Bluebridge Cook Strait Ferry Picton Terminal — Attraction in South Island

Communication with their passengers could have been so much better.

We fully understand the delay caused by strong gale across the sound on 16 - 17 Feb. We were supposed to get on board a 2 pm ferry from Picton to Welly on 17 Feb, but this was rescheduled to a later date.

Bluebridge sent us an SMS and email indicating the delay around 6 am on the day of departure (17 Feb). The SMS states it would be approx eleven hours delay and would get back to us at 7.30 pm that night regarding our new departure time. We were in Motueka then.

We received another SMS at 1.55 pm that day (17 Feb) regarding the departure time being changed from 2 pm to 3 pm. One would naturally think that the timing refers to a departure time the next day (18 Feb) as Bluebridge mentioned that the delay would be approx eleven hours long. I replied to Bluebridge's original email on the delay to double-check. They did not revert.

We drove about 3 hours from Motueka to Picton and reached Bluebridge at 1.30 pm today (18 Feb). Their staff told us we were not booked in for any ferry until tomorrow, at 7 pm.

No SMS or emails indicated this change.

When inquired about this unexpected change, the staff told us that the 3 pm departure timing was for 17 Feb and not 18 Feb. He said we have missed our ferry, and it was 'expected'. Our next ferry out would be at 7 pm tomorrow (19 Feb).

When inquired about the possibility of getting on board a ferry today (18 Jan), the staff told us to book with Interislander instead.

We would be getting a full refund from Bluebridge within five working days, but I thought this was not enough to assuage our frustration.

The company could have given prompt and accurate news to their passengers, rather than to have them discover it themselves, and then telling them to book with their competitor, Interislander when Bluebridge could not provide timely departure.

We were recommended by a friend to cross the strait with them. It was our first crossing and this episode has left us truly disappointed with...

First we received an information about the cancellation of our ferry on the 24th November 2022 at 2pm. Trying to get someone from the support via phone was aborted after over 30min waiting in queue. Online booking system was broken so there was no way in changing the booking. After a while the online system was working again and we booked the ferry the same date but at 7:15pm expecting to see the sunset on the ferry. We were so eager to see Marlborough Sounds and the epic landscapes between the island on our holiday in New Zealand.. . Now comes the best part. So we finally went to the checkin at 6pm because it was stated to come at least 1h before the actual departure. When we arrived we already noticed that the ferry also just arrived from Wellington and they had to unload people and vehicles. As you can imagine there was a huge delay in our departure so we departed 8:30pm instead of 7:15pm. In the meanwhile the sun already went down and there was nothing left to experience in the Marlborough sounds because it was just dark in the middle of the night. It would have been such a nice experience to see the sunset during the cruise but there was nothing left but a worn out ship.

Thank you bluebridge for destroying our impression of New Zealand. Never ever gonna take a ferry with your company again.

And to the folks out there considering a ferry from picton to Wellington: please save your money and try a different ferry company then bluebridge. The others may have more...

The ladies who ushered us through the vehicle check in process were 10/10. So smart, efficient and lovely. HOWEVER: Once on board we went up to the dining area and found it was filled with a most revolting smell from the excrement of many cows on a cattle truck which we saw loaded on a TOP deck. It is entirely stupid to let this happen, the truck should be on the lowest vehicle deck not the one close to the passengers. Also, I was hoping for better food than Interislander (that's why I tried Bluebridge for the first time) and was disappointed. It's still the same blah not very healthy fare as Interislander's. And a cashier binned almost an entire large punnet of hot chips because a few fell on a bench (she rightly decided once she put them back in the punnet to not put it back on sale) but putting them back in the punnet meant she had made a problem so she just threw away the whole lot. Food waste. ALSO. There needs to be better/more frequent cleaning. Glass isn't clean - spoiling the views. Window surrounds, seats, also need cleaning. Low rent. The main problem here for me though BY FAR was the revolting smell caused by an ignorant/foolish/unthinking approach to loading. In terms of transport, which part of this was a...