Wine Tasting Events on Irish Ferries' W.B. Yeats this spring
Irish Ferries is continuing to ensure its passengers "Sea travel differently" by once again offering its popular wine tasting events on the impressive luxury cruise ferry W.B. Yeats sailing the Dublin - Cherbourg route.
Sailings on March 30th, April 20th and May 18th will have wine experts onboard from different regions and vineyards, offering passengers the opportunity to taste old favourites and discover what’s new.
The W.B. Yeats really is a most splendid ship and memories of an idyllic crossing in her from Ireland to France last summer still linger.
Total passenger capacity is 1,850 in 5,500m2 of public space. On decks 8, 9 and 10 there are 435 passenger cabin providing 1,774 beds. Below, on the vehicle decks there is space for 450 cars, and 180 trucks.
Onboard highlights
Top of the list? Dining! The onboard range of course offers casual snacks and buffet dining, but for a true higher-end dining experience it has to be the stylish Lady Gregory restaurant. Here, one is struck by the room's mirror panels embedded in black surroundings and reflecting the windows to create a really atmospheric dining space. One wall is covered entirely with dark glazed wine cabinets. Table service is exceptional and the fine dining experience, it has to be said, is remarkable on a ferry. We remember our waiter Augustin, a consummate professional. And the food so perfectly presented - divine scallops and a beautifully cooked rare-medium Fillet of Black Angus Beef! All washed down with a 2019 Beaune Cru Les Grèves.
The W.B. Yeats is a light and airy ship - the clever use of greys, soft blues and purples, together with large windows and soft lighting works wonders for the seagoing experience. She has a very calming air. Nowhere is there a sense of claustrophobia and for all the best reasons we both knew we were at sea and indeed, on a cruise. The reception area is such a great space, with Yeats’ quotations, vivid carpeting and sympathetic lighting. Adjacent to the curving counters of the reception are large cut-out letters reading ‘I HAVE SAILED THE SEAS’ from Yeats' 1926 poem ‘Sailing to Byzantium’. Back-lit in colour-changing LEDs the whole effect provided for an air of relaxation even for such a busy central location.
The Innisfree Club Class lounge is an inviting venue in which to just relax and I must admit that it was only the ship leaving her berth that dragged us away and up onto the outside decks for the transit of Dublin Bay! Actually, we would not have known the ship had left the berth had we not looked out a window - absolutely no vibration thanks to state-of-the-art engineering which serves to deliver exception levels of quietness.
Nightcap? Don't mind if we do! The Maud Gonne bar and lounge is forward on Deck 11. Finished with a mix of blues, bronze and tan leather on a chevron patterned carpet here is another space that oozes style. The pale oak bar is underlit and the wall features Yeats’ words: “I have spread my dreams under your feet; tread softly because you tread on my dreams.” The lounge continues the relaxing and airy ambiance so evident throughout the ship, aided by large windows affording panoramic sea views. The bar is incredibly well stocked with an assortment of Irish gins. A perfect way to end a day at sea!
The W.B. Yeats offers passengers a standard of service hard to surpass. Without question, the ideal way by sea between France and Ireland.
Check out the wine tasting events here.
