CalMac Reviews 

I had to make some changes to ferry times and locations at the last minute and the staff in Ullapool and Craignure were so helpful and Immediately made the changes. Great friendly staff and do look after their customers. The staff at all ports were friendly and cheerful. The vessels while being old were always spotlessly clean. I have seen comments about cancellations, late times, etc. Personally, I never experienced any of those issues, always on time. Keep up the good work. Booking process is simple.

Shocking too many passengers and not enough seats, can't even get food because the sitting area for eating is full people not even eating, absolute joke!!!

Armadale to Mallaig, wonderful experience. Friendly staff especially Rod Burney and the girls in the office. Smooth, clear instructions

A truly horrible experience. We turned up at Uig for our crossing to Tarbert on 22 May 2026; the first thing we noticed was that dogs are not allowed in the terminal. We then discovered that the counter was unmanned. Not a great welcome to passengers. Our return to Uig from Tarbert was hideous; a fabulous fortnight spent in the Outer Hebrides ruined by shouty, aggressive and bullying staff. We were the last but one vehicle to drive onto, what we subsequently discovered, was a rising car deck. We were given less than a minute to get out of the car which was virtually impossible due to the lack of space either side of the car doors and get our dog from the rear seat plus the belongings we needed for both him and ourselves. A shouting match ensued between myself and the staff member who was telling me to get off the deck as it was about to be raised. There was no advance warning of this ridiculous deck and to be given less than a minute to struggle out of the car, with dog, was unreasonable. A senior member of staff did come and apologise after we complained and we thank him for that. He was professional and kind. But the staff, 2 in particular (you know who you are), were thugs and bullies who should not be customer-facing as they have anger issues. The staff on board are generally unfriendly to pet owners; we are not wanted in reality and are confined to a grotty area on one side of the ship which is open to all passengers walking around. Pet owners do not have that luxury. The Leverburgh to Berneray crossing was a complete contrast to the Uig Tarbert crossing; staff were friendly and helpful. Some of the Calmac staff ought to get a job with M&S or John Lewis and there they may learn how to interact with customers. But I doubt whether either institution would employ such awful people - thankfully.

The website is useless - it asks to sign in, but that is impossible ("error" message)
Phoning is hopeless, the queues are enormous (presumably because the website doesn't work.
Disaster

We were traveling from south Wales to Craignure on the Isle of Mull our ticket for the ferry was with a motor home which was booked months in advance . We arrived at Oban the day before we were due to cross ,only to be told our ferry was cancelled. We then had to drive to Corran and get the ferry to Ardgour . From there had to to drive to Lochaline to get the ferry to fishnish then from there had to drive to Craignure. There is no Compensation for the extra costs incurred by me for traveling the extra distance in my motorhome and ferry crossings. What a risky service these Ferries are. We will never rely on Calmac ferries again,they completely ruined the holiday.We do not recommend the use of Calmac ferries as part of your holidays as you just may not get there. and may cost you more than you anticipated if you do .Stay on the mainland recommended. Seems this is quite common.

I am genuinely hesitant to add this review because I am worried doing so will mean more people use it, making my wait time potentially longer...BUT...I would be unfair not to give credit where it is due. So...

Pre booked online for Lochaline > Fishnish >Lochaline return. I love this ferry because it forces a drive through Glencoe which is simply incredible. It also means I don't have to worry about someone sneazing on the M6 and causing an 8mile traffic jam...the ticket can be used on ANY ferry all day (rather than a specific timed booking at Oban). So I can leave in good time to get 'A' ferry but not have to drive like a nut job if traffic is bad.

Anyway...drove up on Saturday 23rd and get to Lochaline. Joined the queue and was approached by the ticket clerk (didnt get his name, but tall man, looked a bit like Steven Merchant) on the harbour. He asked to see my online ticket and said 'why have you got 2 campervans?'

I had no idea what he was talking about until he pointed out that my ticket was for 2, not 1 camper! I must have messed up somehow with the booking. I hadn't noticed at the time although I did think prices had gone up a bit! 🤣

Anyway...he didn't need to tell me I had made the mistake. He could have just left it like that and I would have been none the wiser. He refunded me the cost of the second camper. But then, he did something even better...

Whilst he was dealing with the refund, a car had pulled into the lane next to me (despite it being coned off) and put itself well ahead of my (and several other peoples) vehicle. Then a camper did the same thing.

He approached the camper and said 'you need to turn yourself around and go to the back of that queue!'

He then approached the car and said 'there is no room at the back of that queue for you now, but I know what position you should be in and you will not be going in front of any other vehicle.'

Why did that make him my 'hero of the day'?

Because we ALL had a lengthy journey. We ALL had a ferry to catch...but the rest of us were fair and waited our turn. He knew this and put things right.

Ferry crossing was also great...seen a harbour porpoise on the way over.

Totally unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. 4 hours late we got to our hotel the Dark island the staff great at almost 1.30 in the night. We had booked other hotels on other island's, unable to get due to ferry cancellations. So 3 days later we go on a ferry, but that had to turn around due to some unknown issues. Back to Black island hotel. (10 star brilliant hotel) For another night.
We managed to get back to mainland Scotland without seeing any of the islands.
we got a small refund but sadly won't be going there again.

I paid for a ticket online for my family travelling in a motorhome. Calmac's online system identifies and autofills dimensions of the vehicle when you input the registration. When I arrived at the ferry terminal the ticket officer advised I had not declared the correct dimensions on my motorhome and charged me almost the same price again on top of what I had already paid. I found him to be quite rude as if I was trying to cheat them. I contacted the Calmac Team who advise this is an error in their system and defaults to 6m instead of 6.9m and I shouldn't put the registration number in so it doesn't default. There is no way I would know this and I am unhappy that you are aware of this error in your system and have people travelling who are unaware of the extra charges they will receive once they reach the ferry port. This is unsatisfactory and this system error should be sorted or a warning given at time of booking.

A wonderful new terminal at Tarbert, opened just three years ago. Out of order signs in the gents toilet. Typical CalMac, I thought, notorious for breakdowns, cancellations and shoddy service.

On the 0720 ferry from Tarbert on the isle of Harris to Uig in Skye, I was keen to sample Caledonian Macbrayne's 'Big Scottish Breakfast. For £11.95, you choose eight items from their menu.

The famed Stornoway black pudding, Scottish Lorne sausage, portobello mushrooms et al.
All sounds absolutely yummy. Scrambled egg was not on display, but swiftly arrived, on request, from the galley.

Except whoever cooked it had completely overdone it. Not just the eggs. Everything. Plus it was lukewarm at best. Not freshly cooked as I had hoped, being among the first in the queue. Now I love my grub, but this was completely inedible, dried out, and had been cooked goodness knows how long before service.

As a former supply officer/purser at sea, I would have had strong words with any of my staff who served up such poor fare.

When Senior Catering Assistant Donna cleared my table, she was most apologetic. I asked to speak to the chief steward, but he or she was 'not up yet'. But I could speak to Duncan, the assistant, at the till.

Not at all my thing. But telling it here to warn others absolutely is.

A group of heros!
Honestly, the customer service team at Calmac have been brilliant. I feel for the team, it's not their fault the fleet is aging and not being supported properly, so dealing with disruption is becoming more common. But everyone we've spoken to have been honest, helpful and done the best they can to get us to where we need to go. Changing ferries bookings quickly and efficiently. Please be kind and friendly to the staff, they're doing their best.
Thanks guys, we really appreciate you!

5* for the CalMac crew, at the terminals, helping us on to the ferries, on the ferries and on the phones.
Despite cancelled sailings and broken down ferries, replaced vessels, we are managing to do what we set out to do. All staff I’ve interacted with have been brilliant, helpful and constantly smiling.

Its all gone to pot.

The only good thing about Calmac currently is the staff on the ground and at see. All great people working against the odds.

Our ferry home from Brodick was cancelled yesterday bringing out the worst in some passengers.

We were lucky being among the first to know (albeit finding out in the queue for the ferry) and were able to hoof it up to Lochranza and get on the next ferry there. But it added 140 miles and too much time for already exhausted children.

Its a real shame. We just cannot trust calmac these days.

Hopefully they will be compensating us for the huge diversion but we shall see.

My ferry was cancelled, and instead of offering me the next available service they came back with a date 3 weeks from now.

The team on the Wemyss Bay-Rothesay service are brilliant - always super friendly and helpful. The service runs well and is almost always prompt. Thank you!

I booked the ferry to sky on the 7.2.2026 to be able to take it on the 28.3.2026. Today is the 23.04.2026 and they just send me a cancellation. No explanation, no warning no nothing.

This company should not be allowed to run ferries they are unsuitable and useless you can’t book or plan ahead. I know this is political and why they are doing what the Westminster government is telling them to do. The South Uist ferry is always the one that they take away leaving South Uist without ferry travel to the mainland it is absolutely disgusting how the people of South Uist are being left without any ferry travel. Calmac shows there true colours when it is always the first ferry they take away. Usually for the island of Isla run because of the whiskey. They rate the whiskey more than they do rate the people of Uist. Profit before people 😡 if I was John sweeny I would sack the lot of them at the top they are like the boats NOT FIT FOR PORPOISE. But wait a minute he can’t sack them because they are employed by the uk government how does that make sense. It is because the uk government can control their puppets. The worst ferry company in the hole world. On the positive side they have the best staff on the boats and the ports and the end of the phone line just a pity about the so called top brass.

SNP out! They’ve created this mess.

Ferry cancellation left us £345 out of pocket with no support

We were booked to travel from Leverburgh to Berneray on 11 April for a two-night stay in North Uist, returning 13 April. The trip had been planned to celebrate my wife’s birthday.

Three days before departure, our ferry was cancelled due to technical issues. No alternative sailing was offered that would allow us to make the trip as planned, so we had to cancel entirely and lost £345 in accommodation costs.

We had deliberately chosen to travel within the Western Isles, thinking this would be a reliable option. Unfortunately, when I contacted CalMac to request compensation for the lost accommodation, I was told that missed accommodation is not covered under passenger rights legislation, even when cancellations are due to technical faults.
While I understand that disruptions can happen, it is extremely frustrating that passengers are left to bear the financial loss when services fail for technical reasons beyond their control.

Passengers using ferry services in the Western Isles should be aware that if your sailing is cancelled, you may not be compensated for any accommodation or other costs you lose as a result.

Claim CAS-51953-F2R7T4 CalMac:0000051027798

Impossible to get confirmation of ferry sailing times. You can’t make bookings on the website and the timetables as published say the timings and sailings aren’t guaranteed so I called the helpline instead where they say I should go to the website for the latest information but then of course, the website says they can’t confirm the published times so I called in again and they repeat the SAME message over and over and over again telling me that presently, there are more than 10 people in front of me but how many is it? Is it 11 people, or 21 or 50 or 100, or more? What a pointless message and what a pointless company where they can’t even tell you if your ferry is sailing next day or not. I gave up after 20 minutes…. god help the people on the islands who depend on this company…. I know there are extenuating circumstances just now but for goodness sake, How can you not manage your available services a bit better than this?