Hi, We our planning to go by ferry from Dublin to Holyhead, Wales and catch a train to Edinburgh with our British Rail pass. I am having difficulty figuring out the best way to purchase tickets for the ferry. Does anybody know if there is an advantage of purchasing them ahead of time online and if the rail pass gives us any discount. I found a British rail pass site that sells the ferry tickets that seemed less than the online site in Ireland until they wanted 18 dollars to ship the tickets. You can order them on line from the ferry site through the ferry company, Stena, but wasn't sure if they would send it to the states. Also, does any one know if you get any discount for going on without a car? Can we just get the tickets in person while in Dublin or is that risky? Thanks for any input! Erika
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
I do find advance-purchase discounts available directly from StenaLine and would expect this to be an e-ticket. Before you complete check-out, there should be some indication of whether it is ticketless, print at home, or pick up at the port, but the would not be mailing tickets to the USA. Choose "on foot, with no vehicle" during the first steps of booking.
Posted by
Denver, CO, USA
1556 posts
I know you didn't ask this question but have you considered flying? The only reason I ask is that I have been looking into this for next year and it seems quite cheap to fly between Dublin and EDI (<$40) on both Ryanair and Aer Lingus. I haven't looked at the baggage fees and transport to/from the airports but overall it seemed quite reasonable and efficient from a time perspective.
Do you know how much the ferry ticket is?