Hi, my family will be traveling in GB and Ireland this summer. We'd like to take a ferry (on foot -- no car) from Holyhead to Dublin as part of our adventure (to save time, we'll later be flying from Dublin back to London). I was surprised to notice yesterday that the 8:00am Irish Ferries crossing is already completely booked, no availability. There is an 11:50am express ferry available (Irish Ferries), and a 9:00am Stena line ferry available. Any recommendations on which line is preferable?
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33817 posts
the one that gets you where you want to go as close as possible to when you want to get there.
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
Odd as hell -- I've never heard of a larger ferry being booked up for foot pax. Either something's not running on the schedule or the booking system has an acute case of the stupids.
Speed costs more, none are exciting. Pick anything that suits you, your time, and your budget.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
Some car ferries are not booking foot passengers and this seems to be the case with Irish Ferries' Epsilon departures.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thanks for your responses. A few weeks ago I posed a question about traveling from Leeds to Dublin, and it was recommended that we buy the tickets in advance for the train and ferry. We looked into this, but we were surprised that we were not allowed to schedule the ferry crossing for the following day. We have scheduled a room in a RS recommended B&B in Holyhead, and we'd like to spend at least an afternoon seeing the area. Is there any way we can book the train & ferry at the same time to save on expenses, yet delay the ferry crossing to the next day? Also, we were told if we tell the conductor, we can get off the train at Conwy. We'll have our luggage with us, though, so would we be able to leave it anywhere nearby if we toured the castle? When we visited the Pump Room in Bath two years ago, they just let us bring our luggage into the restaurant. (We're traveling light.) Also, would the conductor let a later train know to pick us up at Conwy and then we could complete our journey to Holyhead?
Posted by
Beverly Hills, MI
813 posts
It could also be possible that the ferry is very heavily booked for cars. With a capacity of 1340 cars and 1938 passengers, there is a potential for the folks in the cars to fill up the passenger space. My vote would be to take the 9:00 Stena line boat. The high speed ferry is a cool trip but if the Irish Sea is in an ugly mood (As it was on Sept. 16,2013) the high speed ferry will not run and you will be re-booked on the next available regular ferry. Since you do not have the time flexibility of a car, that type of a hick-up in scheduling could cascade all over the place.