Irish Ferries Reviews 

Used them for the first time. Uncomfortable, cramped, expensive. Never mind the sea, the smell of the food made me feel queasy.

As a walk-on passenger, the check-in process in Dublin was straightforward, but unfortunately the experience went downhill after that.

We were escorted to what looked like a 20-year-old bus that was clearly not fit for purpose. It was a standard seated bus with virtually no space for passengers' suitcases, making the journey to the ship awkward and uncomfortable.

We were also among the last passengers to board. To make matters worse, we entered the ship via Deck 3 through the vehicle area, alongside the cattle and horses, with the accompanying smells.

Once on board, however, the experience improved dramatically. The ship itself is excellent, the cabins are clean and comfortable, the food is good, and the staff were friendly and professional.

The biggest frustration came on arrival, when walk-on passengers were again the last to disembark. This makes little sense. Foot passengers often need to catch connecting buses and trains, while motorists already have their own transport waiting. It would be far more logical to prioritise walk-on passengers during disembarkation.

Overall, the onboard experience was very good, but Irish Ferries could significantly improve the journey for walk-on passengers by providing suitable transport to the ship and giving them priority when leaving the vessel.

Shocking experience.
Contacted their services due to an issue with my ticket, had to delay my return due to my father near death. Respond from the staff? It’s your fault for booking via direct ferry instead of book with us directly.

Meanwhile they are the ones refusing to allow me to return at a different date due to these circumstances beyond my control. Absolutely shocking and disgusting behaviour.

Arrived at the port early and they automatically put us on the earlier ferry all staff were great. Food a bit overpriced for the portion size but hey most ferries are the same Facilities onboard we’re all good and lots of areas to sit and relax
If I would compare to DFDS and P&O I would definitely go Irish ferries again

Just boarded and this is just a joke... they asked to park cars so close that it was not even possible to open the door properly. It' s almost impossible to open without hitting another car. Took a pictures for insurance purposes. Other people done this as well.

They parked 3 lanes in the space for 2 lanes(took a picture of that as well). ​Why are they cutting costs by allowing their customers' vehicles to get scratched and damaged?

We often use the Pembroke to Rosslare route to visit family in Ireland from South Wales, as we were going to a family wedding this past weekend in Ireland we decided to treat ourselves and upgraded to the Club Class Lounge, on our trip out we were very impressed by the Lounge and the priority boarding and disembarking getting us on our way very quickly when arriving in Ireland, we returned home today boarding was good, lounge again was good all though a little on the cold side due to the air conditioning system being set too low, disappointingly our disembarkation was very poor as we were the last lane of cars to leave the car deck, this prolonged our onward journey by some 45 minutes, this was a little disappointing as Irish Ferries failed on the last 25% of our first experience of the Club Class Lounge. We will use this on future trips to and from Ireland, hopefully you can work with your car deck crew to ensure that someone who has paid for the Club Class Lounge really do get the service what they have paid for.

Dover Calais 2026.07.11 19:40 sailing cancelled no warning allegedly as only 1 boat in service. My guess out of service as route unprofitable. but the thieves still took my money less than 24 hrs before sailing. staff were completely un sympathetic. Worse, uninformative. Gatekeeper did not tell the people let in they faced a no facilities 3hr delay. the later 22:00 ferry loaded late. no refund offered. no transfer to dfds or p&o. avoid. perhaps it will go out of business and solve the problem

The ferry oscar wilde, it's self was ok in general. However after deciding to buy breakfast before a long drive, we found the quality of the cooked breakfast extremely poor. Very poor quality ingredients badly cooked. Over cooked bacon, the sausages where terrible but by far the worst boiled mushrooms and raw tomatoes. I would save your money and buy croissants once in france

Awful. Ferry cancelled left sitting at the port without food or water for five hours. No representative of Irish Ferries came to explain or to meet with a ferry load of very angry customers. No refund offered but their telephone helpline did explain that as a gesture they would not be charging us for moving us to a later Irish ferry. No attempt was made to transfer us to DFDS or any other of the ferry companies, no one came to see us, no one texted us. Never again for me and I’d suggest you think very hard before booking with them.

Irish Ferries offer the best customer service, with fast responses, patience & flexibility.
They go out of their way to offer taylor-made solutions to high profile clients that create a little extra privacy for them.
Irish Ferries could not do more, and they do all of this at a great price. Thank you!

Great customer service and the trips we've done as a family (2 adults and 2 kids under 8) between Ireland and France have always gone smoothly for us. Would highly recommend using them.

We were supposed to set off at 2.30pm was parked up ready to board the ferry then an announcement says we will be delayed until just before 6pm. OUTRAGEOUS! The staff were no help at all we were only offered one free water or coffee or a soft drink by draught (the mix by spout) . We have gone to the customer service desk and asked what can be done and they replied with nothing we had reserved places to be in France which we can’t be refunded for this would be okay with a small delay but not several hours. NO REFRESHMENTS WERE GIVE/SNACKS. HOURS LATE ARRIVAL. BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE! Won’t be in France until 9:30pm.

Used Irish ferries for many years until recently always ok never top notch but ok price seems good unless
You pay for clubclass they refuse point blank to allow use of unless we paid again after long discussion with customer services it was agreed I would be refunded the extra £58 charged for two to enter when already paid once
However 3-5 days she advised now 7 days no message no refund no response whatsoever
When travelling in car or van it’s fine by motorbike the seized straps provided were in extremely poor condition other bikes had trouble with seized buckles too would strongly advise looking elsewhere in future I only make 6 return journeys a year so I suppose Irish ferries couldn’t care less but beware any way to obtain as much revenue in other ways despite initial slightly cheaper ticket the bigger picture very different why it’s suddenly changed up until this trip it’s always been my preferred crossing now it looks like DFDS & Brittany might be slightly more but better than paying for what you won’t receive

I have traveled back and forth to the UK with Irish Ferries on numerous occasions and have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone.

We had a nice time, though it felt like it could do with a clean, but enjoyable None the less

The Rosslare - Pembroke ferry trip at 21:30 on Wednesday 20th May 2026 was in excess of one hour after the scheduled arrival time.

The ship’s Captain acknowledged the late arrival over the loudspeaker and said that the delay was due to the larger than normal number of freight vehicles that had to be boarded.

As a consequence of the late arrival, I did not reach my hotel until after 03:00 and only slept for 3 and one half hours as I had to get up early.

I had assumed that Irish Ferries would pay compensation for a late arrival over 1 hour -NO!

The scheduled time for the Rosslare - Pembroke route is 4 hours, 1 minute. How convenient is that under these circumstances? Had the timing been 2 minutes shorter, then compensation would have been payable for delays of over 1 hour.

The minimum level of compensation shall be 25% of the Ticket Price paid for a delay of at least: (i) one hour in the case of a scheduled journey of up to four hours; (ii) two hours in the case of a scheduled journey of more than four hours, but not exceeding 8 hours.

When I queried the lack of compensation from the Customer Support Team of Irish Ferries I was told “The sailing schedule and time is advertised when selecting the sailing and agreeing to the terms of booking.”

In this day and age, I feel that this is totally unacceptable and shows a complete lack of customer service on Irish Ferries. I would rather swim across the Irish Sea than travel with Irish Ferries again!

Update
After writing this review, Irish Ferries asked me to contact their Customer Services. I did, and their response was "We note your update regarding TrustPilot.
The reply received would be a generic reply to any negative feedback, asking customers to raise this with the relevant team.
This you have done via ourselves in Customer Support and the update from ourselves would remain as advised. "

Seriously ..... how useless are they?

How absolutely amazing every hard working crew member you have is. I love getting the ferry. I arrived on the a day early and the young girl at the check-in desk helped me travel. Even when I am wrecked looking worse-for-wear the staff do not judge you at all and are funny and courteous. They seem to interchange role in order to allow rest periods for service which is wonderful to see.
£21 for slow cooked ribs with infinite veg and extras is a good deal. For the service you would pay more.
I'm sorry to see your bad reviews are mainly due to the French border control madness.
Club class was so cool. Such professional staff. Coffee, mango mousse, fresh bread, pastries and juices. All complimentary.
The views are incredible.
Customs officers can be quite suspicious but I like my neck tattoo.
This is not a contractual review.
I just wanted to thank you for the kind treatment.

Travel every year with Irish Ferries since 2011 and brilliant service from booking to departure. Its become a big part of our annual trip as we sit in club class enjoying a glass of wine.

Irish ferries offer a great service at a very competitive rate. Staff are welcoming, friendly and helpful. There is a compound for dogs, and apart from an annoying free-roaming dog which annoyed passengers on the deck and got into an altercation with another dog on a lead, everything was great. ☺️

Great way to travel, easy booking,ship is extremely clean, staff very helpful