How ferry fiasco ‘is ruining our family holiday’

Anger and shock over Irish Ferries decision to cancel trips

FAMILIES have reacted with dismay after Irish Ferries cancelled summer sailings to France for tens of thousands of holidaymakers on its new WB Yeats ferry.

The families have said they’ve been left in ‘limbo’ as they have been unable to contact the firm due to the high volume of calls it has been receiving.

The firm has blamed ‘extraordinary circumstances beyond its control’ for the cancellations after German shipbuilder FSG pushed back the delivery date of the new vessel for the second time. The WB Yeats had been due to begin sailing on the Dublin to Cherbourg route.

However, many passengers have shared their frustration at the turn of events on social media and said they were unsuccessful in contacting Irish Ferries. The company said yesterday that they were experiencing a ‘high volume of calls’.

A Dublin mother of three, Mary, who did not wish to give her surname, said the chaos comes at a ‘harsh financial cost’ and will force her family to travel on different dates, from another port. ‘I’ve been making it very clear to Irish Ferries that we only go on holiday every second year or third year. I have a young family and can only afford to work part-time,’ she said.

‘It’s taken enough money already to go this year and we... had to foot a bill for their incompetence,’ said the mother. ‘I’ve asked them to use the €150 [goodwill] voucher [they gave us] to help cover the cost but they’re avoiding me since that.’

Due to the cancellations, the family must now factor in an additional drive three hours to Rosslare Harbour before boarding the ship.

‘People save up so much for these holidays and it’s just the shrug-theshoulders attitude – they just keep telling us there’s nothing we can do but it’s still not enough,’ the mother said. ‘We’ve been saving so hard for the last few years for this holiday [and] the uncertainty that we could lose everything as we’d paid our accommodation in full...’ she said.

The National Transport Authority told the Irish Daily Mail that they were ‘extremely disappointed’ by the announcement of the cancellations. ‘Impacted passengers are entitled to an alternative sailing to their final destination at the earliest opportunity, under comparable conditions and at no additional cost or to a full refund.

‘Impacted passengers may also be entitled to claim compensation depending on length of delay in arrival at your final destination and depending on the cause of that delay,’ said an NTA spokesman.

Head of community for mummypages.ie, Laura Erskine added: ‘It is very disappointing and upsetting for the tens of thousands of families affected by the cancellation of the Irish Ferries summer sailings from Dublin to Cherbourg.

‘While the delay in the final building stages of the new WB Yeats ferry is beyond the control of Irish Ferries, that does little to ease the frustration of families who are now being forced to look at alternative routes that result in additional travel time and hassle in order to get to and from their holiday

‘People save up so much’

destination,’ she said. Irish Ferries had previously cancelled its July sailings on the WB Yeats, with the latest delay causing August sailings to also be cancelled.

The company told the Irish Daily Mail that it only learned on Monday that the delivery of the WB Yeats had been subject to further delays. While alternative travel options to France are available, these may involve travelling on different dates, from different ports, or via the UK.

‘This resulted in a decision to cancel the remaining departures from Dublin to Cherbourg this summer,’ said a spokesman.

He added: ‘Irish Ferries have facilitated over 25% of affected bookings by offering alternate sailings. The vast majority of those have accepted those sailings offered with a small percentage being refunded in full. For those who are seeking a refund, Irish Ferries estimates this will take approximately one week.

‘Over 90% of customers can be accommodated on the Oscar Wilde and there is also some space available on another Irish Ferries ship, the Epsilon, and there are also a number of landbridge options [via the UK]. Those who choose this option will be refunded their petrol/diesel costs.

‘If alternative travel arrangements do not suit, customers are entitled to a full and immediate refund of all monies paid,’ added the spokesman.

The company said it is also offering each affected customer a €150 voucher which can be used on any of its Ireland-France routes next year.

The WB Yeats is now likely to commence sailing with Irish Ferries on the Dublin to Holyhead route in September.

IT surely has been devastating for Irish Ferries to learn that, after an initial delay of one month in taking ownership of its new vessel, the WB Yeats, the ship will now not be available for the summer season at all, leaving many thousands of intending passengers potentially stranded.

It is a problem the company could not have foreseen. The shipbuilder is German and that country’s industries have been founded on, and thrived on, efficiency and punctuality. So the news from the shipyard must have come as a massive blow.

We all accept that the circumstances in this instance are beyond the control of Irish Ferries, but it is also reasonable to expect that its response would, like another of its vessels, be swift.

When something goes wrong, a company is not judged on the event but on how it responds to it, and this is where Irish Ferries has stumbled.

Hundreds of customers have reported problems reaching the helpline set up to rebook holidays, whether on the firm’s existing Oscar Wilde cruise ferry from Rosslare or on so-called landbridge routes via Britain.

For those discommoded, time is of the essence. They need to be rebooked quickly before availability becomes scarce, or the prices of the flight alternatives escalate.

If Irish Ferries were truly committed to providing good service, it should have recruited as many telephone agents as were needed to deal with all queries promptly, and allay the fears of those who are now in doubt that they will get away on holiday at all.

This is not astrophysics, or even complicated relationship management. It is simple customer service.

Last year’s Ryanair cancellation nightmare should have served as a wake-up call to all travel firms to have strategic plans in pace for such a calamity. Irish Ferries must up its game immediately and provide its customers with the common courtesy of having someone available on the other end of the line to smooth their passage to the bon voyage they expected.