IRISH
FERRIES
Dublin to Holyhead – A Cautionary Tale
I
make a lot of connections when I travel and take pride in getting
to where I
need to on time. I had spent a wonderful week in Ireland – a
first visit - and was heading over to Wales with a ticket on the
Irish Ferry with a full day of activities planned on the Welsh side.
I didn’t make it! Oh – the fault was most definitely
mine. My total bonehead screw up. I offer this caution for those
who might follow in my path.
I
had a rental car in Ireland which needed to be returned before
catching
the
morning ferry. I figured just enough time to get to
the rental agency – Europcar just south of the city center – as
soon as it opened, to turn in the car, which had been a champ (secret
- get the GPS) - and get a cab to the ferry terminal. All went as
planned – no damage – good to go. Flag a cab. Friendly
driver loads luggage and asks what terminal. “Dun Laoghaire”,
I tell him with slaughtered guessed-at pronunciation. He corrects
me (its pronounced like Done Larry - who knew). He asks if I’m
sure. I tell him I am. Like a champ he races me through morning traffic
the twenty minutes south of Dublin to Dun Laoghaire Harbor. No ferry.
Wait, I was so sure. I take out my ticket printout - which I haven’t
looked at since I left home after printing it from online (cost €34
one-way for a foot passenger).
It says Terminal “Dublin City”. 
See,
now I had looked online the night before at a map of the ferry lines
with the dotted
route
from Holyhead to Done Larry – excuse me Dun Laoghaire. The
dotted line didn’t go to Dublin City. In my assuredness at
my traveling expertise, I hadn’t looked at my ticket printout.
The cabbie did his best to race through traffic back to Dublin and
managed to
get me to the Dublin City Terminal just in time to see my 8:45 ferry
loading up. I can’t get on because boarding check in needs
to be 30 minutes before. The next ferry isn’t until 2:30 in
the afternoon. I’m
screwed. I pay the cab driver 50 Euros for the mad dash between two
terminals. He refuses a tip. Bless the cheery Irish.
So
my whole day in Wales plan is kyboshed. I was to have a rental
car
waiting on
the other side. I call to tell them I won’t
be there until 4:30 in the afternoon. There are only two express
Irish Ferries each way from Dublin to Holyhead, one in
the morning and
one in the
afternoon. The fast express ferry takes about 2 hours to make the
crossing. The slower ferry, the Ulysses is €4
cheaper but takes 4 hours.
The Dublin
City Terminal is located in the midst
of the
Dublin
freight
harbor.
Despite being
rather
like
a
small
airport
terminal, modern and sleek, there are no luggage lockers,
but the Irish Ferries folk, sympathetic to my predicament, kindly
hold my luggage in the office until check in time while I try
to amuse myself for the 5 hours
until the next ferry
departure. There is nothing around the Dublin City ferry terminal
(Port of Dublin Termninal 1) but truck yards
and ship loading docks. I have a half day to kill. I still had
time on
my
Dublin Pass
for
the
bus.
There
is a bus from the city, but it only comes according to the ferry
schedule. I consider trying to walk to the city, but it is nearly
two miles. I’ll take a cab, but catch the Dublin City Bus back
from downtown. That part of the modified plan worked out. I did some
errands, explored a bit more of Dublin, caught the bus back and boarded
the sleek HSC Jonathan Swift.
Inside
the decks are spacious with décor reminiscent of a
Reno casino, food and drink served from onboard restaurant and bar.
Seating in 2nd Class is swivel armchairs arranged around tables.
There are plenty of seats, but a good portion of the window tables
have already been taken by passengers from the auto decks below,
but I find
an open
table
by
the
windows. First
class is up the grand stairway with more airplane-like seating, but
seems only scattered with a few commuting businessmen with noses
buried in the financial times. I’m going to be moving about
taking pictures anyway. My fellow passengers are a mix of international
travelers like myself and English folk who make a day or weekend
outing of a ferry trip Dublin and back. There are lots of photo enthusiasts
with cameras, still and DV.
The outside deck is upstairs and out the rear door, for unobstructed
photography, but it takes a hearty soul, or a desperate smoker to
put up with the cold blustery wind blowing across the Irish Sea to
stay outside for long. The sun is out but what seemed a balmy day
in Dublin is purely hardy sea-faring weather once in the open water.
One can escape behind a metal bulkhead for respite, to grab a few
pictures of the vanishing Ireland shoreline, but it is clear, most
of this nearly two hour voyage will be spent inside.
Arrival
at Holyhead is uneventful. Shuttle busses await to carry passengers
from the
ferry to the terminal to wait for checked baggage
at the carousel. I am unable to reach my contact for the rental car.
I hope my earlier message of changed arrival time has been received,
but there is no-one waiting. The Holyhead Ferry Terminal has a Hertz
Rental office, but they are the only car rental company with a location
in the terminal. Europcar is in Caernarfon, but they will deliver
a car to the terminal. If I was traveling by train to England,
the
station would be a 10 minute walk, but I’m exploring North
Wales with its castles and steam trains for a few days, which is
only really practical with a car. Just as I’m beginning to
wonder if I’m going to be stuck in the middle of unfamiliar
Holyhead with the terminal farther than walking distance from town,
the car arrives. The keys are handed over and I head off to catch
what is left of the day, motoring off down the byways of the Snowdonia
coast to my reserved Welsh farmhouse B&B. Your experience may
vary, but double check your ticket. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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Irish Ferries
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SEE ALSO:
BOOK OF KELLS - TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY
TEMPLE BAR - IRISH PUBS & MUSIC
HOWTH - DUBLIN'S FISHING VILLAGE
PADDYWAGON
- ST PATRICK’S DAY TOURS
