Cork to Santander Ferry starting April 2018

beer enigma

26hrs is long haul, but a great for holidays

http://www.eveningecho.ie/corknews/New-ferry-route-from-Cork-to-Spain-revealed-24014e91-a6bb-48fa-bdc3-926f0c62a52c-ds

Rhys Essien

Brilliant news.Sailings are Wednesday and Friday.You could walk on as a foot passenger on Wednesday and have a mini cruise/holiday and return Saturday.

CZ 453

If you've a property in Spain this is great for transporting furniture etc. Or those insisting on taking the hound. A long haul alright. Is the Bay of Biscay choppy?

bogman

The Bay Of Biscay can be a right nightmare, knew an elderly gent who was an marine engineer back in the day, even before I was around and that's saying something, they were transporting half a dozen locomotives to south America, wheels were welded to the deck of the ship, have to hove to during a major storm that lasted over two weeks, they eventually cut the welds and dumped the locomotives over the side of the vessel, it was either that or, well you can only imagine....look up Ushant lighthouse and associated shipwrecks !!!





Saying that I took a return journey from Plymouth to Santander and it was flat calm.

jelutong

Cantabria is a beautiful part of Spain. Well worth a visit.

dory

This will be great. Can't see anything on their website. Thought if it was starting in April one could book online already.

Rhys Essien

Will be available to book the end of this month they’re saying on Twitter.

butrasgali

What price.

malinheader

What's the public transport like over there. Buses trains etc or would you need to hire a car to do a bit of sight seeing

Rhys Essien

Bilbao is only 100kms to the east along the motorway.Id imagine connected by bus or rail.Great to check out the Guggenheim etc.

CZ 453

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon visited in The Trip to Spain(On Sky 1). Looked lovely.

thomil

Rhys Essien wrote: »

Bilbao is only 100kms to the east along the motorway.Id imagine connected by bus or rail.Great to check out the Guggenheim etc.

I don’t have any information about buses, but the train connection is sketchy, to say the least. The only direct rail link between Santander and Bilbao is a FEVE narrow gauge line, with three non-stop services per day. Travel time is about two hours and thirty minutes. On the plus side, the train stations are pretty close to the city centre, and the Santander terminus is literally a stone’s throw away from the ferry terminal.

whisky_galore

26 hours? I'd be in Australia on a plane in that time.

Fcuk that!

Tabnabs

And how long would it take your car to follow you out to Aus?

whisky_galore

Tabnabs wrote: »

And how long would it take your car to follow you out to Aus?

Not my bag, old bean.

Time-off poor and impatient.

Unless there's a full on cruise ship floor show, which I very much doubt...no way José.

GavRedKing

Ya, the biggest issue here is the travel time, I remember doing the Cork to Wales ferry before when I was 10 or 11 and it was I think, open to correction, about 10 hours and it was torture.

Nearly tripling that would be unbearable to me, I'd prefer, even if it was vastly more expenisve, to fly and hire a car at the other end and save my self some 20 hours but I've no doubt it will appeal to others.

LLewellen Farquarson

It is a great option, and I’ll be very interested in the ship details. So far, from the independent article.
120 cabins, 500 passengers, and they estimate 50/50 split freight/holiday makers.
Pont Aven (Cork -Roscoff) comparison.
652 cabins, 2416 passengers.

“We may need a bigger boat “
If there is demand they may do so.

I’d guess it is great for freight as it both gets around Brexit and a haul through France.

LLewellen Farquarson

Forgot to say, I’ve done Plymouth Santander twice , and it was like a mini cruise, with entertainment, bars, restaurants etc. this ship appears to be a bit more basic.

mik_da_man

The ship would need to be bigger IMO.
A ship that size would likely be limited in the entertainment options on board.
Imagine having a few kids and trying to entertain them for 18 Hours.

The idea of packing the car and going camping in Spain does appeal to me, but while it sounds good in theory the reality of using up over 2 full days on the ferry would be a big trade off.

Last year we went to the south of Spain, less than 6 hours door to door including renting a car.

beer enigma

LLewellen Farquarson wrote: »

Forgot to say, I’ve done Plymouth Santander twice , and it was like a mini cruise, with entertainment, bars, restaurants etc. this ship appears to be a bit more basic.

This is going to be based on their 'économie' model, so basic enough:

Overview of Brittany Ferries économie
Brittany Ferries économie
No-frills Brittany Ferries économie offers simple yet comfortable service
Self-service restaurant with limited choice
Small bar, movie lounge and seating area
No play area or entertainment for children
En-suite cabins but without carpets
Small boutique
On board services and facilities are limited compared with our cruise ferries but the service is ideal for those who wish to travel to France at a very reasonable fare and will appeal to those on a tight budget.

Etretat departs from Portsmouth to Le Havre at 23:15hrs 6 days a week (except Thursdays), returning at 17:15hrs every Saturday to Wednesday and overnight on Thursdays. View timetable. Please note some cars may be parked on deck 5 which is an open deck, however, this provides quick and easy access to the passenger lounges.

roundymac

It'll be the same as the one Irish Ferries are using at the moment, Epsillon.

LLewellen Farquarson

roundymac wrote: »

It'll be the same as the one Irish Ferries are using at the moment, Epsillon.

Thanks for that Roundymac. I gleaned a lot more info. Looks like probably no foot passengers.

In my case, I will still use Overlanders to transport my motorbike, and fly to meet it. It works out cheaper, and I don’t spend around three to four days on the ferry/motorways. ( on a precious two week holiday )

But for car/families it could be a good service, especially for longer summer holidays.

beer enigma

LLewellen Farquarson wrote: »

Looks like probably no foot passengers.

It will take foot passengers providing they book a cabin - Santander is good for train links as its a national terminus for RENFE trains which go right to the south. If you're driving then about 6 hrs to Barcalona, 5 to madrid & also 5 to Porto in Portugal.

Rhys Essien

This gives an idea of the time of this crossing with other routes.Id say the best idea is drink for the 10 hours and sleep for the last 16 and be fresh as a daisy in Santander.:D

Zeebrugge (Belgium) - Hull (UK) 11 hours
Argentia (Canada) - North Sydney (Canada) 15 hours
Zeebrugge (Belgium) - Rosyth (UK) 18 hours
Port Hardy - Prince Rupert 20 hours (including stop)
Plymouth (UK) - Santander (Spain) 20 hours.
Portsmouth (UK) - Santander (Spain) 24 hours.
Edberg (Denmark) - Tórshavn (Denmark) 38 hours
Ancona (Italy) - Cesme (Turkey) 57 hours
Edberg (Denmark) - Seyðisfjörður (Iceland) 66 hours (including stop)
Bellingham (USA) - Skagway (USA) 70 hours 15 minutes (including stops)

Frostybrew

Rhys Essien wrote: »

That gives an idea of the time of this crossing with other routes.Id say the best idea is drink for the 10 hours and sleep for the last 16 and be fresh as a daisy in Santander.:D

Zeebrugge (Belgium) - Hull (UK) 11 hours
Argentia (Canada) - North Sydney (Canada) 15 hours
Zeebrugge (Belgium) - Rosyth (UK) 18 hours
Port Hardy - Prince Rupert 20 hours (including stop)
Plymouth (UK) - Santander (Spain) 20 hours.
Portsmouth (UK) - Santander (Spain) 24 hours.
Edberg (Denmark) - Tórshavn (Denmark) 38 hours
Ancona (Italy) - Cesme (Turkey) 57 hours
Edberg (Denmark) - Seyðisfjörður (Iceland) 66 hours (including stop)
Bellingham (USA) - Skagway (USA) 70 hours 15 minutes (including stops)

There's a Denmark to Iceland car ferry? Wow!

Rhys Essien

Frostybrew wrote: »

There's a Denmark to Iceland car ferry? Wow!

Might be an opportunity for someone in Donegal to startup an Iceland service :pac:

Flesh Gorden

Frostybrew wrote: »

There's a Denmark to Iceland car ferry? Wow!

Via the Faroes, which is where you have to stay for a while.

I was looking into it before, as myself and a few buddies were thinking of doing the ring of Iceland on motorbikes.

Ages since I looked it up as the trip never took place, but I think you could get a part of the trip for free, if you stayed in the Faroes for a few extra days.

Frostybrew

Flesh Gorden wrote: »

Via the Faroes, which is where you have to stay for a while.

I was looking into it before, as myself and a few buddies were thinking of doing the ring of Iceland on motorbikes.

Ages since I looked it up as the trip never took place, but I think you could get a part of the trip for free, if you stayed in the Faroes for a few extra days.

Just checked out the price. It's €2800 return for a car and driver. Would be great to stop in the Faroes for a few days too. Add in a break in Scotland or the Orkneys and you'd have a mini cruise.

Herb Powell

Lads it's not that bad, you just bring cans, some good books, a pack of cards, and sit outside and enjoy.

kooga

Herb Powell wrote: »

Lads it's not that bad, you just bring cans, some good books, a pack of cards, and sit outside and enjoy.

And cans

Herb Powell

Especially cans