Sail/Rail to London

mirrorwall14

Hi everyone,

All going well I will be 28 weeks pregnant when we are due to go to see Hamilton in London and I really really don't want to miss it. I did have some issues on my last pregnancy, nothing massive and most much later than 28 weeks but I'm a little concerned that either I won't be able or won't be allowed to fly.

I'm researching other options just in case and Sail/Rail seems to be one that might work. However could anyone give a rough estimate on times? You don't seem to be able to book the train as well as the ferry, I think you get an open ticket for the train but then I don't know approx how long of travel are we looking at. We've done ferry last summer with a car when I was on crutches but we haven't been as foot passengers

ekimiam

this guy has a good write up about it
https://www.seat61.com/Ireland.htm

usualy 8-10 hours, just try get a direct train from HHD if you can

mikemac2

Did it yesterday though that was arriving to Dublin

https://www.thetrainline.com is good for showing train times

Virgin run a direct train from Holyhead to Euston but I believe it’s just once a day. All the other train routes will have you changing to Chester and/or Crewe

If you can pick a ferry that lines up with the direct Virgin train that would be good

Chris_5339762

I'd be tempted to book both if you can get a good flight deal and can confirm you'll be ok to fly. As a man I suppose I cannot advise on this really, but my immediate thought is 3 hours on a rough ferry followed by a mammoth train or bus journey would by far be the inferior option to an hours flight.

Book both, use one.

Mongfinder General

ekimiam wrote: »

this guy has a good write up about it
https://www.seat61.com/Ireland.htm

usualy 8-10 hours, just try get a direct train from HHD if you can

It's arduous at the best of times but timing connections and punctuality are crucial. Sometimes it's smooth but a missed connection can lead you stranded in Holyhead terminal at 3 am - the most desolate place on earth.

XPS_Zero

There is a website where you can book them all together.

I did it a while back both because I still hadn't got my passport yet and wanted to try the ship as an experience. You can go with Irish Ferries or Stena (I'd go with Stena, their staff are better, and they don't have the horrific record of worker abuse Irish Ferries does, who fired all their Irish staff years ago and got caught paying the poor migrants they replaced them with a shocking amount below the minimum wage).

If you are pregnant I would strongly suggest picking a time where the boat goes through during the night and grabbing a cabin, there are such slots available on Stena I'm not sure about Irish ferries. If you are overnighting with the Stena option you'd be picking one that says DUBLIN 1AM say and LONDON EUSSTON 10AM.
It MASSIVELY breaks up the trip, you get a short nap, you can even have a shower and then have a breakfast on the ship before you come out, and during the journey itself, even if you don't want to sleep, you could prop yourself up on a bed and watch a TV (some of the rooms even have ports for USB keys where you can slot in your key with a few of your fav downloaded shows on it, if you know how to do that). It costs a bit more, but it all depends what price you place on your comfort in your present state, could you sit on chairs for the whole trip? If you can go for it but if you think you'd find it hard to bare 4 hours hanging around 2-3 shops and a waiting area get the cabin.

Irish Ferries:
https://www.irishferries.com/uk-en/specials-from-Ireland-to-Britain/sail-rail

Stena:
https://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferries-to-ireland/rail-sail/find-and-book

Looking at Stena it does have an OpenReturn option I can see the box on the page I linked you to. If you click RETURN the box will appear "Open Return?" just below it.

You can book the train as well you'll see the times on the system, just be careful about something, try to find a trip where you have only 2 changes this means that you are only changing from boat to train and train to city. If you see 4 changes etc SKIP IT. This means that you'll have to get off the train mid journey and wait at some godforsaken UK station for a change of train (and it might be some provincial station with no services), I'd find that aggravating under normal circumstances let alone when pregnant. So watch out for that little pitfall. Try to get one that goes direct to London Euston. Which is the terminus station for that line, and essentially looks like a shopping centre when you go into it.

It's a 4 hour journey on the train but their trains are comfortable enough, Virgin trains (unlike our Sligo or half our Rural trains here) has a shop etc and plenty of bathrooms on board. The time will fly if you bring a book/ebooks/ipad/laptop.

Anything you are lost with post I'll try to help you.

Hilly Bill

It costs around €50 one way to London. You can get a bout at around 8 in the morning, you arrive in holyhead around half 11. By the time they have bused you to the terminal it will be around 12.00. There is a train around half 12 with a couple of changes which gets you to London for around half 4. I think there is a direct train an hour later or so from holyhead which gets you in around the same time.
Check the train times on the network rail or Qjump.

XPS_Zero

While the train times are not INTENTIONALLY staggered to meet the ships, they usually have a gap so you can wait a bit in the rail/sail terminal (both in the same building) for your train.

Take the ship overnight, do a nap in a cabin, then get breakfast on the ship before you leave, or on the train, and it will be a much more comfortable journey.

Irish Steve

02:15 Dublin to Holyhead with Stena , arrives 05:45
06:55 departure, arrives London 10:37 direct service, no changes.
It's possible to get into London before 9 am, but that means taking the 20:40 from Dublin and hanging around at Holyhead for a number of hours, having done it on one occasion it's NOT a nice place to be hanging around for any length of time

Nomis21

An alternative is Bus Eireann from Busaras to London. About the same price but the bus goes on the ferry. No waiting around in Holyhead either way.