hi, new to the forum though I have lurked for some time. We are avid ferry users, have done all sorts of ferries, Cork and Dublin to France of course, but also UK to Denmark (before the route ended) freighter to Norway, Gothenburg to Kiel among others - we do like a ferry!
We won a trip on the WB Yeats on a radio competition last summer however with the debacle of the delay ended up on the Oscar Wilde, no problem, it was practically a free holiday anyway but we were intrigued to sail in the WB...
So we Got home today from a cheeky weekend in France, sailed out on Thursday 14th March on WB Yeats on what I believe was it`s first trip to France, returned yesterday, 17th arriving 18th into Ireland
Here is my tuppence worth...
the crossing to france was perhaps just one third full of passengers, so we had lots of room to park on the car deck, nice to be able to open doors etc without fear of hitting the car beside, I`m sure it will be jam packed in the busier months though
Cabins felt small, it really felt that just a few inches made a difference in space. We got the basic 4 berth indoor, no window for 2 adults and an 11 year old and 14 year old. It just felt that you stepped out of the shower/toilet and were faced into the upper bunk, we all nearly hit our noses several times
outward there was no handsoap in the wash hand basin, then no shampoo/body soap in the shower and no bath mat coming home - not the end of the world but annoying though all the furnishings and carper felt very clean and fresh
food was expensive and mediocre - soggy sad chips, chewy lasagne, no battered fish available, main courses 13-14 euro, although we went to the brasserie as soon as we got on the ship, the food looked tired and sweaty already. Kids menu was the usual sad sausages and nuggets - go for the salad selection, it was good and a large plate was just a fiver, fill it with cous cous and feta cheese and it`s fairly substanstial!
€12 for a G&T (think the barman said it was a special offer on the gin and mixer) and pint of Heinekin in the Maud Gonne bar, but en route home we discovered that a nice bottle of red or white was €9.50 in Boylans Brasserie and lasted a lot longer
€4 for a little box of cereal and 250ml of milk at breakfast, daylight robbery!
yes only 2 pin plugs in the cabins (though there are 4 sockets in the cabin) and the plugs that I could see in the public areas - I did not crawl around the floor to look at legs of chairs for 3 pin plugs though the crossing to France was so rough I thought I might end up on the floor!
Chairs in the eating area constantly seemed to have crumbs on them, though the staff were endlessly brushing them off - perhaps the colour scheme is not ideal for that
some confusion as we left the car deck for the cabin deck with staff telling us we had to get cabin keys at reception when we had already been issued with them at check in, probably with it all being so new some of them were still getting used to things
just our thoughts after a very quick trip and the weather was poor in both directions so we didn`t get to walk around as much as we usually would have, if I can answer any questions I will gladly help
