Jonathan not so Swift

Neil3030

This service is truly dreadful, and, I suspect, a sinister little earner for Irish Ferries. On a few occasions over the last year I have bought tickets on the 1430 Swift sailing only to see it cancelled, last minute. However as a foot passenger, you are then forced to wait until the evening Ulysses sailing, because the 1415 Epsilon only takes vehicles. This means that foot passengers would arrive in Holyhead after the trains cease service for the day (around midnight). So anyone who needs to sail on a particular day and travel beyond Holyhead (i.e. everyone) is basically forced to go with the 1510 Stena Superfast X, which requires purchasing a new ticket with a different company. And of course, passengers who do this and don't pursue their refund are essentially handing free money to Irish Ferries.

It happened again today. After being bitten a few times, I called Irish Ferries at 1215 to make sure the Swift was sailing. I was told that Internet bookings were closed, but there were still tickets available at the port. So I raced in, only to then discover the boat was cancelled. Not only that, it was STUCK IN HOLYHEAD. This was around 45 minutes after I phoned them. How on earth could the operator not know the boat wasn't even en route to Dublin? Were they expecting the boat to miraculously teleport over the sea to be ready for a 1430 departure from Dublin? Ridiculous.

And the website updates are a complete non entity. The boat was scheduled as 'on time' right up until I left my house (around 1230) - not even listed as delayed.

Even if this isn't a con, they really need to get their act together. I understand the Irish Sea is unpredictable, but it's a joke that the Epsilon leaves Dublin Port at the same time as the Swift but can't handle overflow from a cancellation. And the customer service really needs a shake up.

man98

IF are a lost cause on this... if I were in your shoes I'd just book Stena when required, even if it does mean an extra hour journey time, at least you're pretty much guaranteed that there won't be a significant delay.

scuby

Think it was cancelled as high winds blew it back onto moorings. Cancelled for safety check

Neil3030

Yeah - arrived in Holyhead at around 7pm on the Stena SFX and the Swift was over on its berth. Massive queue in the Terminal suggests passengers were waiting to get on the returning SFX sailing at 2030.

Atlantic Dawn

What will happen with the safety check, would the Cypriots send someone over to investigate or would the word of the Irish safety board be sufficient?

Tabnabs

Most likely done by the British MCA on behalf of the flag authority.

Vic_08

With the Stena Nordica, even since they started taking foot passengers Irish Ferries had the excuse that there was not enough spare capacity, this is not the case any more with Stena Superfast X.

They SHOULD be transferring passengers on to either Epsilon (using a carried bus if necessary) or paying Stena to accomodate their overflow from cancelled afternoon/evening Swift sailings, expecting passengers to wait over 9 hours when there is an alternative is unjustifiable.