Wightlink Isle of Wight Ferries Reviews 406

My booking was mistakingly made with the return date booked in error. Mario at the check-in booth was extremely helpful and assisted with correcting the issue upon arrival. No issues and friendly staff all round avoiding panic.

You should be ashamed of yourself Wightlink!!!
Arrived at Wightlink Car Ferry for the 9.00pm sailing home to the Isle of Wight following a hospital appt for my poorly mother.
Got to the ferry at 8.30pm. No communication from Wightlink that the ferry was cancelled until 10.10pm. Told 3 different reasons why ferry was cancelled then told 11pm was cancelled and no guarantee that would be able to sail on 5am. I asked if my poorly mother who has cancer could be taken on the boat just for comfort and warmth. Told by Wightlink no. Shamed on you Wightlink. No communication, no customer service and left my poorly mother in a cold car for up to 8 hours without any consideration or duty of care for her wellbeing. At one stage I was told by Wightlink staff that I should park my car up and walk my dying mother around to the fast cat. Are you serious Wightlink ????? Disgrace does not come close to how you have behaved this evening.

Absolutely abysmal service provided to people paying massive fares, completely unregulated. Been on a 3 year temp timetable, with half sailing there used to be, boat been packed for about a year, still fob off with low numbers, which is complete bull. Season ticketbholder revived no discount or refund at all, so half the service but still full.price. parking at Ryde Pier Head is a joke, maybe 30 containers and dozens of contractors vehicles meaning no place to park, despite paying £93 a month for parking. Dozens of emails to Councila d local MP, but due to ex council.boss working for wightlink and MP relative also works for Wightlink, yep you guessed it Absolutely nothing. If you want a good laugh check out their stats, 99% on time, ha ha always delayed and cancelled literally every day. I guess Diane Abbott is also employed doing the figures. Customer service beyond a joke, completely unhelpful and makes life as difficult as possible. Disgrace of a company and reason why there are no Dentists or Doctors anymore commuting as they have made it completely unworkable. People with family on the Island having to move away due to the abysmal and unaccountable way they operate.

Like many other contributors to this website my experience is of an unreliable, overpriced and limited service where residents and visitors alike are treated with insoucient disregard for the financial, personal and social consequences of the miserable access that is provided by Wightlink. My booking in December, made 3 months in advance, was cancelled at short notice with a completely unacceptable alternative offered. A long planned trip to London was ruined.

Extortionate prices for an abysmal service. Killing the islands economy by staying uninviting to anyone who can't pay 3 figures for a day return and keeping islanders captive by offering no let off in pricing for them either.

Far too expensive travellers are being milked for little or no service

My policy is to not bother giving a review of less than 3 stars, unless there issues of criminality or risk to health.
The service provided by staff on the vessels and port side is good, hence the 3 stars.
As an actual timetabled ferry service for the residents and visitors to the Isle of Wight, it’s bad. Wightlink is a company owned and run by an opportunistic parasite that is maximising profitability by revising timetables, reducing number of crossings and cutting staff. Passengers are charged excessively high prices on a dynamic ticketing price so even discounted tickets are expensive at certain times if the day and week.
Sadly, this model of business is supported by our MP and his government.

If I could give 0 stars I would.

Not a service but a way to fuel the pockets of shareholders.

A skeleton timetable, inconsistent crossings, a business that does care about their customers and the costs are estraonmocical.

WL is so expensive now that I can only afford to travel before 0800, or after 2000. As a regular traveller I can't understand why it is so expensive. Look at the massive profts WL are making. Quite often things go wrong (ramps don't work, emergency repairs), and they don't inform travellers quicly wnough, or offer refunds. I have many friends who won't visit me due to the expense. And I can't easily go to events in Portsmouth as the last fast cat from Portsmouth stops at 8pm!! They only care about shareholders and not customers or their hardworking staff

Considering the company is for an Island sailing times are whatever they dictate. Always the same excuses for cancellations aswell.
Also costing goes astronomical during peak season and bank holidays. You'd think they didn't want the custom.

The staff are great and I love the Isle of Wight but the prices!!!! So high that it’s unaffordable. It’s such a vital link for the island, I can’t understand why they are allowed to charge so much.

Being cashless is discriminatory against those who wish to have the choice of using cash. Against the people who don’t have cards, or whose card is declined. Those people whose cards have been cloned or hacked and therefore frozen until they get a new one.

Prices are just dumbfounded, and the reliability of them is not worth the money.

I cannot fault the service when I'm on the vessels, the staff are friendly and helpful. HOWEVER the service before boarding leaves a lot to be desired. Holding islanders hostage with obscene prices to cross a small stretch of water is disgusting. Falsifying reliability stats. A complete lack of services in the evenings. There is no excuse for it. How am I, as an islander meant to get home past 8pm in the evening as a foot passenger, it's disgusting. Shame on those at the top who make the decisions. Stop putting profit over service, and actually provide the Island with the service that we deserve.

You’d think the most expensive ferry crossing in the world would have adequate WiFi available for their customers. Unfortunately they do not.

We travelled with wightlink last July and I thought the whole trip was great. We were let on, the ferry was clean and looked after. No issues whatsoever.

Very efficient service, both on to and off the Island.

More wightlink incompetence. This firm needs investigating due to its multiple failures on departures. Arrived at Portsmouth at 05.20 for 06.00 sailing. Ferry never turned up, no explanations from staff why this happened left on quayside guessing what time ferry I will get. I have time sensitive cargo on my vehicle which wightlink are not bothered about. Amateurs. Use Red funnel in future.

Better experience that usual, the staff can some times be hard to be found

Wightlink are an abysmal 'service'. The last catamaran to the Isle of Wight is at 8.15pm - effectively a curfew for islanders, or indeed anyone wishing to visit Ryde for the evening. There is also a two-hour gap around midday with no 'service'. The fares are extortionate because it is a monopoly situation. The only alternative later in the evening is a ferry which takes about twice the time and arrives in Fishbourne where there is no public transport. It is appalling.