Rosslare Ferry to Europe

gouche wrote: »

Brittany Ferries i believe.

One ship doing alternate routes to Santander and another French port.

moving out of Cork?

gouche wrote: »

I don't know.
There's a thread in the Cork City forum suggesting that is the case though.

Ger Carthy, an independent general election candidate for Wexford, let it slip yesterday on Facebook about the new company coming into Rosslare.
All things point to it being Brittany Ferries but no formal announcement yet.

seems likely, can't imagine BF running identical services from Rosslare and Cork. New Ross bypass will make Rosslare a bit more reachable from Munster.

That would leave Ringaskiddy with no ferry services yeah?

Cork to Santander is being changed to Rosslare to Bilbao.

Midweek Cork to Roscoff is also moving


https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/Major-Cork-ferry-route-cancelled-4055dc59-d23f-404a-bc04-3cc3ab6f0f0b-ds

No plans to move the main summer Cork to Roscoff service on the Pont Aven

Eric Cartman wrote: »

rosslare to bilbao intriuges me , driving holiday to sunny spain and only an hour and a bit down the road to the port.

It would be nice if BF did a bit more to make the ship more well equipped than the kind of ferry you get to hollyhead. But sure opens up some great travel possibilities.

The service is primarily targeting freight as this is where it generates most of it's revenue I would imagine hence; the basic facilities. I'm quite sure if Brittany Ferries noticed a growing passenger demand over a prolonged period of time they would probably look at sourcing an alternative vessel as trends change over time. As ferry operators they probably need to ensure that they have an incoming revenue stream during the off-season when there are few tourists travelling these routes. If the route was to become very popular with passengers going forward Brittany Ferries are bound to analyse it and respond accordingly to the demand as they have done before with Cork Roscoff as the vessels used on that route have got bigger as demand has grown over the years.

Back in 1994 I recall using Brittany Ferries MV Duchess Anne (formerly the "MV Leinster" for the B+I Line which I think was originally built at former Verolme Dockyard in Rushbrook, County Cork) on the Cork to St. Malo route however; when the ship was subsequently sold, the route ex-Cork was closed only after about 2-3 seasons which was a shame at the time.

I think Brittany Ferries also came to an arrangement with a former ferry operator called, "Swansea Cork Ferries" which ran ferry services between Cork and Swansea in South Wales for a number of years.

Around the middle of the '90's decade, cheap air fares from airlines like Ryanair became a reality which would have negatively impacted the ferry sector's leisure business.

I did it last year (and have already booked again for this year) and while the drive to Ringaskiddy isn't too bad, having to drive 100 km fewer is welcome (even if the last 50 or so isn't motorway). Bilbao is roughly equidistant from my ultimate venue in Spain so that's not the end of the world either, but I'd welcome an earlier departure time (like say 4 or 5pm from Ireland) so we don't have to spend 36 hours on the boat which is fairly basic.

Depends on the departure time. Santander to Cork takes 27 hours, leaves at 1700 Spanish time and gets in at 1900 Irish time. It takes ~36 hours on the way down as it leaves Cork at 2230, so taking the 27 hours would be 0230 Spanish time. This is not allowed due to noise considerations, so they slow down on the way to Santander to arrive at 0800

If the ferry were to leave at, say, 4 pm there wouldnt be the same issue (though it might be an issue for the return trip).

I called them a few minutes ago, no official word yet but they expect the schedule to be materially unchanged from the existing one.

According to the Brittany Ferries freight website the average crossing time is X 26 Hours
Some departure and arrival times may vary up to 1 hour due to tidal conditions.
Please be aware that this schedule is subject to change.
2 departures per week ex-Rosslare
2 departures per week ex-Bilbao
Departure/Arrival dates & times not yet published
Timetable coming soon...

Source:
https://www.brittanyferriesfreight.co.uk/article/71676/bilbao-to-rosslare

I got an email back from them a few days ago,the Kerry's outbound sailing on the Friday is 2330 from Rosslare, arrival in Bilbao at 0800 Sunday (so basically 1 hour less sailing time than before) and leaves Bilbao at 1200 on the Sunday, arriving in Rosslare at 1600 on the Monday, which is actually 1 hour more than the Santander-Cork original route. They knocked €108 off the total price (2*€35 from Cork-Rosslare and 2*€18 Santander-Bilbao, not sure how they worked that out) so I'm happy out; less driving to/from Dublin for me and my ultimate destination in Spain is roughly equidistant from either port.

I saw the journey over was horrendous and it ran out of food etc. The journey back was cancelled yesterday, a guy I know was updating on Fb about it. He said the ship was not fit for the journey.

The Connamara is the same as the LV Norman that ran and the Stenna/ Celtic link ship
I'd imagine the Kerry is the same.