[Traincustomer]

I'll go onboard as a stowaway if the coupon doesn't work!

The bus transfers are a pain alright. (Now, I've nothing against buses and enjoy bus travel but in the context of circa three minute runs within Holyhead Port it results in the transfer between train and ship being very cumbersome). The buses used generally seem to be oldish public buses with some of the seats rearranged to increase standing capacity.

With hindsight and if the clock could be turned back over a decade Holyhead Harbour could have been redesigned differently. In the mid-1990s high speed operations were "it" and leaflets at the time talked of the marine motorway etc... But the Inner Harbour is sealed off in perpetuity by both the road bridge and Celtic Gateway pedestrian bridge.

On a recent occasion due to winds the foot passenger walkway to the Ulysses at Salt Island was rendered unusable and it took an age for foot passengers to be bussed off. (The walkway is essentially supported above the sea). In fact the walkway must rank as one of the longest anywhere between terminal and ship.

Long term and subject to a viable business (and possible freight prospects) it wouldn't be entirely out of the question for the track to be extended from Holyhead Station to a basic station to serve the Salt Island berths. The track extends a fair distance beyond Platform 1 in any case (Cetic Gateway Pedestrian bridge is good point to see this) but is overgrown. Thinking this through there would probably have to be freight to make it worthwhile laying the track. As the area is out of public bounds the station would be exclusively for passengers arriving on the ferry/sailing on it/port workers. This could raise a few issues but they shouldn't be insurmountable.

The HSS Stena Explorer has the attribute of adjacency to the rail stations on both sides. Stena's plan sounds promising; I think a key point is to try and align the HSS sailing to Holyhead with the afternoon Virgin Trains to London; do-able if the sailing was advanced and the turnaround time in Dún Laoghaire cut to the half hour/35 minutes of its heyday.

It's a pity P & O don't take foot passengers from Dublin to Liverpool as their terminal (by the East Link Bridge) is just a stone's throw from the LUAS. However the Liverpool terminal is not so convenient and would likely require a bus transfer.

Finally it would be good if the bus link between the Irish Ferries terminal and Busáras (Heuston on first journey) could be an add-on to one's ticket. I have never seen as much commotion with first timers rummaging for coins/not having the money etc... Furthermore a through SailRail ticket say Chester to Kildare should entitle one to travel on this bus without further payment.

Something similar has recently been introduced in the Isle of Man whereby one can buy a rail and sea ticket from a station in Britain to Douglas (via either Heysham or Liverpool) and then get a "Plusbus" add-on for the IOM. So on arrival at the Sea Terminal in Douglas there's no hassle of rooting for cash and one can simply board a Bus Vannin for the onward journey.
Talking of the IOM does anyone remember the through tickets available from Irish Rail stations to the Island? They seem to have been discontinued in the 1990s presumably due to low uptake.

In my view Dún Laoghaire would be preferable for IOM sailings; the sailings are predominantly tourist/leisure orientated rather than freight and also by using Dún Laoghaire foot passengers would have much greater ease of access to/from the sailings.