It depends where in Wales you sail from and where in Ireland you sail to.

Fishguard to Rosslare on the normal ferry is 3hours 45mins.

Sarah

Thank you I was not sure of where you went from.

Where in Ireland do you want to get to?

We went Hollyhead to Dublin about 2hrs on the fast ferry Johnathan Swift.
http://www.irishferries.co.uk/

the Stena Line HSS from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire, which is at south end of Dublin Bay, was originally marketed as 100 minutes but a few months ago they were muttering about fuel costs and the possibility of withdrawing it. It is currently timed for 119 minutes and the website timetable page doesn't show any schedule after early January. They do advertise HSS fares for 2009 but I've just done a random reservation query for May and it only offered the slow boat to Dublin Port (3 hr 15min).

Not sure yet, just looking around at the moment to be honest.

What do you think is the smoothest option, fast or normal?

Depends on the weather

It's not that simple anymore.

If the weathers good both are smooth but the ordinary ship is more comfortable. The HSS is a bit like an airport departure lounge, similar seats with food outlets around the edge, a couple of bars and a shop. The difference is this airport lounge can cross the sea fast enough to water ski behind it! Well it does if the waves are less than about 3 metres - after that it doesn't go out at all. The ship has better lounges and a real restaurant and keeps going until the weather is really bad.

But you may not have a choice - whilst this thread has been running Stena have announced a 50% cut in services until Christmas on both HSS and ship and the Holyhead routes. What happens after Christmas remains to be seen but I suspect the HSS will be withdrawn. Like Concorde it's a marvellous piece of engineering that isn't really practical in the current market.

Irish Ferries will be under more political pressure to keep service levels up but they have also announced a 50% cut in fast craft (Jonathon Swift) services out of Holyhead athough the ordinary ship service is unchanged. If Stena withdraw the competition of the HSS it raises a question over the future of the Jonathon Swift.

I read this before I logged on. I guess it depended on the weather lol I just wanted to know the most comfortable sailing.

Sorry

As Tarry for some reason has chosen to edit or delete posts in this topic, it is unlikely that anyone else may benefit from the information supplied and so it's probably best that we close the topic now.

David