CalMac Anmeldelser 

Cannot create an account . Then when trying to make a booking without an account system will not accept email address.

CalMac’s booking system is a total disgrace. Absolutely unfit for purpose. Their call centre staff admit it, but that’s no help.
They release timetables that can’t be booked. They announce sailing times but say they will change. They blame ‘changes to the system’ but have no idea when the changes will be finished.
They launch meaningless podcasts, when the money should be used to develop robust systems.
Islanders and visitors are at the mercy of these incompetents.
Fire the whole board and senior management. Change the boat procurement system, and remove any oversight control from the inept and arguably fraudulent politicians who awarded ship-building contracts to the only unqualified company on the list!
Staggering.

I've never left a review before but my experience on the CalMac website this morning left me feeling like I had to feedback.. in the hope that they give the website an overhaul.

I found the website booking system really difficult to use.. how is it possible in this day and age for a large company such as CalMac, who have so much trade, to not have a decent website?

Very difficult to navigate and find timetables, and when it came to booking, it took me far longer than it should have because I was figuring out how to work the options. Don't even try and book tickets on your phone... I had to use my laptop.

What impression does this give of Scotland to visitors from overseas? A very poor one!

I needed the lift and they parked us really well. On the way home from Arran the lift was out of use on the Isle of Arran and we said to the crew who checked us in that we needed extra room to get out of the car due to my mobility to so they parked us near the lift so I could get out of the car and I couldn’t of asked for a better customer services when travelling with CalMac my holiday over to Arran

The customer service from CalMac is great, it is not their fault that the clowns in the scottish government and Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited cannot procure ferries. The people at Calmac who run the ferries are not the same people as those at Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited who purchase (or don't) the ferries.

Since CalMac became a public company, particularly under the ‘management’ of the SNP, quality of services has declined significantly. This is, however it’s measured, the most incompetently run ferry service in Europe! There should be a legal enforcement to allow competitors to bid for new service contracts, instead the SNP have merely reinforced their monopoly on a much needed service that no one in the SNP has a clue about how to operate! CalMac can’t even operate and manage a working, user-friendly online booking system! Furthermore, on the longer routes, such as to the Outer Hebrides, the quality of service and facilities are dire, as was my recent experience getting to and from Harris. Talk to sea-going staff, and shore-based staff at HQ (as I have done), and you’ll get an idea of how frustrated they are with the clueless senior management! The SNP politician who holds the Transport Minister’s portfolio is incapable of running a bath!

Disrupting a sailing is a decision we do not take lightly because we know it will inconvenience our customers and the communities we serve. However, the safety of our customers and crew must come first. In this instance, the Master of the vessel has judged it is necessary in response to the assessment of adverse weather conditions.

Absolutely useless and a waste of money, never run when you want it. Always ruins a day

What has gone wrong at Calmac? The website and booking system are just terrible, really sad to see.

As one example - why let people select dates which can't be booked yet?

We had to stayed the night over in a guest house, because all the afternoon sailings were cancelled because of the bad weather, when actually the weather was perfect. Due to this we had to pay for the guest house and also for the train ticket for the following day, as we had bought it for the were we actually should have came back.

Shocking customer services lodged a complaint on the 30 August and they haven't replied

Booked ferry for Mull Rally on 22-08-23 to make sure I got ferries I required for 12-10-23 and 17-10-23 - CalMac cancelled both outbound and inbound ferries on 11-09-23 despite only inbound ferry being unavailable - rebooked ferries on 11-09-23 for different ferries on same dates - CalMac cancelled again on 11-10-23 - tried to rebook but no ferries available - CalMac / SNP combination must be the most incompetent combination available and I'm sorry for the people who live on islands served by CalMac / SNP

Ferries between Ardrossan and Arran are shockingly bad. Regular cancellations, staff at Ardrossan in particular completely unconcerned for their customers, and a booking system that allows you to book onto a ferry that has already been cancelled.
No help at all for stranded customers, people sleeping in their cars overnight stuck on an island because there's only one ferry working this very busy route, and not even a toilet or access to water after you're unceremoniously booted off the premises.
If you are privileged enough to be able to afford a hotel stay you may be able to claim some of that cost back - but what if you don't have that spare cash lying around?
The standby system is unworkable unless you do sleep in your car at the barrier, or get up at 6am to join an already significant queue.
Calmac clearly don't really care about their customers.
What is possibly even more worrying is that they appear to not care about their staff either, who are on the front line dealing with upset and angry people.
This service needs urgent transformation work, starting with a culture change from the top down.

Website is generally poor - the online info when we were planning our trip was 'all tickets are open tickets' - what it didn't say was that capacity for cars is limited and you might not be able to travel on the day you want unless you book well in advance.

Breaking a trip into car and foot passengers - because Iona doesn't take cars - simply ain't possible.

We took 3 years planning a trip which was meant to involve 7 ferry trips. CalMac cancelled the third “leg” on the day of travel meaning that we have had to cancel the rest of the trip as CalMac could not get us to the following ferry connections in time. Heart breaking as we had put so much into the research and organisation of it all, just to be let down by a shambles of a Company.

Fantastic experience with CalMac travelling to Mull from Oban return. We did the journey twice and it was such an easy, stress free journey both times. The staff were very friendly and helpful which made a nervous first timer feel totally at ease. Everything was exactly on time for all four journeys with no hanging about. Beats sitting about in airports any day! Can't wait to go back and explore more of the Hebrides. Thank you for being part of a fantastic holiday CalMac.

Web booking site experience
Major issue is inability to save progress, make a mistake and have to go back to start the whole thing over again
The saved vehicles do not include the various weight / size details so have to entered separately every time during booking process
It is not clear how the saved vehicles are imported into booking process
No way to remove an incorrectly imported saved vehicle during the booking process, have to start over again
No way to check if any sailing is fully booked without going through the whole process of inputting all the vehicle details first.
No simple way of changing route if a required sailing day is full without starting all over again. eg if Ullapool - Stornoway fully booked, so try Uig-Tarbert route
Saved personnel gender female was imported as male when imported into booking process

I seriously wonder if this clunky web site has ever been properly stress tested based on bookings with multiple sailings and multiple vehicles then hitting fully booked sailing times, using people who are less conversant with such technology and are new to the web site.

It took me over 2 hours to finally achieve a booking and I'm fully conversant with booking web sites.

The issues noted above need to be urgently addressed and It badly needs a step by step guide(NOT an FAQ list).

We booked two ferry’s online for travel from Kintyre to Arran then on to Ardrossan. Both arrived and left on time, something which our local bus operator cannot seem to do!
Staff were helpful at all times.
Well done CalMac 🤗

thank us so much to the crew on m.v loch shira for getting my car restarted thanks again

The website is just awful. In this day in age there is no excuse for such an amateurish and hopeless travel website. The fact that it has taken 10 years and the sum of £18million is just mind boggling. I have an account and it doesn't now recognise the email address and password. It did this when it first came on line. Re-appeared again 20/8/2023. Doesn't let you delete vehicles that have been stored. How first time tourists get on with the icon led initial page is anyone's guess. There is difficulty going back and forward between pages, you often have to go back to the initial start page. Utterly hopeless experience. Anyone who thought this was a suitable replacement is out of their depth.