Wightlink Isle of Wight Ferries Reviews 355

Booked tickets on 1st April 2023 (perhaps that should have been an indication about the joke they call service) Filled out accessibility requirements for the journey as being near to lift and needing wheelchair and received a disabled person's discount and acknowledgement email of the requirements. Ticket clearly states "If you have any special requirements you have not already notified us about call etc" . Check in guy Portsmouth said there was nothing on computer but gave us a disabled spot. On return journey again no reservation and no disabled spots. Check in did not give a toss. Went down to service desk nobody home !! Had word with staff in high vis jacket one lady in charge of loading said complain on the website (we all know what round bin those are filed in.) Other guy arrogantly said "Well you should have booked then" and I know I had. Given there was a problem there was no attempt made to get us near a lift in a normal lane which could have helped. We were dropped in the middle of the boat and my wife who has no left hip, a 10cm short left leg, spinal fusion, and artificial right knee, no thyroid, half an airway, one kidney and ITP, an auto immune disease which means if she falls or hits herself she bleeds internally. She was forced to walk the length of the boat between cars avoiding wing mirrors. I would not trust these staff to do anything involving client interaction they are a bunch of jobsworths knowing their management will not do anything about it but gouge the public with criminal pricing.

Date of experience: 16 September 2023

I live on the Isle of Wight, had to travel to Southampton for NHS surgery. Wightlink claim to offer 50% discount for such journeys.
They do not.
Due to complications I needed to stay quite late at the hospital and could not leave alone but only be released into someone's care. Luckily a friend in Lymington came to get me and took me back to stay at his house.
The next day, barely able to walk and in quite a lot of pain, I explained this to the gentleman at the wightlink ticket kiosk and he couldn't have been less helpful. He was uninterested, unsympathetic, uncaring and quite rude. He seemed to think it was all some kind of ruse to get a cheap fare and barely glanced at my hospital admission letter. He simply said, "I can't help you, you'll have to pay full price."
Really, really poor attitude. Shameful in fact. Wightlink's NHS discount scheme is a marketing facade to convince you they care about the community they serve. They do not. Wightlink care only about squeezing every penny they can from you and if that means taking advantage of people who are sick and in need, they will do it.
Disgusting.

Date of experience: 12 September 2023

Cancelled at short notice due to "technical" difficulties" if I was being cynical I might notice that the crossing after was still not full. Often prohibitively expensive thereby holding Islanders to random. Schemes for Islanders are very restricted. There is a clear need for regulation of both Wightlink and Red Funnel and also both companies should be subject to tender. Also if they were required to pay a penalty as compensation regarding cancellations other than for weather conditions, it might concentrate their minds

Date of experience: 06 September 2023

Great journeys both ways
So easy to park car on the ferry and straight forward getting off again.
Lovely sitting up on deck
Shame it’s so expensive though

Date of experience: 01 September 2023

Booked a day return to the Isle of Wight with wightlink. First ferry was ok, left 15mins prior to stated departure time meaning anyone getting to the ferry terminal 10minutes early would have in fact missed their booked time!

Return journey was the opposite! I turned up 45minutes early for my scheduled ferry. This departed 45minutes late, leaving me to wait in a hot car with 3 energetic children.

Staff were unhelpful and rude when I raised a question regarding whether I’d be on the delayed ferry, and when I told him he was being rude, he told me to be quiet or he would ensure I wouldn’t board the ferry at all.

Given the amount this company charges, I find it highly disappointing to be subjected to unreliable services and rude staff.

Date of experience: 03 September 2023

So disappointed with Wightlink,
Traveled this weekend from Lymington to Yarmouth Friday 9am return Monday 12 midday
Cost of ferry was £312
On arrival I was informed that I had given the wrong height of my motorhome ( my fault ) I was given a lane and told to see the woman in the office,
She informed me that I had to pay another £94 for my mistake, total for crossing was £408 I’m flabbergasted at the cost of the trip and more than disappointed with Wightlink
Thing is on the out going journey I caught the original ferry I was booked on 🤬🤬🤬

Date of experience: 25 August 2023

What a complete shambles . Went online to order a return ticket to the Isle Of Wight Scooter Rally for this coming Sunday . There was a 20% discount on the web page , followed all the instructions . Then came to stage 4 where the instructions tell you to enter IOW Scooter Rally in the event name box . So get to stage 4 and no event name box . So you cannot apply for discount . I then phoned and could not understand the lady on the phone one bit . I think she understood me but she could not help . So a complete waste of time . Looked at Red Funnel and they are £20 cheaper .. try and support your local business but why would you if they are pricing themselves out of favor .

Date of experience: 22 August 2023

A dreadfully managed company!
32 sailings cancelled this weekend because an ‘essential crew member is unavailable 1¤7. Scary to think that one person ‘not being available for work 1¤7 can cause this much disruption, especially when the island has a population of 150,000 people and its peak tourist season. Why are there no back up plans in place? I’m baffled. There are no words to describe how poorly managed, arrogant and obnoxious this company is. If only MP Bob Seely would step in and fight for reliable and affordable cross solent travel, especially for residents 1¤7 we can all dream.

Date of experience: 11 August 2023

No surprises here - delayed leaving Isle of Wight today (ferry) and delayed returning this evening (sea-cat). One star for this incompetent outfit is far too generous. An overpriced, underperforming monopoly that exploits their monopoly position with an indifference to it's passengers that borders on contempt. Greater regulation of ferry services is urgently needed to bring companies like this to heel.

Date of experience: 05 August 2023

Pathetically run company which is 1¤7/h2>

Pathetically run company which is nothing about service or the well being of the island economy. A virtual monopoly which is all about extracting as much money out of you as possible. The CEO should be ashamed of the company he runs.

Date of experience: 24 July 2023

I have used Wightlink a number of times 1¤7/h2>

I have used Wightlink a number of times over the past few years going on holiday to the Isle of Wight, and never had any problems... Ferries pretty much on time, prices reasonable for 4 people and a vehicle travelling off shore... its pretty much a case of "it does exactly as it says on the tin"

Date of experience: 01 June 2023

We have just booked a crossing across to the Isle of Wight to meet friends in a couple of weeks time, and I am shocked at how much it is to cross. Our total trip is £246. The return leg afternoon sailing which suit us are £157 - that's one way! We have booked slightly later in the day which is less convenient but it is still £148. We never thought we would be spending this much money to cross the Solent - we have gone to France a few time and been used to £100 return fares in the summer. This pricing is really unfair and surely can't be justified. Someone should be stepping in to stop the greed from companies like this - they know you have to pay out or just not go!

Date of experience: 22 July 2023

The most expensive crossing ever. Dirty boats. Paint flaking off of the walls of the boats. Food all over the floor.

Date of experience: 15 June 2023

Absolute pirates.

One of their staff members directed me into the side of the boat causing expensive damage to my car. When a complaint was made and I requested cctv after 9 days I was given a reply to which they told me they don't keep cctv that long so no liability!! They did give me a free one way ticket though to apologise! Now nice!

Absolutely diabolical. Wish I didn't have to use this shocking service at all to get off the Island. Utter pirates....

Date of experience: 16 March 2023

Incredibly expensive and very poor 1¤7/h2>

Incredibly expensive and very poor customer service. I was looking to bring my family back over to the island (where I grew up and lived for 20 years) with a car over the summer holidays and they're charging £250 for the privilege; no wonder nobody bothers coming to the island anymore! Couple this with the fact that the ferry service is very often either disrupted or late and when you email to complain all you get is a passive-aggressive response saying they won't do anything then I would greatly welcome a bridge from the mainland and would gladly see this terrible excuse for a company go out of business. Only rated one star because I can't rate it zero.

Date of experience: 10 April 2023

I’m an island resident. I use wightlink regularly, I personally think the prices are reasonable, especially with a multilink pass. I’ve been late and the friendly staff on the phone have always helped me, staff on board the boat have always been polite and friendly, staff at the check-in gate have always been helpful sometimes putting me on an earlier boat. The boats are clean and well kept, the toilets are clean. I have never had a problem booking crossings a few days in advance. I have traveled on wightlink probably hundreds of times and I can’t think of a single occasion that would cause me to think it’s a poor service. It’s a lovely relaxing crossing any time of the day.

Date of experience: 04 July 2023

Terrible service ripping people off for 1¤7/h2>

Terrible service ripping people off for a short travel distance

Date of experience: 18 July 2023

This is the lowest I could give. Having to travel to the mainland regularly the service is awful boats delayed or cancelled. And having to pay an arm and a leg to use them. Horrible money grabbing company.

Date of experience: 01 July 2023

I'm from the Island and use the ferry regularly to look after my grandchildren, who are on the mainland. The prices for foot passengers have steadily increased at an extautionate rate. And yet the service for foot passengers is awful. Often the lifts don't work. You can't get past the lorries with a pushchair, which means you have to wait until all the traffic is off before you can disembark.

As for the timetable, it's as if the make it up as they go along. It's either late or it pulls out 10 minutes early.

Terrible service run by a greedy company.

Date of experience: 07 July 2023

Pet friendly with designated pet lounge 1¤7/h2>

I think it’s really unfair that people leave such negative reviews. The way I look at it is it’s a 45 minute journey slightly longer than a flight to the Channel Islands. Yet you get to take your car. It’s more expensive to fly to the Channel Islands too. Occasionally there are technical problems which happens with everything when they are constantly in use and also the harbourmaster will also allow other sailings to leave the harbour which can delay the ferry that’s out of the control of Wightlink.

People don’t realise the operational costs of running a service of this kind.

If you shop about, you can get some great deals for travel to the island.

WIGHTLINK are very Pet friendly with a designated pet lounge and clean up station.
Staff are always friendly and the service is fantastic.
Travel regularly without issue.
Would highly recommend.

Date of experience: 13 July 2023