Messages

Brittany Ferries will operate Rosslare - Cherbourg sailings in between sailings to Bilbao, Two ships Salamanca and Galicia will operate the routes in 2024. 

Yes that will continue on Mondays between the Bilbao runs with either Salamanca or Galicia. Salamanca will operate the route til the end of March with Glacia taking over on Monday 1st April. Cotentin will make the second weekly Rosslare - Cherbourg sailing on Saturday evening. In effect they've just dropped Le Harve for Cherbourg. 

https://www.brittany-ferries.ie/map/timetables-pdf?country=IRL&departure=IEROE&arrival=FRCER

Oscar Wilde will replace Epsilon when a replacement vessel arrives in Rosslare.

Any idea of who the replacement will be?

Brittany Ferries adding Rosslare Le Havre once a week from March with the contentin.
https://brittanyferriesnewsroom.com/passengers-will-return-to-le-havre-in-2023/?fbclid=IwAR1OloFRmCjdNnuEMN8KiDimzumkcWnzaaMVznJ9pAig7WzVwI2ixlgc5tk

Rosslare to Le Harve route not operating ng in 2024. It will be replaced by a second weekly sailing from Rosslare to Cherbourg. I'm assuming that Cotentin will take over the 2nd Cherbourg sailing and leave the Monday evening one to Salamanca.   

4 page feature titled "Out with the old, in with the new" about Europe and Nordica in the October issue of Ships Monthly.

Had the pleasure of a round trip on the Nordica in early September, our first trip on the new and improved version of the Nordica (after many on the Europe) and got to say we were very impressed. Very lucky our sailing from Rosslare was on September 8th which was a very warm day and possibly the finest weather we have ever seen on the Irish Sea, barely a wave to be seen.
 
(as it was very busy took very few images inside so link below to the NI Ferry Site review)

It was a busy crossing and plenty of people in the queue in Rosslare, driving on was perfect and we had Premium tickets so got early boarding, first mega plus point since the revamp was the lift from the car deck 2 straight up to the new deck 6 (where the Plus lounge is) one of our party would not be able for the stairs going up. The new deck 6 additions were great and the Plus lounge is lovely very well finished with comfortable seats and plenty of natural light through the windows. First thing was ordering the full breakfast which was lovely and hot, £12.50 each and very nice and the staff were excellent providing a great service, we were finished by 8 am so plenty of time to spend out on deck.
Out on deck for departure (was about 22 degrees)  and the usual space on the Nordica (a pity they cannot open the helipad as outside deckspace, slightly delayed departure (minutes) as the Optima Seaways was incoming, when we left a dolphin was in the water around the end of the breakwater and it was just lovely setting on departure.

Back inside then a wander around , down to deck 5 where the famous Stena Blue carpet was present and down to deck 4 which is total different, going to the back you have the Social and to the front the Duty Free shop is a decent size and the passenger areas as you walk towards the bow, and Taste food outlet could be described as Inspired by E-Flexer and are very nice and comfortable, a massive upgrade on the Nordica's previous fit and finish.
Deck 6 also got its own toilet facilities, and these are very nice, strangely no urinals in the gents, but they were nice and clean, did not check the ones on deck 4 but imagine they have also been upgraded as they were previously very poor.

The sailing to Fishguard was very nice and as we passed the Strumble head lighthouse in towards Fishguard there were more dolphins spotted and something much larger possibly a whale, (benefit of having windows to the sea in the lounge) and on arrival there was a slight delay due to security issues in the port, so instead of the crammed stairwell and lift area in the centre, we went up to the front stairwell and down to the car deck, again bright and spacious.

The return crossing was a carbon copy of the first, some great bargins in the Duty Free shop in Fishguard leave space in the boot ! great service again in the Plus lounge thankfully the bacon bloomer is still available (cant beat a bacon sandwich) and again plenty of people on board, only noticeable thing was we seemed to take a bit longer to get going from Fishguard when we cleared the breakwater and took a long time to dock in Rosslare, not sure if there was a reason.

Only a couple of negatives and they are so small, no bottled water in Stena Plus, only a filter tap, bizarre as would have thought bottled water is cheaper then soft drinks like San Pellegrino, and the fumes from the funnel on departure are quite strong when no wind, (possibly need to extend the exhaust pipes to direct the fumes back – but they are the same as they have always been)

Luckily enough will be back on board again in a couple of weeks and looking forward to the breakfast already, was a bit apprehensive with the change from the Europe but have to say the Nordica is an upgrade on the route, lovely and comfortable and so modern in its 2.0 version.

For Interior images, please check out the link from the NI Ferry site which has some fantastic interior images
https://www.niferry.co.uk/special-feature-stenas-modern-new-rosslare-to-fishguard-ferry-stena-nordica/

Below are Nordica and Oscar Wilde alongside in Rosslare / Optima Seaways coming in / Leaving Rosslare with Optima and Oscar in port / Car deck 2 looking forward on arrival in Fishguard.

Great report. Looking forward to taking a trip her.

Love the 2 funnels pic!

Rosslare Europort named European Ferry Port of the Year at the 2023 European Ferry Shipping Summit in Malmo, Sweden.



https://www.southeastradio.ie/rosslare-europort-named-ferry-port-of-the-year/

https://afloat.ie/port-news/rosslare-europort/item/60604-rosslare-europort-is-named-ferry-port-of-the-year-at-european-ferry-shipping-summit

[Strategy needed to remove dangerous shipwrecks from the Cork coastline]

Strategy needed to remove dangerous shipwrecks from the Cork coastline

Senator Tim Lombard made the call following the publication of a health and safety report on the wreck of the MV Alta which ran aground just outside Ballycotton in February 2020.

https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41230360.html

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/d51c0-mv-alta-health-and-safety-assessment-report/#

Looks like Sail Rail is starting in 2024 on the Dublin-Cherbourg and Cork-Roscoff routes

New step towards a combined "train and ferry" ticket between Ireland and France in 2024

New 'SailRail' route to France from Ireland welcomed by Green MEPs

Few pics I took on Monday of the ongoing expansion work at Rosslare port

Few pics from yesterday at Rosslare. Lots more here
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjUZ2Jao

Looks like Athena Seaways is taking tonight's sailing from Dunkirk to Rosslare

Greek ferry captain, 3 seamen charged over death of tardy passenger pushed into sea by crew member

https://apnews.com/article/greece-ferry-passenger-death-arrests-travel-crete-a1c8bb9b0ab89751fa1e662aee0dcbe2

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12485847/Horrifying-moment-passenger-pushed-sea-death-ferry-crew-tried-leap-departing-vessel-Greek-port.html

Holland Norway Lines declared bankrupt

https://www.niferry.co.uk/holland-norway-lines-declared-bankrupt/

Regina Seaways currently out of service. Tomorrow sailing from Dunkirk has been cancelled as has Saturday nights sailing from Rosslare.

Great images as always, different view than normal for Cork harbour ?.

Yes I'm usually on the Cobh side of the harbour but was on a family visit to Spike Island yesterday so got a few pics from the other side. Spike is well worth a visit if you're ever in the area https://www.spikeislandcork.ie/