The Swansea Cork Ferry - new website!

adrianglass

Hi Folks

John Hosford (Hosfords Garden Centre, Clonakilty) and I have just started a new website to bring some focus to the issues aound the Swansea-Cork ferry.

The site is
www.bringbacktheswanseacorkferry.com

its aim is is to highlight the strength of feeling and general support for the reintroduction of the ferry link.

Seems like good timing - as the official Swansea Cork Ferries website disappeared during the week.... so now the company don't have a boat, and don't have a website either. Odd way to behave !

There's an e-petition on our site (please 'sign' it, if you'd like to) - also a section for 'my story' - where we're looking for real-life experiences of the problems that have been caused by the continuing lack of the ferry.
Please feel free to tell 'your story'....

At the moment the site is still in its very early stages. Once we have a good amount of content on there then we'll start a campaign to involve the media - and hopefully stir up enough interest that those who have the power can get the service reintroduced !

Any questions - please ask me !

Regards

Adrian Brentnall - adrian@inspired-glass.com
www.inspired-glass.com - Ballydehob, Co Cork

BuffyBot

Moved to Cork. I'll let the local mods decide on whether they feel it's spam or not.

Ponster

Well done with the website !

adrianglass

Hi Ponster

Ponster wrote: »

Well done with the website !

Sorry for the delay in replying - my original post got moved and I've only just caught up with it <g>

Thanks for the support (you did sign the e-petition, didn't you ...?)

We're pleased to see that traffic's been building steadily since the site was launched just over a week ago, we have around 80 people who have taken the trouble to leave positive comments on the e-petition, ten 'my story' entries, and around 2500 page hits so far.

Meanwhile, the 'official' Swansea - Cork ferries website, which disappeared suddenly at the end of last week, now shows a big

Bad Request (Invalid Hostname)

when you browse it.... well - I suppose that's progress (of a sort ! )

Please, please, if you're concerned about bringing back this vital ferry link - visit our website and show your support... and help yourself to a downloadable car / window / whatever sticker at the same time.

Many thanks
Adrian - Ballydehob - www.bringbacktheswanseacorkferry.com

Ponster

Yes I signed. My wife is Welsh and was shocked to see your site and I'll get her to sign too !

berireland

THANK YOU BOARDS.IE

AN INTERNET CAMPGAIN THAT WORKED, THE PEOPLES CAMPGAIN, THE INNISFALLEN CAMPGAIN

WHAT AMAZING PEOPLE

http://www.bringbacktheswanseacorkferry.com




News Update - Saturday 4th April
- Sail Agreed!* - on the Julia

The Julia - in Kotka, Finland last week - she’s a big ship!

The Finnish bank which currently owns the ferry Julia, agreed on Friday to sell the ship to our consortium.
West Cork Tourism chairman Conor Buckley said he hoped co-op members (who have raised nearly €3m in pledge investment to help purchase the ferry) will wholeheartedly ratify the sale agreement when they meet in Skibbereen on Tuesday night.
"We started raising money on February 12 and we’ve been in talks with the Finnish bank for the past three weeks. This is a huge milestone for us. There is a lot of excitement in our group," Mr Buckley said.
"We are currently preparing the necessary working capital. We are going to be launching the service in a difficult economic environment, but there is huge goodwill both here and in Britain for it."
The 28-year-old vessel, which was recently refitted, will have to undergo some minor alterations to comply with Irish maritime law – and it is hoped that she can start sailing between Swansea and Cork by June.
We are still accepting investment pledges (from €1,000 up to €10,000) – and the new online donation system welcomes smaller amounts of cash from supporters of our campaign.
Words by Adrian, Photos by Conor, *Bad puns by Paul


News update - 4th April
- John Hosford to address Welsh National Assembly!
The Petitions Committee of the National Assembly for Wales has invited John Hosford (Co-organiser of the Campaign) to make a presentation to their Petitions Committee at the National Assembly in Cardiff in Wales on the morning of 5th May 2009.
John Hosford shall update the Committee, answer questions from Members, and participate in further discussions.
The Campaign warmly welcomes this opportunity to liaise with our Welsh neighbours and colleagues and build further on the warm and cordial relations that exist between our two countries and progress the restoration of the Swansea-Cork Ferry to our mutual economic, social and cultural benefit.

Gruffalo

berireland wrote: »

THANK YOU BOARDS.IE

AN INTERNET CAMPGAIN THAT WORKED, THE PEOPLES CAMPGAIN, THE INNISFALLEN CAMPGAIN

WHAT AMAZING PEOPLE

http://www.bringbacktheswanseacorkferry.com




News Update - Saturday 4th April
- Sail Agreed!* - on the Julia

The Julia - in Kotka, Finland last week - she’s a big ship!

The Finnish bank which currently owns the ferry Julia, agreed on Friday to sell the ship to our consortium.
West Cork Tourism chairman Conor Buckley said he hoped co-op members (who have raised nearly €3m in pledge investment to help purchase the ferry) will wholeheartedly ratify the sale agreement when they meet in Skibbereen on Tuesday night.
"We started raising money on February 12 and we’ve been in talks with the Finnish bank for the past three weeks. This is a huge milestone for us. There is a lot of excitement in our group," Mr Buckley said.
"We are currently preparing the necessary working capital. We are going to be launching the service in a difficult economic environment, but there is huge goodwill both here and in Britain for it."
The 28-year-old vessel, which was recently refitted, will have to undergo some minor alterations to comply with Irish maritime law – and it is hoped that she can start sailing between Swansea and Cork by June.
We are still accepting investment pledges (from €1,000 up to €10,000) – and the new online donation system welcomes smaller amounts of cash from supporters of our campaign.
Words by Adrian, Photos by Conor, *Bad puns by Paul


News update - 4th April
- John Hosford to address Welsh National Assembly!
The Petitions Committee of the National Assembly for Wales has invited John Hosford (Co-organiser of the Campaign) to make a presentation to their Petitions Committee at the National Assembly in Cardiff in Wales on the morning of 5th May 2009.
John Hosford shall update the Committee, answer questions from Members, and participate in further discussions.
The Campaign warmly welcomes this opportunity to liaise with our Welsh neighbours and colleagues and build further on the warm and cordial relations that exist between our two countries and progress the restoration of the Swansea-Cork Ferry to our mutual economic, social and cultural benefit.

Congratulations on the success you have achieved and best of luck for the future.

overmantle

Well done.

berireland

The ferry finalkly left Finland 16th September 2009 en-route
to Cork via Swansea (for berthing trials).

The route will re-open on 1st March 2010, the restoration due
to people power and amazing work by "bringbacktheswanseacorkferry.com".

adrianglass

And, if you're into such things, you can even watch the Julia's progress
on a live map on our website, as she sails down from Finland to Swansea & then on to Cork.....

Happy day!

Adrian (www bringbacktheswanseacorkferry com)

hatetherain!

Well done everyone! My hubbie and I will be using the ferry when we travel to UK next May:)

No more travelling to Rosslare!....yipee!!

berireland

I see that anyone can get a slice of the action and join the co-op that
are now proud owners of the new ferry. The proposals are available on http://www.bringbacktheswanseacorkferry.com, the figures look good.

For €10,000 you can become a shareholder, this share can be owned by a syndicate.

Anyone interested in a "boards syndicate" say 50 people at €200, I would love to be part of this great project and dream, "the peoples ferry".

dahamsta

Didn't know they were still taking investments. For 100 people at €100, I'd go in just to be able to point at Julia and tell people I own a tiny part of her. Not €200 though.

peterwhilluk

the new ferry is doing a deal, if you travel ten times in a year, you get a free trip.
the mrketing people need to be shot, thats such poor business snse. Who on earth travels ten times a year.

absolute garbage.

thierrys other hand

.....and 17euro for a compulsary reclining seat. adds 134euro onto a return journey for a car of 4 people!!! its cheaper to go to france. Real Shame i was looking forward to the new ferry but its got a really terrible pricing policy. And the one time i did use it i checked out the 17euro seats,really not worth the money.it just makes it unplesant when you feel that they are taking as much money off you before you even get on the boat.and no one in Fastnet Line seems to want to do anything about this.I've spoken to 2 travel agents who have had enough allready!
oh well back to rosslare.

tcmguy

So what did we campaign for? To have the most expensive ferry up and running? I took the ferry about six weeks ago and paid a hefty price. I got a cabin that was very stuffy and i had to keep the cabin door open on the journey over and back but it did'nt help. The Cinema was closed and the TVs were'nt working and the food very expensive eg chicken curry and ric 0ver 14 euros. Ok so the disappoinment has worn off a bit well thats until i went online to check the cost to bring my wife and two kids over to Ireland during the school break for four days. Its best to sit down before i tell you what it cost's....well sir its going to cost you around £550 cabins included ( thats nice of them) and if you have a dog another £20 to use the kennels.Now to go from london and have a quick stop for a break and the cost of petrol by the time one just arrives in Ireland it will set you back around £650.I can afford it so feel really sorry for thoses who can't. Are the people who run this ferry ****ing MAD dictators!!! Is this what we Campaigned for??? Its a bloody Discrace.Cork Co Op brigade and business in Ireland has missed out on my coustom and i'm sure many others.

thierrys other hand

a huge amount of money. when i questioned the high cost on the phone once i was told that they were "recieving bookings" so there was no need to change this pricing structure in the near future.----that sounds like a HUGE fe** you to all those people that find it extortionate and cannot afford to use the service.there are loads of cases of people who looked up the prices on the internet and have gone no further with swansea cork and booked other modes of transport. i know its expensive to run a ferry company but surely a
1)realistic pricing structure.
2)not being answered rudely when enquiring if this would change.
3)no over priced food. don't mind paying a bit over the odds for food if its good or even mediocore but it really wasn't and i felt again like they were taking advantage of a captive market.
It just seems to me that it would make more economic sense to run a company with a slightly reduced price or viable special offers and have more people consistantly using it,therefore spending more money while on it and bringing more tourists into the area would benifit everyone.

maybe people should be ringing fastnet line and telling them that they have been put off by the prices otherwise they won't know how much business they are losing.

i really want it to succeed but i feel like they are coding us from every angle.

niall7

As a long-time supporter of the previous service, run by Swansea-Cork Ferries, I was looking forward to the new service immensely - indeed I campaigned on its behalf (wish I hadn't now). I travel home to Cork from the UK at least three times a year and was looking forward to using the service both as a foot passenger and a car driver.

However much like the previous poster I was in for a rude awakening as soon as I saw the fare structure. I discovered that I could fly from Cardiff to Cork CHEAPER than I could travel as a foot passenger on the Julia - that to me is nothing short of scandalous - how on earth can a new ferry company supposedly eager for business justify that?! What on earth is the compulsory pullman seat policy about - this is a ryanair-style tactic if ever I saw one "yep the fares are 99c, but the charges are €300..."
Furthermore it would cost me an additional £250 to travel swansea-cork with a car than any of the Fishguard-Rosslare routes. Whilst I am prepared to pay extra - after all costs are higher due to a longer sea route - £250 is an enormous difference. The road between Rosslare and Cork never looked so inviting...

To top it all off, when I contacted Fastnet Line to make some enquiries (the website was down at the time). I was met with the most discourteous (bordering on abusive) customer experience I have ever known. I have also heard similar reports from others confirming my suspicions that I was not alone in that particular instance.

Fastnet Line??? I'd sooner drive!

Milly33

Oh no I am so sorry to hear that the service is so bad. I went along with the campaign too thinking it would be great to have the service back but alas another thing that has been ruined by too greed.. My parents used to always take us on the ferry to england when we were kids and we used to love it, that cinema I remember was open all the time when we used to travel there was always soemthing to do have great memories from it..I remember one used to have a swimming pool it was tiny but so much fun...

I cant not belive they are charging so much now, makes no sense..

NYC353

Interesting that TCMGUY was already outed by someone on Tripadvisor as a Troll.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g186591-i88-k3622358-l27447682-Swansea_Cork_ferry_the_way_to_go-Ireland.html
Similarly he/she has also joined Boards.ie for the singular purpose of attacking the Swanse Cork Ferry.

I traveled on the Cork Swansea route when I was home around the June Holiday weekend and yes it is more expensive but the journey is almost 4 times as long so I obviously expected to pay more.
The alternatives via Rosslare involved very early starts so would have involved accommodation expenses in Rosslare and/or wales which didn't come into the equation going Swansea-Cokr. Yes it was a little more expensive even when I take that into account but not much and saved a lot of hassle.

NYC353

niall7 wrote: »

As a long-time supporter of the previous service, run by Swansea-Cork Ferries, I was looking forward to the new service immensely - indeed I campaigned on its behalf (wish I hadn't now). I travel home to Cork from the UK at least three times a year and was looking forward to using the service both as a foot passenger and a car driver.

However much like the previous poster I was in for a rude awakening as soon as I saw the fare structure. I discovered that I could fly from Cardiff to Cork CHEAPER than I could travel as a foot passenger on the Julia - that to me is nothing short of scandalous - how on earth can a new ferry company supposedly eager for business justify that?! What on earth is the compulsory pullman seat policy about - this is a ryanair-style tactic if ever I saw one "yep the fares are 99c, but the charges are €300..."
Furthermore it would cost me an additional £250 to travel swansea-cork with a car than any of the Fishguard-Rosslare routes. Whilst I am prepared to pay extra - after all costs are higher due to a longer sea route - £250 is an enormous difference. The road between Rosslare and Cork never looked so inviting...

To top it all off, when I contacted Fastnet Line to make some enquiries (the website was down at the time). I was met with the most discourteous (bordering on abusive) customer experience I have ever known. I have also heard similar reports from others confirming my suspicions that I was not alone in that particular instance.

Fastnet Line??? I'd sooner drive!

Just reading through this thread quickly again it's got a lot of one-time or one-topic contributions trolling like the one quoted. A "not so" subtle campaign by competitors, perhaps?

decskelligs

NYC353 wrote: »

Just reading through this thread quickly again it's got a lot of one-time or one-topic contributions trolling like the one quoted. A "not so" subtle campaign by competitors, perhaps?

Perhaps not. Just compare prices to other means of transport. A weekend in wales using the ferry for 2 footpax is 200 euro you can fly to cardiff and home for a quarter of that and have plenty of change to hire a car while there. Or the other ferry companies that are only 2 hours down the road in Wexford are roughly half the price. I for one cannot see the fastnet line lasting through the winter either at these prices.

Rough Seas for ten hours and charging more money for the priviledge of being seasick.

dahamsta

I think the prices are crazy and I won't be travelling on the ferry any time soon because of it. See my join date and post count for references.

Calling someone a troll just because that's all they happen to post on one subject is a bit of a stretch. Should we be judging your post count, frequency and perhaps asking for an IP address review?

In all seriousness, if you have doubts, report the post and ask a moderator to review. Mudslinging is just another form of trolling.

THENORTHSIDER

Travelled on the ferry recently and can only say good things about the adventure. Yes it would probably have been cheaper for me to fly but with very small children its not practical. For us our holiday starts the moment we leave home so we consider the overnight on the ferry as the first night of the holidays and find the pace of the journey to be more relaxed when travelling by boat.
we have gone on the Brittany ferries to France for the last number of years and they have got to the stage where they should have a balaclava and a sawn off shot gun as they got so expensive. On the Julia the staff were friendly the accomodation suited us and I personally thought the price was very good. Its very convenient to the M4 which Holyhead isn't. Air travel has become very cheap but it doesn't suit all. I for one would highly reccomend using the service and will use it over the coming 12 months.

tcmguy

I'm totally sick and tired of the prices Cork Swansea Ferry charges- i checked up for a return trip from Swansea to Cork 27 july to 18 Aug 2011 for a car two 2 adults and 2 kids and was quoted £470 and thats without cabins !! with cabins it would be near £600 - I booked same dates with Irish Ferries Prembroke to Roslaire for £248 and that includes a cabin each way- A HUGE price difference!!!! what the hell is C/S Ferry up to? They should be ashamed of themselfs. They are a total Rip Off-I supported the return of the Ferry but now i could'nt care less about them. Don't get me started on the price of the food on board .....a bank lan anyone?

voter1983

Has anybody anything good to say about the ferry?

kcb

voter1983 wrote: »

Has anybody anything good to say about the ferry?

4 of us went over and back for a weekend recently for €300. Great to be able to drive on without having to deal with airports and the associated messing around.

Adequate food onboard and while some things were a rip-off you could get very reasonable options too.

Cabin small but clean.

Overall a pleasant experience and would go again.

DanWall

My wife and I have to get back from her sister's in Swansea to Cork with the car next week. €196 single fare (including compusory pullman seats), not a cabin, and its not even high season yet. I only clock 35 mile between the 2 houses Swansea = Cork, but I am tempted to drive around to Rosslare, they are losing themselves business, i predict the ferry will be gone again soon.

Graces7

DanWall wrote: »

My wife and I have to get back from her sister's in Swansea to Cork with the car next week. €196 single fare (including compusory pullman seats), not a cabin, and its not even high season yet. I only clock 35 mile between the 2 houses Swansea = Cork, but I am tempted to drive around to Rosslare, they are losing themselves business, i predict the ferry will be gone again soon.

Wondering if these guys did a feasibility study before launching what reads as a very emotive campaign?

Services like this fail and fold because of lack of demand; times and needs change.

DanWall

There's certainly a lack of demand, when I cannot catch the ferry between Sunday and Wednesday

thierrys other hand

Graces7 wrote: »

Services like this fail and fold because of lack of demand; times and needs change.

services like this fail because the management are too arrogant to listen to their potential custemers. The rosslare and dublin routes run ok. hidden seat charges and the like put people off.
Lower cost ferry crossing = more people travelling = more money for the ferry.
Who here would have no problem paying 250 for a car 2 adults 2 kids return?
If people were up for that price the ferry would be running almost full in the summer (and a lot of other times too)
capacity of julia 325 cars x 250= 81,250 Euro per crossing.
...and thats not including the profit on food,drink, kids games etc that people would be more up for buying due to the reasonable rates.

Its frustrating because it could be a great thing for everyone