Does the Mallaig-Armadale ferry sell out in September?

For cars they do sell out, but not foot passengers, especially in late September.

Each vessel takes 40 cars and 250 passengers.

Until the new booking system last year foot passenger bookings had never even been possible, except on a handful of Arran sailings and when island festivals are only happening.

It is all about collecting your data and marine passenger counting laws. With a ferry every 75 minutes that is a lot of passenger capacity.

They would be useless as public transport if they sold out that early. If really, really worried check the capacity count every few weeks, But booking months ahead as foot passenger is totally over the top.

Would you book as foot pax far ahead on WSF?

PS- Within the system CalMac withhold a percentage of the capacity for last minute bookings, mindful of their main role as lifeline ferries for locals, so will very rarely truly sail totally full.

Deborah, you should be fine. As Stuart mentioned above, the ferries will not sell out of passenger-only fares.

That said, it wouldn't hurt to book your ticket a few days ahead of time, just in case. It will make it a bit quicker to get on board the day of, and CalMac is very good about accommodating any last minute changes.

Again ,I was a foot passenger 6 times last summer would never occur to me to prebook.

This is very helpful to hear - thank you so much!

You will be fine as foot passengers on the ferry but what are you doing when you arrive in Skye? If renting a car you'll need to sort that out well in advance as there is really only Morrisons (Portree) who rent cars on the island or Morar Motors in Kyle of Lochash who will bring cars to Armadale. Public transport is sporadic and largely based around the school bus runs.

Thank you for asking about this @Skyegirl. I hear you and I appreciate how important this is.

We reserved a car from Morrisons, so we should be all set. We are paying extra to have the car available for pickup and dropoff at the ferry in Armadale. It would be cheaper if we did that in Portree but then that would mean taken the Armadale-Portree bus and that sounded undependable.

We are really looking forward to spending a few days on Isle of Skye! Sightseeing, hiking, and kayaking, weather permitting.

Deborah - you are extremely well organised! Morrisons are great and have always helped me out when I've needed a car if mine's being repaired. Have a great time in Skye.