“Steve, swansea, look on the brightside, Gordon Brown isn't the Captain of the MV Julia, David Cameron isn't (Gordon's) First Mate nor Nick Clogg (sorry Clegg) the Entertainment Officer!”

“Steve, Swansea
Yes I can read but take the point made as it echoes others indicated below. The maiden voyage had problems but it really is unfair to tar the whole operation with the same brush and focus forever on the negatives. Shoddy behavior happens every day - remember the barrier "fiasco" at the Millennium Stadium when that opened? Lets not try and get too dramatic about it shall we and throw the baby out with the bathwater!
The lack of communication was the issue and I am sure this will not be repeated. I for one am very happy that we have this vital link in the city and will continue to focus on the bounty of opportunites this could bring to both Cork and Swansea. I don't think they would have brought back the service if there was no need for it or a fantastic campaign to get it set back up put in motion on both sides of the Irish Sea. I hope this goes from strength to strength its positive for our city in the long run even if the start was shaky. I just wish more people had positive things to say about our city instead of whining all the time.”

“Yet another Joke scheme to heap more embarrassment. for the City of Swansea.
Are we Jinxed or what you have the Highest restaurant in Wales and all we here from that is problems.
It looks like we are turning into a joke city.”

“anon, anon - I understand that lots of people have spent a lot of time, effort and money getting this ferry going. What I don't understand is why they appear to be unable to communicate properly with their customers and potential customers.

There is more to running a business than putting in a lot of effort. It appears to me that they don't really care about their customers. This seems to be standard practice in the UK.

Judging by the article, their service is a disgrace (unless everyone is lying). This suggests that it's not being professionally run (though I may be wrong).

I don't understand why some on here think there should be praised for what appears to be a shoddy service so far. Yes, they have had teething problems, but why haven't they kept customers informed.

If they want to run a service like this they have to take criticism
when things go wrong.

Are you saying we should ignore all this and just heap praise on them? How is that going to help? If we did that then we'd have a bunch of really shoddy businesses in this country/ Businesses that provide substandard service should be named and shamed. That is a way to get them to improve their service.

The reason I think this will fail is nothing to do with the way it is run. I just don't think there is enough demand for this service.”

“re steve

give it a rest before someone sues you.

lots of people have spent a lot of time, effort and money getting this ferry going.”

“Steve of Swansea, firstly are you speaking from personal experience here i.e. have you booked to sail/ have sailed with the ferry company? Please be careful what you say if you cannot substantiate your comments and are purely remarking on hearsay.
Secondly, is everyone who starts a new business viewed as amateur in your eyes? Cynicism helps no-one.
This is a brave venture made by people who believe in what they are doing and believe in succeeding- they wouldn't have done it otherwise. Yes, I do worry for them and hope that they will be able to weather all that they encounter over the next year and indeed, years to come.
Oh, before you ask, no, I don't have any financial interest in the company but I do want a good convenient service to enable me and many many others to travel to West Cork and Fastnet Line is going to offer just that.”

“Carol, Swansea - and how were passengers supposed to know that they had to listen to Swansea Sound. That's the most ridiclous thing I've heard in a long time. How are people travelling from England supposed to know that Swansea Sound even exists, let alone know how to find it and know that they are supposed to listen to it for ferry alerts.

And if they were travelling from england were they meant to arrive early and sit in a car park waiting for Swansea Sound to inform them of what was going on.

This is a completely stupid suggestion.”

“Typical!, Swansea - can't you read? No-one has branded the whole things a disgrace, only the maiden voyage.

Adrian, West Cork - what positives? This is a service run by amateurs. It will have shut down before the end of the year.

jon, Uplands - it isn't needless negative press. If the ferry company treats it's customers in such a shoddy way, what do you expect? This is utterly shambolic. This is the worst possible way to run a ferry company. They deserve all the bad publicity they get. It's not difficult to keep customers informed about what's going on, but they just couldn't be bothered.”

“If travellers listened to Swansea Sound...They would have known it would be sailing at 21.50...
Good luck to this venture ..Swansea to Cork...Lets hope it will be a big success”

“Fastnet LIne should be applauded. Those critics should hold back and ask themselves if they have what it takes to set up a new ferry service? This has been a major undertaking and to report that the ferry has made the first sailing is good news indeed! Now of course they must prove themselves by running a consistent and reliable service, which is probably harder than the launch. However, let's not write them off after what can only be described as a difficult start. The press are keen to find a negative spin- shame on you. Change your headline now whilst there is time enough.The service needs and deserves all the support it can get and in these days of doom and gloom good news is what we need and there is fantastic positive news in this story- use it! By all means mention the hiccups so that lessons can be learned, but there is no need to major on them.
I'm sorry to hear that people found that the communications broke down. I can only give Fastnet Line praise. We had made a trip over to Ireland especially to be on the first crossing from Cork on Monday 1st. We had been sent an email as soon as they knew on the Friday, but too late to catch us before our departure to Holyhead. We later had a phone call (ironically, reaching us literally as we disembarked the Dublin ferry!) to say that the new ferry was cancelled. After our initial disappointment, we realised the issue and asked if they could email all of the details through as we were currently on the road. They held to their word and I found all I needed on arrival at our destination. The refund was handled equally as efficiently and was back in my account before we arrived back in England (via Dublin). Now that is service.
Adrian et al, you have done a grand job and you have our support and can't wait to get booked onto a future crossing.
As with the seas, there will be ups and downs, so don't give up. South Wales, West Cork and travellers need you.”