Irish Ferries ULYSSES troubled year has continued into October and November, with the flagship again coming out of service this evening. Her place on the Dublin – Holyhead service is to be taken by her predecessor ISLE OF INISHMORE with the 20:55 sailing from Dublin this evening. The overnight cruise-ferry OSCAR WILDE has already replaced ISLE OF INISHMORE on the Rosslare – Pembroke Dock service. NIFS understands that this latest maintenance is to correct an ongoing problem and not a repeat of the issues to her propulsion system addressed at Harland & Wolff earlier this year which saw her out of service for most of July. However, no official reason has been given for her latest absence apart from the usual “technical reasons”.
At present ULYSSES is timetabled to return to service with the 20:55 ex Dublin on Thursday (1stNovember), though this is subject to change. Prior to 2018 the Finnish-built vessel had an enviable reputation for reliability but has been dogged with technical issues for much of 2018. These issues have been made worse by the unavailability of the new Ireland – France RoPax W.B. YEATS to provide additional capacity on Irish Ferries services due to her much delayed delivery from her builders in Germany. Ongoing technical issues with the Dublin – Holyhead fastcraft DUBLIN SWIFT this year have only made the situation worse. At present it does not appear that ULYSSES will be returning to Belfast for this latest maintenance, however running mate DUBLIN SWIFT is currently in the city for maintenance and winter layover.
