Cheap dublin/liverpool ferry crossing

hforharry

This Sat and Sun https://www.norsemerchant.co.uk has another cheap return deal on its Dublin/Liverpool (Birkinhead) route. Car & 4 is 59 euros on the day sailing and 109 euros on the night crossing. Only thing to add on is a 3 euro fuel surcharge per person each way. I booked the last deal and it includes 3 course lunch on the day crossing or evening meal, en-suite 4 berth cabin and breakfast on the night sailing. Booking has to made between 9-5pm this weekend 25/26 March by phone. It's an excellent deal -these crossings are normally double or triple that price .By the way its for crossings until 31st December-

mikemoate

hforharry wrote:

This Sat and Sun https://www.norsemerchant.co.uk has another cheap return deal on its Dublin/Liverpool (Birkinhead) route. Car & 4 is 59 euros on the day sailing and 109 euros on the night crossing. Only thing to add on is a 3 euro fuel surcharge per person each way. I booked the last deal and it includes 3 course lunch on the day crossing or evening meal, en-suite 4 berth cabin and breakfast on the night sailing. Booking has to made between 9-5pm this weekend 25/26 March by phone. It's an excellent deal -these crossings are normally double or triple that price .By the way its for crossings until 31st December-

Thanks for this, by the way the link seems to be wrong so try this one http://www.norsemerchant.com/

Incidentally this offer seems to be for departures from Dublin only, the last offer was for departures from Liverpool.

I travelled to Belfast on an overnight sailing with them a couple of years ago and it was excellent.

hforharry

The last offer had only Liverpool to Dublin advertised, but when you phoned up, you could book either way- I booked Dublin to Liverpool. I'm guessing it's the same this time, but you'd need to phone them to check. Thanks for the proper link

stevem999

If they really will let you book for initial departures out of Birkenhead then it's a real slap in the face for the UK customers who paid for their offer a couple of weeks ago who (if I remember correctly) were charged £69 day or £99 night which would equate to roughly 96 or 139 euros. Nice price drop for their Euro-paying customers!

Rip-off Britain once again - they know people can't do anything about cancelling and re-booking using a credit card because there were no cancellations or amendments allowed on the offer. Kind of leaves a bitter taste in the mouth really. Even with charges for using CC in foreign currency etc would still make a saving.

ruthyjo

Missed the UK to Ireland offer a couple of weeks ago.

Just rang them to ask if this weekend's offer could be booked in reverse and they said no. Still going to give it a try tomorrow though.

Also asked if I could book two return crossings with the return portions coinciding with my required dates and use only the return portion of each. They said if I didn't turn up for the outbound portion they would cancel the return. There's nothing in their online t and cs to this effect. Reckon it's worth the risk as it would still be a good saving on any other crossing?

ruthyjo

stevem999 wrote:

If they really will let you book for initial departures out of Birkenhead then it's a real slap in the face for the UK customers who paid for their offer a couple of weeks ago who (if I remember correctly) were charged £69 day or £99 night which would equate to roughly 96 or 139 euros. Nice price drop for their Euro-paying customers!

Rip-off Britain once again - they know people can't do anything about cancelling and re-booking using a credit card because there were no cancellations or amendments allowed on the offer. Kind of leaves a bitter taste in the mouth really. Even with charges for using CC in foreign currency etc would still make a saving.

Just read this and it seems a bit ott to me. All travel companies vary their fares - lowcost airlines, train companies etc. At £69 uk residents got an excellent price, about a third of anything else normally available AND first choice of crossing dates. I hardly think they are entitled to feel ripped off!

weesax

£95 return Liverpool to Dublin/Belfast. Seems a very good deal to me.


http://www.norsemerchant.com/PASSENGER/special_offers/special_offers.asp

mikemoate

ruthyjo wrote:

Missed the UK to Ireland offer a couple of weeks ago.

Just rang them to ask if this weekend's offer could be booked in reverse and they said no. Still going to give it a try tomorrow though.

Also asked if I could book two return crossings with the return portions coinciding with my required dates and use only the return portion of each. They said if I didn't turn up for the outbound portion they would cancel the return. There's nothing in their online t and cs to this effect. Reckon it's worth the risk as it would still be a good saving on any other crossing?

It may not be worth the risk. I remember doing this and getting away with it a few years ago on the Liverpool/Dublin fast Ferry. It worked out a lot cheaper buying two returns for short trips than for the standard fare. Shortly after I remember there being some commotion because the ferry company had cottoned on to this, changed there terms and conditions and refused boarding. Norsemerchant do say in their T&C
4. All Excursion Fares on offer are on a return basis only.
5. No refunds will apply to incomplete journeys.

littonlad

I've just been over with Iish Ferries, Holyhead to Dublin return. On a motorbike the cost was £60, but the standard of travel/facilites onboard were by far the best I've seen. I will definately use them again.

stevem999

ruthyjo wrote:

Just read this and it seems a bit ott to me. All travel companies vary their fares - lowcost airlines, train companies etc. At £69 uk residents got an excellent price, about a third of anything else normally available AND first choice of crossing dates. I hardly think they are entitled to feel ripped off!

I think they're totally entitled to feel ripped off!! The exact same offer, exact same ships, exact same staff costs but the Euro price is far cheaper than the sterling price. Same story as the airlines who charge more to fly out of the UK than they do other countries. Or charge different prices for the same flight depending on where the person who books the tickets lives - see stories like this all the time.

ruthyjo

mikemoate wrote:

It may not be worth the risk. I remember doing this and getting away with it a few years ago on the Liverpool/Dublin fast Ferry. It worked out a lot cheaper buying two returns for short trips than for the standard fare. Shortly after I remember there being some commotion because the ferry company had cottoned on to this, changed there terms and conditions and refused boarding. Norsemerchant do say in their T&C
4. All Excursion Fares on offer are on a return basis only.
5. No refunds will apply to incomplete journeys.

Thanks for pointing this out. I hadn't spotted it. I'm still tempted to try as I don't think point 4 is very explicit. I would be paying for a return trip and could argue I thought that meant I couldn't buy a single trip and so didn't. I wouldn't be bothered about condition 5 as I wouldn't be expecting any refund. I think the ferry companies to France who don't want you to buy two cheap day returns instead of one long stay ticket have much clearer t and cs on this.