Review: Irish ferries "Oscar Wilde"

skibum

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

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

APMom

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

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

nilhg

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

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

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

skibum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

McSween wrote: »

anyone have any photos?

Here's some I took onboard in July.

McSween

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

Has the engine problems settled down.

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

Going in Sept.

skibum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

smblott

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

gerrygt

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

deRanged

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

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

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

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

AARRRGH

tommyhaas wrote: »

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

In fairness Ireland has benefited from that sort of bahaviour too. We use low taxes to steal other people's jobs...

But back on topic.

I love traveling from Rosslare to France on the Oscar Wilde. Apart from advanture of being at sea, I love the sort of tackiness of the boat (musicians playing violins in an effort to make the place look posh) and the terrible entertainment on board, e.g. the magic show and disco.

I never get a cabin so always end up having a horrible sleep, but when I arrive in lovely France and wander Cherbourg as I wait for my train to Paris, I feel fantastic.

It makes traveling feel like an epic journey compared to jumping on a Ryanair flight.

peckmyster

Hi just wondering which is the cheapest way to take your car to england? Who does the best rates? which ferry company.......

chubacca

peckmyster wrote: »

Hi just wondering which is the cheapest way to take your car to england? Who does the best rates? which ferry company.......

both stenna and irish ferries are nearly the same price from rosslare

Gvillage

peckmyster wrote: »

Hi just wondering which is the cheapest way to take your car to england? Who does the best rates? which ferry company.......

Howdee,
I don't know who offer the best rates to England.. probably Irish Ferries but I do know that Celtic Link offer the cheapest 2 France. They are very cheap fo the summer time

coolvale

i have been on the normandy several times, once to cherburg in a force 7 to 8 gale & found her to be ok.
having said that i hav'nt been on the oscar wilde so cant compare.

Imaginary Boy

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?

Lol, might be a little late in saying this but wi-fi is now available throughout the vessel (for a charge) and there are 2 computers by the reception that you have to pay for every minute of internet you use.

jendafer1

Hello! Does anyone know anything about the reserved seating area on the Oscar Wilde? Ie is it packed in like an airplane, is it actually comfortable? Can you kip on the floor instead with camping mat? Are there lockers? Any info would be much appreciated as Irish ferries dont have any photos of it on their website and we go out on Wednesday!!

Imaginary Boy

jendafer1 wrote: »

Hello! Does anyone know anything about the reserved seating area on the Oscar Wilde? Ie is it packed in like an airplane, is it actually comfortable? Can you kip on the floor instead with camping mat? Are there lockers? Any info would be much appreciated as Irish ferries dont have any photos of it on their website and we go out on Wednesday!!

Yes, its quite comfortable. Its located on deck 10, only 10 chairs per room and near the cinema.

HBAMS

Imaginary Boy wrote: »

Lol, might be a little late in saying this but wi-fi is now available throughout the vessel (for a charge) and there are 2 computers by the reception that you have to pay for every minute of internet you use.

Travelled home from Roscoff on the Oscar Wilde on the 15th july.
No WiFi then throughout the vessel..
Yes computers at reception at €5 for 15 minutes.

Imaginary Boy

HBAMS wrote: »

Travelled home from Roscoff on the Oscar Wilde on the 15th july.
No WiFi then throughout the vessel..
Yes computers at reception at €5 for 15 minutes.

lol, theres signs up everywhere saying theres wifi?

http://www.irishferries.com/ships-oscarwilde.asp (click on wifi)

HBAMS

It must be new as I had words with reception about Stena having free WiFi throughout there Ferries and she said that they were looking into it, I even said to her, If you can have it for the Surf box why not throughout the ferry.
We even can have WiFi on the Bus from Dublin to Galway.

APM

travelled on this ship in may also and there was no internet, just a broken internet kiosk computer. Bit annoying for such a long sailing

McSween

Imaginary Boy wrote: »

Lol, might be a little late in saying this but wi-fi is now available throughout the vessel (for a charge) and there are 2 computers by the reception that you have to pay for every minute of internet you use.

cheers. i'd love to go to france on it again but not sure when that's going to happen. a fantastic experience on my sole trip on the oscar wilde 2 years ago now.

jendafer1

Just back from my 2 weeks in France so thought I'd post up about my experience on the Oscar Wilde:

Overall an enjoyable experience - the staff were friendly and helpful and the boat itself was quite nice.

We had only booked seats in the reserved seating area - this area is on deck 11 beside the cinema. There are 6 different rooms each with approximately 32 reclining seats in them. Upon booking you will be allocated a specific seat, but when we boarded the staff told us to take any seat, I'm not sure if this would be the same in high season? On both legs of the journey there were only ~20 people altogether spread over the 6 rooms.
The chairs themselves arent that comfortable for sleeping on, but bring a pillow and a sleeping bag with you and the carpetted floor is grand. Reception also told us that the cinema could provide blankets and pillows, however we saw no further evidence of this so if you plan on using them, ask for them right away so if they arent available you can still go pick up your own blankets.
The rooms dont lock so are not secure, but if you are a foot passenger there are lockers nearby for your main gear (not for a handbag as you pay €6 each time you would need to open it).
Theres also a shower in the toilets nearby which was clean.

As for the food on the boat - yes its expensive, but no more so than would be expected. We picked up a huge portion of delicious spag bol from the self-service for €10 which I thought was very decent. Then again, I paid €4 for a tiny croissant and OJ the next morning. The two other restaurants on the boat looked nice, but way out of my budget!

In an all, a good experience!

babaduck

We're also just back from a trip to France on the Oscar Wilde - we paid for speedy exit on the outbound journey (€10) & this was well worth the spends - we were told to park on Deck 3, 8 cars from the exit and it took 4 minutes to disembark in Cherbourg We paid for a 4* 2 berth cabin & ended up again in 9122, both out & back. It was spotless, so no complaints there. The hot food in the Left Bank restaurant is just OK, nothing to write home about at all.

On the way home from Roscoff, the embarcation process was unusually quick - you're usually left hanging around for aaaaages, but not this time. 10 minutes from checking in to parking the car & as always, the French customs guys were absolutely lovely... pissing themselves laughing at the contents of my car. As we had a big lunch, we ended up just having soup & a sandwich in the Left Bank. Absolutely delicious - I nearly fell over in shock :eek: The soup was vegetable, beautifully made & perfectly seasoned. The sandwich was a ham & salad wholemeal bloomer and it was gorgeous. Trust me, I write a food blog, I know good grub As it was pretty rocky on the return, we just dosed ourselves with Nautamine & had a few drinks in the cabin watching TV. Disembarcation took about 30 minutes in Rosslare

Satts

Is the Oscar Wilde running smooth these days ?

i.e. Has the engine trouble been sorted out ?

willowthewisp

Anyone been on this recently?
If so are the films in the cinema recent?