Steam Packet Prepare To Pull Out Of Dublin & Belfast Routes

[spock]

That's what the "use it or lose it" comment made recently by IOMSPCo alludes to for 2009.

 

But hang on a second, surely those services were originally introduced to attract large numbers of visitors to the Isle of Man - not to provide a service for those few who lived on the IOM and want to visit Ireland (North or the Rep.)?

 

On the basis of the above being so then surely questions should be asked of the managemnt of IOMSPCo as to what are they doing to make the fares and timetable more attractive so that more visitors from Ireland want to travel to the IOM.

[Gladys]

Did Copycat decide to stay in NZ when visiting MCB and leave you with the handbook? I will be convinced you are Copycat/MCB when you try to link a headline from the other side of the world to the IOM.

 

Missed you, in a way.

[Snaipyr]

That's what the "use it or lose it" comment made recently by IOMSPCo alludes to for 2009.

 

But hang on a second, surely those services were originally introduced to attract large numbers of visitors to the Isle of Man - not to provide a service for those few who lived on the IOM and want to visit Ireland (North or the Rep.)?

 

On the basis of the above being so then surely questions should be asked of the managemnt of IOMSPCo as to what are they doing to make the fares and timetable more attractive so that more visitors from Ireland want to travel to the IOM.

 

What do you mean by 'those few'? I know it doesn't compare with the numbers who travel to the UK, but every time my family travels to Ireland (two or three times each summer) the boats are fairly full. We'd go there more often, but the service more or less ceases in September. The Manx have strong cultural links with Ireland - surely the User Agreement offers some protection. For myself and family it's the traditional music and language, but there's also the bikers - and people who go in for sheep dog trials, ploughing matches and the like! Perhaps they should also run 'Wedding Anniversary Specials'. I'm always amazed by the number of (middle-aged) people in Ireland who spent their Honeymoon in the IOM and plan to come back for an anniversary (if their hotel hasn't been demolished for apartments).

[jim]

(if their hotel hasn't been demolished for apartments).

 

it has or it's about to be. So they wont be back.

[alph3]

That whole statement is fuckin' bullshit! When I first moved to the island from Ireland about 9 years ago the boats were great (well, not great but they were much better than they are now). At least 3 sailings per week to Belfast and the same to Dublin, staggered so that you could go to Belfast on a Thursday and return from either port when you wanted. But it is not even the stupid new timetable they've introduced, it's the fact that the sailings are at such daft times. No harm to those who actually stay in Dublin or Belfast, but when I go back to Ireland I am heading off to Donegal, which is 2.5 hrs from Belfast and over 4 hrs from Dublin. I've been saying it for years, to those that know me, that the steam packet are slowly but surely phasing out the Irish trips and here is the proof. So it is either use our 'service' at stupid times and stupid days or we'll get rid of it. Personally, I hope that they do so that another company with a little more respect for their customers can take over and provide a proper service.

[John Wright]

That whole statement is fuckin' bullshit! When I first moved to the island from Ireland about 9 years ago the boats were great (well, not great but they were much better than they are now). At least 3 sailings per week to Belfast and the same to Dublin, staggered so that you could go to Belfast on a Thursday and return from either port when you wanted. But it is not even the stupid new timetable they've introduced, it's the fact that the sailings are at such daft times. No harm to those who actually stay in Dublin or Belfast, but when I go back to Ireland I am heading off to Donegal, which is 2.5 hrs from Belfast and over 4 hrs from Dublin. I've been saying it for years, to those that know me, that the steam packet are slowly but surely phasing out the Irish trips and here is the proof. So it is either use our 'service' at stupid times and stupid days or we'll get rid of it. Personally, I hope that they do so that another company with a little more respect for their customers can take over and provide a proper service.

 

Posted by someone who has not read this years 2008 timetable

 

belfast

 

once per week March April May and September and threee times per week june July and August

 

latest arrival Belfast 18.25 latest departure Belfast 19.15

 

Dublin between 2 and thre per week for june july and August latest arrival \Dublin 18.25 and latest departyre from Dublin 19.15

 

and they are definitely staggered and open jawed

 

The only days you cannot go to one or the other in height of season are

 

june 17 & 18 23, 24 25 (5 days)

 

July 1, 2, 3, 5 , 15, 17 21, 22, 23, 25 27 and 29

 

August 5,6, 12, 13 , 18, 21, 23, 25 28 and 30

 

In other words there is a boat every 2 out of 3 days at convenient times in both directions.

 

Dublin is less distance from Belfast than Liverpool and Heysham and the roads are good

[ans]

He does say 2009 to be fair.

[monasqueen]

They seem to have been trying to kill off the "service" to Ireland for years - ships at unpopular times, cutting the service at Irish holiday times in October, reduction of day excursions to Dublin and Belfast (and vice versa).

 

Given a proper vessel and a decent timetable, there is a possibility that you could (re)start a freight service, and bring coaches, never mind those camper vans that I see quite often on the Prom, that must have had to come via Holyhead or Stranraer, using 2 ferries and a lot of driving to get here - they'd be able to come twice as often if they only had to use one ferry!

 

A good, fast, conventional ferry that would take the larger vehicles would help to make the service far more profitable than if you just use a weather dependant seacat that can only take cars.

[John Wright]

He does say 2009 to be fair.

 

Not alph3 his comments were about this years irish timetable which is the best in years

[Snaipyr]

They seem to have been trying to kill off the "service" to Ireland for years - ships at unpopular times, cutting the service at Irish holiday times in October, reduction of day excursions to Dublin and Belfast (and vice versa).

 

Given a proper vessel and a decent timetable, there is a possibility that you could (re)start a freight service, and bring coaches, never mind those camper vans that I see quite often on the Prom, that must have had to come via Holyhead or Stranraer, using 2 ferries and a lot of driving to get here - they'd be able to come twice as often if they only had to use one ferry!

 

A good, fast, conventional ferry that would take the larger vehicles would help to make the service far more profitable than if you just use a weather dependant seacat that can only take cars.

 

Completely agree.

 

Also, as so many people go off the Island for shopping, why aren't Dublin and Belfast promoted more - both are great cities for shops now.

[manxy]

IMO

The Steam Packet Company are in it for the money!

 

They want boats full to the brim and want loss making services reduced and if that makes some people unhappy, then so be it. They're not in it to make people intentionally happy as they're too far concerned about their personal wage packets.

 

Well, it sounds about right and no doubt the Steam Packet backside licker's will have a say now.

[Gladys]

IMO

The Steam Packet Company are in it for the money!

 

Of course they are, they are a commercial operation with shareholders to feed. Our dissatisfaction should be aimed at the government which allows a monopoly to behave exactly how a monopoly will behave - with scant regard for the customer or any element of service they bring. They have the mechanism to impose quality control and ensure a service element in the user agreement; but it doesn't seem like that is working at the moment. Either its provisions need to be enforced or they need to tighten up on the conditions next time round.

 

Very simple really, the Steam Packet are just behaving as you would expect a commercial operation to. If you want them to put service over profit (which ain't really going to happen), then the conditions under which they operate need to be examined. When these have been fully examined and tightened up to guarantee a high level of service, the difficulty will then be finding someone to operate it.

 

Classic tensions between lifeline service and economic viability.

[gazza]

now if thay pull them sailings, can u blame them,

would u go and work somewhere when at the end of the day u lost money not made it, i dont think u would

 

now while if thay stop doing these routes then it might affect a few ppl,

and we can all rant at them stopping sailings to here and there, but there a buissanse out to make money not

losse it, i for one can understand cost saveings have to be made to survive,

while once b4 thay might have ran theses sailings at a small lost to keep evryone happy, the price of fuel/wagers

has gone up a lot, so now it really is not worth doing anymore

 

but even if thay do stop it, the flights are cheap at the moment, while i know this dont help the many ppl that come/go by car,

 

but i do agree with that its got a monoply on the island and a second tender should be sent out to relative ferry oparations

so that we can have 2 companys in the island, but then u prob find thay both go broke as there aint the coustomer base to really stand 2 companys, also u could find that thay work together just like the main fuel companys do, to push the price up, which i think is wrong, (dont even get me started on this)

 

a better plan would be for the goverment to sub the fares,

now while i think the foot passangers fare is ok, the car/truck/wagon is just down right wrong, but then again maybe thats the true cost and have to be that high to make a profit, but i dowt it some how, not for the simple fact that there be at the least 30k worth of artics on that boat every sailing,

[ans]

My eyes hurt

[alph3]

He does say 2009 to be fair.

 

Not alph3 his comments were about this years irish timetable which is the best in years

 

Your right John, I was talking about this years timetables (and mostly out of my arse to be fair as I have just seen the times)! I was really just venting my spleen about the steam packet! Plus I really don't like to be given ultimatums on how I travel. I lost total confidence in Steam Packet when they changed the timetables a few years back and rarely use them anymore anyways, which I suppose proves the point about the Irish sailings being a lose maker.

The convenience of the plane far outweighs the cheapiness (or not if you do decide to take a car) of the boats. A one way trip to Donegal via. boat takes the best part of 7 hours, whereas with the planes it's more like 4 hours. Thats an extra 3 hours of Smithwicks drinking down the pub when I do get home!