SeaLink Kangaroo Island — Attraction in Adelaide

Booked Ultimate Kangaroo Island 2 Day Tour - Depart Adelaide - Bus Pick Up/Ferry - Kangaroo Island Seafront - Sorrento's Room. Sept 2025 One Day Kangaroo Island Experience Day 2 Kangaroo Island Sip & See Day Tour. Be prepared for the majority of the time travelling either to the ferry terminal, on the ferry and on the coach around the island. It's a lot! First day was good with lots of notable sightseeing including Remarkable Rocks, Seal Bay and the wildlife park and Admiral's Arch. Sadly you only get an average of 30 mins at most of the sights. Lunch was very good at a stop along the way. The hotel was fine if dated, creaking floorboards and a good breakfast. The view I had in room 15 was excellent looking out to the sea where I was lucky to spot 3 dolphins on the walkway near the cliff edge. I had to pay a single supplement which was not good. There was no dinner on arriving for the stay at Penneshaw and only one pub to get a cooked meal which was heaving. This was very disappointing for the price of the tour. Au$950. The Sip & See day 2 was very disappointing. It was basically a promotional tour from the companies on the island. From making honey, making eucalyptus oil and making wine. It was a day I could have spent doing much more sightseeing of the island. For example we never went to the main town on the island. Pennington Bay was stunning but we only got 10 minutes there so we could not walk down to the beach. This was pretty poor. Our free time in Penneshaw (day 2) amounted to us finding somewhere to eat which I have already mention was very limited. To improve Sealink should provide dinner, have less time on promotions and more on seeing the island. Dinner on day two was undercooked. The island itself is a beautiful area and I was so glad to see after the devasting fire that the greenery was recovering. I would choose the Day 1 tour over the Day 2 tour if you only have one day. Doing both days you go the same place on both! Once to see the kangaroos and once to see the raptors. The bird of prey presentation was good. It was amazing what they can do with rescue birds. I'm not sure why we could not have done both on the same day other than a cynical marketing exercise! The ferry going back was delayed by 30 minutes with no apology or reason given. I arrived back in Adelaide at 11pm. With hindsight I would hire a car at Penneshaw and see the island myself. I should have looked more closely at the itinerary for day 2 and researched what would happen there. You live and learn! The tour guides/coach drivers were very friendly and informative on the...

We booked the Sealink ferry from Adelaide to Kangaroo Island with a rental car, before realising that they only take very few hybrid cars on the ferry at any one time (like 2 max!). Luckily we had ample time to switch our car around at the airport for a more conventional one, as our KI holiday part was at the end of a two week journey into Victoria.

Once the hybrid car swap/blip was out of the way, we arrived in good time to the port, where you line up in one of the four rows designated for car and trucks. And from that moment on, the whole load up process was incredibly efficient. Word to the wise: if you are not a good driver, you might not like how little room you have to park. Be prepared to combust with stress! That being said, the staff are amazingly helpful as you slot your car like a thread and needle between other vehicle and girders.

The ferry that we took on the way out to KI was definitely an old work horse. See the photos here of the toilet dryer. This pretty much summed it up. However, it was safe and spacious with lots of room to sit.

As passengers my wife and son boarded separately to myself from the passenger terminal side. I met them upstairs where there was a lot of table and seats to choose from, not to mention a full length bar serving coffee and snacks etc. I did have a coffee which was actually okay considering it was a ferry!

Disembarkation was equally incredibly well manages and smooth.

On the return leg, I felt like a veteran. And this ferry was so much newer, cleaner and better shape. The crew announced on the tannoy that we'd be having a bumpy journey and to look for seating further to the back, but this hardly materialised. They need to come to Rottnest Island in WA to learn what touch is like in 25 knot winds :)

All in all, a big thumbs up for an incredibly well managed ferry service. Yes it is expensive, but in my opinion, taking your own car, beats and trumps all...

Use "Kangaroo Island Connect" instead! All of these ferries have TERRIBLE refund policies so if you need to cancel, it'll be better to lose a cheaper ticket than SeaLink. Wish I'd known when I booked with SeaLink there were other options.... SeaLink ended up taking $100 off me for a service they had not provided yet (and it's still 10 days away - not exactly a last minute cancellation!). We booked the ferry only to realise the next night that rental cars aren't generally allowed to be taken on the island (of course, nowhere in SeaLinks booking did they mention this - which is pretty surprising given how many tourists would be travelling to the island and not necessarily know this). I tried to cancel the car portion and the lady on the phone told me that it was not refundable. I thought I had read that at least part of it was refundable more than a week in advance, and I pressed her on this, at which point she went and spoke to a senior who confirmed 50% of it was refundable. That lady would not have given me that money back if I hadn't pressed her on it. When I complained that we couldn't get more of the money back than 50%, she told me I should read through the cancellation policy thoroughly which I thought was ironic because she works there and didn't even realise (or care?) that I was entitled to 50% back. I think having the deadlines for refunds being so far away from the travel date (30 days!) is totally inexcusable in this day and age. Particularly given how expensive the fares are. You have to book super early to not miss the right slots, but as soon as you book, don't count on getting that...