CalMac Omdömen 

Have used the Mallaig to Ardvasar ferry a lot and booked on line. Just been trying to do that for the last 1hr to no avail🤷🏻‍♂️. In keeping with CalMac the upgrade to their web booking is a disaster, unable to book and given up. Maybe they don’t need new ferries as they don’t want customers?

Don’t even deserve 1 star!! Crossed from Uig to Tarbert (Skye to Isle of Harris). We were first time ferry crossers, when we booked the tickets they asked if we would like a pet ticket for lounge and we just said no as we thought we could just stay in car with our dog - it was not explained that the dog could remain but we couldn’t! We firstly drove onto ferry car loading area and were met by a crowd of men shouting and waving their arms about. They told us to park nose to tail with car in front and car to the side (really caving us in) we were then chapped and when I rolled down my window was handed a ticket saying “here read that” we read it and that was the moment we realised we would have to actually get out of our car and go up to the passenger lounge. We had our dog and my mother in law is registered disabled. We never purchased a ticket for dog to sit in dog lounge as we thought my mother in law could sit in car with him as she did not feel up to getting out car. We didn’t state my mother in law was disabled as we thought she could just stay in the car. We had to try to squeeze my mother in law out the car and make sure she didn’t fall over whilst making sure our car didn’t bang the others. My wife took our dog up into the lounge area and was met by a crew member asking for a ticket to say dog could come on my wife tried to explain we didn’t have one as we wanted to remain in car with dog but he didn’t want to hear it and just said “calm down, calm down”. Meanwhile I tried to get mother in law out the car safely and was told to “hurry up” by the crew members (after letting them know my mother in law was disabled all they could say was well you should have let us know… how were we to know she wouldn’t be able to just sit in the car? No one explained that to us!). My mother in law was made to feel ashamed and embarrassed and was actually terrified to go on the return ferry home encase the same thing happened. Luckily we knew what to expect second time round. We paid an extra £30 to get the bigger ferry at Stornoway to Ullapool to prevent the same thing happening. Thankfully we were better prepared but I must say I’ve not experienced poor customer service and discrimination against a disabled person like it in a long time.

our ferry got cancelled and we had to stay the night before we hot home

Friendly people, amazing fleet operating all these services to the islands. Nice way to experience Scotland, never had a problem in over 20 years of sailing, I sail regularly on Firth of Clyde, holiday in Hebrides, and Western Isles, thank you 👍

We were booked on the last ferry of the day to return to Mallaig from Skye, and due to heavy road congestion, were a little late for checking-in at Armadale. As we approached, we saw the ferry leaving the pier at 17.25, a full ten minutes before its departure time and were threrfore forced to make a 140 mile road trip to reurn to our accommodation. I wish I'd read the reviews on Trustpilot before booking. Whose decision was it to leave before the scheduled time? The ferry crew? My advice would be to use the bridge and avoid Calmac at all costs.

My sister and I went with my 89yr old Dad who is quite unsteady on his feet on the Loch Frisa ferry to Mull on 20/06/23 and I cannot fault CalMac on their vessel and staff. We had requested access to the lift which we were parked right next to both out and back. The ferry was spot on time both ways too. Excellent service all round. We will be back.

Where to start! Late on 18 May told by e-mail ferry to Mull on 19th cancelled at the last minute. Tried to call to find out what to do the next day, no help, no support. Eventually got to Mull by other route and decided to go home same way, didn't trust CalMac. Tried to get a refund for the return trip which was painful but ultimately successful after spending an age on the phone. Finally it takes 21 days for the refund to come through! I feel sorry for the people in their Customer Services team; their systems don't seem very joined up. Good example of a monopoly that doesn't seem to work. Their customers and staff deserve better.

I would give zero stars, if I could. They simply sent a text telling me the ferry from Lochboisdale was cancelled. No offer to rebook, no call from the office, nothing. The phone line is never answered and all crossings back to the mainland are full. I have travelled the length and breadth of the island to visit the other ferry offices but none of them can help me. I despair of ever getting home. I have to commend the staff on the ferries, however, they are doing a great job in such challenging circumstances which are through no fault of their own. Senior managers should be ashamed of the way they leave their employees to deal with the brunt of the CalMac cancellation fiasco. We will certainly avoid holidaying here again as a result of our experience with CalMac, such a pity as South Uist is a beautiful island.

Avoid CalMac ferries! Appalling company. Have this evening just cancelled their car ferries from Mull to Oban tomorrow, leaving hundreds of people stranded on the island. Have had to get one member of our large party across to Oban tonight and booked him into a hotel to catch the 5:17 train to Glasgow tomorrow. Due to fly to London. Another member of the party, with a two year old child, could not do this so will miss her flight tomorrow and then have to buy a train ticket. Others have had to find alternative trains as they’ll reach Oban - as foot passengers - later tomorrow. Others have to pay for another night’s accommodation on Mull. Utter chaos! CalMac telephone receptionist was unconcerned. Told us to try the Lochaline ferry - along with every other car whose crossings on CalMac have been cancelled! No apologies. No suggestion that they might arrange alternative transport for people needing to catch trains, flights etc. Absolutely no concern for people stranded with children. Totally unbelievable! They need to be shut down!

Ferry booked months in advance, cancelled 1 day before sailing and no alrernative offered. Impossible to get through on phone. We have overnight accomodation in Fort William which we have to pay for even if we don't turn up. Apparently no compensation, no acceptance of liability, no apology. Incomptent company. If Scottish companies are run like this shower, what will happen if Scotland gains independence?!

The website is ridiculously over complicated. There's no page to go to where you can see clearly all the various ticket prices. They make you start the process of buying one before you can see how much it's going to cost. I'm not sure which ticket I want. I need to see all the prices and ticket types on a page before me so that I can compare and make the right decision. Rubbish site and has put me off even going now. Am looking at only mainland destinations instead.

Dreadful service! Wrong time tables, online booking system very confusing, one person tells you one thing and another person tells you something else. I've already gone in to further details about my recent experience but just seem less reliable these days. I've used Calmac for years too and usually very good, but this time very poor

Booked a return ticket from Arran a month ago for an MRI scan in Glasgow. No confirmation of the booking. Phoned a week before the trip - eventually got through after several waits of at least 40 minutes - to be told that my booking had been cancelled (although the money had been taken from my account) and the ferry was full. Passed from pillar to post, both Gourock and Brodick blaming each other, and neither could get me on that boat until the day before. Incredibly stressful. And there was plenty of room on the boat. Second return booking a week later on a 7am ferry was confirmed by the new booking system but three weeks later a friend told me that that particular ferry didn't exist. Phoned to be told Gourock could do nothing about it and told me to go to the Brodick office. Brodick (had to travel 14 miles to get there as you can no longer contact them directly by phone) told me they could do nothing about it and to contact Gourock. All weekday 8.20 ferries coming back the same day were fully booked for the foreseeable future. CalMac had known about this ferry being taken off for weeks but still hadn't told those booked on it: I was told that the computer would inform me sometime up to the day before sailing. Trapped on the island and can't get off unless getting in the unbooked queue and then risking being stuck on the mainland as I can't be sure of a ferry back. And noone is accountable.

Had our holiday to Isle of Mull totally ruined ( does this operator know the disappointment they cause ) calmac cancelled our ferry crossing at last minute and we were unable to get on another crossing a wasted 6hour drive to Oban totally unacceptable looking at people’s reviews I wouldn’t of booked…..be warned

Terrible experience! Booked two months in advance. And from California to take my 94 year old farther to Mull and other islands, informed ferry was cancelled one day before leaving for out 4 day trip! NO OTHER FERRY AVAILABLE YHE WHOLE TIME WE ARE THERE TO GO TO MULL! Informed nothing could be done and I couldn't speak to a supervisor as they would only tell me the same thing! I should have listened to the online reviews about this Co which overall were dreadful!

A warning to people who have bookings at the moment from Mallaig to Armadale - we booked a week ago in the ferry office, then arrived at the port to be told we are "not on the list" - probably worth taking the bridge instead!

What a contrast in feelings - out of 10 - 9 for the transport (it was very cold on first run of day), 10 for your staff on board; 10 for your customer service staff; 1 for your automated service - cancelling the booking less than 24 hours before departure; not telling me the full range of alternative services; not putting references on the cancellation email - leading me to believe that the alternative I had booked had also been cancelled. No immediate refund or ability to use the 'Credit' to pay for the replacement. Appalling and very stressful at the end of a magnificent week in Mull - I will probably not go back to the islands because of this experience.

Please communicate with your customers.

I recently attempted to use your ferry service to go from Oban to Lismore for the day.

Outgoing journey was fine however the new ticket service is an absolute disaster. 35 minute wait to get a ticket printed off, with most staff members staring confusingly at computer screens in silence then leaving to find a printer that works in a different area of the building. When my server returned it had been so long she had forgotten who she was serving (no joke). By the time i left a huge queue had accumulated. I ADVISE YOU TURN UP AT THE FERRY TERMINAL AT LEAST 1.5 HOURS BEFORE DEPARTURE. This should give the staff enough time to print off a ticket.

The ferry back was cancelled however (rope caught in the propeller), leaving about 5-6 vehicles stranded on the island. The only way we found out was by visiting Twitter. They did not answer the phones at all (in my opinion to avoid having to answer some awkward questions like 'what do we do?'). As far as i can tell, you are expected to solve the issue yourself. Fine - after a group discussion, we all drove in convoy to the north of the island, abandoned our vehicles then rode back on the passenger ferry to Appin. From there we took taxis back to Oban for the night (taxi £50, accommodation £220).
In the morning they had managed to remove the rope from the propeller so we took a taxi back to Appin (£50), got the passenger ferry back to Lismore, picked up the cars then drove back to the vehicle terminal ready for collection back to Oban.

Heres the issue i have - when i presented my ticket the chap said 'thats out of date, you should have re-booked, i have to prioritise the people who have booked'. Now I was actually kind of staggered - firstly how the heck am i supposed to know thats protocol when you dont answer the phones? What if you don't have access to the internet? why isnt it your priority to retrieve your stranded customers first rather than take more money from new customers? For me, the last question is the most upsetting. So beware if you use this ferry company - take provisions (spare clothes, overnight items, food, water etc). Make sure your phone is charged fully and you have warm clothing because a simple trip can turn into a disaster with Calmac and they wont even bat an eyelid.
Luckily i got back on that ferry because they hadn't received enough new bookings to leave me stranded for longer.
Total expenditure for a day trip to Lismore from Oban £352 (original ticket, accommodation and taxi). That excludes dinner, hygiene items to overnight in a hotel and the passenger ferry cost.
It goes without saying that no apology was offered. I don't want compensation, just communication.

Staff very friendly and helpful on the Stornoway ferry but I was very disappointed with the lack of food choices for those who are diagnosed with a gluten intolerance. Please could those people preparing the menus add in other options for coeliacs.

Ferry booking cancelled to Tiree with short notice. Calmac refused to pay me compensation for accommodation I had paid for and couldn't get a refund for, for 6 people. I couldn't travel at any other alternative dates due to work commitments. Seriously out of pocket through no fault of mine. Terrible service!