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crc · 09-02-2009, 17:08

My girl-friend and I went Sail-Rail with Stena from Dún Laoghaire to London Euston just before New Years.

While flying may be supposedly 'quick' I detest most of the aspects of flying: either waiting around for hours before or worrying about missing your flight if you leave at the last minnute, the strip searches, fighting for a seat on Ryanair, and carrying all of my stuff on my back to avoid paying for checked baggage. About the only thing I enjoy about flying is looking out the window, and for that you need good weather (which you can't predict when you buy your ticket) and it doubles the importance of joining the Ryanair seat scrum.

I had been prepared to trade the extra time it would take for relaxation and comfort. I really hoped that Sail-Rail would provide a civilised alternative to the chaos of short-haul low-cost airlines, but in my case it failed to live up to its potential.

Booking over the telephone was easy, even though I found it rather odd to be buying something over the phone while speaking to someone rather than clicking a mouse. I booked a week in advance, but I suppose I could have also bought my ticket at the HSS terminal.

We got to Dún Laoghaire about an hour before departure, since we were told that check-in would close 30 minutes prior to departure, but for no apparent reason Stena didn't check anyone in until about 15 minutes before scheduled departure, meaning that we couldn't proceed to the departures lounge. The result was a massive queue in the foyer of the ferry terminal with few seats and no information. We still had to check in our suitcase (and consequently collect it from the tiny baggage reclaim facility in Holyhead), but there was at least no additional charge.

The ferry was slightly late departing and then slightly late arriving - nothing too bad, only about 20 minutes. But coupled with the long stressful wait for our suitcase, and an unnecessarily thorough and understaffed passport control (Common Travel Area, what Common Travel Area?) we found ourselves running for our Virgin train from Holyhead to Euston. There was no information provided on the status of the train: e.g. like if they had told us that the train would wait for ferry passengers (or not). It turned out that the train had been cancelled, but of course no-one told us this while we were stressing in the baggage reclaim area.

Finding out that the train was actually cancelled (and what to do about it) was an ordeal, involving me ringing up the National Rail hotline and then relaying what I had found out to other passengers. Little or no information was gained from station staff, who worked for Ariva and adopted the attitude that this was a Virgin problem and nothing to do with them.

About an hour later people were being put onto buses to Chester to make rail connections there. We opted to wait for the next train (dep. approx 2h30 after the ferry arrived), along with most of the other foot-passengers (because there were too few buses anyway) and what showed up was a tiny 3 car DMU inadequate for all the ferry passengers, so there were lots of people standing all the way to Chester.

That (Ariva) train was late into Chester too (because of the over-crowding) and we had to run to catch the Virgin train to London. The Virgin train actually waited for us, but again, we didn't know that was the case as no announcements had been made, nor had we been told which platform our connecting train was leaving from.

This train was packed between Chester and Crewe, but it thinned out considerably between Crewe and London and we were able to watch a film on my laptop as there was a socket beside the seat.

We got into London at about 8.30pm, having left Dún Laoghaire at about 11am. Thankfully we had booked a flight back to Ireland rather than a return train & ferry.

I e-mailed Stena afterwards to see if I could get either a refund or an apology for the delays, but so far I have even failed to receive a reply. The ticket was only €44, so I couldn't be bothered spending time following it up. At least with Iarnród Éireann I have been successful every time I have looked for a 50% refund when their trains are over an hour late.

The major problems associated with my experience were all to do with a lack of information being provided to the passenger. I can accept that the first train breaking down was just bad luck, but all I wanted to do was relax while getting to my destination and that wasn't possible.

09-02-2009, 17:08	#14
crc New to the board Join Date: May 2006 Location: Dublin & Cork Posts: 14	My girl-friend and I went Sail-Rail with Stena from Dún Laoghaire to London Euston just before New Years. While flying may be supposedly 'quick' I detest most of the aspects of flying: either waiting around for hours before or worrying about missing your flight if you leave at the last minnute, the strip searches, fighting for a seat on Ryanair, and carrying all of my stuff on my back to avoid paying for checked baggage. About the only thing I enjoy about flying is looking out the window, and for that you need good weather (which you can't predict when you buy your ticket) and it doubles the importance of joining the Ryanair seat scrum. I had been prepared to trade the extra time it would take for relaxation and comfort. I really hoped that Sail-Rail would provide a civilised alternative to the chaos of short-haul low-cost airlines, but in my case it failed to live up to its potential. Booking over the telephone was easy, even though I found it rather odd to be buying something over the phone while speaking to someone rather than clicking a mouse. I booked a week in advance, but I suppose I could have also bought my ticket at the HSS terminal. We got to Dún Laoghaire about an hour before departure, since we were told that check-in would close 30 minutes prior to departure, but for no apparent reason Stena didn't check anyone in until about 15 minutes before scheduled departure, meaning that we couldn't proceed to the departures lounge. The result was a massive queue in the foyer of the ferry terminal with few seats and no information. We still had to check in our suitcase (and consequently collect it from the tiny baggage reclaim facility in Holyhead), but there was at least no additional charge. The ferry was slightly late departing and then slightly late arriving - nothing too bad, only about 20 minutes. But coupled with the long stressful wait for our suitcase, and an unnecessarily thorough and understaffed passport control (Common Travel Area, what Common Travel Area?) we found ourselves running for our Virgin train from Holyhead to Euston. There was no information provided on the status of the train: e.g. like if they had told us that the train would wait for ferry passengers (or not). It turned out that the train had been cancelled, but of course no-one told us this while we were stressing in the baggage reclaim area. Finding out that the train was actually cancelled (and what to do about it) was an ordeal, involving me ringing up the National Rail hotline and then relaying what I had found out to other passengers. Little or no information was gained from station staff, who worked for Ariva and adopted the attitude that this was a Virgin problem and nothing to do with them. About an hour later people were being put onto buses to Chester to make rail connections there. We opted to wait for the next train (dep. approx 2h30 after the ferry arrived), along with most of the other foot-passengers (because there were too few buses anyway) and what showed up was a tiny 3 car DMU inadequate for all the ferry passengers, so there were lots of people standing all the way to Chester. That (Ariva) train was late into Chester too (because of the over-crowding) and we had to run to catch the Virgin train to London. The Virgin train actually waited for us, but again, we didn't know that was the case as no announcements had been made, nor had we been told which platform our connecting train was leaving from. This train was packed between Chester and Crewe, but it thinned out considerably between Crewe and London and we were able to watch a film on my laptop as there was a socket beside the seat. We got into London at about 8.30pm, having left Dún Laoghaire at about 11am. Thankfully we had booked a flight back to Ireland rather than a return train & ferry. I e-mailed Stena afterwards to see if I could get either a refund or an apology for the delays, but so far I have even failed to receive a reply. The ticket was only €44, so I couldn't be bothered spending time following it up. At least with Iarnród Éireann I have been successful every time I have looked for a 50% refund when their trains are over an hour late. The major problems associated with my experience were all to do with a lack of information being provided to the passenger. I can accept that the first train breaking down was just bad luck, but all I wanted to do was relax while getting to my destination and that wasn't possible.