Cork to London with Eurolines

Filangi88

Hi all,

I'm going to London next month from Cork and Eurolines is half the price of flying and I don't have to worry about adding on luggage expenses and all that.
Has anyone used it before? Is it worth it? Will it take 10 years off my life??

linfield

Filangi88 wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm going to London next month from Cork and Eurolines is half the price of flying and I don't have to worry about adding on luggage expenses and all that.
Has anyone used it before? Is it worth it? Will it take 10 years off my life??

It's probably cheaper to get bus eireann to rosslare and megabus from there to London!

afatbollix

youd be mad to spend a day on a bus. But you might as well to save the cash for a night out on the town.

jjbrien

If I was you id do the sail and rail via dublin or rosslare with stena line. No baggage allowance and you got a toilet and can walk around the train. I did eurolines once but never again http://www.stenaline.ie/ferry/rail-and-sail/fishguard/

3ndahalfof6

Have you checked out sail and rail, I am guessing it would cost you €40-50 tops to get to your destination.

County rebel

Thinking of useing eurolines myself cork to London victoria 62euro return i no it will be slow but all flights seem to be double the price even midweek.Is the day of cheap flights gone?

jjbrien

Havent seen any 1c or 1 euro flights from ryanair since 2010

Stinicker

Expect 15 - 20hrs, the maddening thing is the bus stops every so often at Motorway services in the UK and that slows it down a whole pile. Irish Ferries is the ferry so expect nothing fancy either. It ic cheap but very hacking, I did it in 2011 and it was comparable to a long haul flight.

jjbrien

Faster and better doing the rail and sail to be honest we did rail and sail from London with Stena to Dublin and you dont have to travel overnight the same is available from Rosslare and is about 4 hours shorter than that bus

kensutz

Stinicker wrote: »

Expect 15 - 20hrs, the maddening thing is the bus stops every so often at Motorway services in the UK and that slows it down a whole pile. Irish Ferries is the ferry so expect nothing fancy either. It ic cheap but very hacking, I did it in 2011 and it was comparable to a long haul flight.

It stops twice for breaks, one outside Cardiff and another outside Reading.

poisonated

If it's fairly awful alright. I did it twice before...once from Dublin and another time from Galway. I would do it again. It is just so much cheaper than flying. For example, from Galway, you would pay 30 euro return to get the bus to the airport. Then, another 35 - 40 euro to get a transfer from a London airport plus about 90 euro for the return flights. It works out to be about 160 euro. If you were to get the bus, on the other hand, from Galway city center to central London, it would cost you about 70 euro return.

Stinicker

kensutz wrote: »

It stops twice for breaks, one outside Cardiff and another outside Reading.

Yes but it also stopped in Bristol to pick up passengers and it also made a few unscheduled stops for cigarette breaks for our driver when I did it. If there was no stopping between London and Pembroke you could cut 3hrs off the journey as they spend the guts of an hour in Motorway services.

kensutz

I've had to do it a few times recently and each time it was the same stops with different drivers. Max amount of time staying in a service station was 35mins. A few other members of the family did the same and also experienced the same stops.

changeling

3ndahalfof6 wrote: »

Have you checked out sail and rail, I am guessing it would cost you €40-50 tops to get to your destination.

Just checked - 144 euro from Galway :eek:
would get two return flights for that if booked a few weeks in advance a la Ryanair
How are they doing business at those prices ??

Lapin

Filangi88 wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm going to London next month from Cork and Eurolines is half the price of flying...........

Have you weighed into account what you'll spend while on the ferry for a few hours and during the various pit stops along the way?

While the actual ticket price of Eurolines may be half that of a flight, the additional costs incurred during the 16 hour trip could be closer to what you'd pay for a one hour plane journey.

Lapin

changeling wrote: »

Just checked - 144 euro from Galway :eek:
would get two return flights for that if booked a few weeks in advance a la Ryanair
How are they doing business at those prices ??

Where are you getting that figure?

I priced a return journey on that route over the busy St Patrick's weekend for 85 euro. Link.

thomasj

Lapin wrote: »

Where are you getting that figure?

I priced a return journey on that route over the busy St Patrick's weekend for 85 euro. Link.

The price they are referring to as steep is the sail and rail fare of 144 they got quoted. Its steep enough all right.

Just for reference the breakdown is

Galway to Dublin by train €40 by train return ticket

Dublin to london by train/ferry & connection €102 return ticket

First of all the €102 quoted is for the on the day travel (if you were to book a ryanair flight for on the day travel youd be paying much more) for booking in advance you would pay the €46 fare which would work out at €92 return.

Second, the 40 "extension" official quote has been there for long enough. You could half that price by getting a cheap advance bus/train return from galway to dublin and back.

Still though with them savings its still pretty steep!

Filangi88

jjbrien wrote: »

If I was you id do the sail and rail via dublin or rosslare with stena line. No baggage allowance and you got a toilet and can walk around the train. I did eurolines once but never again http://www.stenaline.ie/ferry/rail-and-sail/fishguard/

was eurolines a nightmare? is there wifi or anything? I'm hoping with a good book and my laptop I'll survive it. And will have to spend 30 euro return for bus to rosslare too. I'm going to France from London so I want this part of the holiday to be as cheap as possible. Does the ferry from rosslare leave every hour?

Thanks for all the info everyone!!

I hate ryanair!! bring back the 9.99 flights!!!!!

Filangi88

thomasj wrote: »

First of all the €102 quoted is for the on the day travel (if you were to book a ryanair flight for on the day travel youd be paying much more) for booking in advance you would pay the €46 fare which would work out at €92 return.

wow:eek: i thought it was 46 return!!! 92 is crazy!

So eurolines is so cheap compared to anything else! If I with them I'll write a full in-depth report on my experience for ye all....I'll have more than enough time to do that anyway:rolleyes:

Lapin

Filangi88 wrote: »

....... .Does the ferry from rosslare leave every hour?

Thanks for all the info everyone!!

God no. There are 4 sailings per day between Rosslare and Wales.

2 with Stenaline (Fishguard)
2 with Irish Ferries (Pembroke)

cormie

So where's the report?

I'm looking to get to Pembroke from Dun Laoghaire and thinking bus might be the best way. Does anyone know of any Dublin-London bus services that go through Rosslare instead of Holyhead? My destination is only 18 miles from Pembroke dock so I won't be continuing on to London. Unless it happens to go passed where I'm going and can get the driver to stop

zagmund

Without knowing the specifics of the Pembroke side of things, the easiest route would be DL->Rosslare on the train for something like €15 advance purchase, then a foot passenger ticket on Irish Ferries. How easy/not the last 18 miles is, is hard to tell. It could be the middle of the countryside or it could be a train station. You'll need to supply more details.

You could get a sail & rail via Dublin and get the train down from Holyhead to Swansea/Cardiff and then across to Pembroke, but it's quite a roundabout journey.

You could check out www.megabus.com. They will get you from Rosslare to Carmarthen for £14 including the ferry on a random day in November, so that's probably better than getting the Irish Ferries.

z

cormie

Wow, thanks a lot, that's very helpful.

I think the main issue getting to Rosslare to catch the ferry, is that it departs so early at 08:45 and the only departure from Dun Laoghaire to Rosslare leaves Dun Laoghaire at 09:58, so that wouldn't work unfortunately

Once I'm in Pembroke I think I'll be ok, I need to get to Narberth but might be able to get a lift and if not, a taxi might be about £21 according to a fare calculator I checked.

highlydebased

The train will take you directly to Narberth from the port, journey of under an hour and £8.10 for a single.

cormie

That's not bad, thanks for the suggestion Looks like the tricky part will be getting from Dun Laoghaire to Rosslare before 08:00!