The Steamship Authority Vineyard Haven Terminal — Attraction in Tisbury

We visit the Vineyard at least once a year. Most trips are uneventful and we’ve usually had good experiences. How they acted when things went wrong is why this review is one star.

We booked a Saturday 9:30 pm ticket from Vineyard Haven to return to Woods Hole. Not the time we wanted, but that’s our fault for booking later than we should have. In our experience, calling day of or stopping by early has resulted in leaving at a time different than we booked. I understand that isn’t always available, so when we made trips to both Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven and found there wasn’t availability, we figured, no big deal. We did find out that we could try and show up before the boat before us left and try standby then. That was at 7:30. Told no availability, and at the point was told for the first time there was an issue with a boat earlier, and that was why everything was booked solid. Again, no big, we’d just leave in time. Turns out we got an email at the same time they posted to social media (6:06 pm) that there was an issue with a boat, and it was being replaced by a smaller boat with a smaller capacity. Cutoffs were possible. We addressed this at the 7:30 encounter and were told to be back at 8:30. Get back at 8:30 and there was a sign on the gate shack that the 9:30 was cancelled. No email, no call, nothing. Spend an hour waiting in a line in the office to speak to a poor young lady who was getting unloaded on by everyone in this 50 person line. She had no information, and neither did anyone else. No plan for catching up, no plan for what to do, other than we could rebook for first available, on Tuesday.

Everyone we spoke to had a different story they were told by anyone they asked. Turns out, some of these people had been waiting for hours (like 3:00) because of this boat issue causing delays. Ultimately, my wife and kids stayed at one of the last rooms available on a Saturday night (for $600 a night) and I slept in the car, because I figured I can’t be in line unless I’m there…no idea what would transpire.

It wasn’t until 5:30 in the morning did someone just randomly escort the 5 of the 10 cars that stayed the night in a line to board a boat. They spent the rest of the day catching up and pushing people back.

My problem was not the technical issue. It was the absolute lack of communication. I was fortunate to have funds to put my family up in a hotel, but not everyone is. And I understand that that is a risk I take by booking a late ferry. But so much could have been avoided had someone bothered to let me or anyone know what was going on. We could have made arrangements far earlier in the day not been at the mercy of a last minute booking. And not one person offered an “I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” much less anything else.

Poor communication, and lack of accountability. And no incentive to care without a...

My sister and I got to the Martha Ferry’s ferry early to see 9:30 am to see if we could get on the ferry before our 12 Pm time. Even though we made this reservation way more than a month (maybe 2) in advance, we could not get an earlier reservation time. It was our first trip to Caps Cod and the island and we didn’t know. It was suggested by the ferry port authority that we get there early and try to go standby. There were no cars other cars waiting when we got there. Despite telling the gentleman who gave us our ticket and the person inside we wanted to be in the standby line, who also called and told the gentleman, they apparently still put our car in the 12:00 PM line. When the port authority woman started putting extra cars on the ferry, they did not put us on despite being there before the other cars in what apparently was really the standby line. When my sister polity asked to go next, we were told we were not in the standby line. My sister then asked the gentleman in charge, and he said we were in the standby line, and the woman was mistaken. The woman still did not put us on and said the other gentleman was mistaken. Clearly, there is confusion when it comes to the standby lane and what really happens is the priority is for locals, as the teenagers in the car that got on clearly knew the port authority agent who was directing the lanes. They have terrible customer service as well as no one cares. So ultimately don’t bother going to the ferry early. Getting on standby is not an option. Make your reservations at least 6...

Very disorganized and unsympathetic staff. Would never travel with them again unless the weather was 100% perfect and never again during busy season. During our trip in August 2020, Ferries to Oak Bluffs stopped running due to weather, so we could only go in and out through Vineyard Haven. They didn’t even announce this while on board- we learned upon arrival, when we stepped off of ferry, that we were not in Oak Bluffs and needed to find our own transportation or buy an additional ticket for their busses. We had to come back to VH for the 520pm ferry, and learned on line that they would only allow 21 people (we were 16-21), but they then changed this to 15 people so we had to wait an hour for the next ferry. No apologies or explanations from staff, we just needed to wait 55 mins for the next. We understand restrictions about COVID, but we were left blind and encouraged by the worker at the Oak Bluffs ticket office to hurry and taxi to Vineyard Haven, spent money to make it on time, just to get wait on line and they and only allow 15 people. I would never travel with this company again, very unreliable...