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Ferry tickets from Sorrento in October

My husband and I are in Sorrento (our home base) October 12- 16, this coming fall. A full day in Capri (Mondo shared tours), and a day in Pompeii (Mondo again).

On 2 of our remaining days we plan to take ferries from Sorrento to Amalfi twice: once for a day in Ravello, and another day to just do Amalfi, Altrani, and a short stop in Positano. We are not interested in taking the bus in either direction.

I am reading pretty horrible reviews about the reliability of many of the ferry lines that run the Sorrento-Amalfi route (NLG, Alilauro Grunion, Serener) Bad service, last minute timetable changes, etc. Through Ferryhopper.com, I can see there are several of our preferred departure/return options with 3 of the different ferry companies during our stay (weather cooperating), which is good news.

But, I am tempted to book tickets ahead of time from home before our trip through Ferryhopper (for an extra few $$ fee to company, which is fine with me) because we won't positively return in time the previous day to book tickets directly from the ferry ticket offices on Grande Piccola in Sorrento (they close at 5:00).

Also, it seems that date/time changes CAN be made through Ferryhopper if, for example, there is a weather issue and the ferries aren't running on our chosen dates/times. Again, a small fee is no problem if I can do that through the Ferryhopper app.

R.S. seems to suggest that it's no problem to just buy tickets on the day we want the ferry (like 30 min. before departure times) but I don't fully trust this (?) and am not inclined to go on the fly if I can have tickets in hand ahead of time.

I may be needlessly worrying about this--anyone have input from experience about what is best to do? Thank you!

Posted by
5256 posts

In May 2023 we bought ours the day before. I wouldn't wait until the morning of because the lineup could be really long. I haven't heard of unreliability of the Sorrento to Amalfi ferry. Most of the complaints I heard about was for Positano because the dock can close in bad weather.

*If you use ferryhopper you'll get a voucher and not a ticket. You'll need to redeem the voucher and the ticket office. At least that's what we had to do.

Posted by
229 posts

Thank you Allan---I have done more investigating and since I last checked, there are new flexibility offerings from Ferryhopper--again, for a $16 fee but I'm thinking about it:

From their website:
Ticket flexibility:
Plans change – your ticket can too. Choose the flexibility that suits you best.

Basic
Change your tickets according to the ferry company's policy. A fee will apply.
$ 0.00
VALUE FOR MONEY

Flexi
Make any change up to a day before your trip.
Includes switching ferry companies
No modification fees
View details
$ 12.10 in total

NEW
Flexi Plus

Make any change up to your departure day.
Includes switching ferry companies
No modification fees
View details
$ 16.94 in total
Please note that you cannot upgrade your ticket flexibility after booking.

Ferryhopper support
Standard:
I'm fine with first-come, first-served support and Ferryhopper's low cancellation and modification fees.
View details
$ 0.00

RECOMMENDED
Plus

Skip the queue and get faster customer support.
High priority service
No Ferryhopper cancellation or modification fees
365 days a year support
View details
$ 6.05 in total
Please note that you cannot upgrade to Support Plus after booking.

This new info is helping me, and may help someone else!

Posted by
229 posts

Allan, I also did not realize I needed to redeem voucher for ticket--I am looking into whether this policy has changed as well. I thought I saw an option to print out tickets that were ready to go, but I might be confused.

I'll share what I find out, now I have to feed my family! :)