Foot passenger on ferries

JuliusCaesar

This used to be really cheap. Now it seems that it is madly expensive. €73 return to Holyhead!!! And some of the ferry websites have no booking option for travelling without a vehicle - you must have at least a bicycle.

Anyway, I'm wondering how/why it got to be so expensive. A foot passenger is no weight and is likely to spend a few bob en route.

So why are the ferry companies trying to put them off? Too many drunks in the past? Anyone have any ideas?

Del2005

I think that they just don't want customers. I priced going to the UK on my motorbike and it was €180 to Holyhead. Got flights and a hire car for €100 in the end.

Shuttle666

Compare coach price too, sometimes Dublin city centre to Holyhead with Bus Eireann can be cheaper than foot only.

LXFlyer

Why would anyone be going as a foot passenger rather than buying a combined sail/rail ticket?

The latter offers decent through fares to anywhere in Britain, and isn't much more expensive than those foot passenger fares.

n97 mini

lxflyer wrote: »

Why would anyone be going as a foot passenger rather than buying a combined sail/rail ticket?

Two scenarios: day trip to Holyhead. While I haven't done it myself I know many who have. Second is ferry to HH and rent a car, in the event that it's not possible to get to your destination by rail.

Rawr

lxflyer wrote: »

Why would anyone be going as a foot passenger rather than buying a combined sail/rail ticket?

I remember years ago taking Irish Ferries' slower/larger ferries on a sort of 'Day Cruise' to Holyhead. Last time I did that I remember outbound from Dublin being the morning sailing with Ulysses, and then a return on the same boat that afternoon, after spending a handful of hours in Holyhead.

That kind of trip would just be with Foot passenger traffic, however I can certainly understand why such trips are possibly not as popular anymore.

I had a rosier impression of Holyhead as a child, however later on it does appear to have become a somewhat grimmer place. Also, way back in the day you would have the motivation of coming to buy exotic UK-only products there, that you simply wouldn't see in Ireland at the time. However nowadays I doubt there's anything much that's available in the UK that cannot already be obtained in Ireland. Thus that incentive was gone too.

My last Irish Ferries 'Day-cruise' to Holyhead was a sort of a 'For old times sake' trip, which did put me off doing it again. Being on the Ulysses for a couple of hours was pretty good, just as I had remembered it, but arrival to Holyhead as a foot passenger involved having to pile onto a single-decker feeder bus that collected us from the car deck, and then drove us a considerable distance to the terminal building. I remembered on previous trips being able to use a walkway to directly walk from the the ship to the terminal, which was better than this I felt.

We then spent an extremely boring and cold couple of hours exploring the rather spartan center of Holyhead. I ended up spending a lot of the time checking to see how long it would be before we could re-board Ulysses (by bus again).

The setup does seem to be mostly geared towards passengers who already have wheels (and I guess to a lesser extent Sail/Rail..which must the point of that feeder bus.)

LXFlyer

Rawr wrote: »

I remember years ago taking Irish Ferries' slower/larger ferries on a sort of 'Day Cruise' to Holyhead. Last time I did that I remember outbound from Dublin being the morning sailing with Ulysses, and then a return on the same boat that afternoon, after spending a handful of hours in Holyhead.

That kind of trip would just be with Foot passenger traffic, however I can certainly understand why such trips are possibly not as popular anymore.

I had a rosier impression of Holyhead as a child, however later on it does appear to have become a somewhat grimmer place. Also, way back in the day you would have the motivation of coming to buy exotic UK-only products there, that you simply wouldn't see in Ireland at the time. However nowadays I doubt there's anything much that's available in the UK that cannot already be obtained in Ireland. Thus that incentive was gone too.

My last Irish Ferries 'Day-cruise' to Holyhead was a sort of a 'For old times sake' trip, which did put me off doing it again. Being on the Ulysses for a couple of hours was pretty good, just as I had remembered it, but arrival to Holyhead as a foot passenger involved having to pile onto a single-decker feeder bus that collected us from the car deck, and then drove us a considerable distance to the terminal building. I remembered on previous trips being able to use a walkway to directly walk from the the ship to the terminal, which was better than this I felt.

We then spent an extremely boring and cold couple of hours exploring the rather spartan center of Holyhead. I ended up spending a lot of the time checking to see how long it would be before we could re-board Ulysses (by bus again).

The setup does seem to be mostly geared towards passengers who already have wheels (and I guess to a lesser extent Sail/Rail..which must the point of that feeder bus.)

Those were the days when the ferry companies could sell duty-free which meant that they wanted foot passengers on board for the return cruise.

The ferries at Holyhead now go from the outer harbour (which does not suffer the same tidal restrictions) rather than from beside the terminal which is adjacent to the railway station. It's quite a distance for anyone to walk. Hence the bus transfer.

LXFlyer

n97 mini wrote: »

Two scenarios: day trip to Holyhead. While I haven't done it myself I know many who have. Second is ferry to HH and rent a car, in the event that it's not possible to get to your destination by rail.

I would imagine that the market for the day trip to Holyhead has diminished significantly since duty-free sales were abolished.

I'd imagine most people would bring their own car rather than paying a high foot passenger fare and rental charges? I can't imagine that there would be much difference between the two.

JuliusCaesar

Actually I was trying to get somewhere by boat and coach (non-rail destination or involves 3 changes and a bus at the other end) but I can't find out about coach services on either Bus Éireann or National Express.

LXFlyer

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Actually I was trying to get somewhere by boat and coach (non-rail destination or involves 3 changes and a bus at the other end) but I can't find out about coach services on either Bus Éireann or National Express.

All the information on Eurolines services is here:

http://www.buseireann.ie/inner.php?id=356

Accessed via the Bus Eireann website, clicking on the menu button (if using mobile) and then "services" and "Eurolines" if you want to follow that route.

Alun

lxflyer wrote: »

Why would anyone be going as a foot passenger rather than buying a combined sail/rail ticket?

The latter offers decent through fares to anywhere in Britain, and isn't much more expensive than those foot passenger fares.

You might actually be wanting to stay on Angelsey itself. Apart from Holyhead itself, it really is quite a nice place, you can even spend 10 days walking around the coastal path.

LXFlyer

Alun wrote: »

You might actually be wanting to stay on Angelsey itself. Apart from Holyhead itself, it really is quite a nice place, you can even spend 10 days walking around the coastal path.

Fair enough, but I'd imagine numbers doing that are very low in the greater scheme of things and probably don't justify low fares anymore.

n97 mini

lxflyer wrote: »

I would imagine that the market for the day trip to Holyhead has diminished significantly since duty-free sales were abolished.

Probably has.

lxflyer wrote: »

I'd imagine most people would bring their own car rather than paying a high foot passenger fare and rental charges? I can't imagine that there would be much difference between the two.

Not everyone owns a car though. The price differences can be quite substantial. I needed to go to the middle of Cambridgeshire for a day long (plus overnight) event last year, 6.5 hours by train and bus from HH using SailRail, so not worth it. Alternative was €300 to bring my car or €40 as a foot passenger and €20 (x2) per day car rental. I didn't go in the end. Actually, even at €70 it's cheaper to rent a car in HH than to bring your own, for up to about 13 days.

Vic_08

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Actually I was trying to get somewhere by boat and coach (non-rail destination or involves 3 changes and a bus at the other end) but I can't find out about coach services on either Bus Éireann or National Express.

The only Coach services from Holyhead are the Eurolines through serices from Dublin crossing on the 20.55 Irish Ferries sailing or a Megabus service connecting with the same ferry.

In both cases it is much cheaper to buy through tickets from Dublin rather than seperate ferry and coach tickets.

Apart from those the only road transport from Holyhead is the local Bus routes which won't get you anywhere quickly.

If you post up where and when you want to go I am sure that we can find you the best possible connections for your journey.

crushproof

Book a Megabus ticket and you can board for prices beginning at £1. Ridiculous how cheap it is!

I've done this loads of times, just present your Megabus ticket at the checkin desk and you can board.

Sometimes I will actually use the Megabus but at other times I'll book the train separately at the other end.

Jamie2k9

Was just checking ferry prices for end of the month for family to book and didn't expect to see 70 difference either, was going to call up to see if it was a mistake but checked other operator and they are the same.

SEPT 23 1989

it was 35 for a day trip a couple of years ago

Vic_08

crushproof wrote: »

Book a Megabus ticket and you can board for prices beginning at £1. Ridiculous how cheap it is!

I've done this loads of times, just present your Megabus ticket at the checkin desk and you can board.

Sometimes I will actually use the Megabus but at other times I'll book the train separately at the other end.

The Holyhed-Manchester-London Megabus route is cancelled from 17 August 2015.

http://uk.megabus.com/ServiceAdvisory.aspx?id=265&home=false

LXFlyer

Vic_08 wrote: »

The Holyhed-Manchester-London Megabus route is cancelled from 17 August 2015.

That says a lot doesn't it about the numbers using it.

Vic_08

lxflyer wrote: »

That says a lot doesn't it about the numbers using it.

Never used it myself but it would be a fair bet that low numbers are to blame.

For whatever reason it didn't do well while the Pembroke service is still running.

BE/Eurolines on the central corridor are showing good numbers this summer with several duplicates on the London service being the norm.

I would say that having a through service rather than a foot passenger+coach as well as onward connections from Dublin is a big help on top of people not knowing about the Megabus service to begin with.

TBH I would have said they would have been better off trying a connection with one of the day ferries rather than the overnight.

thomasj

Vic_08 wrote: »

Never used it myself but it would be a fair bet that low numbers are to blame.

For whatever reason it didn't do well while the Pembroke service is still running.

BE/Eurolines on the central corridor are showing good numbers this summer with several duplicates on the London service being the norm.

I would say that having a through service rather than a foot passenger+coach as well as onward connections from Dublin is a big help on top of people not knowing about the Megabus service to begin with.

TBH I would have said they would have been better off trying a connection with one of the day ferries rather than the overnight.

I didn't even know about this service, only the eurolines services. I'm sure for alot if other people eurolines was their first port of call

Says alot about the advertising of this service.

V_Moth

Vic_08 wrote: »

TBH I would have said they would have been better off trying a connection with one of the day ferries rather than the overnight.

That would have been a great idea. Train prices in Britain are ridiculous - for example London to Holyhead is £94 one way.

Have taken Sail and Rail about 10 times this year and am surprised just how many people are using the service (>50 on almost all sailings so far with both Stena and Irish Ferries at different sailing times and dates).

Btw, Stena have a €6 ticket return to Holyhead: http://www.stenaline.ie/ferries-to-britain/day-trips/dublin-holyhead-6-euro

LXFlyer

V_Moth wrote: »

That would have been a great idea. Train prices in Britain are ridiculous - for example London to Holyhead is £94 one way.

Have taken Sail and Rail about 10 times this year and am surprised just how many people are using the service (>50 on almost all sailings so far with both Stena and Irish Ferries at different sailing times and dates).

Btw, Stena have a €6 ticket return to Holyhead: http://www.stenaline.ie/ferries-to-britain/day-trips/dublin-holyhead-6-euro

That £94 is the off-peak single walk-up fare.

There are advance fares available from £20 single if you book online (in advance).

Hilly Bill

A lot was coming over from Holyhead for the day for a £5 earlier this year. Not sure if it was stena or Irish Ferries. I miss the Hibernia party boat.:).