Black Ball Ferry Line — Attraction in Port Angeles

So, to start off it's a beautiful ride on the Salish Sea and you may even see a whale on the way to PA or Victoria. It's the only ferry option from the Peninsula, so unless you charter a boat or have your own, this is the only way you will be able to enjoy the trip via sea.

My sisters were visiting and they wanted to do an overnight in Victoria. We decided to walk on since the pier is just steps away from Downtown. Also, my husband is disabled (relevant) and has difficulties with the stairs going up from the car deck. We planned on utilizing the hop-on hop-off, and for us sisters to walk during the time my husband worked via zoom at the hotel, as he had an afternoon meeting he could not miss.

I booked on the website. I booked the Grand Palace but apparently there was a glitch and the rooms I reserved were not available. They called and moved us to a hotel farther away, but they had a hotel shuttle from the dock so it was not a huge issue. We ended up at Chateau Victoria which was good, if farther than we would have preferred.

My sisters also wanted to go to the National Park. AVOID OUR MISTAKE. Do not buy your park pass from them if you start on the US side. The gentleman on the phone assured me that they would date it for our return to the US. It was not. When I asked the woman at the desk about it she claimed that it "had to" be dated from package pickup. So, we lost a day of the pass. Frustrating to be sure. And if you have a longer trip to Victoria? Forget it, a waste of money. It's not indicated on their website and not what I was told over the phone. I just think she couldn't be bothered to correct it or try to make it right.

Now, like I said my husband is disabled. He has cerebral palsy and is hemiplegic on his left side, but does not utilize mobility aids for short trips (at the airport for example, he utilizes the wheelchair escorts). So besides walking being cumbersome, he overworked his left ankle walking back to the hotel from dinner. We utilized the hop-on hop-off (unfortunately during a protest day) for most of the trip, so that was the most he walked and it proved to be much. So walking was even slower and cumbersome for the return trip.

On the ferry, we utilized the table marked for those with disabilities. They're closer to the doors so those with disabilities don't tire or strain themselves looking for a seat. There was also a disability-zoned table in front of us. An older gentleman sat there.

The porter came in with a wheelchair-bound woman, saw us at the table and made his way to the one in front. Seeing the lone gentleman at that table, he decided to back up and ask us to move. We obliged as it was not an issue since it was someone with an aid. What irked my husband was that the porter decided to inconvenience the larger party rather than a single lone older gentleman (we are all in our 30s) without asking if the older gentleman had a disability. We do not assume but he did not seem to have a physical impairment. But, since the wheelchair user needed to be prioritized and my husband didn't want to make a fuss, he did not say anything at the time.

We feel that because we were younger the porter assumed we were sitting there in defiance of the disability designation. PEOPLE OF ALL AGES HAVE DISABILITIES and they also may have travel companions! It would've been much simpler for the smaller party to move if he was able, but the porter didn't even ask him.

All in all I love being able to take a nice ferry ride to Victoria which is a beautiful and fun city. It's unfortunate that Blackball is the only option from the Peninsula, as they dont have to strive to be the best, just...

The people at Black Ball Ferry Line have excellent customer service.

We don't have any experience with auto ferry services, much less crossing the border by ferry. To avoid showing up at the terminal without a clue, we called ahead to get answers to our many questions.

The agent we spoke to was extremely helpful. She made sure we knew what to expect when we arrived at the terminal, where to get in line to purchase "first come, first served" tickets, how they're sold, which documents they'll need to see, and where to get coffee while waiting to depart.

She also gave us fantastic advice on how to maximize our chances of getting on the first sailing out of Port Angeles when all reservations for the day were sold out and they were expecting many others to show up hoping to get on any sailing scheduled for that day. We probably would have made it across to Canada eventually but we were very grateful for her advice so that we didn't have to wait around for hours for an opportunity be available.

The guys guiding drivers to their loading lanes made sure we had our documents and made sure we were aware there was a still chance we wouldn't make it onto the first sailing. We thought it was great how they kept us informed and managed our expectations. At this point, we didn't care if we were able to board the first ferry because we knew the Black Ball staff was looking out for the us and likely the rest of the travelers that day.

The deck hands loading drivers onto the ferry were very good at it. Their directions were direct, concise, and very clear. They alleviated a lot of the anxiety I might have had if I were trying to maneuver my car in and around the vehicle deck without their excellent direction.

We didn't have much contact with the ship's crew while we were underway but they seemed pleasant, professional and ready to serve the passengers and ferry.

Off loading was just as efficient as loading. Again, the directions were clear and concise.

We would have figured it all out ourselves if we had to. Thankfully, the Black Ball staff was very helpful and essentially walked us through all our questions and then some.

The Port Angeles Passenger Terminal is clean and comfortable. The restrooms are clean. If you're walking on the ferry, you'll be comfortable...

My family and I took this ferry up to Victoria for vacation, and generally enjoyed the experience. I showed up early despite having a reservation, because I wanted to explore the dock area and grab lunch. The process of boarding was very organized, if a bit slow (every car coming off the ferry had to go through a booth despite having already gone through customs in Victoria before leaving). The seating is plentiful if you don't mind sitting outside on the deck (we were lucky and got a family booth inside).

The reason I do not give them 5 stars is that the unloading experience was uncomfortable and actually a bit dangerous. There was some sort of parade happening on the road right outside of the ferry, and gobs of pedestrians blocked the entire ferry from unloading. It was extremely stressful to try to leave the terminal, even if you were turning right, because hundreds of people with zero survival skills were stepping out in front of each car en mass. While I know the ferry staff aren't responsible for festivals, I felt like they could have sent one staff member up to the entrance to control and direct pedestrians, or even coordinated with local law enforcement to have an officer do it. It would have been SO much safer with just a little extra effort. I bet it would have been less stressful to the staff too, since there is no way the ferry stayed on schedule with each car taking 5 minutes or more to leave the lot...