Wightlink Isle of Wight Ferries Avis 

We always travel with Wightlink but the prices
keep going up for us island residents.
There are no deals for island residents.

We would travel to the mainland more often but
it is too expensive.

I cannot believe there is no loyalty scheme for
customers.

The service is good but the prices for such a short
ferry crossing is shocking.

I live on the IOW and am ashamed of Wight Link and their practices. Firstly the cost of travel is extortionate, they wanted £344 return , more than a return ticket to France. Why they even send out coupons I really don't know as apparently they are never valid for the sailings you are trying to book. You cannot get hold of anyone to talk to or book when you are unable to do it on line. Some ferries are suddenly cancelled with no explanation

Been trying to book a ferry all day. Online system just hangs. Notice went up for a few hours saying system down and office shut so can’t make booking by phone. Notice now removed but still unable to book. Poor service as usual for a ludicrously expensive ferry service. Price during music festival £511 return. Daylight robbery. Most expensive ferry crossing per mile in the world. Just interested in making money for shareholders and not serving the people who have no choice but to use them

Frequent delays to timetable with often 2 hours minimum delay. Wightlink should be like airline travel where compensation is automatically paid if 2+hours delay.
Staff are polite and not their fault - just penny pinching on the operation of the ferries. Too often technical problems or staff absence.

We recently travelled on the Victoria of Wight, which we booked due to having a soft play area to entertain my 16 month old. We were really disappointed (and so was he) when we went to use the area and found all of the rules being ignored. Most of the adults had left their children unattended in the area and it was being used by children who were well over 110cm. The children were charging around the area making it unsafe for the 3 smaller children (my son included) who were trying to use it. Two members of the public did speak to the children who were not theirs - this included my friend who I was travelling with - but this did not stop the behaviour. I had to remove my son from the area after he was almost knocked over multiple times by the much older children. It was very disappointing that this was advertised and then we could not use it or risk my child being harmed by children who should not have been in that area. There were also no members of staff around to inform.

They came back to me and made up various excuses and also stated that regular deck patrols are carried out. We did not see one member of staff on that deck during the entire journey. They also suggested that I go to a different deck and report the issues to the team in the retail area. It should not be my responsibility, especially while having a small child to attend to, to seek out members of staff on a different deck to report that their facilities are not being used as intended or advertised.

A lot of very bad reviews here, so just wanted to balance it out & state that Tina from Bookings has been absolutely fantastic in helping me with my first set of multilink passes, this lady has been completely understanding, kind & friendly, very patient & super helpful at getting me sorted out. Thank you Tina, you're an absolute asset to Wightlink.

Got there just on time and was refused entry. It sat there for another 5 minutes afterwards

Dreadful. Would never use again.

We got a text saying our ferry was going to be delayed for 2 hours because it got caught on rope.

We get to the ferry port and get told by the person checking us in "The 4.20 is going but your one at 5.20 is cancelled. You won't be getting on a ferry tonight because the 3.20 was also cancelled, so they will go on any ferries that do move and we are already fully booked."

So we asked "Well what do we do then?" He said "Well I don't have anything to suggest. All I can say is that you can't park here because we are full."

We said "Well we have two young children with us and no hotel for the night"

His response:
"Hasn't everyone?"

So we had to book to go to Southampton instead and pay £130.

It's now been a week of backwards and forwards trying to get our money back. Nothing yet. Just a thousand questions.

They should be compensating us, let alone us having to beg for our money back on a cancelled ferry.

My daughter booked the ferry for Tuesday 17th from Portsmouth to Fishbourne to see her grandmother who is ill.
All ferries cancelled when she arrived due to a berthing accident . She then had to drive to Southampton with lots of others to try and get a Red Funnel Crossing. All very stressful and tiring.
Now it seems Wightcare will take several weeks to reimburse her money for the crossing cancelled by them . Why???
She has already had to pay Red Funnel for another crossing .
Very poor customer service

Had a brlliant service from Wightlink. I had never personally booked onto a car ferry before and so phoned to ask how to book online etc. THe lady on the phone was lovely and patient and told me everything I needed to know. Then on the trip over I was very early and the lady at the POrtsmouth check in was great as she was able to get me onto an earlier crossing. My return trip was all very smooth. All the staff I came in contact with were great. I would certainly recommend! Well done team Wightlink!

It is incomprehensible that Wightlink does not feel the need to inform passengers who have a booking when services on Fastcat are cancelled. They also do not help people getting to alternative services. It results in complete chaos.

Despite having 2 fast cat journeys cancelled for safety reasons and therefore having to take a ferry to Fishbourne although our car was in ryde, the customer service was excellent, absolutely above and beyond, including staff member , Addy, taking my husband who has mobility issues in a wheelchair to the ferry port from the cat port and giving us a lift in his car from Fishbourne to ryde, to collect our car , so we wouldn't have to wait for the mini bus transfer. Bad experience turned around completely because of Addys help, kindness and consideration. He is a credit to wightlink.

Wight link on top form again , not used them for a while because of their very poor service , guess what nothing change rude abusive staff who couldn't care less ... company motto "give us you money now ___ off"

I had to amend a booking, which was done over the telephone by Nicky who was very helpful.

these guys are a bunch of crooks and liers - better to swim across if you can..
their app and website throws up constant error codes and you cant complete a booking - so you call reservations and after half an hour of waiting you cant go through
its one thing running an essential lifeline service and milking everybody who travels for sky high fares, but it is quite another that the company cant even be bothered to have a usable app/website

On the midday ferry to isle of Wight... you cafe lady's need to smile because they make you feel as welcome as a fart in a space suit !!! 😣

Travel several times a year to the Isle of Wight to visit my family. Staff both sides are always so helpful and courteous.
Delayed today at Yarmouth but a member of staff came to each car to explain what was happening.
Great service always,thank you.

4 foot passengers to Isle of Wight yesterday from Lymington to Yarmouth. Really friendly staff, customer service from cafe and crew staff was fantastic. It is however expensive and the food and drink is extortionate. Save yourself some money and make sure you have eaten before you get on the ferry

No access for wheelchair users. Disability discrimination

I had a 5hr operation at QA on 24th September, broken leg/multiple ligament repair. Discharged 26th Sept and told it would be quicker to arrange my own transport than wait for NHS. My daughter booked 6pm ferry to Fishbourne requesting for me to stay in the car as stated on the website. Weather good, calm crossing, not overly booked ferry. Placed at the front of the boat, all good. 5 mins into the crossing we are ordered to get of the boat, captain has refused permission. Unable to weight bare, nauseous and very tired, we explain I had 5hrs of complex surgery 2 days ago and ask what if I don't get out? The crew member says they will turn the boat round and take us off, probably banning any future travel. My daughter asks to speak to the captain which was refused. 5 mins later he comes with a wheelchair. You must get out, we refuse not wanting to undo my extensive surgery repair. My daughter politely asks to speak to the captain, again refused. Meanwhile we are half way across the Solent. 5 minutes later someone pushes a leaflet through the window saying we have been granted permission and thank you for travelling with Wightlink. So there was zero caring or compassion, more humiliating and upsetting. Does anyone ever get given permission to stay in the car? I now gather that Red Funnel operate 3 sailings a day when you can stay in the car plus they give you a discount on receipt of an appt letter. Why is Wightlink so unhelpful, it can clearly be achieved to save a much longer trip for the patient needing to go to Portsmouth