Catalina Express — Attraction in Los Angeles

I took the ferry ride on Saturday, 7/20/24 at 9:00 pm from Avalon to San Pedro and it was one of the worst experiences I've had with a service provider. The staff's behavior was rude and unprofessional, leaving me with a bad impression.

From the moment we boarded the boat, it was evident that the staff lacked basic courtesy and customer service skills. One of our family members simply stretched his legs after a long day, only to be scolded by a staff member as if he were a child. We understand that the boat was full and space was limited, but there are better ways to address such situations. This particular employee seemed tired and clearly had no interest in providing good customer service.

The most appalling incident occurred at the end of the boat ride when I was exiting with my teenage daughter. I was pushed, causing me to exit the boat before my daughter. As I waited for her, I found myself next to a staff member who started yelling at me to "keep walking." When I explained that I was waiting for my daughter, he continued to shout at me, disregarding my concerns. His insensitive response, asking why I had left her in the first place, was completely uncalled for. As a paying customer, I expected to be treated with respect and dignity, but instead, I was subjected to unnecessary hostility.

This level of customer service is unacceptable and reflects poorly on the company as a whole. I had high hopes for a pleasant and enjoyable experience, but unfortunately, the staff's behavior left me deeply disappointed. I will not be utilizing their services again and will actively discourage others from doing so.

It is my sincere hope that the management takes this review seriously and addresses the issues at hand. Customer service should be a top priority, and it is clear that there is a dire need for improvement in this area. As a paying customer, I deserved to be treated with respect and professionalism, neither of which was demonstrated during my time on...

I gave them my backpacking backpack when boarding to go to the island as they ask for all large baggage to be stored under the front seating area in storage. When I got my bag back I put it on and started to hike only to notice a little later that a gear strap on my front shoulder strap was broken and my GPS system was gone. This happened while it was in their care. I went back to the dock and the boat was leaving. I went to the visitors services on the dock and asked if they could contact them about this. They called the San Pedro terminal to let them know and they said they would look for it and would call back later. They never did. After my camping trip i tried to talk to the crew on the ride back and they were rude about it and told me to make a claim with their customer services workers at their office in the terminal in San Pedro. I went to make a claim but the office was closed accept for a security guard who said to call back the next day. Their policy says you have to make a written claim before leaving the terminal but that's not possible when they have no one there to give you the paper work and the boat crew ignores you and wont respond to your questions. I called the next day to make a claim and was able to speak to a representative who would only treat it as lost and found as if I was the one who lost it. It was broken/stolen from my backpack while in their crews possession/storage. I care less about the broken strap and more about the $280 GPS system that went missing in their care that they wont contact me back on. It has been 4 days and still have not heard back from them. Update, they’d never followed up. The system they have is to take from you and blame it on you when your gear goes missing in their care. I should have filed a police report against them but it’s been too long. Don’t trust...

Let me tell you how AWFUL this experience was... this company needs to train their representatives to be solution oriented and actually care about their brand and jobs-they also need to learn about ADA LAWs. I am the sister in law to Terrance Allen who purchased 11 tickets for Saturday May 1st 5:05 cruise ship to Avalon. Our entire party was at gate however my mother walks slow because of a back injury. The guy with long hair manning the gate insisted that he was going to shut the gate on us because she was not yet at the gate so I asked for an ADA accommodation and for him to get us a wheelchair. My brother in law was parking the car and he clearly saw that at 5:03pm he was there.. the guy said all we were trying to do was stall and literally tried to close the gate while I was standing between it to ensure my mother could pass through. These events could have easily been avoided if A.) Your representative would have simply complied with an ADA request which is REQUIRED by LAW!!! B.) Had reasonable accommodation seeing we were all there just not at the actual gate and wait a couple extra minutes.

Only after I refused to allow for 11 tickets to go wasted I had to take charge and keep walking forward until the 3rd person coming off the boat finally reassured me that they would wait for us. This was very stressful and unnecessary, be reasonable. I also heard a women radio in saying "I told them we are not waiting for them" so clearly this "MANAGER" is untrained in customer service and incompetent as well.

Patrons, go with another Cat or Express, the boat crew was much better but only after we had to stand up for ourselves, no one should ever have to be...