BC Ferries Review

Travelling around BC? BC Ferries will get you there

Janet Carson is beyond vile and disgusting. She is a huge mistake and is not encouraging anyone to ride or use the Ferrie ever. Fire her for the good of humanity.

Did a road trip in 2018 with our family car and was impressed with the skill and accuracy these guys have, even with big vehicles. It was like watching someone play tetris with cars and trucks. The ride was awesome, we got a huge treat with a couple of whales breaching the surface! In these days of covid 19, these guys were still running like clockwork. 2yrs later, 2020 had us moving a 27' uhaul across Canada from Ontario to Victoria and these guys impressed me yet again with this monster of a uhaul and other big rigs, it was pretty cool to see them work. Seattle was burning bad and the smoke made it tough to see. Vancouver had the worst quality air in the world at that time..Will always be my go to option for going to the mainland. Thanks for all you do..

I don't recall this trip but each trip over to Vancouver, or to Saltspring Island was fun and relaxing.

Those of you who know me, know I operate a k9 security service in the lower mainland and Vancouver island area, today my partener and I were returning from Nanaimo with a highly aggressive Rottweiler in a crate in the back of my jeep,we attempted to book a spot on the dog deck but the website would not allow it,so we decided it would be best to wait a couple of sailings in order to get a space on the dog deck, well we finally boarded the vessel just to find out we were not placed on the dog deck, we were not permitted to leave that dog unattended nor have him in or around the public, so during the sailing we were approached by a number of bc ferry staff telling us we couldn't be on the deck and if we couldn't leave the dog locked up in the hot car we should take him up to the dog deck, well here's the thing,, he has one use, to attack,,,,, as he is a guard dog, and I am not his handler therefore I'm not legally even allowed to touch him, transport only.if I had removed him from the confines of his crate I would have probably been bit as well as putting many innocent civilians at great risk of death or great bodily injury, all the ferry staff needed to do was their job and they failed to do that, I have since spoke to legal council and they told me they completely stand by my decision, this is one time I can say I'm proud of my little brothers job as union rep for bc ferries, bc ferries you guys made huge mistakes today and almost caused a horrible accident all because you wouldn't listen to reason.i won't rest till jobs are lost over this mess, you guys used poor judgement and if I was not using my brain we would have both been slapped with lawsuits faster than you can say punitive damages, if you were traveling on the 11 am ferry leaving departure bay on Aug 22nd, I urge you to contact your own lawyer with regards to this incident and how the bc ferry staff almost put your lives/ health at great risk.

A good company and offers a good trip through the Gulf Islands over to Vancouver. Several gift shops and restaraunt which had quite good food for a ferry service. Overall, a good experiance.

Too expensive for normal "Public transportstion", Bland and overcharged food(except white spot). They said they care about our comfort, we wake up at 5 and stay in the car for atleast an hour to wait 7am ferry. I can't smoke about 4 hour. That such a good service provided by BC gorvenment. I wish one day I can drive through a bridge to vancouver for free at any time. But I don't think that day will come.

The cost for the ferry is unbelievably high for what it is. However, the staff is generally very nice and they are the only reason that this review gets any stars at all.

First class organization. Operates one of the largest passenger ferry fleets in the world.

The ferry is large and stable, the shops on the boat can stroll around, but the wifi signal is very bad, and the cabin is very cold.

This is the worst website that i have every encountered, it is embarrassing to live in the province and to ever tell anyone to use it....there is no excuse for the way it functions. When i go to put in the number of passengers it added one....i have been trying to get a reservation for about an hour....what the!!!...with what we pay for the service there is no excuse for this dismal website.

Overpriced, luxury, cooperate greed based ferry service. Does not care about its own BC residents only the tourism industry bringing in the money. I absolutely despise their company and service. Nothing bad to say about employees but all the decisions are coming from head office anyway. If there was any other somewhat affordable method to the mainland, I would take it but there isn't so unfortunately we are all stuck with their monopoly.

Bike infrastructure from the dark ages. Often I'll pay a $2 fee to use my bike and bike locking infrastructure is absent.

On the ferries a lot and notice significant improvements - the new Coastal Celebration was beautiful, super modern, huge windows and spacious seating. The pod of dolphins on the last trip back to Vancouver was spectacular. Scenery cannot be beat. Improved strong WIFI and easy work stations. Read the new super futuristic planning could be amazing. The demographics are trending now to the high tech younger crowd and from the rest of Canada plus the tourists so huge ridership means make reservations, plan ahead or walk on and use public transit on both sides.

Ferry from Cortes Island back over to Quadra. Monday on the long weekend, we arrived a bit early to find a long line-up of vehicles. Ferry employees worked wonders, and everybody fit aboard

The fairs are overpriced! $50 per vehicle is a rip-off!

That was the first time that we brought our Motorhome (65 feet including dolly and car) not from Port Angeles to Victoria and that was really a VERY good decision! From Vancouver to Sydney it is so much more convenient. Because the Ferry was far newer and much more space, even the check-in/out was fine, so more gray hair. ;-) We also enjoyed the very modern ferry, also the great breakfast buffet and the perfect Canadian Service on Board.

As a regular "customer", I don't usually bother with the upper deck services and instead choose to stay in my vehicle. You've definitely gotten better over the years at managing car alarms, but its still not a perfect system. I've often wondered why there aren't signs painted in obvious places on the car deck so the game of car alarm cat-and-mouse doesn't have to be played so much.

Outside that I generously give 3 stars. High rates are the main reason it isn't higher. I hope I'm pleasantly surprised with the new rates in 2017. I'd love to see a huge reduction to make up for the many thousands of dollars I've spent over the years.

Paid extra for reservations but it seemed the same as when i didn't have one. The hotels i stayed at treated me with disdain almost because of the discount i got for booking my vacation thru bc ferries. One hotel told me i would be treated better if i booked thru them directly.

If you want to leave the rock you have to use the ferry's not unless you fly the old days was a hell of a lot better fist come first on not any more the one's with the money get's on first by making a reservation they have to make more money to pay all the worker's in head office its funny when there's more people working in the head office then their is people working on the ship's that move the people from point A to point B

Nice building bc ferries. I see why it costs so much to take the ferries.... got to pay for this fancy building space you have.

pretty much the only choice you have to get to and from the islands.

sucks that you are not aloud to stay in your vehicle anymore.

the pet friendly area needs major improvement or allow pet owners a space on board.

if you are biking, there is no safe and secure place for your bike or gear.

white spot restaurant is ok but the fries are always soft.

I purchased a reservation ticket but due to unexpected traffic issues was 27 minutes early for my boarding, instead of 30. I was told the reservation was no longer valid (and lost that money), on top of the a 2 hour additional wait for the next ferry... the ferry ended up being 30 minutes late due to unexpected weather. For a service bleeding ridership, you think they would be a bit more flexible with customer service.

Let's start of by saying that the ferries are frequently late, the service poor, and the prices expensive. You would assume that spending 81$ just to go to the mainland would in turn get you good service and get you to your destination in a timely fashion, however, you would be wrong. Just this most recent trip I made to Vancouver a bunch of services were out of order. Very poor service bc ferries.

BC Ferries earned $77.4M last year yet they are not able to provide quality wifi service. Every 5 mins its disconnects and I had to reconnect my wifi other than that everything was fine.

Dog friendly, affordable, friendly and helpfull staff.

Good Community and provides good services across the islands

In the summer make sure you pre book if you are driving on! Also bring your own food, the ferry food is terrible

First time taking the ferry to the Island and since my father in law wasn't from BC he couldn't get his senior discount. Last time I checked didn't matter where your from...a senior is a senior

Fast. Good restaurant on board. Virtually no internet on board.

My most reliable way to get back to the island and home.

I have only had good experiences with this company. The staff is friendly, effective, and efficient from said experiences.

I think prices are fair given how expensive it must be to operate and maintain these vessels, not to mention all of the other essential facilities and personnel on land.

The reservations are great for those that like/are able to plan ahead. It is only $10 for this which is very reasonable. They give ample warning that check-in must be between 30-60 mins prior to the scheduled sailing so it should not be a surprise if you arrive outside of this timeframe window and are told your reservation is no longer valid. Practice good time management and get there at the right time to secure your spot.

I was on the sailing from Victoria to Vancouver several days ago, what I witnessed was nothing short of horrifying, a 10 year old boy was getting mauled and bit by a very aggressive pit bull type dog, it only lasted a minute or so , but it was enough time for the dog to really sink it's teeth into the little guys flesh, you people really need to address this dog problem on your vessels, not impressed, I'm still having nightmares over this , I read the other posting of the aggressive Rottweiler on one of your boats, clearly that particular owner new not to remove his dog from its kennel, I wish everyone had as much sense as that dog owner, I am a 76 year old lady who has traveled on your ferries hundreds of times during my life, I'm certain I will never take another ferry ride to the island, far too many negative issues.

Hadn't been on a ferry for quite sometime and was a good experience.

Great service, on time and clean beside the beautiful viee

Going into Victoria BC was a fair experience with announcements prior to boarding the ferry as we decided to stay in the car before boarding.
However, on the return trip back to Vancouver from Victoria, we almost missed not getting on as we were inside the building having coffee when I noticed a man and some kids running to their car and noticed others doing the same and we starting running back to our car. We never heard the departure announcement inside the building but barely heard it when we got to our car. They need to work on the PA system and announcements to boarding the ferry .

Have waiting room, rest room, wifi, tree, bird, duck

** -5 STARS **

BC ferries needs to dissolve or go back into the public's hands.

Customer service is horrible.

Employees act INCREDIBLY arrogant.
(Sorry but just because you work there, doesn't make you better than someone working at McDonald's. You SHOULD be ashamed and embarrised rather because of the immense negativity BC feels toward the company.)

Prices ARE steep. Take a look at their price inflation history.. It's disgusting.
(pretty much a toll for using the Trans Canada Hwy system that doesn't even go back to the people of BC or help modify their procedures or assets.

15 bucks for a burger?.. couldn't have gone with Timmys or something? Nope gotta make thst money.

It's 2018.. and you still can't get your WiFi to work?. Probably cause you guys would rather pocket the money than do ANYTHING for your customers.

No smoking **ANYWHERE** on their property, sucks.. (not to mention the excess cigarette butts in the village now). Though I've seen their employees smoking on the ferries and in the terminals themselves. (Practise what you preach? Pictures to come).

Being forced up to the passenger deck, is nothing but a means to get you to spend money.

No smoking on the ferry, keeps you from going outside and stay on the passenger deck level.

***Prioritizes profits before customer relations***.... and without ANY reasonable alternative means to get anywhere..

It's time for competition.

Ps.. found hairs in my food twice in the past 3 months.
Icing on the cake.

Keep anti masters off your vessels. If you have rules/guidelines, FOLLOW THEM! Quit putting your passengers at risk.

first time to Victoria, and we were there at 5:15pm, bought the ticket for 7pm, but can't get on the ferry and had to wait for the 9pm one. so we waited for 4 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're from Castlegar, BC, We start early to try to catch the 7pm ferry, but had to waste 4 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's EXPENSIVE too! and the WIFI on ferry is HORRIBLE! you charge us so much and can't even afford a good WIFI service? I feel bad for people who lives on the islands!

Ferries have always been on time for us. We have never booked ahead but always arrive with lots of time to spare before boarding.

200% profit increase since last year but yet increases prices to "offset costs"

On a trip to Victoria, BC the ferry ride was probably one unexpected highlights of our trip. Amazing views, friendly staff amazing food.

Paid $17 extra to make a reservation so that I don t have to wait 1 hour at the terminal. Arrived 25 minutes prior to the sailing and they put me on the regular lane because I was late 5 minutes. Does that make sense?

We pay for transport cut down on food and beverage prices

Please, for the love of Christ, give us a bridge. Ticket fare has increased like $5+ over the years

For the money, service is not great. Beautiful views from thier ferries though.

Everything is okay, but I don't really like it because the workers don't interact or try and help people out when they're in need.
The food is okay, but in my opinion my mom's food is better, if you want safe transportation this is a great option.

BC ferries is great and very nice to visit Vancouver or victoria have nice restaurant and biggest ferry I have ever seen

They should allow truckers to sleep in their trucks, the only break i have and don't find it restful or relaxing being around other passengers, as half of them are disgusting noisy jerks