The Spirit of Tasmania is a bit of an adventure, being the "ferry" that runs daily between…read moreMelbourne and Devonport, Tasmania. It's good for the afeared of flying (because flights are generally cheaper these days), or those just looking for something different. If you want to take your car with you on holiday to Tasmania, the Spirit's your best bet - cars are only $90 each way (more if you're towing a campervan or something, which is a common accessory for Tasmanian trips). YOUR seat will probably be at least double that price. You can also take along your pet for a mere $22 each way, but the poor thing has to stay in a kennel on the same deck as the cars while the boat is moving. Considering it's an 11-hour trip (only 9-hour when running two daily shifts in peak/summer times) and there's a fair bit of banging around from the lower decks, I'm surprised the poor things aren't permanently scarred from the experience. It's a little better for the humans. One of the two passenger level is just for accommodation, while the other level has a small amount of accommodation and the rest is dedicated to keeping you entertained and/or busy on the longest ferry ride ever. A reception desk, a gift shop, a fancy restaurant (I had dinner there and wasn't overly impressed, so don't bother), a more casual restaurant, a cafe, a pokies room, plenty of tables and chairs and couches for reading and having chats and drinking wine and watching ocean, ocean and more ocean. The all-year overnight trip leaves at 7:30pm - one ship from Devonport, one ship from Port Melbourne. If you're awake around 1am you can stand on the right side of the boat and play "spot the other one" but to be honest, most of the year it's too bloody cold to do that and also why are you awake at 1am? The trip isn't really THAT interesting. A loud announcement is made early in the morning to rouse you from your slumber and wait for the signal to be allowed back to your vehicles, ready to unload at the other end. Speaking of slumber though, the cheapest form of journeying you can purchase is an Ocean Recliner. Only go with this option if you are a cheapskate, OR if you can easily sleep half-sitting up through others' snoring and rocky seas, because that's your worst-case scenario. The other three options involve being horizontal, and rise steadily in price from a shared single-sex 4-berth cabin (two bunks) to a twin cabin (two single beds) to a deluxe cabin (room to move, maybe?). I have to admit I was surprised how quickly and easily I got to sleep while the boat rocked and clanked fairly heavily (but then again, I HAD just driven twenty hours in two days, so maybe I was exhausted). During the summer season the Spirit of Tasmania increases to two daily shifts that run every twelve hours at 9am and 9pm, and it is possible to get a cheaper day fare because you don't need to book somewhere to sleep. (You're not allowed to just sit up all night in cheap seats during the overnight run. Well... I guess you CAN do that, but you have to purchase some form of accommodation.) My trip on the Spirit of Tasmania was certainly a memorable experience (I had my worldly belongings packed in my car as I was moving to Hobart) but unless I'm moving back to the mainland I probably won't be looking to do it again in a hurry - I'll just catch a plane.

Me and my family traveled from Melbourne to Devonport on the 14/1/2015 over night, after the moor…read morebreaking loose incident earlier that day. Our Spirit of Tasmania experience started out lining up in my car in the midst of a 2 lane queue to board the irrationally named Spirit, this queue lasted 2 agonising hours. To make up for these 2 hours it seemed they floored the ship in order to make up for lost and wasted time, eventually arriving only one hour late at 7am. Waking up at this usually sane hour of the morning was agonising as me and my family had been previously kept up until late into the early morning later that night. We spend all night taking turns regurgitating last nights overpriced and unreasonably hyped meal. Concluding this unbiased review, I am unsure if this poor experience was due to past events during that day or rather, a lack of effort and generally consideration for a persons comfort. Obviously they care more for there regiment to be running on time then for there passengers comfort during they're ride across a rocky, choppy part of the ocean.