Key West Express — Attraction in Key West

First off, the good:

The boat is nice and well kept. The staff is friendly and courteous.

Now, the bad:

They will tell you that it takes 3.5 hours from port to port between Ft Myers and Key West. This is not the case. With smooth sailing and sunny weather, it took almost 4.5 hours for us to get off the boat on Key West. I'm making an assumption here so I won't let it affect my rating, but it seems that if people knew the ACTUAL trip time, they would just make the drive - so they call it a long 3.5 hours. I know we would've just driven had we known. In the same amount of time by car we would've reached the nearer half of Key West, which is really where you want to be unless you're a fan of souvenirs and gift shops.

I would absolutely, 100% say to skip the ferry and just make the drive. For an extra half hour, you'll be able to go wherever you want whereas the golf carts you rent only allow you to explore the tourist trap section. And no, its not a pedestrian island. There are plenty of roads and cars.

Overall, I rate them 2 stars because the trip time is absolutely crucial to being able to maintain an itinerary so that everybody gets to go where they want to go. We had to make major cuts to account for the almost 1.5 hours of extra travel time, which was very disappointing. If we would've been told the truth, we would have planned accordingly and it would have been 5 stars had we decided to take the ferry. But alas, here we are.

If its a trip you want to make, go ahead. But do be aware that it is a 4.5-5 hour trip and if you really want to see the local spots, you have to have a car. The boat heads back out at 5:30 too, and by the time you're on a rental vehicle, you've got maybe 4 hours to explore. So either make the drive or take the ferry and stay another day.

Overall, it seems they have specifically misled us which took a big bite out of a leg of our trip, so I would call myself...

We bought round trip tickets to Key West and back. We did NOT pay for parking because we were dropped off. This is an important detail because customers who payed for parking received an emailed return ticket with barcode access. I was given TWO tickets to BOARD the boat. I was NOT given RETURN tickets.

Fast forward to the end of our trip, we tried boarding the boat back and they would not let us because we didn’t have the barcode. I asked them how everyone else got a barcode and not us and they said because they paid for parking. So if we don’t pay the 70$ parking fee, we do not get a barcode. I told them I only receive my boarding tickets and nothing else.

I pulled up my Key West Express purchase confirmation, the email, the PDF with my name and my boyfriends name with the price of our tickets and they would not let us on. I asked them how to get a barcode and they told us it would be 25$ each ticket to reprint them out. I was frantically pouring everything out of my suitcase to look for the return tickets I NEVER received, the man who worked at the desk started talking very loudly about how it’s common sense and that it states that on that ticket. Well; we NEVER got the tickets. I told them we did not receive return tickets I only received boarding tickets and they did not care.

We payed the 50$ to get back on. I call the key west express the next week to explain the situation and ask for the 50$ back since we never received the tickets. She told us, that’s not true because they hand everyone tickets. I understand that’s what they are trained to do, but people make mistakes sometimes. I swore on my life I never received the tickets and she didn’t believe me. I got gas lit by the key west express. They did not give me back my money. WARNING pay for parking or you will have to pay an additional 50$ to prove you already have a...

Great way to get to Key West. Was a perfect morning when we left on Tuesday for my b-day stayed thru Sunday night..coming back not so smooth with 5 ft swells. I was fine but many people did get sick. We where supposed to leave Friday but due to rough seas they canceled Friday & Saturday...so if you absolutely have to be somewhere I wouldn't recommend the 3 hr ride just incase there happens to be rough weather. Had the best fun at Fantasy Fest best ....It was definitely adult entertainment all week. 68yrs old and one week partying set me back 3 days so far.....I'm still exhausted....lol 69 should be great😊 Crew was fantastic and all very professional. For indoor seating I'd recommend early arrival atleast 2 hrs these are indoors. Also seating top deck is beautiful such gorgeous views of the Gulf and lots of sun up top .. We opted to sit at a high top near the restroom concession stand and smoking area which is also luggage area....unfortunately for me I decided to record wake to show the powerful engines on this ferry the port on my phone got wet and I was lost without my phone all week. Lost a lot of great photo ops so what ever you do stand away from railing to take pics of the wake. We opted for the golf cart for our week stay and it was not the best idea as parking is not readily available. Next time I'll walk and use cabs I think it would be much easier and less stress with cars whipping around you.....some people aren't very patient. A scooter would have also worked but once again you have to park it averages to be around 5.00 to 10.00 an hr. Could get pricey. Not to mention the fumes and heat I actually couldn't get a good breath and said to my friend back to the hotel we go. The bikes..same issue lock it park it find it after drinking all night ...not the...