Train Dublin to Killarney

Ensure the "taxi" driver knows you need Heuston Station, not Connolly station at Dublin.

Trains to Killarney are every 2 hours (all are headed for Tralee)- change off a Cork train at Mallow onto the Tralee train (it will be waiting and others are doing the same at this small junction station).-
https://www.irishrail.ie/IrishRail/media/Timetable-PDF-s/Heuston-timetables/05_dublin-tralee.pdf

Services are on the odd hours - 7am, 9am, 11am etc.

You may be due to dock early but formalities and disembarkation take a while and all manner of things can delay a ship. Even if you self disembark a taxi would then be fighting it's way through Dublin peak traffic. So to my mind 9am is just too tight. So I would book for the 11am train which arrives at Killarney at 2.21 pm- nice time to check in to your hotel.

Whatever anyone says (and there is a lot of mis-infomation on here) you do not NEED to book in advance. But doing so gives you a fare which is broadly half of the walk up fare, and automatically gives you a seat- at purchase you select your seat (for free, this isn't an airline) off a seat chart. So there is every reason to book in advance. And Irish Rail have a very generous change of ticket policy, just in case the ship is late docking for any reason.

Having been over 8 hours late more than once docking off a cruise, I know it happens.

I know you asked for a train- someone did yesterday and their only answer said take a bus (not very helpful) but Dublin Coach run a bus at 15 minutes past every odd hour direct- takes 4 hours 20 minutes (#300)

Thanks very much for your reply. We will look into the bus as an alternative.

My wife and I just took the Flightlink bus from the Dublin airport to Killarney. Ours left at 6 AM and took 4 hours to get to Killarney. It was 40 Euros per person, we just paid the driver. Very comfortable, very clean. Just a short walk from the bus drop off to our hotel (McSweeney Arms).

This is Traveler Guys Wife - I was on that bus. Our flight arrived in Dublin at 5 a.m. We were on the Flight Link bus at 5:45! You could likely take a taxi to the airport from the port. There were only four of us on a big bus. The scenery was beautiful. It was a nice introduction to Ireland. It made no stops. Just went directly from the airport to Killarney with no stops.

There seemed to be plenty of taxis in Killarney to get you to your hotel if needed. We asked somebody at the bus stop for directions to verify we were headed in the right direction. We were. We walked about 15 minutes to get to our hotel. Everyone in Killarney was very friendly. If you enjoy Indian cuisine the Bombay Palace restaurant has delicious food.

Have a great time on your cruise. I think you'll enjoy Killarney!

Traveler Girl

conniebarton, You may want to look at Rabbies Tours. They have two day tour based out of Killarney, one north and the other south. I plan to do both next year after they were recommended by a forum member. https://www.rabbies.com/en/ireland-tours/from-killarney
It looks like you’re a couple weeks early for the horse race meet https://killarneyraces.ie/
My Irish friend says everyone uses the FreeNow app for taxis. Just thought I’d pass that hint on.
Enjoy your trip!

Thanks everyone for your replies. We are now planning on the bus to Killarney. Looks like the bus depot in town is much closer to our ship’s docking location than the airport. We also found some great tour options on Trip Advisor. Cheers and happy travels to you all.