Rosslare ferry to UK

Garlinge

Anyone here familiar with taking this? any tips/recommendations? eg Fishguard v Pembroke.

biddy21

Havent took it in years but handy if you want to bring your car to UK

Uncle Pierre

Have taken both routes many times over the years, and I've never drawn much of a distinction between Stena and Irish Ferries, or Fishguard and Pembroke.

Both ferries themselves are of roughly equal standard as regards comfort/facilities/etc., and there's not much to choose between the Welsh ports either. Probably slightly more in Fishguard by way of shopping or dining if you're likely to have some time before getting on the boat itself, but that's never really a factor for ourselves.

Only real difference is Fishguard is a slightly longer drive before you reach the M4 for heading on to your eventual destination, but only by the order of 15 or 20 minutes or so - again, not a huge deal when you consider total travel time.

My advice is simply to go with whichever one is cheaper for your chosen dates, and/or has times to suit you best.

The Continental Op

I go about both ways at least 6 times a year. Prefer Irish Ferries as it is cancelled a little less often. Pembroke Dock is always accessible no matter the weather but Fishguard is a bit exposed. That said the service isn't what it was 20 years ago when it the Irish Ferries service was rarely if ever cancelled - I did the crossings in seas back then they would cancel now.

The only decider on travelling is timing. The Rosslare to Fishguard service goes an hour to an hour and a half earlier than the service to Pembroke Dock.

In most cases you have extra car travelling time on the Fishguard service but its a quicker ferry service normally around 3 hours 30 minutes whereas the Pembroke Dock service is 4 hours. Both however depend on the wind and sea conditions so both can be faster or much slower.

I haven't checked in a while but prices used to be identical. Did hear recently that there is 10% off for AXA insurance with IF.

I posted about the Irish Ferries boat the Bluestar 1 here somewhere, I'm less than impressed with it but will probably stick with it out of nearly 25 years of habit.

Question for Stena users - can you lay out on the seats? You can't on the Bluestar 1 unless you pay for club class.

Alun

I've done both of them on a few occasions and would go for Pembroke every time. As someone said, if Pembrokeshire isn't your final destnation, you get onto the M4 a bit quicker, and the last bit of the journey is along an estuary so reasonably calm if the weather is bad.

Garlinge

How do the tickets work, is online evidence sufficient like Ryanair? The fare schedule looks simpler than airfare and no penalty for booking close to time of ferry? I need to get beyond Bristol so is that just a toll for Severn Bridge? credit card OK or would exact change be better? Good feedback all, thank you!

The Continental Op

Once you buy a ticket your car reg details are on the system and they often know who you are by that alone when you book in. Otherwise they ask your name and tick you off a list. If you buy tickets online (you can do it in the queue if you have to) then you will have a booking number and can show it on your phone but I have never had to but some people have it out and show it.

Don't buy tickets at the ferry as you pay an extra tenner for the privilege. Provided you have mobile data coverage its easy to buy online.

Edit> Severn bridge tolls stopped a couple of years back so free now. Back in the day they'd take euro if you had no sterling.

On 17 December 2018, all toll lanes were permanently closed, officially marking the start of a toll-free journey into Wales for the first time since the bridge's construction.

The Continental Op

btw the cheapest fares are Tuesday and Wednesday overnight.

The Continental Op

If you are just picking stuff up then this might do you https://www.stenaline.ie/britain25daytrip 25% off a day trip which is a max of 28 hours. If the offer allows travel mid week at night for the cheapest prices.

road_high

The blue star is an awful ferry- this cheap clapped out yoke they hired in from Greece. Really basic and dated

The Continental Op

I did a bit of a review when they first put it on https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058178724/irish-ferries-rosslare-pembroke-route-and-blue-star-1 at least they have now sorted out the boarding so they don't put cars with a prioity pass on deck one and make them wait half an hour before they can get off. Safety on the car decks is a better but you can still we trying to find the stairs with lorrys driving around you.

road_high

It looked and very much felt like a pile of scrap to me. I’ve no doubt better ships have indeed been scrapped in the past. All very amateurish in feel and couldn’t care less approach from Irish ferries

The Continental Op

Its pretty much universally disliked by the passengers thats for sure.

Irish Steve

We did a trip on Blue Star 1 towards the end of 2021, and I posted an E-mail to Irish Ferries about the crossing, it wasn't good, and the fact that they ignored me has meant that Irish Ferries have lost a long standing customer, we're using Stena at the moment.

The whole ferry situation seems to be in flux at the moment, Irish Ferries have had problems, the W B Yeats was damaged recenty, there's the whole ongoing problem with P & O, and several dry dock visits have been a lot longer than was planned, as a result of issues being found while in dock.

All of the routes to the UK are struggling at the moment, due to the nonsense that's been caused by Brexit, and unfortunately, the Irish Sea can be a very hostile section of water, and the result, particularly in the winter months is that quite a few sailings end up being cancelled, and that's not helped any by the use of ships that are not particularly well suited to the conditions that occur. The IF Epsilon is not pleasant in rough weather, it wasn't designed to be comfortable in that situation, the only seating that works in bad weather is fixed, and there are too many rotating seats on Epsilon that make for very unsatisfactory sailing when the seas are rough.

Ferries, along with every other form of transport are going to face some serious challenges in the coming years as a result of the massive increase in energy prices, there will be no such thing as cheap fuel, and that will be reflected in the prices we're all going to have to pay for everything, as a relatively small island nation, way too much of what we consume gets here on a ferry, or an aircraft, and the result will be painful for all of us, and we are unfortunately going to suffer more than most as a result of having people in power who don't have a clue about how the real world works, and the decisions they make about many energy issues are only going to make the problem worse.