Irish Ferries Reviews 

Travelled on the James Joyce on Saturday 18th October. First the good parts, there were very few passengers and secondly, there was a good choice of food, a good meal for nearly €22, quiet expensive but the meals looked good quality. However the restaurant had no customers. Now the bad points, this ship is more like a floating shop and pub. The only comfortable seats were in the pub in a "U" shape formation for about six people. So if the ship was crowded you would have to sit amongst complete strangers drinking, no privacy. There was also a lounge, but that was closed. There was only one male toilet open, the rest were locked and that one was disgusting. One toilet was blocked and overflowing. Although there were very few passengers in the pub, it was not peaceful as the gambling/fruit machines were very loud when someone played them. This interior of this ship was initially designed to accommodate travellers journeying between Helsinki and Tallin (Estonia) a journey time of about 2 hours 20 minutes. When Irish Ferries purchased this ship, it should have been refurbished to accommodate passengers for a longer journey with reclining single high back seating which would be suitable for solo travellers and families. If you have driven for three hours, waited at the port for three hours, then you need to rest in quiet area in a comfortable seat, not in a pub.If you are booking a ferry to Ireland, make sure you avoid the James Joyce, unless you have a cabin.

Why such the low score? I contacted Pembroke twice, and on each occasion I was not kept waiting and was treated with the upmost of respect. Good work Irish Ferries Pembroke.

I left my wallet on the ferry. They found it, looked after it and when I called, they helped in every way to return it to me. I think that this kind of customer care is all too rare and indicative of a fantastic company culture. I hope it is rewarded with continued success.

Ferry journeys were simple, had okay food and timely. Competitive pricing make this a good option.

I had one of the worst experiences with Irish Ferries at [Calais/Dover ].

We arrived at the port at 17:28 PM for the 18:20 PM ferry. We were on time and expected to board as booked. However, the staff at the check-in desk told us we “might not get on the 18:20” and moved us to a later crossing instead.

As a result, instead of leaving at 18:20, we were forced to wait until 20:40PM– over 3 hours of unnecessary delay. There was no proper explanation, no apology, and absolutely no effort to accommodate us even though we were early.

This is unacceptable customer service. We paid for a specific time and arrived early, only to be pushed back without reason. I will not be using Irish Ferries again and strongly advise other travelers to reconsider before booking with them.

Awful communication. I was due to travel home on the Sunday but due to illness had to change the booking to a Monday, and put the amendment request in as soon as I found out on the Saturday. It appears no-one at Direct Ferries or Irish Ferries works at the weekend, as they accepted my money for the change, but only told me they couldn't change my booking after my original ship had sailed on the Sunday (even though there was room on the new booking). I ended up spending £150 going home by tunnel instead, all due to the lack of timely communication on the amendment. I will never use Direct Ferries or Irish Ferries again. AVOID!

I'm appalled at Irish Ferries' disingenuous approach to compensating passengers for delayed journeys. Our ferry from Pembroke to Rosslare was delayed by 3.5 hours, meaning we arrived at our destination at 2am. When I asked at check-in about compensation, I was erroneously told that there was no eligibility because the delay was caused by weather. But the weather was completely calm, as confirmed by the ship's purser, who said the delay was because it would take 6 days to "catch up" after bad weather 3 days before. When I contacted Irish Ferries to claim compensation, they immediately accepted it was due so clearly the check-in staff had been told to give false information to dissuade passengers from applying for compensation which was due. However, under the regulations, I had expected to be awarded 50% of the journey cost as the journey time is 4 hours - only to be told that the scheduled journey time is 4 hours and 1 minute, meaning only 25% was due. This is clearly a scam on Irish Ferries' part, to schedule a 4-hour journey as 4 hours 1 minute because the compensation thresholds become much more onerous for them for journeys up to 4 hours and are relaxed somewhat for journeys over 4 hours. Do not use this company

We sailed Dublin to Holyhead on Monday afternoon, 22nd Sept 2025. We were instructed to proceed to our vehicles at 17:10. We then remained seated in our vehicles for 50 minutes. No announcements, no sign of staff. No information, and to make matters worse, some idiots had started their engines, but again, no staff to stop them and no announcements. UNSAFE !

It is a bit overpriced to travel but you can justify it with we get to have the car and book last min etc. However the overpricing on the ferry is close to thievery, chocolate bar in the vending machine over €3 same a bag of crisps. Food in the restaurants overpriced etc. The isle of inishfree on the Rosslare Pembroke route is very old and really showing its age now it's probably below budget standard but there is nothing budget about the prices. Unlike others I've had no issues with cancellations so on that front all good. Would be good to see the ferries have an over hall and brought up to a higher standard again and the on board pricing really needs addressing

Overpriced and unfriendly and not dog friendly.
Cabins are old and dingy, food, overpriced and unappealing.
Avoid the Isle of Inisheer at all costs - it’s 💯 unsuitable for the very long trip from Cherbourg to Dublin.
In an ideal world, IF would have competition on this route and have to up their game.
There’s absolutely nothing’Irish’ about Irish Ferries. So disappointing

Over £500 return from Holyhead to Dublin and there is no WiFi available. You have to use the Global Maritime network at a cost of £5 per mb yes that's correct. So to even just send a photo would cost nearly £25! There was no soap in the dispenser in the mens toilet and that was just after leaving port. The food that was available was extortionate £3 for a small tub of Pringles. There were no Vegan options available. There was a dog wee area on the top deck and that hadn't been cleaned for some time. The smell of urine was terrible and there was a pool of wee swilling around

If I could give 0 stars I would. We’re sitting at Pembroke Dock waiting to board a ferry that is so far over 3 hours late. And it’s clear it’s going to be some time before we can get on - which means we won’t arrive at our destination until the early hours. Communication has been poor - the online sailing status still says the boat should have left already. The only thing we’ve been given is one voucher for a soft drink on board. I asked about compensation and was told that it doesn’t apply because it’s due to poor weather. But it’s notable that this same ferry has been significantly delayed on every journey for the past several days - and the Stena sailings from a nearby port to the same destination are all running on time. So I don’t believe their excuses - they are simply using the weather to avoid their legal responsibilities.
Edit: we’re finally on the ferry and the purser has told me that the bad weather is not today (“everyone can see that”). He said the bad weather was 2 days ago and the boat won’t catch up with its schedule until 3 days time when there is the one weekly gap in sailings. In other words, they use one day of bad weather to try to wriggle out of their legal obligation to pay compensation for the following 6 days. The experience has led me to do some more research on Irish Ferries and I’ve realised they did a fire-and-rehire operation to get rid of all their unionised staff, which is appalling. It also explains the incredibly poor English language skills of many of the crew, which would surely be a danger in the event of an emergency (the staff member greeting people onto the boat was very smiley but couldn’t understand someone asking her where to go for a meal.

I have tried to use Irish Ferries a number of times, generally on the Irish Sea routes. It is honest and fair to say that more times than not my booking has been cancelled or amended at last minute citing 'operational reasons'. Because ferry crossings usually involve onward travel this has been hugely disruptive to overall travel plans. I would avoid them at all costs because there is slim chance that the ferry crossing will actually happen when scheduled and the company obviously doesn't really care about delivering a service.

Pembroke - Rosslare 13 September

The ferry arrived at Pembroke over an hour late, and arrived at Rosslare nearly 3 hours late.

There wasn’t the slightest sign of an apology from the captain or crew for this delay which for some meant an unplanned stay in an expensive hotel.

Of less importance, perhaps, is the fact that it appears that most of the crew were people whose native language wasn’t English, which made it quite difficult even to find out where the toilets were.

The crew were friendly and courteous, which made up for their lack of good English.

I didn’t even bother trying to point out that one of the toilets was blocked.

I don’t think I will travel by Irish Ferries again in a hurry.

We reluctantly had to use Irish Ferries as Stena's return times to Holyhead did not work for us. The check in process is a comedy of errors with 4 lanes of chaos. The James Joyce is dirty and cabins are so basic with no fridge or drinking water. Getting off after paying for premium boarding and disembarkation was a joke we were 5th from last off so all those who didn't pay for any extras were off well before SO DONT BOTHER PAYING FOR IT. NEVER AGAIN!!

Writing this as we sit waiting to disembark...no clue what the hold up is...were due to dock at 15.30...its now 18.00...ferry delayed leaving Dublin and then poor weather slowed us down enroute.... first time doing this crossing and will probably be the last.... incredibly shaky and bangy crossing....the ship feels too small for a 21 hour overnight voyage...I see that someone else has commented on it...The isle of Inisheer....it's essentially a freight ship and not exactly geared up for passengers...limited seating.. certainly not plush...and not a lot of open deck space...it's been an endurance test!
To be fair it was very clean,cabin was clean if very Spartan and staff were pleasant. Captain most apologetic for delays...didn't eat as it was expensive and we brought our own food on board.At over 800 euro return it's a rip off...I think we'll revert to driving down to the tunnel from Cairnryan....and we're still waiting to get off....

Ferry was delayed, but that can happen. The pet area is very poor, virtually no outdoor space and nowhere for doggy “business”. It’s also directly below the extremely loud speakers - the safety briefing hurt my insensitive human ears and caused most dogs considerable distress.
A most rubbish experience. I’m writing this on board and can only hope that we don’t hit an iceberg and sink because I’ve already given the minimum permissible number of stars!

Who made the absolute disastrous decision to 'revamp' the club class lounge? We booked the club class lounge as we've always had a very positive experience! It's been a few years since we travelled with Irish Ferries & said we'd treat ourselves to club class! What a mistake, it's no better than paying for a standard ticket!
Irish Ferries cancelled the Sunday night crossing to 'catch up' so as a result many passengers lost out on their cabin & were redirected to the club class lounge. It was chaotic, no seats for passengers who had paid in food faith & as for the 'new look' it's just gone back about 30 years! Absolutely terrible, cold, uninviting - Absolutely nothing special about it! The old design had a 360 degree panoramic view of the ocean with proper tables & not the excuse for a table that was so small it barley had any room on it & is practically on the floor! Don't waste your money on club class, it's no longer worth it! Irish Ferries you've gone back to the dark ages! DISASTER!

Worst company EVER!!!! Booked a ticket, arrived on time to cross from Calais to Dover. They just let everyone through regardless of ticket times. So….we end up waiting hours watching cars being loaded on our crossing who weren’t even due to cross on that crossing. Nothing we could do. Our ferry crossing time has no value. However if we were late we would have lost our money. Absolutely DISGRACEFUL!!! Caused heaps of problems for our follow on journey and all because they run it as a free for all with no regard to people’s bookings.

BELOW ONE STAR. WORST FERRY COMPANY TO EVER EXIST. I WILL CONTINUE TO WRITE NEGATIVE REVIEWS EVERY SINGLE DAY. WHOEVER RUNS THIS COMPANY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES. PEOPLE WAITING FOR HOURS WITH NO EXPLANATION AND JUST TO BE GIVEN BULLSHIT EXCUSES. AVOID BOOKING AT ALL COSTS.

Joke, massive delays, zero communication or apologies