Steamship Authority — Local services in Barnstable

If I could have given them a 0 star rating I would! Horrible customer service!!! I called yesterday, which I had to wait on hold for over a half hr till I finally got through to someone. Asked a bunch of questions regarding going to and from Nantucket as I have never been there and wanted to make sure I had all the info I needed. Lady never told me that parking is a 10 mins walk from the ship. Me and my husband arrived 15 mins before the ship took off. Got our tickets and the lady at the ticket stand couldn’t be bothered with questions. I asked her how to get to the parking lot and she hands me a map and says directions are on the back, thats when I learned the parking is about a block away by the time we parked and walked back the ship hadn’t left yet but there were no signs or directions on how to get to the entrance of the ship, there were gates/fences everywhere. We were running around the area trying to figure out and that’s when the ship left. Argued for a refund. If you’ve never gone to Nantucket don’t use steamship authority to get there! They were so unhelpful they ruined mine and my husbands day of vacation. You’d think with all the tourists they would be more accommodating with directions!! If you do use steamship authority get there half hr early and be prepared to figure things out...

Was scheduled for a 6:30am ferry. It was canceled. I called and they told me to still come and I’ll be put on standby. I said sure. I got there at 5:30am. I was the first in standby lane. When they rotated us, they end up putting 2 vehicles in front of me. I sat there all day. 8 hours. I watched 3 ferry’s come and go. I was told on the last 2 ferry’s I would be on one of them. The second one, didn’t make it. The third one, when I thought I was about to get on, they put the 2 vehicles in front on me and the third vehicle behind me on that boat! I said, I’ve been sitting here since 5:30 this morning and the vehicles you just put on there haven’t been here a quarter of that. The guys response, “SO!” 😡 Some of the guys were understanding, others were very rude (especially one) and downright disgusting. One of the men was apologizing and I appreciated that but it’s the homeowners that aren’t getting their property fixed now because you guys make people wait for hours on end in standby lane, so apologize to them. Btw.. that ticket was...

We went to Martha's Vineyard but we were staying on the Cape. We take ferries a lot.

The best one we have taken many times is the Cape May Ferry. The Steamship authority was not civil like the rest. It was squeezed so tight and we couldn't get out of the car. It was hot and I got seasick which I usually never do. I take ferries alot.

But what made it so bad was that one of the boats broke down and they had no replacement. We had to hurry up and go back to the boat when we first got there. We went to Martha's Vineyard to see the cliffs. MV is just a copy of Ocean Grove NJ which we go to all the time. We live in NY. But OGNJ doesnt have the cliffs. But we missed the cliffs because of their laziness or whatever it was. It ruined our vacation. The tickets for the ferry are very expensive; every other ferry has replacement boats, not steamship authority. We hope to save up money to go next year.

The the experience was bad all around....