Wightlink Isle of Wight Ferries Omdömen 399

St Clare Ferry was cancelled at short notice due to multiple engine malfunctions. The initial support in the email was very much, "oops, tough luck" and I ended up panic buying an on the day ticket for Yarmouth to Lymington for 11pm as that was the earliest available departure from IOW, despite having a hotel booked in Portsmouth and originally being booked to travel from Fishbourne at 5pm.

Having called customer services and not being able to get through, a stranger overheard my conversation and provided me with a different number for Wightlink. After a five minute call, I was booked on a ferry from Yarmouth that was only three hours later than the original booking and my on the day purchase was marked for a full refund.

As it turned out, the St Clare was fixed ahead of our original sailing time so I could have avoided any issue if I had just ignored my emails for the day! I did not receive an email to tell me that my original sailing was available again, and only noticed after checking the Wightlink website on the way to Yarmouth, to then discover that our original St Clare Ferry had departed on time 20 minutes earlier, and that all original bookings had been reinstated.

We were only 10 minutes from Fishbourne at this point so we turned around and headed to the port. The attendant was happy for us to board the next Ferry (which had very limited availability), given the whole debacle that we explained to him.

If you are confused reading this, imagine how we felt on the day! The conclusion was that we ended up travelling one hour later than planned from our original terminal to Portsmouth. The support on the day was appalling to be honest and if it was not for a kind stranger giving me a different phone number for Wightlink, I have no idea how the day would have gone.

After the fact, however, the service has been excellent. I received a full refund for both the original return journey and my panic buy, as well as a £20 voucher for future crossings, all without having to request this.

I do feel the support on the day should have been better than "we've cancelled your ferry. Don't travel to the port", and the number I called should have been in the email so that people didn't feel abandoned. It didn't turn out too badly for us but I can see from the reviews that others were not so 'lucky".

I have travelled with Wightlink several times before and never had any issues so whilst I think this was handled poorly at the time, I would still travel with them and hope they will take customer feedback on board to make future issues less stressful all round.

Delays today due to weather conditions from Fishbourne to Portsmouth which could have been for me an absolute disaster for me travelling as a nurse.
Although I waited 45 minutes to check in.
I asked Sally team leader today if there was anyway she could get me on as a priority .
She did just that and handled this very stressful and difficult situation with utmost professionalism and care and got me on the next ferry as priority.
Thanks Sally it is much appreciated.

I had to go from the continental port and subjected to my car being searched to board a ferry to my home on the isle of wight. Absolutely ridiculous what on earth for they think I was carrying. Services severely disrupted due to constant so called improvements oh and hiking the fare to pay for it. The fares are a joke. I paid £120 to go across for 2 days. As a resident we should get a larger discount. But please 🙏 above all stop servicing your ferries at the busiest periods . It makes no sense and neither do your prices. I have to travel at midnight or 1 am to warrant travelling. I am 72 years old i dnt want to have to do that

Abysmal service 20th 21st feb 2025 Portsmouth to Fishbourne. Ferry cancelled with no option to rebook. Had to travel via Lymington 44 hours later.
Only one ferry running to Ports mouth, St Faith ,yet Wight Sun sits idle in Lymington!!!!!
Half term and Victoria of Wight having scheduled service
Could not get message sent via their
" contact us" email

You are a joke of a company.... Cancelled crossing, can't get across to the Isle of Wight... Yet again. No compensation for driving for an hour to the ferry port.... Wightlink can't even be bothered to answer these reviews, it just reinforces their values tbh

Both Ferry Companies that sail to the Isle of Wight are the true pirates of the water
I had a cancellation notification of 3 hours delays according to the T and C’s I can have a full refund and rebook however when I tried to do this I was told I’m only allowed a 50% refund
Wightlink and Red Funnel have been doing this for years robbing IOW Residents as well as holiday makers extortion at its very best and no one in Government or local politics does anything about it

I would give no stars if I could, absolute shambles of a company in this day and age.. Arrived on 8:22 train at Portsmouth harbour to find the ferry had left, didn't bother waiting for passengers on train, is there no coordination between the services? then to make matters worse not another cat until 21:45!!!!! Unbelievable what we have to put up with in this day and age.

Please be aware you’ll get no refund if for whatever reason you can’t make your journey.

Unbelievable extortionate thieves over 300 pounds for one adult and a small campervan. Jobsworth ticket clerk trying her hardest to escalate the cost and holding me 2 hours late whilst they decide how much more to charge me. Utter disgrace, the grey haired lady is out to squeeze every penny they can put of you and then when I exclaimed 'phuck' at missing my ferry and the tripled cost threatened to not let me sail for saying a swear word. Absolutely disgusting thieves run despicably.

The corrupt UK government needs to cap the fares for these jokers. £10 per person per journey, £20 per car per journey MAXIMUM. If you cant provide a service for those numbers hang your heads in shame. The islanders detest your offerings and look forward to a day where your company has ceased trading. Your staff are jumped up jerks replicating that of your dishonest shareholders. Youve been warned, your time is coming to an end......

Yet again family members have had to cancel their trip over because of ridiculous fares :/
Greedy Wightlink sending ferries with empty spaces rather than allow people with less available funds to travel.
Elderly and disabled people are being isolated at times we need a little support and company !
MERRY CHRISTMAS SCROOGELINK !

Should gave sailed at 10am on 29th November, however there were cancellations - usually one ferry an hour - reduced to 1 every 2 hours. We arrived in plenty of time to board (on a coach trip), however vehicles - including coaches - were allowed to board before us! Then told we could board the 1200 ferry - again - other coaches and vehicles that had arrived later than us were allowed to board - finally allowed on the 2pm ferry. Due to our coach driver's driving time and this delay - arrived home over 5 hours later than anticipated.

We travelled with Wightlink early November for a week's holiday, we arrived early to the port in Portsmouth and put on a earlier ferry which was great. The staff were all very efficient and friendly. On board was lovely on the Victoria of Wight roomy and a smooth crossing, in no time the announcement was to return to your car, unloading was efficient and quick. Also on our return a week later again we arrived early and was loaded on to a waiting ferry which left about 5 minutes later. I can not fault Wightlink I recommend checking with your accommodation to see if you can get a discount.

Good Lord. The prices for the short journey from Portsmouth to Fishbourne return for June 2025 are just mind boggling high. I'm afraid that after 50 years of our holidaying on the IOW it has come to an end. Over £350 for a car and two occupants is ridiculous. This monopoly needs to be sorted. Per mile of sea this has to be one of the most expensive ferry journeys in the world, if not the most.

Helpful, kind staff. Such an easy company to deal with.

I arrived early for both journeys, but it was no problem they just let me take an earlier ferry.

It’s nothing short of outrageous that an Island Resident with a Multilink Pass is not able to travel with a bicycle on the roof of their car using their pass as a form of payment. To be told I have to purchase a ticket at full price is for want of a better word “disgraceful”.

I bought return fares for two people on the WL fastcat for our holiday. I then phoned WL and amended the time of one person's outbound journey. This evening, my friend and myself returned from holiday and needed to use the pre-booked return fares to be told the barcode was only for one person. Two WL personnel attempted to deal with the situation - one insisting we had only ONE barcode for ONE return fare. At that time, the fastcat was boarding and after a very long return journey, I was desperate not to miss it. One member of staff appeared absolutely determined to deny us boarding whilst I became more and more distressed. Eventually the other member of staff overruled and said we could board. What a totally unnecessary affair and a very upsetting end to our holiday. Wightlink - I hope you're ashamed - absolutely disgraceful behaviour...............thank goodness you had ONE efficient human being on your staff!

Never run on time, queue was unbelievably long despite there being no cars in the lanes. Unhelpful staff, who were also incredibly rude. Not to mention overpriced.

I arrive half hour early to catch the 7am whitelink ferry to Portsmouth, exapecting to be across the Solent by 8am as advised ion timetable, No coffee, drinks or food available as the tills had broken
Only half seating area available as water was leaking into lounge floor
Ferry left an hour late with no explanation as to why, just sat in dock fully loaded
Got to Portsmouth an hour late only for the ferry to be stopped by harbour master in Portsmouth because wightlink had missed its entry time into the harbour.
I ended up arriving an hour and half late and missed my planned appointment by there incompetence

Our ferry was cancelled 6 minutes before it was due to sail with a member of staff announcing ‘this boat isn’t going anywhere…’

The excuse today was ‘a family emergency for a critical member of the crew’

It’s surprising that no one saw a critical member of the crew rushing off the boat…

And why did they not inform the customers before we traveled to the harbour… ?

What a terrible way to treat customers

Shocking service