Car Ferry from Seattle to Victoria

[corvidophile]

Hello again! As a vacation to Seattle draws closer, I'm trying to plan ahead as much as I can. I've already packed as much fun and eats in our few days there as possible and can't wait to see everything

Comments

[akirlu]

As suggested elsewhere, if you're coming from Seattle then taking a ferry over to the Kitsap Peninsula will probably be quicker than driving down to Tacoma and taking the bridge. Also worth considering on the choice between Port Angeles and Nanaimo ferries: the Black Ball runs are pretty infrequent. If you miss the ferry, or the ferry fills up before you get on, then you're in for a long wait. Looooong. Whereas the BC ferries not only run pretty frequently, but are also bigger, better maintained, and have better amenities.

[moonrock]

While I haven't taken the Black Ball ferry, I did take the Vancouver->Victoria ferry once and can vouch for its niceness. I was impressed, and that is coming from a frequent WSF Ferry rider.

(of course, I ride the Bremerton route which is the red headed stepchild of the ferry system and we get the shittiest boats they have, if they aren't busy taking our boats and giving them to other more important routes.)

[corvidophile]

we've taken the ferry from vic to van before, its just the waiting at the border crossing we wanted to avoid =/

[bean_sithe]

I've very rarely had any wait at the border for many, many years. Just drove over this past weekend and had 2 cars ahead of me each time, less than a 5 minute wait.

[akirlu]

It's been forever since I took the Coho, myself, and it's a private carrier so it may be better than my memory, but I've taken most of the WSF ferry routes at one time or another and they are none of them up to the standards of the BC ferries. I mean hell, I bought a *t-shirt* in the spiffy little *gift shop* on the ferry we took over to Victoria. And it looked like the food service was decent, too.

[my_ophelia]

As a former Bainbridge resident, I second this. "Bummertown" get's our leftovers ;)

I also second taking a Kitsap Ferry. I believe Bainbridge has the shortest route, could be Kingston/Edmonds. Bremerton is 50 minutes if I recall.

[moonrock]

Kingston will get you closest to where you need to be to catch the Victoria boat though - you'll have a lot further to drive from Bainbridge even if it is the shortest route to the peninsula.