oiRRio

I'll attend if I'm in Ireland at the time as I've only ever been to Cork once despite having been to Brazil dozens of times. Sorry JAP!!! This does not mean that it's not a good place to visit merely that the women are slightly better looking in Rio than in Cork and Brazilian Portuguese is slightly more pleasant on the ear than a strong Cork accent. Note for any ladies attending : IIRC JAP does not have a strong Cork accent.

Excellent idea particularly if there is a Munster championship hurling match on that weekend in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. I have never played hurling as I don't come from a part of Ireland where it's played but IMO it is one of the great games of the World and definitely a spectacle worth seeing live if the opportunity presents itself.

Aside from that I would add a visit to somewhere that is renowned for serving really good pints of Murphy's maybe as part of a walk around Cork. Murphy's is the (preferred) local stout with a slightly sweeter taste than Guinness and thus may be more palatable to first time visitors/drinkers.

oiRRio

It got a very positive review from Paolo Tullio in today's Irish Indo. However he did note that it doesn't accepts cards of any form and FTers may not be happy with another reduction in their mileage earning opportunities whilst in Ireland.

writetorich

please add me, to the "very tenative" list.
sounds great.
but ya know in the future , you really ought to consider providing advance notice

Starwood Lurker

Interesting. So is this game of hurling played after a long night of binge drinking?

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

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Steady-EDI

OK, I'm in the same boat as MCS? (No, I'm not being ungrammatical; he's extremely fussy about his question mark! )

Cork's been on my list for a few years now. It's just a shame that the Loganair GLA-ORK is no more

JAP

Frequently

An amateur sport by the way .....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXR6v...elated&search=

And Cork are in the final in this clip

JAP

I must admit that I am only a tourist here too - I wasn't born in Cork - just recently moved here to marry my Corkonian wife

Quite a few options for Murphys methinks

And thought of a few more options for things to do over the weekend :-

• Visit Cobh Cathedral
• Midleton Farmers Market is on every Saturday morning
• Attend "The Jameson Experience" - a famous whisky distillery is a few miles from the Sheraton and worth a visit!
• Visit "The English Market" - a famous victorian era market in Cork city centre

Could be a big event - easy for our UK friends to get over with direct flights from all over the country to Cork ... ^

JP

Starwood Lurker

LOL. Not exactly the kind of hurling I was expecting after a long night of binge drinking, but fascinating nonetheless.

Reminded me of a line out of the movie Knute Rockne, All-American when he was talking about Notre Dame starting a hockey team. "But Fr. Callaghan said no. Notre Dame will not participate in any sport that puts a stick in the hands of an Irishman."

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Prospero

I am very close to committing but my cursory flight planning has revealed some unexpected routings/prices.

For example: best price on AA.com is £1068.50
EDI-KOI-GLA-LHR-ORK ORK-LHR-GLA-SYY-EDI

I need to dig a little deeper - Aer Arann direct from EDI would appear to be a more viable option.

Starwood Lurker

Yikes. We might be swimming to Cork from Turnberry if that is the case.

We were looking into taking the ferry as opposed to flying out of Prestwick, but Edinburgh was another flight possibility we were looking at as well.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

jmd4211

Also look at Ryanair.com - horrible service but usually the cheapest prices.

Also look at Dublin/Shannon as an alternative route - the wider choices available into Dublin usually make for a cheaper alternative. There is a very efficient train service between Cork and Dublin, and flights also cheap (Aer Arran and Ryanair again).

Shouldnt cost you too much if you take the local flights out of the overall picture, and price them seperately.

jmd4211

The €155 is fully flexible and cancellable. It will also be guaranteed right up until before the weekend in question. To be honest, I wouldn't envisage it comeing down as it is at the start of our peak season. Our expectation is that the majority of people would probably use points.

sven60035

A "Do" in Ireland..

Usualy I don't plan so far out, but count me in (tentatively).

I always wanted to see the Sheraton in Cork but never managed to take either train or aerAran down there.

RAPC

Thanks everyone for your responses so far.

I've only posted details of the proposed Do on the community board so far, so it is nice to already have a bit of interest. I'll put something a bit more formal up on the SPG board as well (i.e. not hidden in the Fota thread so we don't hijack it with Do posts) to drum up some early interest.

Also, thanks to James (aka jmd4211) from the Sheraton Fota Island for answering some questions already. It is his fault that we are thinking of a Do in Cork and descending en masse to his hotel and the Cork area.

Also, JAP - you shall have mail in the next 24 hours.

Spiff

Alas, no Oneworld to ORK.

Looks like the train ride from Dublin is about 3 hours. Not bad on the outbound, but on Sunday, the first Cork - Dublin train is at 8:30am, missing AA93 back to ORD.

Decisions, decisions...

~$200 LHR-ORK on EI.