Direct Ferries Reviews 1,056

Horrible company that should not be allowed to offer service to the public. We bought first class refundable tickets and when we got extremely sick and didn't want to infect fellow passengers, they refused to refund our tickets and told us to go ahead and travel. In a post COVID era these people should be shut down. Imagine if we spread something terrible and it led back to them telling us to take the ferry while sick. Book direct, these people are scammers!

The booking is easy to use. Only thing is that when you book for a hired car you cannot precisely tell which car is being booked for - only the "make - or alike". But at least the "Unknown registration number" is sort of solving the issue.

We booked a journey with Direct Ferries recently, opting for the cancellation option for flexibility. Unfortunately, this decision led to several frustrating issues:

Poor customer service: Direct Ferries provided no customer service phone number, relying only on an inadequate app with automated responses.

No phone contact: Desperately trying to contact them during my trip, I found they have no customer service phone number.

Slow response time: They only offered automated responses, and despite claiming 24/7 availability, I received no timely assistance.

Middleman issues: As an intermediary, Direct Ferries' slow response times and lack of direct contact caused significant stress and confusion.

Unreliable app: The app allowed amendments that were never fulfilled, sending misleading confirmations and offering inconvenient alternatives at an additional cost.

If you are traveling with family then avoid them as they will not be responsive to your needs

I recently booked a journey from Dover to Calais with Direct Ferries, opting for the cancellation option for added flexibility. Little did I know that this decision would lead to a frustrating and stressful experience.

Before my outbound travel, I attempted to change my departure time by just one hour. However, the app wouldn't allow changes within 24 hours of travel. Fair enough, I accepted the original booking. For the return trip, the app showed that I was covered for amendments and cancellation, so I felt assured I could make changes if needed.

While abroad, I tried to amend my return journey more than 36 hours in advance. The app asked for my new preferred time and date and even sent a confirmation email saying my request was being processed. I was under the impression my amendment would go ahead, but as my travel time approached, I heard nothing from Direct Ferries. With two children and elderly parents, I grew increasingly anxious.

Desperately trying to contact Direct Ferries, I found they have no customer service phone number—only their inadequate app. Despite their claims of 24/7 availability, I received only automated responses. On the day of travel, I finally received an email stating my amendment request wasn't available, offering an inconvenient alternative at an additional cost.

With no viable options and my return trip time passed, the app no longer allowed amendments. I logged a complaint through the app, pleading for a call to understand my options. Only after numerous messages did they finally call, stating my "short break" booking couldn't be amended. I questioned why the app allowed the amendment in the first place, only to fail when needed most.

In the end, I had to buy a new ticket for my return journey, costing the same as my original ticket. Ironically, the ferry I eventually boarded was almost empty, contradicting their claim of no availability.

Direct Ferries' misleading options and poor customer service caused unnecessary stress and extra costs. They should not offer options they can't deliver, and they need a reliable way to communicate with customers.

Had they not given the option to buy cancellation, had they not shown the option to make amendments in their app, had they responded earlier to my request, or had they had a phone number to reach, I could have planned much better and avoided the extra cost incurred.

We pay extra for the cancellation option to avoid such scenarios, but this option got me into this situation.

For a first-time ferry traveler, this experience was a nightmare. I will avoid Direct Ferries and advise others to do the same. It's better to book directly with the ferry companies.

Good luck, Direct Ferries—you need it.

Had a bad experience with DirectFerries.
What should have been a trivial interaction turned into an astonishing display of POOR customer service.
Not sure who's heading up the customer support department over there, but they must not be getting paid enough.

I booked through DF which was relatively easy however when I turned up at the port for the return journey I was told our ship was about to set sail, the Direct Ferries app displayed our departure time wrong, now I'd put this down to different timezones but it wasn't the time was actually just wrong within the app, there is a bug that causes the displayed time to be a calculation based on the system time of your zone, rather than displaying the correct local time for your departure.
Absolute amateur programming.

I tried to get in touch with direct ferries, explained everything in a long email, no chance of speaking to anyone because I guess they don't want to pay for a customer support team to answer the phone.

and I was ignored, I got an email asking me to rate the support I received, well I received none, not even a reply.

Bad on cell phone:-(( but very fine on computer

Unreliable and dishonest.

I purchased three tickets in total, all with additional cancellation insurance.
Direct Ferry canceled two of these tickets, providing the following explanation:

“We are sorry to inform you that due to an online technical issue your booking has not been confirmed with the operator but your card has been debited. We sincerely apologise for this error and any inconvenience this may cause you.”

I canceled the third ticket myself, more than a month in advance, as I chose to book with a more trustworthy company. Despite having cancellation insurance, the refund they issued was incomplete, with an unjustified deduction of £20.99.

On top of this, I have yet to receive any of the refunds owed. Their conduct is unacceptable, and their lack of transparency is deeply frustrating.

selv om vi er en person mere retur var det enkelt at give informationer til billetten

Grace from Direct Ferries has bent over backwards to help me after months of backwards and forwards with her colleagues and I am now hopefully still able to go on my Disneyland holiday in the new year! Thank you

Direct Ferries is in total slow down when a simple change to the booking is carried out.

I tried to quickly book a ferry from Calais, as I faced a 6 hour wait at the tunnel, and I selected Calais to Dover to find a crossing. I thought I found one, and quickly booked it, only to realise that I'd booked what was an "alternative route" that came up, and was in the opposite direction! I tried to cancel and contact Direct Ferries, but to no avail. It was 10pm. They have therefore "stolen" £80 from me by tricking me with confusing crossing listings, and will not refund me. I'm making a claim via PayPal and I will not use this company again. I will spread the word, too.
Edit: The reply given is typical and full of lies. I have a screenshot of the bot telling me I cannot cancel, and there was absolutely no way to contact anyone at the time I made the booking (10pm Sunday), with the crossing due at 1am. Add gaslighting to the list.

The website and its functionality and customer journey is perfect (for me). As long as you have no changes or challenges, you will be fine.

In my case a few things went wrong AND the customer service was really bad:
1. I made my amendments in the app, it went through stating no additional costs charged. After a few hours of no e-mail confirmations, I contacted customer service, only to find out that no amendment was pending and I had pay twice as much.
2. It took some time for me to get any answers, even on the day of boarding, the problems weren't solved.
3. Questions and challenges were avoided aka not addressed.
4. Further no clarity whatsover regarding the costs of the amendments, they only drove the price up! I checked...
5. After paying twice as much to only change the date and nothing else, suddenly my Club Lounge access (which I already paid for) went missing and Direct Ferries wouldn't help in any shape or form. At this moment I almost paid €130,- for one way ticket (including Club Lounge) That's outrageous, but I had no choice at that point. Thanks to P&O everything worked out perfectly, except for the financial loss of course due to Direct Ferries,

The worst thing of it all is that the customer service would refer the high (variable!) costs to P&O. I spoke to them at the harbor: the charge NO COSTS for the amendment I requested.

So definitely a big no no!
Sadly, it seemed such a good idea at first.

All went very smoothly

Recently I had to contact the customer service in regarding a problem I ahd with one of my tickets. They were very responsive and they understand my problem. I want to thank Brian for all his understanding and support.Thank you.

Update after company's reply: The audacity leaving a generic reply after the back and forth we had for weeks basically begging for our refund. And no, the cancellation was not due to weather, weather was perfect. The issue is your delay in issuing our refund. That is the problem and you should be ashamed.

Original Review:
Avoid at all costs. Our return trip from Symi to Rhodes was cancelled and we were informed of this just before boarding the ferry. They claimed that they sent a text message with this update however we didn't receive anything. No email, nothing. We had to run to the other side of the port to catch a ferry from a different company and pay for new tickets. They took 1.5 month to refund us after countless of chasing and threats to report them to the consumer rights authority, which we will still do. They finally issued the refund today but we are still out of pocket as the new tickets we had to buy were more expensive. A complete joke of a company.

2,5 hours late and no information to the passengers. Think it’s a ferry for trucks than normal passengeres.

Excellent !
After reading reviews on booking a ferry from Bodrum to Kos I was quite worried after reading bad reviews the good ones were 2011 !!
We chanced it and pre booked through Direct ferries saved €10 because it was more competitively priced than other companies. Straight forward booking,ferry on time 4pm ( must board at least 1 hour before departure) it took 30minutes from Bodrum to kos €48 x2 adult fares one way.