CalMac Avis 

My sister and I went with my 89yr old Dad who is quite unsteady on his feet on the Loch Frisa ferry to Mull on 20/06/23 and I cannot fault CalMac on their vessel and staff. We had requested access to the lift which we were parked right next to both out and back. The ferry was spot on time both ways too. Excellent service all round. We will be back.

Where to start! Late on 18 May told by e-mail ferry to Mull on 19th cancelled at the last minute. Tried to call to find out what to do the next day, no help, no support. Eventually got to Mull by other route and decided to go home same way, didn't trust CalMac. Tried to get a refund for the return trip which was painful but ultimately successful after spending an age on the phone. Finally it takes 21 days for the refund to come through! I feel sorry for the people in their Customer Services team; their systems don't seem very joined up. Good example of a monopoly that doesn't seem to work. Their customers and staff deserve better.

I would give zero stars, if I could. They simply sent a text telling me the ferry from Lochboisdale was cancelled. No offer to rebook, no call from the office, nothing. The phone line is never answered and all crossings back to the mainland are full. I have travelled the length and breadth of the island to visit the other ferry offices but none of them can help me. I despair of ever getting home. I have to commend the staff on the ferries, however, they are doing a great job in such challenging circumstances which are through no fault of their own. Senior managers should be ashamed of the way they leave their employees to deal with the brunt of the CalMac cancellation fiasco. We will certainly avoid holidaying here again as a result of our experience with CalMac, such a pity as South Uist is a beautiful island.

Avoid CalMac ferries! Appalling company. Have this evening just cancelled their car ferries from Mull to Oban tomorrow, leaving hundreds of people stranded on the island. Have had to get one member of our large party across to Oban tonight and booked him into a hotel to catch the 5:17 train to Glasgow tomorrow. Due to fly to London. Another member of the party, with a two year old child, could not do this so will miss her flight tomorrow and then have to buy a train ticket. Others have had to find alternative trains as they’ll reach Oban - as foot passengers - later tomorrow. Others have to pay for another night’s accommodation on Mull. Utter chaos! CalMac telephone receptionist was unconcerned. Told us to try the Lochaline ferry - along with every other car whose crossings on CalMac have been cancelled! No apologies. No suggestion that they might arrange alternative transport for people needing to catch trains, flights etc. Absolutely no concern for people stranded with children. Totally unbelievable! They need to be shut down!

Ferry booked months in advance, cancelled 1 day before sailing and no alrernative offered. Impossible to get through on phone. We have overnight accomodation in Fort William which we have to pay for even if we don't turn up. Apparently no compensation, no acceptance of liability, no apology. Incomptent company. If Scottish companies are run like this shower, what will happen if Scotland gains independence?!

The website is ridiculously over complicated. There's no page to go to where you can see clearly all the various ticket prices. They make you start the process of buying one before you can see how much it's going to cost. I'm not sure which ticket I want. I need to see all the prices and ticket types on a page before me so that I can compare and make the right decision. Rubbish site and has put me off even going now. Am looking at only mainland destinations instead.

Dreadful service! Wrong time tables, online booking system very confusing, one person tells you one thing and another person tells you something else. I've already gone in to further details about my recent experience but just seem less reliable these days. I've used Calmac for years too and usually very good, but this time very poor

Booked a return ticket from Arran a month ago for an MRI scan in Glasgow. No confirmation of the booking. Phoned a week before the trip - eventually got through after several waits of at least 40 minutes - to be told that my booking had been cancelled (although the money had been taken from my account) and the ferry was full. Passed from pillar to post, both Gourock and Brodick blaming each other, and neither could get me on that boat until the day before. Incredibly stressful. And there was plenty of room on the boat. Second return booking a week later on a 7am ferry was confirmed by the new booking system but three weeks later a friend told me that that particular ferry didn't exist. Phoned to be told Gourock could do nothing about it and told me to go to the Brodick office. Brodick (had to travel 14 miles to get there as you can no longer contact them directly by phone) told me they could do nothing about it and to contact Gourock. All weekday 8.20 ferries coming back the same day were fully booked for the foreseeable future. CalMac had known about this ferry being taken off for weeks but still hadn't told those booked on it: I was told that the computer would inform me sometime up to the day before sailing. Trapped on the island and can't get off unless getting in the unbooked queue and then risking being stuck on the mainland as I can't be sure of a ferry back. And noone is accountable.

Had our holiday to Isle of Mull totally ruined ( does this operator know the disappointment they cause ) calmac cancelled our ferry crossing at last minute and we were unable to get on another crossing a wasted 6hour drive to Oban totally unacceptable looking at people’s reviews I wouldn’t of booked…..be warned

Terrible experience! Booked two months in advance. And from California to take my 94 year old farther to Mull and other islands, informed ferry was cancelled one day before leaving for out 4 day trip! NO OTHER FERRY AVAILABLE YHE WHOLE TIME WE ARE THERE TO GO TO MULL! Informed nothing could be done and I couldn't speak to a supervisor as they would only tell me the same thing! I should have listened to the online reviews about this Co which overall were dreadful!

A warning to people who have bookings at the moment from Mallaig to Armadale - we booked a week ago in the ferry office, then arrived at the port to be told we are "not on the list" - probably worth taking the bridge instead!

What a contrast in feelings - out of 10 - 9 for the transport (it was very cold on first run of day), 10 for your staff on board; 10 for your customer service staff; 1 for your automated service - cancelling the booking less than 24 hours before departure; not telling me the full range of alternative services; not putting references on the cancellation email - leading me to believe that the alternative I had booked had also been cancelled. No immediate refund or ability to use the 'Credit' to pay for the replacement. Appalling and very stressful at the end of a magnificent week in Mull - I will probably not go back to the islands because of this experience.

Please communicate with your customers.

I recently attempted to use your ferry service to go from Oban to Lismore for the day.

Outgoing journey was fine however the new ticket service is an absolute disaster. 35 minute wait to get a ticket printed off, with most staff members staring confusingly at computer screens in silence then leaving to find a printer that works in a different area of the building. When my server returned it had been so long she had forgotten who she was serving (no joke). By the time i left a huge queue had accumulated. I ADVISE YOU TURN UP AT THE FERRY TERMINAL AT LEAST 1.5 HOURS BEFORE DEPARTURE. This should give the staff enough time to print off a ticket.

The ferry back was cancelled however (rope caught in the propeller), leaving about 5-6 vehicles stranded on the island. The only way we found out was by visiting Twitter. They did not answer the phones at all (in my opinion to avoid having to answer some awkward questions like 'what do we do?'). As far as i can tell, you are expected to solve the issue yourself. Fine - after a group discussion, we all drove in convoy to the north of the island, abandoned our vehicles then rode back on the passenger ferry to Appin. From there we took taxis back to Oban for the night (taxi £50, accommodation £220).
In the morning they had managed to remove the rope from the propeller so we took a taxi back to Appin (£50), got the passenger ferry back to Lismore, picked up the cars then drove back to the vehicle terminal ready for collection back to Oban.

Heres the issue i have - when i presented my ticket the chap said 'thats out of date, you should have re-booked, i have to prioritise the people who have booked'. Now I was actually kind of staggered - firstly how the heck am i supposed to know thats protocol when you dont answer the phones? What if you don't have access to the internet? why isnt it your priority to retrieve your stranded customers first rather than take more money from new customers? For me, the last question is the most upsetting. So beware if you use this ferry company - take provisions (spare clothes, overnight items, food, water etc). Make sure your phone is charged fully and you have warm clothing because a simple trip can turn into a disaster with Calmac and they wont even bat an eyelid.
Luckily i got back on that ferry because they hadn't received enough new bookings to leave me stranded for longer.
Total expenditure for a day trip to Lismore from Oban £352 (original ticket, accommodation and taxi). That excludes dinner, hygiene items to overnight in a hotel and the passenger ferry cost.
It goes without saying that no apology was offered. I don't want compensation, just communication.

Staff very friendly and helpful on the Stornoway ferry but I was very disappointed with the lack of food choices for those who are diagnosed with a gluten intolerance. Please could those people preparing the menus add in other options for coeliacs.

Ferry booking cancelled to Tiree with short notice. Calmac refused to pay me compensation for accommodation I had paid for and couldn't get a refund for, for 6 people. I couldn't travel at any other alternative dates due to work commitments. Seriously out of pocket through no fault of mine. Terrible service!

At all points the staff are polite and cheerful and can't do enough for you, it's not their fault the current ferry fiasco is ongoing. Well done you guys and don't lose that customer service attitude. 5 stars for the workers

Due to the incompetence of the handling of routine maintenance yard stays the summer time table has been delayed. This has resulted in smaller vessels operating the routes making it impossible to book spaces. How Calmac are still allowed to run what is supposed to be a lifeline service is beyond me.

FAILED EVERY TIME!
What more can you say!

Had to call customer service regarding a problem with a booking, I spoke with Bernadette who could not have been more helpful polite and pleasant, she sorted everything out straight away. She is a credit to this company. Thank you

Fantastic front line staff, dreadful organisation.
The two stars are for the frontline staff. The company gets 0
Amusing that the hint to help gives the suggestion 'what went wrong 'this time'' 🤣 Because that's the situation. Most sailings it seems something goes wrong. That is, if you can even get booked.
This is supposed to be a lifeline service for Islanders. However, we struggle to get to medical appts, we struggle to get home from hospital. We struggle with empty shelves in the Co-op ( they're their own piece of hell for us) because the truck can't get on, farmers struggle to get normal daily business done,medical staff and others can't get, or won't come, across because of uncertainty.
'This time' I sat in a queue, attempting to get home, on a booked crossing, taking my chances with holidaymakers. This is NOT acceptable. Islanders NEED priority. This is our 'road'. It should not be blocked by those who 'want' not 'need'. Tourists are welcome, but there needs to be common sense applied. Islanders NEED to use the ferry.
I suspect those holidaymakers taking up spaces, causing Islanders to be left on the pier, wouldn't be impressed if they couldn't get home because people were blocking the streets leading to their homes. I also suspect they wouldn't be left in that situation for hours, let alone the years we Islanders have been suffering.
It is also very telling that CalMac have never replied to negative comments.
CalMac stop waiting for the overdue, rusting, fault after fault,unsuitable for our waters, white elephant, piece of junk, only built to see how many tourists you can cram on to our already over-crowded, over-built island sitting in Greenock. Sell it for scrap and buy a couple of ferries suited to the job.
You've been messing up for years. Time to get it right, or give up your government subsidised contract, and let a professional, not in the government pocket, company, run it.