Oof

[bellinghman]

I notice that current Ferry costs for the Irish Sea route are about £250 return.

This is just to get two of us and the car from dockside Holyhead to dockside Dublin Port. It doesn't count the cost of getting the car to Holyhead in the first place, nor the cost of stashing it somewhere in central Dublin for a few days. So it's pretty expensive, and quite tiring, all things considered.

On the other hand, return tickets for the pair of us from Stevenage to Dublin Port are currently at £152, by train and ferry.

(For comparison, Ryanair from Stansted to Dublin airport would be about £75 by the time they've done their bait-and-switch tactics. Plus parking ... another £50. And then there's the bus from the airport down to the centre. So it could conceivably be cheaper, but not by much.)

I think we may be taking the train this time.

ETA: there's indication on Seat61 that it should be possible to do it for £97 from Royston, assuming we go Stena.

Comments

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

lproven told me about a special deal which you have to ask for by name which is a train to Holyhead (I think) and ferry to Dublin. (person only - no car).

I've forgotten the name but maybe a google is possible.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

SailRail.

Actually looking closer, there seems to be an indication that we should be able to do it for about £97 the pair of us, return, from Royston. Seat61.com mentions it.

There are conditions, mostly designed to stop people using it to stop halfway and thus get a much cheaper ticket to some of the intermediate points than one would normally manage.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

SailRail ! Yep, that was it.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Seat61 is your friend.

[krabbe.livejournal.com]

If it costs the same, I'd recommend Stena to Dun Leghair. Right by the DART; makes sense if you don't take the car.

[perdita-fysh.livejournal.com]

When Graham did his airbrushing course in Ballymena he really really really wanted to drive/ferry there but the cheapest we could get a ferry to Belfast was about £300 and it cost less than £50 to fly return. So even he was forced to admit it just wasn't worth it!

We are lucky in that I could drop him at Liverpool airport on my way to work at the time, and the course people picked him up at the other end. But even so, it would have taken a lot to compete. Irish ferries seem hellishly expensive.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Indeed so. There's competition, but not enough to really drive the prices down, and they're running pretty full. They're really there for the trucks - if you importing or exporting stuff into Ireland from the UK or the rest of Europe, it's pretty easy to just use trucks all the way. The ferry crossings across the Channel and the Irish Sea are times when your drivers can rest and still have your cargos moving.

Cars, well, cars are almost an afterthought. The jam as opposed to the bread and butter.