Philippine ferries

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, Snowy79 said:

No they were made illegal before covid kicked off.  I never minded them even though I was in two that broke down, one with an engine fire but I'm a very strong swimmer.  They were initially replaced by fibreglass boats that bobbed like a cork, you got crammed inside then they locked the door, next to zero chance of getting out if they capsised.  

Good to know.  Thinking about driving to Batangas later this month and going over.  If I recall correctly from my two banka trips (20 years ago) it is a short trip, right?  They have a fastcraft now?  Any resorts you would recommend for a family?

[Snowy79]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

Good to know.  Thinking about driving to Batangas later this month and going over.  If I recall correctly from my two banka trips (20 years ago) it is a short trip, right?  They have a fastcraft now?  Any resorts you would recommend for a family?

I honestly wouldn't recommend Puerto Galera as a family destination. The area is pretty much split into two destinations, Sabang and White Beach. Sabang is diving and sexpats with lots of hunter girls prowling around and a few girlie bars, it's pretty dirty and seedy. White beach is where the Filipinos hoilday.  An average beach at best with lots of hawkers and low quality eating establishments, night time entertainment is lady boys in the bars miming to extremely loud Glori Gaynor and Mariah Carey, made worse by the bars being open fronted and next to each other so they all try to out compete by being louder. It's also the brownout capital of the Philippines. 

The Filipinos love it as they can get ten to a room and cook their own food but it's an aquired taste.  I think there's better destinations along the Batangas coast.  

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, Snowy79 said:

I honestly wouldn't recommend Puerto Galera as a family destination. The area is pretty much split into two destinations, Sabang and White Beach. Sabang is diving and sexpats with lots of hunter girls prowling around and a few girlie bars, it's pretty dirty and seedy. White beach is where the Filipinos hoilday.  An average beach at best with lots of hawkers and low quality eating establishments, night time entertainment is lady boys in the bars miming to extremely loud Glori Gaynor and Mariah Carey, made worse by the bars being open fronted and next to each other so they all try to out compete by being louder. It's also the brownout capital of the Philippines. 

The Filipinos love it as they can get ten to a room and cook their own food but it's an aquired taste.  I think there's better destinations along the Batangas coast.  

Thanks for the advice!  I went to Sabang twice when I was single so I know a bit about it.  I thought White Beach might be good now.  I'll stick with a resort in Batangas if we go.

[GeoffH]

We've used the Dapitan to Oslob ferry a couple of times, one time slot is a modern RoRo ferry at 14 knots and the other time slot (which doesn't go onto Cebu) is an old LCT (landing craft type) which is noisy, does 8 knots and there are no seats just rather tired basic vinyl bunks for the 8 hour trip.

We use the Mukas to Ozamis ferries a lot, these are older and there seem to be 3 of them needed due to the large number of vehicles making the crossing.  These older vessels often have only 2 operating, sometimes only 1 which makes for a wait of 4 or 5 hours to board a ferry for a 30 minute trip.

These do have seats upstairs but we mostly stay in the car, not worth the many stairs up 3 decks for such a short trip.

Planning a plane trip from a ferry without allowing for delays here is... risky. 

Because ferries here vary in type, size and delays experienced and your experience will vary, not only from route to route but from there be day to the next.  

eg 4 weeks ago “Mukas port to Ozamis port 4 hours and 45 minutes and then 2 weeks the same trip took 1 hour and 30 minutes.

My suggestion is to research what vessel you will most likely travel on and use that to inform your choice and allow plenty of spare time in your itinerary.

 

Edited June 27, 2022 by GeoffH

[russellmania]

Taking those long overnight ferries in the Philippines always had me a little nervous. I would picture everyone in the ships wheelhouse sleeping like the security guards in the Philippines at 3am LOL!

[Jollygoodfellow]

On 6/27/2022 at 12:10 PM, Snowy79 said:

I was in two that broke down, one with an engine fire but I'm a very strong swimmer. 

But its when you stop for a pee the danger gets you.

[baronapart]

20 hours ago, russellmania said:

Taking those long overnight ferries in the Philippines always had me a little nervous. I would picture everyone in the ships wheelhouse sleeping like the security guards in the Philippines at 3am LOL!

I told my wife if a ferry goes down she would make a perfect floatation device for me. She was only semi-amused.

[scott h]

10 minutes ago, baronapart said:

She was only semi-amused.

 

[OnMyWay]

On 6/27/2022 at 11:19 AM, OnMyWay said:

We are travelling Manila to Cebu on MV Maligaya in a few weeks.  It is a large, modern ship, built it 2003.  I'm monitoring Windy.com, and the winds / weather are looking good.  I would cancel if there was a typhoon in the area.  We have 2 staterooms for the 17 hour cruise.  I'm looking forward to it.

https://wanderpinas.com/2go-newest-and-largest-ship-mv-maligaya/

Never again.  We arrived at the pier around 3:30 pm for the 6 pm departure.  Boarded about 4:30.  It is 9:30 pm and we are still here due to cargo loading.  So now we are going to arrive very late and our day is screwed.  My wife said these delays were mentioned on FB.

[Snowy79]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

Never again.  We arrived at the pier around 3:30 pm for the 6 pm departure.  Boarded about 4:30.  It is 9:30 pm and we are still here due to cargo loading.  So now we are going to arrive very late and our day is screwed.  My wife said these delays were mentioned on FB.

I feel your pain. I was trying to sail from Caticlan to Batangas a few months back and it was a nightmare. No tickets sold online and no one answering the phones. I had to take a 10 min boat ride off Boracay to the jetty port to get a ticket only to be told they don't sell in advance at the port and to come back at midnight for the 1am sailing. I offered to pay excess but the woman refused. I then asked if the trip was confirmed as some cancelled due to covid and she couldn't say. 

The last boat off Boracay at the time was 7pm so I was going to be waiting 5hrs to start with. I took the 6:30pm boat hoping to find out if the ferry was sailing in time to catch the last boat onto Boracay but yet again she never knew if the trip was on. I said surely she knows if the boat had departed Batangas as it's an 11hr sailing and it will be over halfway here but no answer. 

I then noticed a Fast Cat to Bulalacao at Midnight so thought I could get that then have a road trip to Puerto Galera but yet again they never knew if the boat was sailing. Midnight came and no sign of the Fast Cat or news on the boat to Batangas. No one would tell me any updates until I spotted a worker in orange overalls carrying a note pad. He told me the boat was docked but I couldn't see it due to the buildings. I went to the ticket office again but they refused to sell me a ticket as the boat wasn't in.  I ended up runnig down the beach to look over at the port and sure enough no boat to Batangas. 

I was getting well pissed off at this stage as there was no sign of any boats and I couldn't even get back to Boracay until the 5am sailing. I thought my luck was in when a guy approached and told me the Fast Cat was just docking, 30 mins late but will board quickly, he had a car ticket for the Fast Cat and could drop me off in Calipan for 2k peso. Happy days as there was me and my partner. I tried once more for the 1am Batangas boat but no sign so gave the guy 2k and we jumped in his car. The Fast Cat ended up boarding at 5am.