One of the main ferry services between Wales and Ireland has been cancelled until this weekend at the earliest due to repair work, the operator has confirmed.
The Stena Line service between Fishguard in Pembrokeshire and Rosslare in Ireland has been suspended until at least Friday, a spokesperson for the company confirmed on Monday.
"We undertake regular checks of the vessel and we saw an issue and needed to get it into repair this week," the spokesperson said.
The ship, which is the only one operated by Stena Line on this particular route, is scheduled to remain in Belfast for repair work for the remainder of the week.
One traveller who was due to be on the 1pm service on Tuesday said he was sent a text message alerting him to the cancellation on Monday afternoon.
"We got a text message at about 3:10pm saying it had been cancelled and to contact them [Stena Line]," said Martin O'Reilly, from Burry Port.
Mr O'Reilly is making the trip to see his family back in Ireland for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic and introducing his eight-month-old daughter to his mother for the first time.
"I've checked on the website... There's nothing available for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday," said Mr O'Reilly.
He added that he was able to re-book with another ferry operator on the same route on Tuesday afternoon and is luckily still able to make his trip as planned.
Stena Line's online timetable shows that the next available ferry heading from Fishguard to Rosslare is the 1pm service on Saturday, May 22.
The first service this week is scheduled earlier that day, at 7.30am, heading in the other direction across the Irish Sea from Rosslare to Fishguard.
"Hopefully it will be back at the end of the week," said the Stena Line spokesperson.
"That's the aim at the moment."
Stena Line also runs a route between Holyhead and Dublin, which is running as usual.
Services with other operators on the Fishguard to Rosslare route, such as Irish Ferries, also remain unaffected.
