BC Ferries

What can you say that hasn't all ready been said by those of us living on Vancouver Island. BC Ferries is over priced, the food is over priced.the service is meh, but with your vehicle it's the only way to Vancouver

BC Ferries service keeps getting worse. It was a wonderful experience years ago before the reservation system and all the ridiculous rules that have been implemented since. You can't even stay in your car on the lower car deck anymore. They claim it's because of new Transport Canada rules, come on! In the past it was fine. Worse, if you have a dog you have to sit in the small stinky pet room on the upper car deck.

Smarter up BC Ferries, your service is an embarrassment to BC!

Reservation system is a scam. Show up 20 minutes before departure time (they say you have to be there 30), and are told our reservation is now invalid. Yet we observe the ferry show up late, unload late, load late, and depart late. There is no impact to their operations by letting us on.

How is it an issue when the ferry isn't even docked yet. "Rules for thee but not for me. "

Love the day trip traveling where you can do a short get away sightseeing, the best part is seeing sunset over the clear water when you head outside. Food is actually not bad and worth the line up but get there early for a seat. Also, you can lounge for $14. Recommended not peak times to travel

They have not adjusted the sailing schedule for nanaimo in 5 years despite you having a good chance at waiting at the terminal for 5 hours (when taking a vehicle). Crazy high prices, huge salaries to their executives, great example of where privatizing services would cut a lot of bloat

Disappointed. We made a reservation weeks in advance, arrived in line to check in on-time but waited 10 minutes only to miss the 30 minute cutoff by 5 mins. Then told to wait standby for the next 2 boats - 4 hours. If the 30 minute cutoff is that critical, you need to overemphasize it. Also, I don’t get why, the lineup is hundreds of cars that goes 15 minutes past the stated departure time. I liken it to loading for a flight, why close the gate so quickly when you have not even started loading with a line that takes more than 30 minutes to load.

This was a very scenic and comfortable way to get from Vancouver to Vancouver island. The food was surprisingly good as well!

Recently experienced my first of several voyages on the BC Ferries. It is amazing how quickly and efficiently they process passengers and vehicles on and off the ship. I downloaded the App, which made booking reservations easy. It was very helpful seeing the real time updates of ship capacity nearing our departure time. Every ship we sailed on had immaculately clean washrooms.

Been a while since I took a ferry, no more buffet which was really disappointing. I loved the ferry buffet, so now everyone has to eat out of the main cafeteria. There is minimal cleaning staff for the passengers using this service, so the plates and garbage piles up to a point of disgustingness, for the premium they charge I don’t want to be sickened by the overflowing garbage. I gave two stars cause the boat left on time and arrived on time and didn’t crash so that’s good right?

I will change this to 5 stars one day when the buffet hopefully returns. I know many people who miss it

I like the service. But staff is too rude. The lady on the window 1 (swartz terminal), at 12: 40 pm (9 March) behaved rudely. I was with the family and she misbehaved while asking for the adults and kids count.

Amazing crew always ensuring people on board our safe. The crew is all very friendly and the boat ride is always worth the trip. My favourite part of any trip to the island really.

Pretty low standards. Can't staff the boats. Sitka lounge and coastal express has been closed for who knows how long. Covid really got these guys down. Time for a new business model. Pay your employees better / offer careers instead of a low paying part time job. Inconsistent on cleanliness. Yes it gets you from point a to b but that's about all she wrote.

Just a real poor service that should not be supported, they have bad food, bad service, there employees probably aren’t well taken care of due to the bad attitude you receive frequently, we need a new system

Thank you BC ferries people for getting myself and everyone else safely between terminals️

Now I read all the reviews and I can 100% see why some people are saying angry things about cost/value. But over the last 40ish years of my life… BC Ferries has shuttled me and many other random people back and forth from mainland to the island, and in between all the gulf islands.

These amazing people get us places safely, even when every time the boat moves… 20-30 car car alarms go off!

*angrily looking at owners of european vehicles*

I’m giving this place a solid 5 stars. I wish I could more than 5 stars.

Lovely ride. Great views. Restrooms easy to find and we're clean and equipped. We had the first trip of three morning and needed to get breakfast. Waiting for the limited hot offerings, as the cashier, cook and waiter was all the same person, took time. But he was nice.
We then got donuts from the kiosk set up outside. They were fresh, sweet and greasy!
Make sure you listen to the hard to hear directions about returning to your car (& remember the level and placements of your parking spot!). Driving onto and off the ferry was easy. We happened to get in the wrong customs line- very chatty customs officer, and ended up being the last car in the lot! Another officer finally called us over to his line so we could pass!
Had a nice talk with several passengers.

I recently took the BC Ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay, the same journey I took almost 30 years ago.

Suffering from jetlag, with no idea how to get a ticket, where get on board, or what to do at the other end of my journey, the staff at both terminals, and the team on the ferry itself, made the whole process as simple and as enjoyable as it was all those years ago.

Having rushed late out of my hotel, I had not eaten at all that day. That's wasn't a problem! The cafe on board the ferry had exactly the kinds of breakfast I was looking for: coffee and something simple to eat, all for a fairly reasonable price.

Fortunately, both my outbound and return journeys had perfect weather so quickly finding a seat outside on the upper decks afforded me fabulous views of the islands, the houses, and even some of the local residents, as we slowly powered our way between the ports.

Once at my destinations, retrieving my luggage, which I had checked in, was simple and fast. I don't know why everyone doesn't do it. Then, getting transport from the terminals was simple as walking out the door.

If only everything in life was as easy as catching a BC Ferry!

Plan for delays but other than that they work great. Great views onboard. Saw a seal at tsawwassen!

Very poor facilities for people travelling with pets. Especially on hot days. Make a reservation and show up early as advised by BC ferries. Despite getting loaded first, still end up on lower deck.

Garbage is all over Tsawwassen terminal grassy areas, especially the areas for dogs in the center north side.

Swartz Bay terminal is a lot cleaner but there are also not enough dog areas to allow for space and keeping dogs off hot pavement.

Overall, poor experiences. BC ferries should be more thoughtful with their approaches to their customers as a vital connector of BC Hwys.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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