Wightlink Isle of Wight Ferries Reviews 400

Pirates! Over £300 for my family to visit in August! Just who do they think they are?…. These ferries are not a luxury they are a lifeline! How the local MP has not got this under control is beyond me!

Exorbitant charges and made to sit in an uncomfortable area because we have a dog. Might be "pet friendly" but not very human friendly. Wightlink Isle of Wight Ferries should be ashamed of themselves.

We visited the Isle of wight on Friday last week, due to an emergency at home I contacted Whitelink Friday afternoon and arranged a ferry crossing for am Saturday, the staff at the office and the terminal could not have been more helpful.

The trip itself was fine and so was the check in and disembarkation process. I am giving this service a review of one star simply because of the extortionate cost - £250 for two 40 minute trips (ordinary saloon car and two people).
Even under "normal" summer prices the cost of around £160 can not be justified but increasing it by £90 because of the Isle of Wight Festival is price gouging of the highest order - you should be ashamed of yourselves!

Shame I can’t give zero stars. Complete scumbags that falsify stats. Always late and when they’re not they leave early before people have turned up and overpriced. Avoid like the plague

Booked ferry journey from Yarmouth to Lymington at 13.05 on 19th May back in January. Arrived at terminal an hour before boarding. Placed in queue with a few other early arrivals. When ferry arrived started loading other lines of cars which had arrived later. Got near head of queue "Sorry - no more room on ferry". What? Seems that they'd overbooked and I was "unlucky". Moral is - don't rely on your Wightlink ferry booking time for something important like I did - you could well be disappointed.

I've just had to amend my travel by two days on the homeward journey and for this pleasure I have paid an extra £62 for the travel of it, find this a total rip of as the ferry is the same with the same staff and the island doesn't get further away as the year goes on.

I recently had the unfortunate experience of traveling with Wightlink IOW Ferries, and I must say that I was deeply disappointed with their pricing structure. Not only were the prices unjustifiable, but the inconsistency in rates left me feeling frustrated and inconvenienced throughout my journey. Comparatively, it became apparent that airlines do not hike prices as drastically as Wightlink Ferries does.

One of the major issues I encountered was the nonsensical differentiation in prices for a three-night or four-night stay on the island. It is bewildering that the duration of my stay should affect the cost of the ferry crossing. This practice creates an unnecessary burden for travelers who wish to plan their trip accordingly, leaving them feeling taken advantage of.

Furthermore, the disparity between ferry prices during peak hours and midnight crossings is downright cruel. Travelers should not be penalized for having to travel at specific times, especially during emergency situations or unavoidable circumstances. It is unfair to impose higher fees on those who rely on midnight crossings due to work commitments, medical emergencies, or other urgent matters.

The exorbitant prices charged by Wightlink IOW Ferries ultimately forced me to make the difficult decision to leave the island and relocate. It is disheartening that an essential transportation service can contribute to the displacement of individuals who may have otherwise chosen to remain and contribute to the local economy. This outcome highlights the negative impact that such pricing practices can have on both visitors and residents.

In comparison, airlines generally maintain a more reasonable and consistent pricing structure. While some fluctuation in airfare is expected during peak travel seasons, the degree of price variation is significantly lower than what I experienced with Wightlink Ferries. This discrepancy raises questions about the fairness and ethics of Wightlink's pricing policies.

Overall, my experience with Wightlink IOW Ferries left a bitter taste in my mouth. The unjustifiable prices, differential rates based on the duration of stay, and the significant discrepancy between peak and off-peak fares were major drawbacks. As a result, I was compelled to leave the island and seek alternative means of transportation. I hope that Wightlink IOW Ferries takes this feedback into consideration and reevaluates their pricing structure to provide a fairer and more consistent experience for all travelers.

Wightlink staff are unfailingly friendly and helpful. However the costs of the service, both when travelling by foot on the catamaran and on the car ferry, are prohibitive for many families wanting and needing to travel between the Island and the mainland. Furthermore, whereas before Covid the frequency of the catamaran services and join up with the trains might it perfectly feasible to commute by boat/train to London this is now much more difficult. Wightlink’s unwillingness to commit to permanently reinstating the late evening sailings creates a further source of anxiety for those needing to travel to the mainland and stay into the evening.

I requested for an earlier sailing than the 1800 I was booked on. ‘I will try and get you on the 1720’ I was told with the usual Portsmouth terminal ‘you are lucky we are here attitude’ incidentally the only terminal where this seems to happen. As it happens I was put on the 1600 which had dozens of empty spaces when it left. This may have been caused by one of two things; the booking system is not brilliant or because I was travelling ‘scum bag class’ (Multi link). I’m very wary of complaining as I was once told that if I continued to do so I would be refused service. They know I have no choice!!

Was all set to travel to see family on the mainland for the afternoon, turned up at the initial wightlink gate to be told there would be delays. We politely asked how long, as we have our autistic child in the car and we need to be able to provide him with a plan of what is going to happen next, the reply was "no idea, maybe a couple of hours..." our next question was "is there somewhere we could wait outside the queue in case we needed to leave." Her reply was "no you have to queue with everyone else, there are loads of other children waiting". I can only guess she does not appreciate the additional stress and trauma a change of plans has on an autistic child...
Turns out it would be a 2 hour wait, and our son had started on the road to meltdown not long after pulling up. We managed to flag down a Marshall and get ourselves extracted from the queue and made our way home... with a very stressed and upset child.
Tried calling wightlink for 2 days to get a refund and to discuss the lack of accessibility, but the recording cut you off and left no room for messages... £65 for nothing apart from an eye opening experience in how uneducated people still are about autism... oh and a disappointed family on the otherside of the Solent.

The increase in the cost is eye watering. Some of my friends on the mainland have said they can't afford to visit me this year and I will be taking less trips.

Increasingly there are timetable changes. Christmas was hideous. I was bumped from a 3pm to a 2am.

The fastcat winter timetable felt like an island curfew.

On a positive I have always found the staff on the ground helpful.

Ferries are overpriced, tatty, aged and often dirty. Crumbs, spilled drinks, torn seats, mouldy windows. For the price I have to pay I’d expect a much better service. Use a local foot passenger ferry service from Cowes if possible.

Total rip off.
Was considering a trip to the Isle of Wight in the summer. Return ferry from Portsmouth to Fishbourne over £350! Can fly to Greece and back for less than that!

Shocking service and shocking prices. Always late or cancelled yet the green pie charts always tell a different story!
If they are not busy they mysteriously are cancelled for a variety of made up reasons. The wightlink book of excuse’s must be a sight to behold and I think they have used every single one!! They work as a duopoly with the other shocking ferry service to hold the island to ransom, killing opportunity and economy. All they care about is profit.

The cost of the ferries are extortionate.
There are frequent cancelations and delays.

This company pollute the water and air whilst over charging a vulnerable and captive market. Extortionate ferry prices mean we stay poorer and the ferry company gets richer. This company are scum bags for putting profits before people.

Rude to customers If you request to be near lift/access to ramp on check in. This is a repeat issue I have with Wightlink. The online form is completed by myself in enough time before travelling. Check in staff are rude and insensitive to needs when requested.