Red Funnel

Red Funnel Ferries - one of the worlds biggest rip offs

Hi Speed:
Unreliable
Overpriced
Food and drinks available only to the rich

Ferry:
Overpriced
Erratic service
They cannot unload it quickly so you spend ages sat doing nothing
Filthy saloon and toliets - its a germ haven
Toilets are disgusting
Food overpriced

The Red Funnel is a passenger and vehicle ferry service that links the Isle of Wight with the mainland at Southampton. A quick glance at their website tells us that they have been operating this service for almost 150 years, and that they carry over 3 millions people across the Solent each year. For anyone who is familiar with the Isle of Wight, you have doubtless used the services of the Red Funnel company, named after the infamous red funnels of its fleet. It is something that is synonymous with the Island and, as a result, you'll find it features on everything from tea towels to postcards. Since my mum and her family all hail from the Isle of ...  Read the complete review

As most of my family live in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, I'm a frequent user of Red Funnel, which runs between Southampton and West Cowes (Foot passengers) and Southampton and East Cowes (Car Ferry). Because I live quite close to the terminal in Southampton and my parents live close to terminal on the Island I tend to get the Redjet as a foot passenger. I have one main complaint about the service and that is the price. It currently costs me £17.60 for a day return which I think is pretty steep for a journey that takes little over 20 minutes each way. The service is frequent- every half an hour throughout the day, and redjets run until around 11pm ...  Read the complete review

Getting to the Isle of Wight can be a costly journey, and 'The Solent' (which is the short stretch of water between the Island and mainland UK) is often quoted as being the most expensive ferry journey per mile in the world. I've already reviewed the two other transport companies who offer travel to the Island (Wightlink and Hovertravel), so all that's left for me to do is to review 'Red Funnel'. Red Funnel, which used to be called 'The Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. Limited'... phew!... was formed in 1861. Its name was shortened in 1935 when all the ferries in the fleet were painted with a red ...  Read the complete review

Red Funnel prides itself in being the "original Isle of Wight ferry company" and have been operating since the early 1800's! Their ferries operate every day of the year apart from Christmas day. Red Funnel operates two ferry services: 1. Car ferry from Southampton to East Cowes, Isle of Wight 2. Passenger ferry from Southampton to West Cowes, Isle of Wight (the Redjet) Both terminals are easy to access in Southampton and there is plenty of parking for the passenger ferry. The car ferry can get extremely busy at peak times such as bank holidays and as a consequence tends to cause problems on the main roads to the terminal. ...  Read the complete review