Irish Ferries, Rosslare Pembroke route and Blue Star 1

The Continental Op

I thought I'd make some mention of the new IF Blue Star 1 on the Rosslare Harbour Pembroke Dock route . Official web page

Its much smaller than the Isle of Inishmore that was doing the run previously and as usual I don't like change so can't find much to commend the new ship.

Now the real reason I have for my big downer on the Blue Star 1 is that there is nowhere you can lie out for a quick sleep on the trip unless you pay an extra £18 for club class (where they might not like you putting your feet on the seats anyway). The single seats are uncomfortable and too low to the ground (for me) and the bench seats are divided up every second seat so you can't lay out. The areas with layback airline type seats were all closed when I travelled (Covid) perhaps they would make up for the poor main seating.

I travelled over from the UK recently in a flat calm with no wind and it arrived a couple of minutes ahead of schedule (trip is almost exactly 4 hours) while I guess they must have been conserving (expensive) fuel I don't see that the ship is much faster?

Loading at the Pembroke end is only via a single rear ramp so I guess it must be slower than loading the Isle of Inishmore. I noticed a lot less freight than I've seen in the past before Brexit so maybe that won't be an issue. I would be concerned however that in bad weather the ferry may get cancelled more often because it can't make up time when loading and is just smaller.

Getting off the car deck up to the passenger decks is one hell of a climb (compared with the Isle of Inishmore) and more dangerous on the car deck. All the passenger decks seem to be high up on the ship. All the exits are up though the middle of the ship so you can end up having to cross lanes of trucks being loaded to get to the stairs. At the Pembroke end the cars get put on from the back and go up a deck through the ship then they put more lorries on behind.

Wifi seemed particularly crap considering how few people were using it (I'd never expect internet at sea to be really fast), it was easy to connect to but I noticed all the access points were set to channel 13 (on 2.4Ghz)?

Thats all very negative so if anyone has something more positive to say I'd love to hear it.

I'm not definitely going to use the Stena Europe next time I travel (often 6 times a year each way) but I'm thinking about it.

The Continental Op

After my 5th trip on this boat I thought I'd do a bit of an update. Still not tried the Stena Europe perhaps someone could do a comparison?

So the last couple of trips I paid the extra for Club Class so I could lay out on a seat. At least one sign up in Club Class saying not to lay out on seats but none of the crew said anything. Noticed around the boat that people were getting creative sleeping on seats with dividers.

Club Class (extra €18) on this boat is both good and bad. The good you can lay out and you get free drinks (glass of wine if you want it when you arrive and as much coffee, tea and iced water as you can drink) but the bad is the seats are narrow so not that comfortable and the Club Class lounge is at the back end (the stern ) over the engines and high up. That means you get the maximum movement in bad weather (middle of the boat lower down moves the least) and a lot of noise and vibration from the engine. The noise and vibration aren't that bad but certainly more noticeable than other areas of the boat.

To really p!ss me off on one sailing from Rosslare to Pembroke all the cars were put on deck 1 and deck 2. This really delays your getting off because the main deck (think its 3) has to be empty before they can open the doors and ramps to let you off. The good thing down on decks 1 & 2 is safety because you don't have to walk around an area with moving trucks and there are no vehicle anchor points to fall over. Use the lifts if you are put on deck one as you legs will thank you. I try not to use lifts ever but was surprised how much effort getting out of the bowels of the ship seemed to be. I mention the vehicle anchor points as on decks 3 and above they are welded onto the floor and so stick up, I saw one woman nearly fall over after tripping on one. Signage to the stars and lifts is also not as good as it should be because when you get on there are always people on the vehicle decks looking around for how to get up to the passenger decks. Another issue with being loaded on deck one is that it makes a joke Club Class which gives you priority loading. Great stuff you get on at the same time as everyone else and have to wait even longer to get off :mad:

There are a few other things I've noticed that have changed, another annoying one is that you are told to go to your car much earlier than before so you can easily spend 15 minutes sitting in your car with nothing moving off the ferry. That could however be a safety precaution so moving lorries and people don't mix. Duty free seems to be back not as good as the some of the boats to France but my gin was a good few quid cheaper than the same stuff on special offer in Morrisons. Shame you are limited to 1 liter of spirits now.

It wasnt me123

Irish Ferries website is rubbish - you can’t even book a ticket on it - pathetic. I’m trying to book Rosslaire to Pembrook return - impossible. And I emailed them, no reply. I’ll book Stena instead

McSween

One of the things that strikes me is the lack of Irish Ferries reviews on youtube. At least ones of substantial length.

The Continental Op

It wasnt me123 wrote: »

Irish Ferries website is rubbish - you can’t even book a ticket on it - pathetic. I’m trying to book Rosslaire to Pembrook return - impossible. And I emailed them, no reply. I’ll book Stena instead

I've been booking tickets online with them for at least the last 15 years and never had a problem. They can be poor at replying to emails.

It wasnt me123

The Continental Op wrote: »

I've been booking tickets online with them for at least the last 15 years and never had a problem. They can be poor at replying to emails.

I’ve also booked online before but for some reason Irishferries.ie do not have a book now section - if you have a link I’d be grateful.

The Continental Op

I've just tried to book the next ferry this evening from Pembroke and it goes through fine. I have had issue with the 3D secure to authorise the payment before but not on the last 3 bookings.

https://www.irishferries.com/ie-en/Travel-to-Britain/ is the start page for bookings when I just tested it.

If you are booking at short notice just turn up and book on the day. iirc the booking office opens 2 hours before the sailing. Also makes no difference to the price if you book one way or a return as two one way tickets at short notice will be the same cost as the return.