*~ Cruising (travel by Waterways) megathread ~*

Did a long weekend cruise and had a very good time. AFAIK it was Emerald.
Tip hire a boat 1-2 larger than actual group size, eg, hire a six berth for 4 people.

Can be great fun with midgets at evening times, and jostling at lock gates during day. Great experience, not sure if I would do a 2 week family trip without previous experience. Could become very tense/claustrophobic if some people weren't happy after few days.

Expensive holiday but the sense of freedom and Shannon makes it worthwhile. Meet all kinds and some great local folk along the way.

I've done Shannon cruising 4/5 times, always with a gang of frieinds. We normally do it for about 4 days at a time. We have gone from Killaloe up to Shannon Bridge taking in Lough Derg which has some lovely little villages like Terryglass and Garykennedy. If the weather is good it can be an absolutely fabolous holiday, but the length of time was just fine for us. It's mighty craic but it can get a bit claustrophobic if it's raining. We have always gone with Shannon Castle Line in Whitegate in Clare, I could not recommend them highly enough. Very professional, family run company. Enjoy

I have booked a 4 night trip, starting from Carrick-On-S. Was thinking of going north up thru Lough Key, Lough Erne and maybe Enniskillin. Any reccomended sights to see? Things to do along the way?
Am I being ambitious in aiming for Enniskillin? How far can I expect to travel in a day ? Is 10 hours driving a day a lot ?

any & all tips / info / insight is welcome!

I've done the Shannon Cruises 8 or 9 times over the past 20 years.
Lough Key is beautiful - very scenic, but give yourself a full day to see it - well worth it.

4 days is very tight to see Lough Key and travel up to Enniskillen.
Travelling from Carrick to Lough Erne, you will need to travel through 16 unmanned locks on the way, and return the same way (you need to purchase a pre-paid card to operate these locks). They are great fun but take time to get through, especially if the previous boat to go through it before you, is travelling in the same direction (as you have to close the far lock gate, equalise the water level, enter the lock, re-equalise the water to the level on the far side, and open the far gate).

The other important recommendation which I can't stress enough, is to top up the boat with diesel at a private station, before returning it to the rental company. The rental companies charge awful prices for diesel after you return the boat - ask around at any stop. I hired a boat 2 yrs ago for 7 days and filled it up privately for 150Euro (after 5 days cruising) the night before I returned it. After returning the boat, the rental company still managed to put 68Euro worth of diesel into it - I estimated that I saved at least 300 - 400 Euro by having it filled privately. This fuel charge can be a very nasty surprise for first timers. You will burn a lot of fuel if you run the engine on full throttle, which is something we all do the first few times.

You will also save by cooking meals on-board, and it's very pleasent having a meal out on the deck with a nice bottle of wine or a cool beer.

A lot of the hire-boats do not have an AC socket, so make sure you bring a car charger for your mobile phone(s).

Other than that, have a great cruise, and I hope you get the weather

thx guys, much appreciated. Nice tip on the diesel Dillalio, and good maps Dyflin.

will let y'all know how we get on :-)

hope Lidl are selling fishing rods before then ! ;-)

Hi..

I've cruised the Shannon on renters for about ten years or so...personally, I prefer the lower Shannon as opposed to Carrick on Shannon. I'd say I've hired from most of the cruise companies. There were two in Killaloe but they've since gone bust and personally, I found Emerald just OK. For the past three years I've used Silverline Cruisers in Banagher, just north of Portumna. I've found them excellent and the service second to none.

They're family owned also which I always find to be better...they're more flexible with return times etc. I agree that it's a good ploy to wait until the week before. You can check out the weather and also get a last minute deal. You'll either get a bigger boat for your money or an extra day or two and at a minimum a discount. Lot of Germans aren't coming here as much as they used to but this might be offset this year by the staycation folks...either way, most private companies will want to get something for the boat rather than have it sit on the marina.

I did a work cruise with two boats and ten people three years ago. We put together a great itinerary for the lower shannon that I can send you if you want to PM me. It takes in the locks, Portumna bridge lift and calculates the cruise time from Killaloe through Garykennedy etc so it might be useful. It does the East side of the lake only so you could extend to make a week out of it if you include Scarriff and Mountshannon. (Beware Mountshannon btw as hire boats have been broken into there so personally, I wouldn't stay over night there...just my preference...). If you do Banager, make sure to take a night in there..there's some great pubs in the town and one in particular which has sing song every night..packed to the gills and you'll really enjoy it. Brendan Graces in Killaloe is good as is Terryglass and the grub in Garykennedy is superb...in fact, they're all good...

Hope this helps..

Have a great trip.

We're off next weekend - can't wait. It's a holiday we always look forward to every year!!

We're going to do the lower Shannon again this year - I prefer it to the rest. Even though Carrick is a good aul spot.

Has anyone heard of any issues in Banagher? I've heard from a few people that there are problems with break-ins and general harassment from knacker-drinkers.

Budfox, we haven't been in Lough Derg other than Terryglass for a few years. Where is the best place to visit? We're prob going to pick the boat up from Portumna on Thurs, head south and spend Friday in and around Lough Derg. Head to to Banagaher on Friday evening. And then upwards to Shannonbridge and head down the Suck to Ballinasloe. Back down to Portumna on Sunday. Any tips, recommendations!? I'd love to give Silverline a go, but they don't allow dogs

budfox wrote: »

HI...I haven't done that particular cruise. I've hired from Emerald in Portumna and travelled south stopping at every second harbour on the way down and then getting the other ones on the way back up. So, maybe Dromineer on your first night, Killaloe on your second, over to Scariff third night and then maybe last night in Terryglass. As I said, I have a mapped out itinerary for 4-5 nights if you want it. North of Portumna might be good also but I just dont know it that well. Also, some people prefer rivers than lakes...more interesting particularly in a slow moving cruiser. Personally, I prefer the range of stopovers south to Killaloe. Dromineer is lovely for a BBQ if you moor in beside the castle...

PM me if you want anything else...

After reading your post I made some enquiries myself and am thinking of hiring for a long weekend...just not too sure about bringing a very active 2 year old on a cruiser...he might be just a bit too young....

Thanks for the info! Dromineer castle you say... that sounds lovely. We've moored beside Portumna castle for a BBQ, and that was a lovely marina. But we were hoping to get further south than that on the Thursday evening. So we might head to Dromineer.

And to note, the Emerald Star bookings are now being handled by TUI over in the UK - they're not as accommodating when looking for a bargain etc. I used to find the Irish office great (have booked with them about 9 times over the years) and these guys are just pushing the requests around. Not really the personal service it used to be. Which is unfortunate, as there was always an opportunity for some friendly bargaining. And we ALWAYS got a good discount.

I'm never booking with them again!

Im on the shannon all my life but in latter years i havent been on it as much, but i do plan to go again soon..

We usually go Easter weekend and October bank holiday, rates are most reasonabl then, weather isnt always good but its the craic i go for more then anything..

We use Silver line, i think Emerald star are over priced anyway, Carrick craft are meant to be half decent..

Our trip at easter would bring us as far as Killaloe as we have enough light hours, but in october we'd go as far as Garrykennedy or Mountshannon although its abit rough there same with Scariff..

Looking to bring my girls on to Lough Derg this Friday looking for some tips on travel times stop overs etc, picking it up in mount shannon, using shannoncruisers.com. the girls are 10 6+6

Thanks Budfox it's on the way, kids are veery excited..