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Anyone know why the Ulysses (8am / 2pm) and Swift (all sailings) have disappeared from the IF Booking platform this Saturday (10th August)?

Seems to be in both directions.

Ferry companies must be feeling the effects of Brexit.  Seems like there has been a near permanent sale on the Irish Sea, with the discounts only increasing as we head towards the peak summer season.

But Irish Ferries seem to have got one over Stena.

On Tuesday 9 May at midnight IF switch off their 25% off all sailings to Britain as do Stena.  On Friday 12 May (presumably at the end of the working day) IF switch it back on again.  Stena have not as yet reinstated the offer (as at 9.30pm, 12/5), and if it matches their slowness of about 3 weeks ago when a very similar event occurred, it will be Monday before they do - leaving a whole weekend where IF are 25% cheaper.

Repeat this a few times through the year and you can see it would seriously add to the bottom line and market share.

Three years ago, when Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company were reeling at the prospect of their lucrative contract with Stena coming to an end, they asked the public for submissions as to how the harbour could be used in the future.  One of the suggestions I made was to have boat trips to Dublin city / Howth, citing Sydney, Australia, as an example of where water transport is used as a form of public transport to different parts of the city and nearby islands. It was also after an article in the Sunday Times at the time suggesting that a ferry link might be opened up between Dun Laoghaire and Dublin, though that never seemed to come to anything.

Probably co-incidentally, there was an article in last week's Sunday Times about Dublin Ferry Cruises starting a new 80 minute ferry service from Dun Laoghaire to Howth at Easter using the "147 seat St Bridget" .  There would be 6 trips daily and a one way fare of €19.

Does anyone know any more about this?

There is a boat, the "Sea Explorer", currently moored in Dun Laoghaire.  Has this got anything to do with it?

Even if this does get off the ground, at €19 one way, I'd be a bit worried that it would fall flat on its face.  You can get half-way to Holyhead as a foot passenger for that! Otherwise could a great tourism boost for the 2 towns.

Very interesting to see this programme last night featured Stena's CEO going under cover to see how his company runs.

It's funny that he felt the need to do this.  I've always felt with Stena that they are very keen to seek out your feedback after a trip, but I've never seen any of my suggestions implemented, so they just seem to be ignored.  You just get a standard "Thanks for your feedback" response.  For example, I asked them after a recent trip why it was necessary for the Stena Europe at Rosslare to have a 60 minute check-in (8am for a 9am sailing) compared to a 30 minute check-in (8.15 for an 8.45am saling) for IF.  As CIE do all the check-ins anyway, I suspect they check in everyone up until at least 8.15am; we were certainly let through after arriving at 8.10am.

Anyway, back to the programme.
He went aboard one of the Liverpool to Belfast ships which sailed whilst fixtures and fittings were being added, making for a noisy, dusty sailing for passengers in very close proximity that were not moved to other unused areas, nor given and kind of compensation in the form of food and drink.

He also went aboard the Britannica on the dutch route, which he'd been on the design team for, only to find that features in the kitchen like the non-stick floor meant it was difficult to move the trolleys around, and ovens were difficult to open.

I thought he dealt sensitively with the issue of lower paid foreign workers, which he claimed was common amongst ferry companies.

The Rosslare / Fishguard and Dun Laoghaire / Holyhead route were completely ignored and the Nordica focussed only on a temporary employee that wanted to feel a bit more valued.

Stena seem to have completely redesigned their website in the last day or two. 

Have they dropped their combined sail and holiday  / hotel offering?  We have used this quite frequently in the past as it was always cheaper to cross the sea and have a night in a hotel than just book a crossing on its own.  Can't find any sign of it on the website.

The "Remarks" section on the sailing update section is only partially on screen which is not going to assist those on delayed / cancelled ferries much!

Stena seem to be tweaking the timings of the HSS departure from Dun Laoghaire in the last few days due to "tidal restrictions in Holyhead".  I've never heard of this happening before.  What's it about?

Is Stena pulling out of Dun Laoghaire for the winter?

It has failed to update its on-line Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire timetable since June, during which time, for a period of just 14 days, it ran its HSS service twice daily.  It seems to be trying to make it look as though its service is much better than it really is, yet in 1 months time, the service is due to be pulled altogether for the winter.

IF are gloating at the prospect of being the only fast ferry provider after 14 September, judging from their recent news section release.

What's going to happen to the reputed 60 or so jobs based there, what with no ferry service whatsoever? Will they be transferred to Dublin port?

We will be crossing from Rosslare to South Wales this summer for the first time.

It would seem to be a no-brainer to use Stena's Fishguard crossing with a 3.5 hour journey compared to a 4 hour journey to Pembroke with Irish Ferries, or am I missing something?  Which has the better roads from the port to the M4?

Anyone know why the Explorer was in Dun Laoghaire this evening?  Did she not make her 1.15pm sailing?  There were a couple of coaches parked ourside the ferry terminal which suggested foot passengers had been brought in.  Looked like she was about to depart.  Nothing on the Stena website suggested she was late running or doing an extra sailing for the Adventurer.