CUSTOMERS HAVE BEEN expressing their anger and frustration with Irish Ferries, after the operator announced cancellations that will affect thousands of passengers.

Those with bookings affected described receiving emails notifying them of the cancellations on Friday evening.

The company said in a statement on Saturday that the cancellations arose after it was informed by a German shipyard building its new ship the WB Yeats that it was likely to be delayed in arriving.

“While this delay is not yet fully confirmed by the shipyard we have, in the interests of minimising the level of potential disruption to our customers, taken the decision to cancel a number of affected sailings in July from the 12 July to 29 July,” Irish Ferries said in a statement.

It added that an alternative ferry service would be offered “close to their booked sailing date” but a full refund was also available if customers weren’t satisfied with the alternative offer. It added:

Unfortunately due to this extraordinary circumstance, this is beyond our control.  Please accept our utmost apologies for this inconvenience.

Due to many families’ original holiday plans, however, many have been left out of pocket by the cancellations.

One passenger, Terry McCorry, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that he had booked his ticket well in advance due to his mobility requirements.

“I booked it before Christmas,” he said. “The whole holiday was put into disarray on Friday evening when I received an email to say that my booking had been cancelled but I would try to be facilitated on another sailing.

It’s left me very unsettled. I’ve paid a big deposit for the holiday home we’ve booked. Sending an email out late on a Friday evening with very few staff in on Saturday morning was just abysmal. I was trying to ring the number for hours.

He said that Irish Ferries had offered him an alternative booking where he would sail from Rosslare instead of Dublin a day later than his original booking.

“Because of my disability, we wanted the shortest drive possible,” he said, adding that he would have to incur an extra cost getting to Rosslare for the alternative sailing.

A number of customers took to Twitter to complain about the cancellations and how it was communicated to them. They also reported being offered a €150 voucher by the company.