Wightlink Isle of Wight Ferries Reviews 400

You have a half hour window to reach the terminal. Too early and you are sent away. Too late and your ticket is cancelled and it’s pot luck if you get on. Miss the ferry and expect a rebook fee if you buy a budget ticket. Useless, firm. Lacks compassion and understanding. Pirates of the Solent.

Ferry was stopped due to mechanical fault as we departed, after a massive faff we returned and unloaded. After disembarkation we waited an hour and was put on another ferry however because of these delays I missed a crucial part of a course and had to return back to the ferry terminal where I then had to wait 4 hours (having to pay for parking because wightlink wouldn’t let me sit at the terminal). My biggest gripe here is not once was there an apology.

BEST CASH ONLY AS YOUR TOKE MINE £100 BANK CARD AND TAKE LONG TIME REFUND DUE AFFECT OUR HOLIDAY. THANK YOU A MUCH!!!!!! WE ARE STRUGGLING TO BUYING STUFF HOLIDAY BUT WE CANT NOW. YOUR FAULT!

Cross Solent travel with Wightlink has sadly become completely unaffordable for the average Isle of Wight resident. The reliability of services is also poor… every other week there’s some drama with essential crew not turning up to work, delays or cancellations. Wightlink is just one terribly managed company with expensive crossings you simply cannot rely on. Glad to be leaving the island for good next year.

Booked tickets on 1st April 2023 (perhaps that should have been an indication about the joke they call service) Filled out accessibility requirements for the journey as being near to lift and needing wheelchair and received a disabled person's discount and acknowledgement email of the requirements. Ticket clearly states "If you have any special requirements you have not already notified us about call etc" . Check in guy Portsmouth said there was nothing on computer but gave us a disabled spot. On return journey again no reservation and no disabled spots. Check in did not give a toss. Went down to service desk nobody home !! Had word with staff in high vis jacket one lady in charge of loading said complain on the website (we all know what round bin those are filed in.) Other guy arrogantly said "Well you should have booked then" and I know I had. Given there was a problem there was no attempt made to get us near a lift in a normal lane which could have helped. We were dropped in the middle of the boat and my wife who has no left hip, a 10cm short left leg, spinal fusion, and artificial right knee, no thyroid, half an airway, one kidney and ITP, an auto immune disease which means if she falls or hits herself she bleeds internally. She was forced to walk the length of the boat between cars avoiding wing mirrors. I would not trust these staff to do anything involving client interaction they are a bunch of jobsworths knowing their management will not do anything about it but gouge the public with criminal pricing.

I live on the Isle of Wight, had to travel to Southampton for NHS surgery. Wightlink claim to offer 50% discount for such journeys.
They do not.
Due to complications I needed to stay quite late at the hospital and could not leave alone but only be released into someone's care. Luckily a friend in Lymington came to get me and took me back to stay at his house.
The next day, barely able to walk and in quite a lot of pain, I explained this to the gentleman at the wightlink ticket kiosk and he couldn't have been less helpful. He was uninterested, unsympathetic, uncaring and quite rude. He seemed to think it was all some kind of ruse to get a cheap fare and barely glanced at my hospital admission letter. He simply said, "I can't help you, you'll have to pay full price."
Really, really poor attitude. Shameful in fact. Wightlink's NHS discount scheme is a marketing facade to convince you they care about the community they serve. They do not. Wightlink care only about squeezing every penny they can from you and if that means taking advantage of people who are sick and in need, they will do it.
Disgusting.

Cancelled at short notice due to "technical" difficulties" if I was being cynical I might notice that the crossing after was still not full. Often prohibitively expensive thereby holding Islanders to random. Schemes for Islanders are very restricted. There is a clear need for regulation of both Wightlink and Red Funnel and also both companies should be subject to tender. Also if they were required to pay a penalty as compensation regarding cancellations other than for weather conditions, it might concentrate their minds

Great journeys both ways
So easy to park car on the ferry and straight forward getting off again.
Lovely sitting up on deck
Shame it’s so expensive though

Booked a day return to the Isle of Wight with wightlink. First ferry was ok, left 15mins prior to stated departure time meaning anyone getting to the ferry terminal 10minutes early would have in fact missed their booked time!

Return journey was the opposite! I turned up 45minutes early for my scheduled ferry. This departed 45minutes late, leaving me to wait in a hot car with 3 energetic children.

Staff were unhelpful and rude when I raised a question regarding whether I’d be on the delayed ferry, and when I told him he was being rude, he told me to be quiet or he would ensure I wouldn’t board the ferry at all.

Given the amount this company charges, I find it highly disappointing to be subjected to unreliable services and rude staff.

So disappointed with Wightlink,
Traveled this weekend from Lymington to Yarmouth Friday 9am return Monday 12 midday
Cost of ferry was £312
On arrival I was informed that I had given the wrong height of my motorhome ( my fault ) I was given a lane and told to see the woman in the office,
She informed me that I had to pay another £94 for my mistake, total for crossing was £408 I’m flabbergasted at the cost of the trip and more than disappointed with Wightlink
Thing is on the out going journey I caught the original ferry I was booked on 🤬🤬🤬

What a complete shambles . Went online to order a return ticket to the Isle Of Wight Scooter Rally for this coming Sunday . There was a 20% discount on the web page , followed all the instructions . Then came to stage 4 where the instructions tell you to enter IOW Scooter Rally in the event name box . So get to stage 4 and no event name box . So you cannot apply for discount . I then phoned and could not understand the lady on the phone one bit . I think she understood me but she could not help . So a complete waste of time . Looked at Red Funnel and they are £20 cheaper .. try and support your local business but why would you if they are pricing themselves out of favor .

A dreadfully managed company!
32 sailings cancelled this weekend because an ‘essential crew member is unavailable’. Scary to think that one person ‘not being available for work’ can cause this much disruption, especially when the island has a population of 150,000 people and its peak tourist season. Why are there no back up plans in place? I’m baffled. There are no words to describe how poorly managed, arrogant and obnoxious this company is. If only MP Bob Seely would step in and fight for reliable and affordable cross solent travel, especially for residents… we can all dream.

No surprises here - delayed leaving Isle of Wight today (ferry) and delayed returning this evening (sea-cat). One star for this incompetent outfit is far too generous. An overpriced, underperforming monopoly that exploits their monopoly position with an indifference to it's passengers that borders on contempt. Greater regulation of ferry services is urgently needed to bring companies like this to heel.

Pathetically run company which is nothing about service or the well being of the island economy. A virtual monopoly which is all about extracting as much money out of you as possible. The CEO should be ashamed of the company he runs.

I have used Wightlink a number of times over the past few years going on holiday to the Isle of Wight, and never had any problems... Ferries pretty much on time, prices reasonable for 4 people and a vehicle travelling off shore... its pretty much a case of "it does exactly as it says on the tin"

We have just booked a crossing across to the Isle of Wight to meet friends in a couple of weeks time, and I am shocked at how much it is to cross. Our total trip is £246. The return leg afternoon sailing which suit us are £157 - that's one way! We have booked slightly later in the day which is less convenient but it is still £148. We never thought we would be spending this much money to cross the Solent - we have gone to France a few time and been used to £100 return fares in the summer. This pricing is really unfair and surely can't be justified. Someone should be stepping in to stop the greed from companies like this - they know you have to pay out or just not go!

The most expensive crossing ever. Dirty boats. Paint flaking off of the walls of the boats. Food all over the floor.

Absolute pirates.

One of their staff members directed me into the side of the boat causing expensive damage to my car. When a complaint was made and I requested cctv after 9 days I was given a reply to which they told me they don't keep cctv that long so no liability!! They did give me a free one way ticket though to apologise! Now nice!

Absolutely diabolical. Wish I didn't have to use this shocking service at all to get off the Island. Utter pirates....

Incredibly expensive and very poor customer service. I was looking to bring my family back over to the island (where I grew up and lived for 20 years) with a car over the summer holidays and they're charging £250 for the privilege; no wonder nobody bothers coming to the island anymore! Couple this with the fact that the ferry service is very often either disrupted or late and when you email to complain all you get is a passive-aggressive response saying they won't do anything then I would greatly welcome a bridge from the mainland and would gladly see this terrible excuse for a company go out of business. Only rated one star because I can't rate it zero.

I’m an island resident. I use wightlink regularly, I personally think the prices are reasonable, especially with a multilink pass. I’ve been late and the friendly staff on the phone have always helped me, staff on board the boat have always been polite and friendly, staff at the check-in gate have always been helpful sometimes putting me on an earlier boat. The boats are clean and well kept, the toilets are clean. I have never had a problem booking crossings a few days in advance. I have traveled on wightlink probably hundreds of times and I can’t think of a single occasion that would cause me to think it’s a poor service. It’s a lovely relaxing crossing any time of the day.