastle, another employee gladly helped us disembark by pushing all four of our large suitcases off on a cart, all the way to the exit.

With the ferry sailing between two countries and, due to the Netherlands being in the EU, having a lot of people from many different nationalities working on board due to freedom of movement, it was a fantastic example of everyone working together to provide an excellent passenger experience. I’m sure there are people out there who have poor experiences on a DFDS sailing, but I was struck by how genuinely kind and helpful every single employee we interacted with was.

Flight Vs Ferry

For many people, choosing to fly from Amsterdam to the UK will make more sense as it’s a much faster option and, in many cases (courtesy of European low cost carriers or by redeeming miles), it’ll be cheaper.

That wasn’t an option for us on this journey seeing as we had Truffles with us and so we couldn’t fly into the UK with her. Even though flying will be an option in the future, Shae and I have already discussed returning to Amsterdam by ferry. We’ll likely be moving up north somewhere, so driving to Newcastle shouldn’t be too bad, plus our auto insurance in the UK covers us for up to 90 days of driving in the EU. Traveling by car ferry would therefore allow us to explore further afield without incurring the additional cost of renting a car in Amsterdam.

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