Irish Ferries Rosslare Pembroke / Stena Rosslare Fishguard.

The Continental Op

A lot of the discussion on Irish UK ferries is about travelling from Dublin so I thought the Rosslare route was worth its own thread for several reasons.

Firstly Stena aren't operating a service currently (till mid Feb 2024) and the IF service is with a replacement ferry that has a limited capacity. Secondly prices have gone b00dy mad! I used to get over and back before Covid for under €200 with a discount code. Just booked the same trip at the the same times I always travel and 4-5 years on the price is €400 for one person in one car travelling mid week and not a discount code to be found anywhere.

It seems these routes are the bottom of the list for both companies priorities. Any boat changes get pushed around with Rosslare getting whats left over which as I said for Stena is nothing atm and a replacement ferry for IF. Never in my life before have I had to change travel plans because the ferry was booked up. Nothing to be had all week on IF (12 -17Feb) so I've had to book for next week instead.

The Continental Op

Bit of an update from a recent couple of trips.

The "Emergency/Economy" ferry put on by Irish Ferries was the Norbay. Its a freight ferry with a single passenger lounge and some cabins. It managed to get nearly 20 minutes on Liveline recently so I wasn't the only one not happy with it. No lift so no disabled travelers and they didn't allow any foot passengers. Really can't recommend anything about the trip. If IF had reduced the price as you would expect on substandard "Economy" service then I wouldn't have been as unhappy with it. Luckily it wasn't raining when I travelled because you have to traverse an open top walkway from the car deck to get to the passenger lounge.

In better news the Oscar Wild is back on this route and this is a decent boat almost as good as the long gone Isle of Innisfree and much much better than the Bluestar 1. However several staff I spoke to said it was back for three weeks and had no idea what ferry would be on after that?

The problem with the routes from Rosslare to the UK is unfortunately lack of traffic (Stena might be busier anyone know?). On a busy daytime trip after the previous IF ferry had been canceled for "Operational reasons" I travelled back mid week with less than 30 others cars on board. On many of the overnight trips there might only be 10 cars often less. The amount of lorry traffic could from my estimates be half of what it was pre brexit.

eeepaulo

Is the Nordica an ok boat?

I have to travel over start of May, have a 50% off voucher because they cancelled for operational reasons and put everyone on Irish Ferries in January. To be fair it didn't put me out at all as was a seamless transfer.

munchkin_utd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121876821#Comment_121876821

it was grand, and now its renovated and extended so should be better again. Its the ship that was announced as the "permanent" ship for this route so that should indicate that it is reasonably comfortable and with a decent capacity.

Its far better for passengers than the Norbay mentioned above, but the Norbay is a ship with very limited passenger carrying capacity and is designed primarily for shifting trucks, not tourists.

Vic_08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121836139#Comment_121836139

Oscar Wilde was only covering Norbay which is away for scheduled maintenance. OW was always intended to be the permanent second ship on the Dublin Holyhead (and weekend rotation to Cherbourg) route, replacing Epsilon so Norbay it is for now at Rosslare.

Irish Ferries current problem is that they are short a ship with the return of Epsilon to it's owners and there are currently few suitable options available for sale or lease. Norbay was not a good choice, it was all that was available. The most likely scenario is that they find something more suitable for the Dover route and send Isle of Inisheer to Rosslare but that is just speculation.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121893635#Comment_121893635

Then why was the Norbay stated to be an Emergency/Economy service?