Catering on Holyhead -> London rail services

JHMEG

Not sure going on the websites and will be making this journey by rail in the summer.

Does anyone know what the catering is like on these services? Is there full bar and restaurant on any services, or is it a trolley, or what?

If bar and restaurant what are the prices like? Mortgage required to buy a beer?

Heisenberg1

Depends who your travelling with i travelled from holyhead to london a couple

of months ago with virgin and the usual snack car was available cold foods some hot

food beers and wine available.

KC61

It all depends on what train you use.

Coming from Ireland each of the Irish Ferries 08:05, 08:45, and 14:30 sailings connect into an Arriva Trains Wales railcar service, which will take you to Chester. Each of these has a trolley service. From there a Virgin Voyager takes you to London. On board the Voyager there is a shop where you can get sandwiches and snacks, alcohol and tea/coffee.

The 20:55 sailing has no direct connection at Holyhead.

In the return direction, the 02:40, 12:00 and 17:10 sailings again are Virgin Voyager to Chester and then Arriva Trains Wales to Holyhead.

The 14:10 sailing from Holyhead has a direct Virgin Voyager connection from London at 09:10.

None of these services offer full meals (Virgin only offers them in 1st Class as part of the ticket price and they tend to be very limited on Voyager operated services).

More details of Virgin Trains shop are at: http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/trains/onboard/
Arriva Trains Wales trolley details are at: http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/AtSeatCatering.aspx

Going via Stena Line involves changing at both Chester and Crewe.

DWCommuter

KC61 wrote: »

It all depends on what train you use.

Coming from Ireland each of the Irish Ferries 08:05, 08:45, and 14:30 sailings connect into an Arriva Trains Wales railcar service, which will take you to Chester. Each of these has a trolley service. From there a Virgin Voyager takes you to London. On board the Voyager there is a shop where you can get sandwiches and snacks, alcohol and tea/coffee.

The 20:55 sailing has no direct connection at Holyhead.

In the return direction, the 02:40, 12:00 and 17:10 sailings again are Virgin Voyager to Chester and then Arriva Trains Wales to Holyhead.

The 14:10 sailing from Holyhead has a direct Virgin Voyager connection from London at 09:10.

None of these services offer full meals (Virgin only offers them in 1st Class and they tend to be very limited on Voyager operated services).

More details of Virgin Trains shop are at: http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/trains/onboard/
Arriva Trains Wales trolley details are at: http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/AtSeatCatering.aspx

Going via Stena Line involves changing at both Chester and Crewe.

Bring back British Rail!:D

Only joking. But the advent of cheap air travel over the years has really changed the whole train connection thing at Holyhead. Its now set up in such a way that its obvious the train operators know most people are not making the full trip from ferry to London and lets be honest they aren't.

Those catering options are very poor. Havent made the Dublin - Holyhead- London trip since 1987!

Thanks KC61 for posting the current links. What a change around with Stena line (formerly Sealink). Two changes for London. The results of privatisation! I remember the day when both the 08.45 and 20.45 sailings ex Dun Laoghaire had direct rail connections from Holyhead to London (departing 13.00 and 01.00)with the same bog standard catering effort. They must have known the paddies had no cash for grub.:D

I see Crewe is no longer an outpost for the ferry/train using paddy either.

JHMEG

I will be travelling ex Dublin at 14:30 on Irish Ferries, only because Stena's sail/rail travel times are somewhat anti-social.

Thanks KC61 for the info and links.

Terrontress

I find it to be a great alternative to flying if you have the time. I confess to only having done it once but I really enjoyed it and I took the biggest, heaviest bag you could imagine.

From Crewe to Watford Junction we were on the Virgin Pendolino. It has a 'shop' on board, fridges and newsstands like a local shop. Not great value but we had time in Crewe to nip out and pick up some juice and sandwiches.

The journey across North Wales was great. Saw a plane taking off from the Airbus factory and got a good look in to the RAF facility as we went past.

Run_to_da_hills

I took the trip twice last year, Virgin service with was good, sandwiches tea / coffee snacks and also reasonably priced compared to what O Leary would charge. :eek:

JHMEG

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I took the trip twice last year, Virgin service with was good, sandwiches tea / coffee snacks and also reasonably priced compared to what O Leary would charge. :eek:

Transit only O'Leary is just over half the price, and at €20 a sandwich he'd still be cheaper! One of my fellow travellers is afraid of flying, hence sail/rail.

penexpers

JHMEG wrote: »

Transit only O'Leary is just over half the price, and at €20 a sandwich he'd still be cheaper! One of my fellow travellers is afraid of flying, hence sail/rail.

Transit only, O' Leary will dump you in Stansted or Gatwick airport, where the cost of the train to central London will more than make up the difference in fares.

I went Sail and Rail last year and it was great. Went from Dublin to Southampton (and on to Isle of Wight). I would recommend it highly for those short trips to the UK.

JHMEG

penexpers wrote: »

Transit only, O' Leary will dump you in Stansted or Gatwick airport,

That is true, but we don't want to go to London Euston either! Tho, granted it's a bit closer.

penexpers

JHMEG wrote: »

That is true, but we don't want to go to London Euston either! Tho, granted it's a bit closer.

You realise the tickets are valid to any national rail station in the UK? The only services they aren't valid on is the likes of the Tube.

KC61

The current timetable for trains to/from Holyhead is in the link below. There may be a few alterations - use the journey planner at www.nationalrail.co.uk for the most up to date information.

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/eNRT/Dec09/timetables/Table81.pdf

JHMEG

penexpers wrote: »

You realise the tickets are valid to any national rail station in the UK? The only services they aren't valid on is the likes of the Tube.

I actually didn't, but thanks for pointing that out. Won't make any difference tho because the last leg will be on the Tube.

JHMEG

Anyone know is it possible to get off at say Crewe and get on again an hour later?

Vic_08

penexpers wrote: »

You realise the tickets are valid to any national rail station in the UK? The only services they aren't valid on is the likes of the Tube.

If you get a ticket for a destination that would require you to travel across central London from one terminal to another then it would be valid on the tube.

If the ticket was bought from a UK rail station then it would have a cross symbol on it confirming LU validity however tickets sold here are 19th century handwritten yokes and you may have difficulty getting LU staff to accept them.

penexpers

Vic_08 wrote: »

tickets sold here are 19th century handwritten yokes and you may have difficulty getting LU staff to accept them.

Which is exactly what happened me

The staff member at Euston accepted them but when I got off a Paddington the staff member there wasn't having any of it. On the way back, I just paid the 1.60 or whatever the Oyster fare was.

KC61

JHMEG wrote: »

Anyone know is it possible to get off at say Crewe and get on again an hour later?

From the SailRail Terms & Conditions:

Ticket Validity:
Tickets are valid for 1 month only from the outward travel date. These tickets do not permit a break in journey and are valid for point to point travel only. Please note that lost tickets cannot be replaced and a new ticket must be purchased for travel.

http://www.irishferries.com/sailrail-t-cs.asp

No is the answer I'm afraid!

Vic_08

KC61 wrote: »

From the SailRail Terms & Conditions:

Ticket Validity:
Tickets are valid for 1 month only from the outward travel date. These tickets do not permit a break in journey and are valid for point to point travel only. Please note that lost tickets cannot be replaced and a new ticket must be purchased for travel.

http://www.irishferries.com/sailrail-t-cs.asp

No is the answer I'm afraid!

That is not entirely correct, it depends on what sort of break you want to take.

Break of journey means leaving railway property which is not allowed on these fares, leaving one train to use railway station facilities and continuing on a later service the same day is allowed.

Unlike cheap advance purchase fares these are not tied to any particular departure, train operator or route.

JHMEG

Does anyone know does the 'rail' bit of the ticket only cover the UK side, or can I buy one ticket that will cover from Carlow (for example) to London?

KC61

Yes you can buy a ticket that covers travel in Ireland also - note however that the farther you travel from Dublin the more it costs.

Give Irish Ferries a call on 0818 300 400 and they should be able to sort you out.