Irish ferries - how strict are the check-in times?

jobless

Taking car Dublin to Holyhead, website says one hour before... How strict are they on that?

L1011

Quite. I've arrived at about 1h5m before and driven straight on as the entire queue is loaded, and there were very, very few after me.

Gant21

Get it up to 30 minutes but I’d advise go on time. Is an hour too much for you?

bennyineire

There are a lot of procedures and checks they have to do after the last vehicle is on board, and they won't wait for you. Just plan for it properly and you'll be grand

jobless

Just have a bit of a journey so wanted to see if we had any leeway

jobless

Thanks for replying guys, better set the clock earlier:)

McSween

We had a 2 hr 20 min journey a couple of weeks ago. 1.5 hours in we stopped and saw the ‘your ferry has been cancelled’ text so keep an eye on that just in case

put_the_kettle_on

We had a 4.5 hour drive to catch the ferry last week. Arrived 25 minutes before it sails and missed it. The cars were still waiting to be loaded but the terminal office staff told us that they were now full.

So, allow yourself plenty of time.

Gant21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119437200#Comment_119437200

Did ye have delays on the road?

put_the_kettle_on

@Gant21 Pulled into a Centra carpark to go and get some drinks, came out and the car wouldn't start. Had to call a recovery out to give us a jump start which put about 40 minutes on our time.

endofrainbow

arrive on time for boarding - better to be 30 minutes early than 1 minute late.

Marcusm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119434830#Comment_119434830

By contrast, I’ve often arrived 10 mins before departure without any hassle - I used to do it once per month.

Jakey Rolling

We were traveling out of Rosslare a few years ago and arrived early so took time out for a walk on Rosslare beach.

Cue phone call from ferry company -"are you going to be traveling today? Check-in is closing!"

Turns out they'd sent a text a month before advising of a time change.

Carried the kids to the car and hot-footed it to the ferry where we were last aboard, phew!

Cape Clear

There was a time ferry's would sail early if all booked passengers were on board not sure if that is still the case.

Posy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119455609#Comment_119455609

I was on a steam packet ferry on Sunday, and they sailed just over 15 minutes early because everybody was on board.