Deleted member 16224
Guest
Any ideas why ferry charges to Ireland are so expensive compared to channel crossings? Any tips on booking appreciated.
bopper
Guest
You wanna try goin' to the Isle of Wight! Dearest crossing in the world.
Deleted member 21686
Guest
Not enough competition
Edward B
Guest
I am in SW Scotland close to Stranraer. Should be so handy for Ireland but I checked prices and mileages and found out that it is cheaper to drive from the Stena line terminal at Cairnryan (Stranraer) to the Stena Line terminal at Dover (502 miles) and get the ferry to calais, then do the return journey in my sprinter than to simply get on the ferry to Belfast and back. This is after they have just opened their new terminal at Cairnryan to cut the ferry journey by 12 miles and use bigger ships to supposedly save costs. I cannot understand their prices at all.
Smaug
Guest
Like the man says, no competition, so you get monopoly pricing. Try the companies that operate out of Liverpool & Birkenhead. There was a start-up company in Birkenhead that was undercutting the usuall companies, but I think they may have gone bust. Maybe just not enough traffic to cover the overhead costs of running a ferry co.
Edit: just checked out this site and the cheapest route by far was Cairnryan to Northern Ireland at £255 return. Most other routes were running at £365 ret & one was almost £600!
Useful site, covers almost all european ferries.
Edit: just checked out this site and the cheapest route by far was Cairnryan to Northern Ireland at £255 return. Most other routes were running at £365 ret & one was almost £600!
Useful site, covers almost all european ferries.
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sasquatch
Guest
The Irish sea is one of the most expensive water crossing there is. The ferry out of Twelve Quays in Birkenhead was operated by Norfolk line and became part of the buy out by DFDS AFAIK it is now operated by Stena Liverpool Ferry Port | Belfast to Liverpool Ferry | Stena Line
DTDog
Guest
Hate to defend the ferry companies, but it's not a fair comparison to use Dover - Calais a 2hr crossing with the Liverpool - Dublin ferry a 12hr crossing.
Smaug
Guest
You're not comparing like for like, unless channel ferries do 10ts & Irish Sea ones can only manage 5kts.
Dover-calais = 20 odd miles, Liverpool-Dublin = 60 odd miles. So the Irish sea is approx 3x the channel, not 6x. And Holyhead-Dublin is only about 40 miles or 2x channel crossing. BUT, general traffic levels are probably higher for x-channel & the competition sure is.
Deleted member 16224
Guest
ferry prices
The prices I was referring to were from cairnryan to larne or belfast which is a 2hr trip or 1hr 15 mins by fast ferry. Sorry I did not make this clear but thanks for your input.
Fidgiman
The prices I was referring to were from cairnryan to larne or belfast which is a 2hr trip or 1hr 15 mins by fast ferry. Sorry I did not make this clear but thanks for your input.
Fidgiman
Teene
Guest
We want to go again, but...
We went for the first time from Holyhead to Dublin and had to fork out £386 so we said we'd never go again. Trouble is we only had 3 weeks that time and didn't even see half of Southern Ireland and haven't touched Northern so we are going to have to bite the bullet when we do our round Britain in a couple of years after we've retired and done Europe. Be interesing to see what the prices are then.
We went for the first time from Holyhead to Dublin and had to fork out £386 so we said we'd never go again. Trouble is we only had 3 weeks that time and didn't even see half of Southern Ireland and haven't touched Northern so we are going to have to bite the bullet when we do our round Britain in a couple of years after we've retired and done Europe. Be interesing to see what the prices are then.
Douzeper
Guest
Go to Ferry Crossings UK and Ireland : Nutt Travel and Promotions Coleraine you can sail for the same price as a car on certain sailings, also if you pick a race meeting, whether it be stock cars motorbike racing or whatever, that is on during your visit you will get a further discount. Stenaline are also doing a deal where you can travel with a Motorhoem for the same price as a car, see here mhome same price as car • Ireland's Ultimate Motorhome Resource.
Also: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop...-Northern-Ireland-and-Ireland/144053689015370
Hope that helps.
(just noticed I am a free member, oops must pay more attention, will fix that tomorrow Phil
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Edward B
Guest
The original point here was to compare Scotland to Ireland crossing with England to France. P&O are quoting £281 for Cairnryan to Larne (60 minute crossing). With the same vehicle, same passengers, same times and dates they are quoting £88 for Dover to Calais (90 minute crossing). Why is there such a discrepancy within the same company?
baldybloke
Guest
as was said earlier, lack of competition or less traffic, either one could be the reason, (though I suspect the former)
Airecraft
Guest
P&O ran a cheapish ferry from Mostyn, N Wales to Dublin about 10 years ago but had to close it after spending £17 million developing the port because the environment agency withdrew a dredging license on the grounds the water would become too muddy!
After the 2 ships were sold to Stena and the ferry terminal demolished dredging began because Airbus needed to move their wings by sea
Edward B
Guest
Stena line have just built a new terminal 1/4 mile away from P & O at Cairnryan after moving from their old terminal only 5 miles down the road. They tell us this was to enable them to use larger ships to carry more traffic and also provide a quicker crossing. Therefore they have competition next door, and I cannot see them spending millions on a newer larger terminal and buying larger ships to carry more vehicles if traffic is low. I still cannot find a logical reason.
baldybloke
Guest
I could not possibly suggest the use of a 'C' word then ! (cartel)
Edward B
Guest
Exactly!!