Ferry strikes what is my legal situation?

I as far as I know the law ins't realyl on my side here. I have made two ferry bookings to Dublin in the 20th of Decemeber but the carrier's staff is currently on strike. The strikes looks bitter and there is no imediate issue of resolve and the company (Irish Ferries) are not accepting any new bookings.

If I cancel there is a £30 per person cancelation fee and the tickets were only £44. I can't really afford to get alternative bookings at the moment and I have invested a lot of money into getting into Holyhead port so if I had to fly but the strike didn't go ahead I had loose more than £100.

Am I worrying about nothing? The woman on the phone said I should wait till nearer the time and then cancel, she seemed to think it would be easy for me to make a booking on the Stenna HSS even at short notice.

If I can't get to dublin I will loose £45 on the hotel, £30 on the train tickets, and £40 on the Morrissey tickets. At 10% of my anual earnings I really can't afford to loose this money and I want to see Morrissey so I have to get to Dublin.

 

Do you have travel insurance ? And i kow that this won't help but why go via ferry in the first place when flights from MAN to Dublin are so cheap , I've heard the Irish Sea can be grey, bouncy and ugly this time of the year.

 

I hate flying so I wouldn't have gone at all if it wasn't for the ferry, I mean't to book travel insurance but I haven't got round to it yet, I doubt it will cover it now because the strikes have been anounced. The flights were about £70 and its costing £70 to go hollyhead and get the ferry over return so they were both the same price. Then you have the hassle of having to get to the both airports etc, this way we are literly going city to city without having to start getting buses etc when we arive.

 

Have you tried ringing the other ferry company and checking what they say. Have you tried the airlines from Mcr, Liverpool etc. Quite often strikes are cancelled. I think all the ferry company needs to do is offer you alternative travel arrangements possibly on a different day. Could you not go out a day earlier? that would be cheapest

 

Well Morrissey in playing on the 20th and the train tickets I have are for the 20th and 22nd, I also have the hotel books for the 20th and 21st. So no matter I need to arive on the 20th and come back on the 22nd.

At the moment the other ferry company still have places, and I have checked the airlines and none of them are full yet not even the budget ones. I am just worried if I leave it to late say next week they would be all full.

I am going ot phone my ferry company on friday and if they are still on strike I will have to cancel them and make alternative arangements.