Travelling With Wightlink Ferries To The Isle Of Wight

AD – We were recently invited to travel with Wightlink Ferries to the Isle of Wight. We have visited the Isle of Wight on a few occasions over the years, but after hearing how dog friendly the Isle of Wight is, we wanted to test this out and take Lola with us on our ferry adventure over to the island.

We decided to travel between Lymington and Yarmouth which is the shortest Isle of Wight ferry crossing with Wightlink Ferries at just 40 minutes. Ferries depart on the hour at Lymington and just past the hour from Yarmouth.

Booking The Wightlink Ferry

Booking your ferry journey with Wightlink is easy via the website or app. Prices are varied compared to the time you wish to travel, how busy the ferry already is and other factors. 

You just need your details, the details of your vehicle if you’re taking one, and the dates and time you wish to travel to book. If for any reason your vehicle details change between the time you book and your travel date, this can be amended free of charge on the website.

Arriving At Lymington Ferry Port

We are only a short drive away from Lymington, and our drive took us through the picturesque New Forest town of Burley before we arrived at Lymington. The sat nav postcode of SO41 5SB took us right to the entrance of the terminal.

As we arrived and drove up to the entrance, the staff member knew exactly who we were according to our booking and directed us into the correct lane to park in. We arrived around thirty minutes before our departure time, which was maybe a little early but traffic was being kind to us. It is recommended to arrive a little early, as the ferries do depart on time.

Are Wightlink Ferries Pet friendly?

Dogs are welcome on the Wightlink Ferry and can travel free of charge.. Dogs are permitted to travel on the sun deck and also deck four which is more sheltered. If you are wishing to avoid travelling alongside dogs on board, then I suggest the lower decks.

There aren’t many rules surrounding travelling with dogs on Wightlink ferries. Dogs must be kept on leads at all times and they are not allowed on the seats. If your dog has an accident, then it’s the responsibility of the owner to clean it up. These are all standard rules that I would expect to see.

Our Journey 

Our ferry crossing to the Isle of Wight was on Wight Sun, part of the Wightlink Ferry fleet that was introduced in 2009. She can carry 65 cars and 359 passengers.

As we boarded the ferry, we were loaded onto the garage floor which was perfect for arriving onto deck four. We were travelling in the middle of Storm Hannah, and had decided that the sun deck may be a bit too windy, so we opted to stay inside.

We managed to find plenty of seating, and there are lots of places to sit, some seats are in rows, others around tables, and some in booths. As we had Lola with us, we parked ourselves out of the way on a table. This meant that Lola had lots of room to lay on the floor underneath 

On board there is a cafe area serving drinks and snacks. We didn’t take advantage of this but plenty of passengers did. We had seated ourselves to the side of the ferry and had a nice quiet area. The front and back of the ferry was packed and it was difficult to walk around. There are also toilets located on each deck for passenger use.

As we reached the channel, the sea was a bit rougher than I would have liked thanks to Storm Hannah. We weren’t being blown all over the place by any means, but it was a little rocky at times.

The short journey goes very quickly and before you know it you are being asked to return to your car. I couldn’t quite believe how quickly the cars disembark from the ferry in Yarmouth. We set off across the island for a day out at Black Gang Chine.

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Return Ferry Crossing From Yarmouth To Lymington

The weather really wasn’t kind to us, and although we were booked on the 17.05 ferry back to Lymington, we arrived a little earlier than planned to Yarmouth ferry terminal. Immediately we were asked if we wanted to catch the next ferry and allocated our lane.

This was great service by the team at Yarmouth, and we ended up travelling back on a very quiet ferry. I imagine you can travel on an earlier ferry if there is space available.

Our return crossing was much smoother and we enjoyed some lovely views across the channel. Lola absolutely loved looking out of the window at everything going on around her.

We would definitely travel with Wightlink Ferries to the Isle of Wight in the future, it was so easy and the fact they are dog friendly is a big bonus.