Archive for the ‘Ferries’ Category

SAS and DFDS Seaways offer free travel for stranded Sterling Airlines passenger

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008Karen Bryan

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Following my post earlier today about Ryanair’s rescue fare for passengers stranded by the collapse of Sterling Airlines, I received an email from DFDS Seaways with details of the free travel available for stranded Sterling passengers on their Harwich to Esbjerg ferry.

DFDS Seaways are offering free transport to Sterling Airways passengers after the airline went bust this morning. To assist with repatriation, DFDS Seaways will offer free travel onboard the m.s. DANA SIRENA to all Danish residents and British travellers holding valid Sterling Airline tickets. DFDS Seaways will honour all valid Sterling Airlines tickets and offer free travel onboard the m.s. DANA SIRENA to Esbjerg subject to availability.

All Sterling Airlines’ customers who hold a valid ticket with the airline are eligible for free travel from Harwich to Esbjerg in a standard class cabin, subject to availability, until Thursday 6th November. For
more information contact DFDS Seaways on 0871 882 0890 for more details.
http://www.dfdsseaways.co.uk/aboutus/sterling_airlines

Anna Etmanska of the Europe a la Carte blogging team alerted me to the fact that SAS are offering stranded Sterling passengers free travel (although passengers will have to pay airport taxes, fees and charges) until midnight on 30 October. This offer is only available at the airport upon production of a Sterling ticket, if there are seats in economy class on the plane.

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Posted in Air travel, Denmark, Destination guides, Ferries, Travel news by Karen Bryan | 2 Comments »

Sail Rail from London to Dublin for £54 return

Friday, July 25th, 2008Karen Bryan

You can buy a return Sail Rail ticket to Dublin for only £54 from UK cities such as London and Newcastle. Sail Rail is a partnership of British and Irish ferry and train operators. The ferry crossings used are Fishguard to Rosslare, Holyhead to Dublin, Stranraer to Belfast.


I did a search for a Sail Rail ticket from Edinburgh to Belfast on 27 July, in 2 days time and found a single ticket for £26.

I think that is a really good offer as it appears to be available even at peak times and without having to book months in advance. You also have to consider that you don’t have the hassle of getting to and from the airport, the train will take into the city centre. You can also take as as much luggage as you like.

Have you used Sail Rail?

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Posted in Budget options, Day trips, Ferries, Ireland, Rail travel, Short breaks, United Kingdom by Karen Bryan | 2 Comments »

Cash back on your travel spending

Thursday, November 22nd, 2007Karen Bryan

If you’d like to earn cashback on your travel and holiday spending then you should look at the cash back offers available with eCashBack. There’s 2.5% cash back on your spend with Ebookers and Expedia, 3.5% with Alpharooms, 1% with Eurostar and P&O Ferries.

There are also cash back offers with many other online retailers such as Argos, Boots, Amazon, Dell, Halfords and River Island. You even receive a £2.50 bonus when you join eCashBack.

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Posted in Accommodation, Air travel, Family holidays, Ferries, Rail travel, Travel deals, Travel tips, United Kingdom by Karen Bryan | 2 Comments »

Will you pay more to be a green traveller?

Saturday, November 10th, 2007Karen Bryan

It seems that my suspicions earlier this year about travellers claiming they wanted to be greener and taking on action of this front are all too true. According to a recent opinion poll only 7% of UK holidaymakers are willing to pay to offset the environmental effects of their trip. Could part of the reason by the doubling of Air Passenger Duty making us feel that we are already paying towards the detrimental effects of our flights? There’s also some mistrust of carbon offset schemes due to the lack of common standards and high admin charges. Or if it simply people paying lip service to concerns about the environment because it’s the fashionable thing to feign concern?


Carbon Cover Up by London Permaculture

So what’s your position on all this? Do you just want to be able to enjoy your holidays without being made to feel guilty and the whole issue is not top of your agenda? Are you taking active steps to reduce the impact of your travel by flying less, using other forms of transport such as trains or ferries and/or paying into carbon offset schemes?

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Posted in Air travel, Environment, Ferries, Opinion poll, Rail travel, United Kingdom by Karen Bryan | 2 Comments »

Is this Scotland?

Sunday, June 10th, 2007Karen Bryan

You may think of Scotland as a wet, cloudy and gloomy place but this was Oban, on the west coast of Scotland, basking in the evening sun on Friday last week. I think it looks more like the Italian Riveria! McCaig’s Tower, the classical folly in the background only adds to the illusion.

Oban is one of the main ports to Scottish Islands where you can catch a ferry to destinations such as Mull, Coll, Tiree and the Uists.

[tags]Oban, McCaig’s Folly, Scotland[/tags]

Posted in Ferries, Scotland by Karen Bryan | No Comments »

Free ferries to the Scottish Islands?

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007Karen Bryan

As the newly elected Scottish Executive plans to scrap tolls on the Forth and Tay road bridge there have been calls to abolish fares on ferries to the Scottish islands.  I suppose it is a logical progression, if you can cross a body of water free in the central belt of Scotland why not to an island? It would certainly boost tourism to the islands and increase the mobility of the island population, goods and services on the islands should drop in price if the additional transport costs were stripped out.

photo by unconnected

In fact I don’t think that the current fleet could cope with demand if you could travel on the ferry without charge. However it would require a large investment from taxpayers and there are so many other demands on the public purse. Islanders do already receive subsidies on ferry travel. What’s your opinion, would you go to the islands more often ferries were free? I’m fortunate in that I have visited the Hebrides several times in 2004 – 2005, all expenses paid by my employer. It is really beautiful there, if you get good weather but it’s a bit too remote and focused on outdoor pursuits for my personal taste.  If that type of holiday appeals you can book your ferry here.
[tags]ferries, Scottish ferries, free ferries[/tags]

Posted in Ferries, Scotland by Karen Bryan | No Comments »

Greek ferries information

Thursday, April 19th, 2007Karen Bryan

I came across this site which has links to all the Greek ferries. A great resource is you are thinking of island hopping in Greece. When I travelled around the islands in the 1978 it was really difficult to get information about the ferry timetables. You’d ask at the tourist office and then the ferry ticket office and be given completely different information.  I’d recommend if you are travelling independently that you catch the ferry to the location of your departure airport at least one day before your flight departs just to ensure you make that plane.

Photo by Bryce Edwards

Have you used the inter island ferries recently? Was it straightforward to obtain accurate information?

Posted in Ferries, Greece, Travel tips by Karen Bryan | No Comments »

A ferry good way to travel?

Monday, February 19th, 2007Karen Bryan

There were 36 million passenger ferry trips from the UK in 2005, an increase or 400,000 pasenger trips during the previous year. This follow a period of falling passenger trips, probably due to the growth of low cost flights. Passengers are citing reasons such as unrestricted baggage and short check in times as factors influencing their choice of transport.

I have mixed feelings about travelling by ferry. I made the overnight crossing from Zeebrugge to Newcastle a few years ago during an Easter holiday. It was a really rough crossing and it took me 2 days to recover. Living in the north a local ferry crossing is longer and more expensive. If you drive to the Channel ports that’s another day each way onto your trip driving on busy and or congested motorways. You can search and book with all the major European ferry operators with AFerryTo.

Posted in Ferries, United Kingdom by Karen Bryan | No Comments »

To ferry or not?

Saturday, December 9th, 2006Karen Bryan

Ferries are a really good option for travelling to Europe from the UK in several situations.

If you live in the south east of England, it is short crossing over the English channel. If there are several passengers in the car, it can be much cheaper than flying. You can take a lot more luggage, especially useful if you have kids. Also you don’t need to hire a car on arrival. Check that your insurance covers you for the countries which you will visit and it is a probably a good idea to buy breakdown cover. I would recommend taking your car if your destination is not too long a drive from your arrival port.

Once the ferry crossing becomes longer eg to Santander in northern Spain, the cost of transporting your car can become high. It may be cheaper to fly with a low cost airline to Bilboa. There is also the risk of sea sickness on longer trips. I had a very rough overnight crossing from Holland to Newcastle over the North Sea one Easter. It took me 2 days to recover from this!

A ferry crossing is a great way to visit the Scottish islands. There is not much public transport on the islands, such as the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland ,so you will be able to see a lot more if you take your car over on the ferry. Some of the roads are single track and full of sheep, so your progress will not be fast but plenty time to see the scenery. You can also do a day trip as a foot passenger if the islland involves a fairly short crossing eg to Mull from Oban.

The crossing from the UK to Ireland or vice versa is fairly short and could fit in well with a touring holiday of the UK and Ireland.

You can search for a ferry using this link.

Posted in Ferries, United Kingdom by Karen Bryan | No Comments »