Holyhead closed!

[MegCleary]

Anyone nearby with inside track?? Will it re open?? Cannot believe it is shut till the 19th. We are meant to be heading home for Christmas the 22nd and am terrified we won’t make it!

DD has managed to get on the Dublin to Fishguard ferry and have got a cabin so they can sleep as it’s an overnight sail. She feels better knowing they can sleep and she won’t be as tired from the traveling to do the drive the other side. It was a pain getting it sorted but she finally has!! 🙂

@GinaDreamsofRunningAway so glad it’s sorted

Packages and goods have been rerouted pretty efficiently.

Looks like the Isle of Man Steampacket's going to loan out its standby boat* Ben-My-Chree for freight between Heysham and Dublin to help take some of the strain, but that's only for the couple of weeks over Christmas.

*Yes I know it's technically a ship but we were brought up saying 'boat' and lord knows I've been on enough of them between Douglas and Liverpool/Heysham in my life.

All I can say is, from the Manx perspective, it's already the season of cancellations because of the state of the Irish Sea. DP (who isn't even planning on going anywhere) is currently glued to weather forecasts, Steampacket news, and the webcam on Peel breakwater.

Good luck, everyone and Nollick Ghennal

https://www.three.fm/news/isle-of-man-news/ben-my-chree-helping-on-dublin-heysham-route/

thanks! will check that out.

I know its a terrible time of year for sailing. We once spent 8 hours trying to dock in Holyhead. But usually its fine.

Whats the quickest option Dublin-Manchester?

Really don't want to drive too much, I like the idea of an overnight boat and sleeping. Will be the closest to a cruise I will ever get my husband on!

oh freight only. I guess I won't be going on that.

My DD has a friend who works at the port and they are working instead at Fishguard. It’s a four hour journey and lodge away from home, paid for by the company of course.
The friend said they are grateful that they haven’t been laid off.

I think the idea is that it'll increase capacity on the other passenger ferries, so keep looking and good luck.

@TamiTaylorIsMyParentingGuru we asked again for a refund after it was shut until 15/1, we said we could not make a journey from Pembroke to Rosslare. Today they emailed and said full refund and £100 travel credit for a year for the Tesco club card vouchers we lost.

@BenFannag is Nollick Ghennal Manx? I guessed Christmas for Nollick because we have Nollaig, but ghennal is beyond me. I can read Manx OK if I try saying it out loud as it is all the Irish words written using the English spelling system.

so I tried to book a ticket on the stena dublin-liverpool route. But no cabins left and we are wimps who don't like missing a nights sleep.

So found reasonable-ish ryanair tickets via liverpool. Including a hire car and some luggage it will still be cheaper than boat ticket, and slightly quicker (but less pleasant) journey - I hate flying, especially when the only normal priced tickets were at 6am. Also we won't be able to bring things back with us that we wanted to.

Latest reports are now saying that the port won't reopen until March.

Yes, it means 'Merry Christmas'. Linguistically Manx Gaelic is very close to Irish, but as you say when it was first put into written form it was done in a somewhat anglicised style.

Luckily Manx is thriving once more on the Island. The 'Culture Vannin' website is very good for language, pronunciation guides, traditions, etc.

culturevannin.im/publications/books/nollick-ghennal-songs-in-manx-for-christmas/

For future reference, it's a shorter drive to Liverpool than to Holyhead, by about an hour. With the Liverpool service, you can get the overnight ferry and sleep in a cabin. Great experience. On the other end, it only adds about 1.5 hours to drive from Belfast compared to Dublin. Hope this helps in future, it's a much nicer experience than bloody Holyhead (that drive across the country kills me!).

Getting the ferry seems like it will no longer be an option unless she decides to go for it and endure the extra travelling time.

Surely a few extra hours travelling is not really that big a deal.

I'm guessing ghennal is like genial

Yes! It means genial, merry, sunny, convivial, cheerful, jocular, good-humoured, jolly, mirthful, gay, jovial, amiable, blithe, blithesome.

the cabins book out fast on the overnight dublin-liverpool boat.

Between stena and Irish ferries there were about 6 boats a day Dublin-holyhead, now there is one to liverpool! So unless it works to drive via Belfast or fishguard, you are stuck.

Some good news - it looks like part of Holyhead port will resume operations on 16th January.

https://www.stenaline.ie/customer-service/latest-sailing-updates