Spike Island Tours — Attraction in Municipal District of Cobh

On the 28th of April at 14:10 me and my boyfriend visited spike island , the boat was due to take off at 14:00 o’clock. The boat did not take off until 14:10 as I mentioned above. I thought this was a good thing as the boat is due to take off at 14:00 o’clock but it gives people enough time to get to the boat as parking at cobh is very hard. Or also allow people a few minutes to get down to the pier such as elderly people or people with on going health problems. On the 2nd of June me and my boyfriend decided to return to spike island with my mam my sister and my boyfriend younger brother. We had payed €126.25 online and travelled from Limerick 1.5 hour car journey my boyfriend and sister got to the pier at 14.01 to provide the worker with tickets to be pushed back by a worker at spike island and said to late as I said further up on my previous visit the boat did not leave cobh until 14:10 , my mam was out of breath from trying to walk as she has a copd illness the boat was still sitting there at 14:06 and we got there at 14:01 and the man still would not leave us on the boat after paying 126.25 online I asked to speak with a manger nicely he gave me number I rang the number on front of him and it would not even ring it was an automated call , the man had no remorse what so ever as the boat was sitting there until 14:06 and still would not leave us on , and to note not just refusing us on the boat while it’s sitting there but also putting his hands on my boyfriend a minor a grown man putting hands on a minor who only wanted to make the boat and approached him with the tickets , I was told by a man at cobh pier that he is a very arrogant man he used also be an X Navy and a bouncer throughout many pubs in cork and would stop every second person from getting in. I will be going further about this putting his hands on a minor I would expect a full refund and I have also a recording of the worker of spike island saying “I didint put my hands on him I just pushed him away “ a total joke first time I visited was a beautiful place so wanted to return with family but that miserable man made the trip awful , many of locals from cork said he should of had respect to allow ye on the boat as ye were there at 14:01 and the boat sat...

Myself my partner and our 3 children drove down from Dublin to specifically visit Spike Island.

I had checked TripAdvisor before hand to make sure it was open for when we would arrive and indeed it was listed as Open "Sun - Sat 10:15 - 17:30" to be specific.

Unfortunately for my children who had spent over 3 hours in our car traveling down that this was not actually the case. Anyone considering this attraction please be aware as of today 04/03/17 the landline number listed on this site is answered by a man who will only provide you another mobile phone number which is for "manager of the island".... it turns out this mobile phone is not actually answered but instead it has a recording advising you to email.

I sent an email straight away.... and got no reply so I waited in the hope of a reply.

In the mean time i did a search online in Google and found the boat can be privately hired! So willing to sacrifice the money to keep my kids holiday from being totally ruined I called the number and got through to the same person who answers the landline number from the TripAdvisor listing, I mention hiring the boat privately but he was short and rude saying he couldn't help me.

Eventually I received a reply from my email at 6.15 to say....

"Hi David, We only have an After Dark tour at 6.30 today, no regular sailings until 18th March. Regards, Spike Island."

The signature on the bottom was from a person named Claudine and it listed her mobile number, calling her straight away was told that the boat had already left and to add insult to injury she had a subtle laugh as if it was funny.

Im sure the island itself is a good experience but I can assure that the service and infrastructure is a very amateur and unprofessional arrangement and I would personally advise considering this attraction...

We booked Spike island Tours online before arrival and it was one of the best experiences here in Ireland. The pick up point was J.F. Kennedy Pier, and it was really easy to find the tour store. Tickets didn’t have to be pre-paid but I recommend you do to avoid disappointment.

The boat trip to spike island was quick (I’ll say just about the right length of time). Our tour guide was Paul and he was amazing; really made the experience fun and interesting. He was very knowledgeable and learning the history of Spike Island was much more interesting than I expected. There was a good amount of guide led tour and a nice amount for us to do ourselves. Having that freedom to look around the island was something not many tour companies do but it definitely made the tour a nice experience.

The island now has museums, a cafe and a gift shop in addition to the other historical buildings. Will be nice if there were more of a variety of souvenirs/gifts. The prisoner mug shots were such a good touch to the experience that we weren’t expecting. Noor in the gift shop was very helpful. In the cafe we had the lemon cake (10/10) and the vegan sausage rolls (best vegan rolls I’ve ever had). It was a really cute cafe, very well stocked and very quickly served. Only downside was: the cutlery was not clean at all and there were flies flying about when eating. Toilets were well maintained.

The views and scenic point were also really nice. We didn’t get to do the full Ring of Spike Trail but I recommend visitors to do. Really enjoyed this tour and I highly recommend anyone who visits Ireland to go on it. Definitely the best...