Wightlink Isle of Wight Ferries Reviews 

413
TrustScore 2.5 out of 5

2.3

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11.40am Fishourne to Portsmouth service today. The port manager was fantastic, helping me to get an emergency ticket. My vision was so poor so he stopped what he was doing and did it all for me. He... See more

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

We booked tickets on the Wightlink service from Portsmouth to Fishbourne for the IoW festival. We were just going for the Saturday so booked the 2am return crossing. We received a message from Wightli... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

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... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I’m a trades person trying to scrape a living and finished early so went to the ferry port. Had to pay £105 extra to change to another ferry, even though they had free space. What a rip off.

Company details

  1. Ferry service

Information provided by various external sources

We are the main link between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. Every year, we carry over 4.6 million passengers, making us one of the UK’s largest domestic ferry operators. We provide Island residents with an easy and frequent service to the mainland, as well as giving millions of holidaymakers a taste of Island life. Crossings take approximately 22 minutes by catamaran and from 40 minutes by car ferry. And we operate three convenient routes and just under 46,000 crossings a year. We are also dedicated to giving excellent customer service and the best facilities on board and at our Terminals. As most people who travel to and from the Island do so with us, we are truly a part of Island life. We are proud to support IOW communities wherever we can, from sports sponsorship to local regeneration projects. And we offer Isle of Wight residents great value Multilink Pass tickets, making travel to the mainland easy and affordable.


Contact info

2.3

Poor

TrustScore 2.5 out of 5

413 reviews

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2.3

All reviews

(413)

38 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Difficult with dogs

You must not leave your dog in the car if you cross on the ferry. When the boat moves, all of the car alarms go off. It turns into a living hell and will traumatize your dog. Now, booking instructions say you can keep your dog in the car, but do not make it clear that owners cannot stay with them. The ferry does warn people when booking and when arriving to turn car alarms off. However some cars, mine included, make this impossible. I used to have a menu setting until my service last year and it has disappeared. I disabled the motion sensor for internal and external movement, but it still goes off.
Having never taken a car ferry at all, took a bit of a risk also taking dogs. But have fond memories of the isle of wight as a child.
Staff are hit and miss. Some very kind. Some arrogant. Pet friendly areas on the boat are anything but friendly. First crossing the floor was really filthy, can't imagine the last time it was cleaned. On the way back, the outside area was really full of screaming school kids. If you have dogs, think through if this ferry crossing is worth going to the IoW - until this improves, definitely won't be going back on this ferry.

15 July 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Is the island worth £240 passage?

Love the island but £240 return is just appalling. Why d0esnt the council do something? Its killing tourism.
Wightlink are crippling the island and no profits remain in the UK. Next year: Skeggy!

18 July 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Rip off and ZERO interest in…

Rip off and ZERO interest in customer.
The ferry left early we had 5 minutes left before it went and they wouldnt let us on despite there being space claiming that they had the bridge already up.
These people are trained with zero customer care in mind. Be glad to be shot of them

17 July 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Wightlink costs & deterioration of IOW

Myself and my family have been visiting the IOW for over 25 years. Have not been since COVID. Myself and my partner decided on a 5 day break. The cost of the ferry was horrendous. We paid £196 return (including disability discount). When we turned up at Portsmouth was told my ticket was not a disability ticket!
I was upset and appalled at how the island has declined so quickly. The beachfront restaurants & hotels at Sandown beach look like they have been in a war zone! Everywhere is tired and lacking tourists. What the hell happened?? Most shocking were the ferry prices for such a small crossing. It is obviously affecting tourism, trade and the residents themselves!! What sense does it make for Wightlink to charge so much! We are in a cost of living crisis and even the Islanders cannot afford tickets! Surely they are putting themselves, islanders, visitors, tourists etc at risk and will eventually collapse. All through greed! I am based not far from Dover and you can cross Dover to Calais with 4 people and car for less than a one way ticket to Isle of Wight. I wanted to bring my grandchildren over to make memories for them! But not now. Unfortunately the IOW will continue to deteriorate and will lose all tourism!! What a terrible shame and it’s so very sad.

26 June 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Super friendly and helpful customer service team!

I found this company lovely to deal with - something that is increasingly rare these days!

I've been booking ferry tickets for IOW festival so they're probably super busy at the moment but I can always get straight through to their customer service team who are exceptionally helpful and friendly.

They swapped my foot passenger tickets to a later ferry for no additional cost and gave me very good advice on return ferries too. Thank you Wightlink!

22 June 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

The check-in gate staff need service training

The check-in gate staff desperately need customer service training. I incorrectly named my ticket a flexi ticket and he was fast to rudely correct me. He then informed me he had been working here seventeen years and has never been a flexi. I was not arguing with him but my politeness was not returned.

9 June 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

EXTORTIONATE, UNRELIABLE, UNACCOUNTABLE.

Way too expensive to cross a short stretch of water with a small car, simply cannot be justified! Unreliable, and the toilets are disgusting … a health hazard. Beyond a joke - time for a Ferries Regulator.

8 May 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Overpriced terrible service

Booked a return journey in my car but due to an unexpected breakdown I needed to change the booking to take my van. This amendment was 2 weeks before the sailing and the van is about 20cm longer than the car. The cost for this amendment was an additional £264. This would have made the total cost £377 for a 2 day period return and it was actually cheaper to hire a car and just change the number plate on the booking. The pricing structures are disgusting and Island residents are being held to ransom.
When we arrived at the port on the return leg of our journey boarding did not start until 30 minutes after the boat was due to depart. This wouldn't have been so bad if we didn't have to watch the giant screen telling everyone that the boats were running to schedule.

30 March 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

UNAFFORDABLE, UNRELIABLE, UNACCOUNTABLE

We are local people living on the Isle of Wight. We can no longer afford the car ferry and the same applies to our friends who would like to visit. The answer is not to buy a multi link pass, because on a fixed income, we just can't afford the initial outlay. Plus many sailings have no capacity to use them. The answer is to provide competitive and affordable fares for local people and visitors, a reliable timetable and stop creaming off profits rather than providing a proper service . Oh, and to change the biased feedback loop where we're asked not to comment on the price and timetables!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6 May 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Total rip off for locals and visitors

Total rip off for locals and visitors. No discounts in week Website is slow tedious to use, complicated and app simply redirects you to webpage. Staff of course are lovely. Cigars allround for the shareholders!

30 April 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Wightlinks prices are absolutely…

Wightlinks prices are absolutely horrendous. They really do make my life an absolute misery. I travel to the isle of wight evert month to see my little girl and it costs me an absolute fortune on the ferries I basically cannot afford to see my daughter as often as I desperately want to because of the horrific prices wightlink charge and they have the audacity to advertise that they keep loved ones together!!! They literally keep me from seeing her. Absolute scumbags who run this company.

25 March 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I live on the IOW and ferry…

I live on the IOW and ferry cancellations and extortionate prices have forced us to make decision to move off the Island. My husband has to travel to hospital in Portsmouth regularly and the ferry charges are disgusting.

11 April 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Extortionate prices

Extortionate prices - they really make it so difficult to go anywhere off the Isle of Wight. Something like a trip abroad becomes such a difficult having to factor is ridiculously expensive ferry prices and a frustrating timetable.

They know we have to pay, so they charge us extortionate rates. The Isle of Wight really needs a fixed link to drive this awful company out of business already.

8 April 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

prohibitive prices

prohibitive prices, unreliable service.
Far too expensive to cross a short stretch of water with a small car. We've had holidays on IW for 35 years but can no longer afford it so will now be going elsewhere.
They are also constantly taking ferries off so you can turn up for a ferry and find that it's not running, and there's no guarantee that you'll get on the next one over an hour later.

30 March 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Shame as Service is good buy...

Shame as Service is good but...
Prices are astronomical and for IOW residents is a disgrace. These ferry companies are essentially holding Islanders to ransom...staff are cool however prices...sort it out.

3 April 2024
Unprompted review

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