On the 28 December, I was on the 1630 Cork-Heuston. Boarding only started at 1624, with much confusion between the queues for the 1630 to Heuston (scheduled for platform 4) and the 1630 to Cobh (scheduled for platform 5), both of which had queued along platform 4. At about 1620, the Cobh service was rescheduled to platform 1-3, but he display at the top of the underpass didn't change. It is unfortunate, but the signage on platform 4 blocks line of sight the clock from most of the platform - it felt uncomfortable looking at "1630 Cobh" on my platform for 15 minutes.
The ticket checker validated the wrong part of my return ticket. Train left on time. Train was lightly filled at Cork, but was quite busy by Limerick Junction. Arrived about 10 minutes late
As we left, there was on-board announcements that all but 3 of the toilets (at the rear - so much for paying extra for first class or reservations) were out of order.
Then there was an automatic announcement that the dining car was open and that it was situated at the rear of the train. That didn't sound quite right, but I wandered down anyway, only to be told by someone else looking for it, that it wasn't there. Of course, the dining car is always at the Dublin end of the train (pointy end/DVT/baggage-first class-dining => loco is never in the covered section of Heuston). I mentioned it to the train host, who said that train staff tended to not hear (the detail of) the messages, as they hear them too often. I asked and she made a manual announcement. Of course, there was only one member of catering staff and a trolley service was being done before the galley opened.
I had to report a 2 year old to his parents as he had wandered down the carriage and climbed up on a seat back table.
