Dublin -> Cherbourg Ferry : New starting Jan 2014!

munchkin_utd

A new direct passenger car ferry service linking Dublin with the French port of Cherbourg is being introduced by Irish Ferries with the first sailing departing from Dublin on Saturday, 18th January next.


The once-weekly, year round service – which the company’s head of passenger sales Dermot Merrigan says “will bring the European motorways directly into the heart of our capital city”
– will depart from Dublin every Saturday (15.30) arriving into Cherbourg next morning (11.30).
Return sailings will depart Cherbourg each Sunday (17.00) with early arrival back in Dublin on Monday morning (11.00).

The new route will be operated by the passenger car and freight ferry vessel mv Epsilon which Irish Ferries has recently secured under a charter arrangement.
<snip>
Because of the more limited range of cabins and passenger attractions on board the Epsilon when compared to the Oscar Wilde, Irish Ferries is seizing the opportunity to offer customers lower fares and an even broader choice of route options. In this way, the company is extending the appeal of a motoring holiday in France to an even wider segment of the market.

http://www.irishferries.com/uk-en/news/news131127/

Tabnabs

The Irish Sea and Western Approaches in a January storm *shudder* :pac:

murphym7

"more limited range of cabins and passenger attractions on board the Epsilon" No sh*t! A cruise ferry she aint, I would not fancy it myself, especially if I had a car full of kids. Perfect for the extended stay Booze cruisers and truckers.

munchkin_utd

murphym7 wrote: »

"more limited range of cabins and passenger attractions on board the Epsilon" No sh*t! A cruise ferry she aint, I would not fancy it myself, especially if I had a car full of kids. Perfect for the extended stay Booze cruisers and truckers.

its not that bad.

you land on the ferry at 3.30 in Dublin.
Kids run about or play videogames and do puzzles till bedtime at about 8, and then are asleep.
They wake up, get breakfast, and then have a few hours pottering about till the disembarkment at 11 or so.
Fairly straight forward, and small kids at least will be asleep for 10 to maybe even 12 hours.

The very late departures at 9.30 pm or 10 and arriving in at 3.30 in the afternoon are much worse if you ask me to try and keep kids occupied, regardless of the ship.
You land on so late that the kids wont be in bed till 11 or so after the excitement of being on the ship, and then wake at feckin 6am with a good 9 to 10 hours of a journey on a ship ahead of you.

goldie fish

That's a long crossing. Don't see it having much takers.

munchkin_utd

goldie fish wrote: »

That's a long crossing. Don't see it having much takers.

It's only an hour longer than from rosslare which is so popular that it costs about 500 euro each way with a car and a couple of people.

And, rosslare is more than an hour from Dublin so your overall journey time is less when coming from Dublin which balances out that small but of extra journey time.
If coming from north and north west of Dublin (i.e. Sligo, donegal etc) it's more than an hour saving on journey time to rosslare should you plan in a break in the journey which may be needed to get to the very south east extremity of the island, but isn't needed to get to Dublin which may be possible in one go.

goldie fish

The same argument was made for the Fastnet Line Swansea-Cork service, but when it came to it, freight traffic(the key market off season) preferred to drive the extra miles to rosslare instead of having truck drivers sitting idle on a ferry for a few hours more than was absolutely necessary.

zagmund

Hmm. I don't get the economy branding. I just picked random dates in March and the flat fare is the same from Dublin or Rosslare to Cherbourg - €125 per direction for a car & 2 adults.

z

Drummerboy08

Does it really only add an hour's sailing time on top of the Rosslare time? How so?

munchkin_utd

goldie fish wrote: »

The same argument was made for the Fastnet Line Swansea-Cork service, but when it came to it, freight traffic(the key market off season) preferred to drive the extra miles to rosslare instead of having truck drivers sitting idle on a ferry for a few hours more than was absolutely necessary.

That's completely different.
The cork Swansea ferry took 12 hours or something compared to 4 on the shorter crossing. A difference of say 8 hours or 200% longer.

Rosslare to Cherbourg takes 18 hours and from Dublin 19. Difference of something like 5%, and bear in mind that with rough seas and stabilizers on you can loose a couple of hours, so that overnight ferry isn't the quickest anyhow and and hour here or there is much of a muchness.

Tabnabs

P&O did it a number of years ago and it was massively popular with families and campervans. Outside of summer, it will be 90% freight. You'd have to think that IF have done their homework and believe they can turn a profit on a weekend deviation to France. Just a shame she won't go through Dalkey Sound!!

goldie fish

munchkin_utd wrote: »

That's completely different.
The cork Swansea ferry took 12 hours or something compared to 4 on the shorter crossing. A difference of say 8 hours or 200% longer.

Rosslare to Cherbourg takes 18 hours and from Dublin 19. Difference of something like 5%, and bear in mind that with rough seas and stabilizers on you can loose a couple of hours, so that overnight ferry isn't the quickest anyhow and and hour here or there is much of a muchness.

Your statement is untrue. The Cork Swansea ferry took 1 hour more than the equivalent journey by road via the rosslare ferry.

Dub13

On the freight traffic, you have to factor in the fuel saving for transport company's. They would be saving 2 hours or so each leg of a trip, I don't know how much $ that would save but I am sure it would add up and make this even more attractive.

Banjoxed

Maybe it's me, but I'd rather get on the A55 HQDC in two hours from Dublin and onto the French Autoroutes in five or so
hours after that. Rolling around in a tub for nineteen hours to Cherbourg? Not for me thanks.

loyatemu

Banjoxed wrote: »

Maybe it's me, but I'd rather get on the A55 HQDC in two hours from Dublin and onto the French Autoroutes in five or so
hours after that. Rolling around in a tub for nineteen hours to Cherbourg? Not for me thanks.

if you're going to Britanny or Western France you can factor a good bit of extra driving on those autoroutes as well. I'd much rather have a pint and get a night's sleep than spend a day battling HGVs on the British motorway network.

Anyway the Rosslare - France route is hugely popular, so the question is whether people will want to get a more basic ferry from Dublin for (what appears to be) more or less the same price (I suppose there's some saving in petrol from not driving to/from Rosslare).

Tabnabs

Banjoxed wrote: »

Maybe it's me, but I'd rather get on the A55 HQDC in two hours from Dublin and onto the French Autoroutes in five or so
hours after that. Rolling around in a tub for nineteen hours to Cherbourg? Not for me thanks.

Wrong forum for that kind of thinking.

I'd rather be at sea and able to stretch my legs than stuck behind the wheel in a car, loaded to the gills.

munchkin_utd

loyatemu wrote: »

if you're going to Britanny or Western France you can factor a good bit of extra driving on those autoroutes as well. I'd much rather have a pint and get a night's sleep than spend a day battling HGVs on the British motorway network.

Anyway the Rosslare - France route is hugely popular, so the question is whether people will want to get a more basic ferry from Dublin for (what appears to be) more or less the same price (I suppose there's some saving in petrol from not driving to/from Rosslare).

+1
the early timed sailing from Dublin is great that way in that you can wile away your time on the ferry with a few pints and a feed, sleep off the guinness, and you awake in France in time for some sausage and rasher before getting off the ferry at 11. The alternative of driving all night through England isnt quite as relaxing. (and its something I've done a few times myself but only because the direct ferry is so bloody expensive in summer and for destinations east of Paris its not worth the premium for the direct ferry)

And again, as the Epsilon is a faster ship, it ONLY takes an hour longer than the Oscar Wilde from Rosslare so you are saving the hassle and time of heading to Rosslare, which is especially pronounced if you are coming from anywhere to the north or west of Dublin, whether north and west of the city or north and west of Ireland.

Freedive Ireland

I can see it being popular with surfers and stealth campers along with the regular ones. Seems a trip to Brittany may be on the cards next year.

ScouseMouse

munchkin_utd wrote: »

its not that bad

I have .

you land on the ferry at 3.30 in Dublin.
Kids run about or play videogames and do puzzles till bedtime at about 8, and then are asleep.
They wake up, get breakfast, and then have a few hours pottering about till the disembarkment at 11 or so.
Fairly straight forward, and small kids at least will be asleep for 10 to maybe even 12 hours.
.

I agree. I did the celtic link a few weeks back and a laptop with dvds was enough to keep the kids happy. Once you get them to bed it does not matter how long it is, you are asleep!

Next morning, a couple of coffees and off you go.

I have been pricing this ship for a possible july trip and its the same as the rosslare boats. I see nothing economy about the price.

I dont suppose anyone has any info of any deals or specials for that period? I know there is 10% off at the moment, but thats still BIG money.

DownBeaten

will depart from Dublin every Saturday (15.30) arriving into Cherbourg next morning (11.30).
Return sailings will depart Cherbourg each Sunday (17.00) with early arrival back in Dublin on Monday morning (11.00).

Does that mean the ship remains tied up in Dublin from Monday morning to Saturday afternoon?

loyatemu

DownBeaten wrote: »

Does that mean the ship remains tied up in Dublin from Monday morning to Saturday afternoon?

no - it'll do the Dublin-Holyhead run during the week.

Rabbitt

How long time wise would it take the ship to get from Dublin to Rosslare?
Is it more time efficient to sail from Rosslare or Dublin?

Pity the ship (Epsillon) is so poor as it would put me off sailing from Dublin.

munchkin_utd

Rabbitt wrote: »

How long time wise would it take the ship to get from Dublin to Rosslare?
Is it more time efficient to sail from Rosslare or Dublin?

Pity the ship (Epsillon) is so poor as it would put me off sailing from Dublin.

whats wrong with it?
its a ship barely a year old with standard cabins (if Celtic Link is anything to go by) larger than the Oscar Wilde and from images on Irish ferries they look better than the oscar wilde ones.

The interior of the ferry is bright and modern, sortof akin to what you might encounter in an italian cafe or ice cream parlour - which is not a surprise if you know it was built in Italy, or have seen the celtic link ferry already.
see here for images: http://www.irishferries.com/de/schiffe/epsilon/

The lack of choice of restaurants cant be that much of a pain if you consider you'll only be having ONE dinner anyhow.
And should you be going for a pint, the beer in the glass will still be wet and contain alcohol.

You ask how much extra a stop in Rosslare would add. A shipping expert could give a good estimate but it would definitely be in multiples of hours as along with a distance factor, it will take time to dock, load and re-accelerate to cruising speed.
That aside, theres no need (i.e. not a great economic case) for yet another service from Rosslare seeing as the majority of the islands population lives in the city or in an arc to the West and North of Dublin which the new service will serve as opposed to the rest of the population in the south who are handy to Rosslare which already has an almost daily service to France with the 2 existing vessels, not to mention an extra weekend service from Cork for the spring/ summer/ autumn

Rabbitt

munchkin_utd wrote: »

whats wrong with it?
its a ship barely a year old with standard cabins (if Celtic Link is anything to go by) larger than the Oscar Wilde and from images on Irish ferries they look better than the oscar wilde ones.

The interior of the ferry is bright and modern, sortof akin to what you might encounter in an italian cafe or ice cream parlour - which is not a surprise if you know it was built in Italy, or have seen the celtic link ferry already.
see here for images: http://www.irishferries.com/de/schiffe/epsilon/

The lack of choice of restaurants cant be that much of a pain if you consider you'll only be having ONE dinner anyhow.
And should you be going for a pint, the beer in the glass will still be wet and contain alcohol.

You ask how much extra a stop in Rosslare would add. A shipping expert could give a good estimate but it would definitely be in multiples of hours as along with a distance factor, it will take time to dock, load and re-accelerate to cruising speed.
That aside, theres no need (i.e. not a great economic case) for yet another service from Rosslare seeing as the majority of the islands population lives in the city or in an arc to the West and North of Dublin which the new service will serve as opposed to the rest of the population in the south who are handy to Rosslare which already has an almost daily service to France with the 2 existing vessels, not to mention an extra weekend service from Cork for the spring/ summer/ autumn

Thanks for the reply . I was asking more about comparing the time to sail from Dublin to roughly outside Rosslare not going to actually dock. Would it be tow hours like the drive?

XsApollo

This is good news
I would definitely take Dublin over Rosslare.
I ferry every year and am in Clare, the drive to rosslare is horrible.
Motorway straight from my house to Dublin port is a no brainer for me.

billie1b

Rabbitt wrote: »

Thanks for the reply . I was asking more about comparing the time to sail from Dublin to roughly outside Rosslare not going to actually dock. Would it be tow hours like the drive?

In and around 1 hour

loyatemu

billie1b wrote: »

In and around 1 hour

straight line distance from Dublin to Rosslare is about 120km - no ferry is going to do that in an hour.

Tabnabs

Looking of Google Earth, it's a very approximately 60nm. About 2hrs 45mins before she is passing Rosslare (and well out to sea of the port).

Darkhorse1909

We have just booked the new ferry from Dublin for June, we have done every Ireland/France ferry variation including an excruciating landbridge via Birkenhead and Dover, So we are looking forward to this one, we live 10 minutes from the Port Tunnel so we figure we will save at least 2 hours each way on the Rosslare leg so for us the additional hour on board is fine, also I like the earlier landing in France, we will be driving to the Languedoc, an 11 hour drive at best, this way, we might get a swift carafe in the local when we arrive!

I like the Celtic Link minimalism, I find the 'luxury' of the Oscar Wilde doesn't really appeal, I don't usually want to eat in the 'posh' restaurant, , I normally am quite happy to read in my cabin, so I don't need entertaining, and a wet pint/glass of wine is much the same anywhere, so I am looking forward to this one. I agree about the 'economy' tag though, seems a misnomer at the current pricing. Still, lets give it a whirl and see if it works out. :cool:

cdsb46

Just looked up prices for June and returning in July, its already looking very fully, last date in July cherbourg to dublin is fully booked cabin wise. Looks like a success story for Irish Ferries

MelachiT

Has anyone travelled on this ferry yet?
I've booked for July and am just curious to know what it's like?

MelachiT

*Bump*

Darkhorse1909

Yes, we travelled in June, and loved it, it is the same as the Celtic Link ferry, same size and same layout, very comfortable crossing, very helpful staff and clean and comfortable, and relatively spacious cabins, with a TV in each one. We arrived in Cherbourg at 11am, and as we were driving to the Languedoc, that meant we could do it in one day, so all in all very happy and have re-booked for September. We live 15 minutes from the Dublin ferryport, so it was really a no-brainer for us.

munchkin_utd

Darkhorse1909 wrote: »

<snip>We live 15 minutes from the Dublin ferryport, so it was really a no-brainer for us.

indeed, and the faster newer more fuel efficient ferry from Dublin makes up for the longer distance and does the journey in the same time anyhow
i.e.
Dublin -> Cherbourg: dep 15:30 arr 11:30
Rosslare -> Cherbourg: dep 15:30 arr 11:30 (when its an afternoon sailing)

(Stena though can do the crossing from Rosslare a little quicker, when they want to)

MelachiT

We travelled on this route last Saturday 10th. It was a lovely journey, very smooth and fast, arrived in Cherbourg at 10.30am, so an 18 hour trip.
As we also live about 15 mins from the port, it was perfect for us.

We had one 7 year old with us, so because of the fewer facilities we needed to pack a few more activities to keep him occupied but it was all good. Will definitely be travelling Dublin - Cherbourg again later in the year.