Review: Irish ferries "Oscar Wilde"

skibum · 19-05-2008 12:51am #1

Just got back from a week in France, first time on Irish ferries "new" ship, the oscar wilde. Having been on the Normandy for the last 4 trips to France, I was looking forward to trying out the replacement as the normandy was well past it's "best before date".

The first improvement we came across was that when you are given your boarding pass at the vehicle check in you also get your cabin key, this cuts out the old system where you had to go to the reception desk on board to get your key, (usually in a long line of frazzled parents with screaming kids). Now once you leave your car you can head straight to your cabin to dump your bag. The staff are on hand to point you in the right direction.

Second improvement is the accomodation, a huge difference from the normandy. We had the 3 star 2 berth cabin, and were impressed with the size and layout. The old one was very narrow, uncomfortable, slightly claustrophobic with two single bunks. Now you get two single beds, one of which also doubles as a very comfy seating area. The cabins were in very good condition and felt bright and airy. There was a small tv with sky sports, rte 1,2 bbc news, sky news, sky 1, and a few others.

The rest of the ship is a major leap forward, very clean, gone is the old musty, rusty, 80's feel of the normandy. There are now three bars, the first is the merrion lounge at the front of the ship, with great views overlooking the bow, also has a big screen showing sports etc.
At the back of the ship is the Gaiety, and the piano bar.

The catering is also excellent, on the way out we tried the Steak house and on the way back the bernival, both were excellent, and good value for a ship. The bernival does a set menu for €35, starter, main, desert. I had salmon and shrimp starter and fillet steak (huge portion cooked to perfection). We got talking to a couple who ate in the brasserie and they said that the quality was also a huge improvement.

Having said all that not every thing went smoothly, on the way out from Rosslare to Cherbourg last sunday, we were informed at the vehicle check in that instead of arriving at 10.30am our arrival would be delayed by 3 hours, a bit of a pain when you know that you have a 5 hour drive ahead of you.

On the way back the delay was a bit longer :rolleyes:, the ship was due to leave Roscoff at 6.30PM, at about 6.28pm when the ship was loaded and everybody was getting settled down for the journey it was announced that due to technical dificulties we would be delayed by 2 hours, fair enough, 2 hours went by, another announcement, still havn't fixed the problem, will let us know whats going on in another two hours.... ship finally left port 6 hours later :eek:, instead of arriving in Rosslare this morning at 10am, we arrived at 2pm finally driving off the ship at approx 3pm.

Despite this we had a very comfortable time on the ship and would recommend it once they iron out their arrival / departure issues

BuffyBot · 19-05-2008 10:57am

Good to know they've made some big improvements on this route! Thanks for the review

APMom · 20-05-2008 9:09pm

Thanks for that review, I've been searching everywhere for one. We're due to go on June 23rd and have booked a 4star 4 berth and will be squeezing in 2 adults and 6 kids into it :eek: We've done it before on the old ship but hopefully there'll be more space.

elmolesto · 21-05-2008 9:46pm

Thanks for the review, I ent on the Normandy once and it was a nightmare.

nilhg · 27-05-2008 10:56pm

Just caught up on this now, I went out on the return of Skibum's journey, the crew were quite open about the fact that they were having engine problems, though they seemed to be getting on top of them, we were only one hour late docking in Cherbourg. On the way home (with a van full of wine) conditions had become windier but the ship was quite steady.

I would agree with the comments about the accomodation and food, decent value from an Irish point of view.

All in all a big step forwards.

passive · 27-05-2008 11:04pm

Ha, how random... I was trying to find info about this earlier today, will be heading back to Ireland as a foot passenger on that ferry the 24th of June. Nice to find this on the front page by chance. Cool!

pgf5312 · 29-05-2008 10:50am

There was a 1.5 hour delay on the arrival at Roscoff today, due to engine trouble.

skibum · 29-05-2008 3:09pm

pgf5312 wrote: »

There was a 1.5 hour delay on the arrival at Roscoff today, due to engine trouble.

The cause of our delay was also due to engine trouble, was told that the ship has four engines, (two are small reserve / emergency engines, and two main engines), one of the main engines has a problem with its crankshaft?? and the other engine had water damage / seal problems.

Pity because I couldn't fault anything else on the ship. Even the reserved seating area on the top deck looked comfortable. Four seperate rooms with about 40 or 50 large reclining seats with plenty of room between them.

Hope to do a booze cruise in september if I can get a loan of a jeep or van

On the way back at least 60% of the vehicles were booze cruise related, they were stuffed to the roof! Saw a peugeot car van that was way overloaded, the tow bar dragged on the ground as the mounted the ramp to get on.

pgf5312 · 29-05-2008 3:22pm

I e-mailed Irish Ferries about this today and got this reply:
Many thanks for your e-mail regarding the delays which some Oscar Wilde passengers have experienced in recent weeks.
The problem relates to a specific crankshaft difficulty in one of the vessel’s four engines which only came into play a few weeks ago. The repair is a difficult one and entails some lead-in for necessary parts and specialized skills. Rather than take the vessel out of service, we have elected to carry out the repairs on the run and are currently making good progress.
Unfortunately, this has entailed some delays in harsher weather but thankfully these have been kept to a minimum. We hope to have the problem fully resolved shortly but in the meantime we are doing everything possible to ensure no disruption to our customers. On balance, we figured that some sailings being slightly delayed would be better than no service at all. :cool:

Riskymove · 30-05-2008 12:21pm

hey how does the new ship compare in terms of actual sailing

I found the normandy quite rocking and rolling:D did not sleep well on it

skibum · 30-05-2008 3:38pm

Riskymove wrote: »

hey how does the new ship compare in terms of actual sailing

I found the normandy quite rocking and rolling:D did not sleep well on it

A lot more comfortable, the missus suffers from motion sickness and she said that she found a big difference between them.

passive · 31-05-2008 2:12am

oh, question! Are there plug sockets aboard the ship, around the seating areas? I wish/intend to use my laptop to write up memoirs, experiences, mess about with photos etc on my epic journey home... Merci!

RJGMovie · 14-06-2008 4:46pm

Just back from Roscoff on the Oscar Wilde. Very impressed with ferry, have much improved over the years. Nice food, bars and accomodation too. Kids entertainment is very good and appreciated by all. The staff are all very friendly. Hope to be on it soon again.:)

McSween · 25-07-2008 6:10pm

anyone have any photos?

looking forward to going on it in september. i assume wireless internet is a little too much to ask is it?

passive · 26-07-2008 12:23pm

McSween wrote: »

anyone have any photos?

looking forward to going on it in september. i assume wireless internet is a little too much to ask is it?

It is indeed... There's no internet. Plug sockets about though if you have internetless amusement available. I took a couple of photos, but they're just angsty me, the deck and the sea, so wouldn't do you much good!

Wasn't overly pleased with food prices on board, but I was utterly broke so probably hoping for a little bit more budget than was likely... Apart from that I had a pleasant journey, staff was nice, sea was a bit rough but I'm strong stomached so it wasn't a huge issue and we were a couple of hours late, as promised..

Innisfallen · 04-08-2008 10:54am

McSween wrote: »

anyone have any photos?

Here's some I took onboard in July.

McSween · 12-08-2008 5:55pm

excellent photos thanks. i loved the outdoor ones at the side looking back, you could feel the wind and hear the waves in that one.

HBAMS · 22-08-2008 11:44pm

Has the engine problems settled down.

Is the ferry running to time, are there still delays?

Going in Sept.

skibum · 23-08-2008 12:44am

HBAMS wrote: »

Has the engine problems settled down.

Is the ferry running to time, are there still delays?

Going in Sept.

No there are still delays, neighbours were delayed on on both legs of their trip to france (end of july). The delay on the way out was apparently due to a faulty air conditioner, which according to them was working fine, and when talking to a crew member the engine issue was the real problem. Having said that I know of others who had no problems at all.

mct1 · 26-08-2008 11:23am

I must just put a plug in here for Irish Ferries customer service.

Two days ago we discovered that due to an inexplicable glitch in their website, the return booking for next week that we'd made last March wasn't actually booked at all, even though we'd been sent a booking confirmation! We rebooked straight away, though the cost was more and we had to take 2* cabins as the 3* we'd booked were all gone.

We emailed customer service with the information, and in less than 24 hours we'd had a verbal apology, a card refund of the 50 Euro extra cost, and a cabin upgrade to 4*. Whilst I still shudder to think what might have happened if we'd turned up at the port to sail and produced our "invalid" ticket, I'm dead impressed with how efficiently IF dealt with the whole thing once we'd told them.

(Useful to know about the possible 2-hour delay too as we have to arrange a time to get the key off the French owners of our holiday rental.)

dingding · 26-08-2008 10:44pm

Was on the ship earlier in the Summer. Got the feeling that it was not a not a new ship, rather a reconditioned ship. Anyone else get the same vibe?

skibum · 26-08-2008 11:41pm

dingding wrote: »

Was on the ship earlier in the Summer. Got the feeling that it was not a not a new ship, rather a reconditioned ship. Anyone else get the same vibe?

Its not a brand new ship, it was built in 1987, but it is still a huge improvement on the ship it replaced (Normandy)

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Oscar_Wilde

http://www.shippingtimes.co.uk/item981_OSCAR-WILDE.htm

jmayo · 02-09-2008 12:19pm

Just back from France, returning on Friday's sailing from Roscoff.
The ship was delayed by over two hours.
We were told it was one of the internal doors would not close properly.
Next morning I overheard senior crew member telling passenger that the door had come off one of it's runners and they had to manhual it back on.
Could not sail with one of the doors not closing. Remember Herald of Free Enterprise and Estonia disasters etc.
Also it screwed up Brittany Ferries whose ship Pont Aven could not dock at Roscoff.

Still made Rosslare at approx 10am so pretty good going.
Ship is huge improvement on old Normandy.
We had 3* windowed cabin and got portable cot for the young fellow.
First one was in good neck but second one was a bit mankey.
Food can still be cra* in some of the places though but that is ships/ariline food for you. Go for breakfast in the up market one, it is worth it.
Staff were good and friendly.

Heard one very funny anouncement though.
"Could Mr X please come to reception on deck 5. Your kids are here."

Have to nominate him for parent of the year

All in all better experience that flying and all the cr** they now involve.

gerrygt · 27-04-2009 2:06am

Hi all im going out to france on the 15 May next im going on the Oscar Wilde to Roscoff and then drive down to spian could any one tell me did they sort the prob whit the ship ??

Plus if any one is sealling on that date let me no

HBAMS · 27-04-2009 8:53am

We sail in Sept and home late Oct.
We had no problems and no delays.

smblott · 27-04-2009 12:32pm

I heard that they'd increased the (scheduled) sailing time, decreased the speed that is, to save fuel.

gerrygt · 27-04-2009 4:33pm

Any body going out on that sealling the 15 May ??? Rosslare to Roscoff:cool:

deRanged · 18-05-2009 8:54pm

gerrygt wrote: »

Any body going out on that sealling the 15 May ??? Rosslare to Roscoff:cool:

I tried to, it did not go well.

The ship was late in to Rosslare, and we were left sitting in the car park for hours while they decided what to do. Eventually, at 9pm (supposed to be a 17:30 sailing) they decided the Rosslare trip was cancelled and the boat would go to Cherbourg. Mini-trippers could either cancel for a full refund, or go on this trip and have a free mini cruise later in the season. This was unsuitable for us, so we headed for home. 400km of driving wasted. When my father rang customer services they told him they wouldn't do anything until he put it in writing!

ollaetta · 19-05-2009 8:41pm

A friend of mine was due to go on that sailing on her first trip to France with 30 kids in tow!! I haven't heard how she got on but I can only imagine.

I'm due to go on the same crossing myself on Saturday next. Fingers, toes and everything else crossed that there is no repeat!

Gvillage · 12-01-2010 1:42pm

In the past I travelled frequently on the Oscar Wilde. However, more recently and in particularly in the last month I have travelled with Celtic Link Ferries on their Norman Voyager boat.

Now, don't get me wrong the ship was not as big or it did not have all the bells and whistles like the Oscar Wilde but I must say that other than minor, minor flaws it was great.

It is a bit cheaper than Irish Ferries too. I am going to be travelling to France again this Summer and Celtic Link's prices look very appealing. I will not "stop" using the Oscar Wilde. But I am going to use the Norman Voyager too, just depends on $$$:D

tommyhaas · 12-01-2010 1:58pm

I dont understand how anyone will sail Irish Ferries after their disgraceful behaviour getting rid of the Irish crews.

Review: Irish ferries "Oscar Wilde"

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