Reliable travel between Scotland and Ireland
4
4
Date of visit: December 2025
I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: a hidden impairment and moving around.
Overall Rating
Good
I have taken the Stenaline Superfast VIII several times as a foot and bus passenger. While it does take longer than flying, I find it more comfortable, less stressful and more affordable at busy times like holidays. The added comfort comes from the ability to move around on the ship during the crossing instead of being squeezed into a little airplane seat. Not having to worry about the weight of your luggage or whether you might be bringing things that are not allowed in your hand luggage helps reduce the stress of travelling. If you can find a sofa or snag one of the large windowsills, you can even lie down for a nap! There are several ways to pass the time on the approximately two and a half hour sailing, like having a meal in the restaurant, watching a film or playing games in the pod lounge or even paying extra to treat yourself to a spa treatment. While I do not have children or pets myself, I think it is a good option for people who do, as there are pet and children’s play areas on board as well. There is basic free wifi available and a more high speed internet connection for a couple of bucks, which I have occasionally used to make working on my laptop more smoothly, but usually the free wifi is sufficient. I have rarely experienced a rough crossing that made me feel seasick, but whenever it gets a little much, getting some fresh air out of the deck usually helps me.
Disabled Access In and Around
Good
When travelling as a foot passenger (getting dropped off/parking at the ferry terminal or with the Citylink bus), you check in at the terminal and drop off your luggage (similar to a mini airport) and then wait in the lounge until boarding. Boarding is via a very long gangway that includes stairs/lifts. I do not remember regular seating and there would not be much time to rest anyways, as it is a fairly speedy process. There is an incline on the last bit when boarding the ferry. When travelling onto the ferry with a vehicle (your own or Hannon’s bus), you exit the vehicle on the car deck, where there are stairwells with lifts going up to the passenger decks. There is not much space between the vehicles, so it is important to let ferry staff know in advance if you need space to get your wheelchair out or require wider spaces to pass through with your walking aid. There are also metal anchoring points on the floors, so watch your step as you make your way to the stairwell. There is a textured metal ramp with a handrail on the left side that can be brought out to get up onto the walkway at the door to the stairwell. The door into the stairwell will be open, but it is just a single-wide door. There is a narrow landing with stairs on one side and the lift on the other. The lift is about large enough to turn in and there are handrails on all sides and narrow mirrors on the sides of the back wall. The customer services desk is on level 7 and the counter is a bit high up when you are sitting in a wheelchair. The counters in the restaurant on level 7 and the café on level 8 are lower down. There is seating throughout the passenger areas, with moveable seats at tables being located primarily in the restaurant and café areas. There are plenty of soft single, sofa and bench seats as well, usually with backrests and many with armrests. The floor for the walkways on the passenger decks is smooth wood with white stripes. The seating areas in the restaurant are on low carpets, but there is no lip between it and the wood floors. The outside decks have metal flooring and there is usually a step or a lip to get out, mostly through double doors. Deck access varies and may be restricted for weather or other reasons. There are doors out to the deck and thus accessible via lift from at least levels 7 and 10 and there are outside stairs between all those levels. Some but not all of the steps have contrast coloring on the edges. There are benches with backrests and without armrests on all levels and picnic tables and side tables on the sundeck. The pet exercise area is on level 7 through the left exit (when the blue stars are at your back).
Accessible facilities: Seating at regular intervals, Step-free entrance, Step-free access to most areas, Lift to some areas
Parking & Transport
Average
I travelled to this place by bus
There are paid car parks at both the Cairnryan and Belfast ferry terminals, including several disabled parking bays. (As far as I know there is no fee exemption for Blue Badge holders.) When travelling from Glasgow to Belfast and the other way around, you can take a Citylink bus that takes you to or from the terminal or a Hannon’s bus that goes onto the ferry, so you can leave your luggage. I usually take the Hannon’s coach to Belfast Grand Central Station, which is very handy for onward travel. You can also take your car onto the ferry, but I have not done that before with this one.
Accessible facilities: Drop-off or pick up point, Dedicated on-site parking
Accessible Toilets
Good
There is one medium-sized accessible bathroom on level 7 and gendered cubicles on multiple levels. (I did not go to all of them, but at least on levels 7 and 8.) The door is a sliding door that opens to the right when you push a rectangular button on the wall to the left of it. No key is needed to access the bathroom. There is a panel on the left wall as you enter the bathroom with a light and two round buttons. The top button is to open the door, the bottom button is to close and lock it. After pressing the button to close, wait until the door has closed. It might take a moment to start moving. Once the door is closed, press the same button again to lock the door. The light at the top should now come on. There is a large mirror and a baby change on the wall to your left when you come in. The sink is on the wall to your right. The toilet and the bin are on the back wall. A hand sanitiser dispenser and hand dryer are on the same wall as the door, to your right as you enter. There is a fixed vertical and a horizontal handrail to the right of the toilet that can be lifted and moved out of the way and a fixed horizontal handrail on the wall to the left of the toilet. The flush is a button in the middle just above the toilet bowl. You need to close the lid before you flush. The toilet paper holder is mounted to the wall to the right of the toilet. There is a narrow sanitary bin underneath. There is space for a left-side transfer. The emergency cord is a short cord coming from a wall panel to the right of the toilet. There are vertical handrails on either side of the sink. The sink is a small wall-mounted sink and the tap is a mixer tap with a short handle. There is a wall-mounted soap dispenser above the sink. There is only a hand dryer, no paper towels. It is on the wall to the left when facing the sink. There is a wall-mounted dispenser for hand sanitiser to the right of it. There is a large open-top bin between the sink and the hand dryer. The baby change is wall-mounted and folds down. There is a large footpedal bin underneath.
Facilities: Accessible toilet
Staff
Excellent
There are plenty of staff around to ask for assistance and I have always found them to be friendly. One one occasion, one especially kind member of staff in the restaurant came up to me in the queue unprompted and invited me to tell her my order and go to a table and she brought me my food there. Members of staff are also positioned in the stairwells at the car decks and they give you a little note when you first go up to the passenger decks to remind you where to return to at the end of the sailing.
