As a leisure afternoon, as opposed to as a commute, the Washington State Ferries are a cool choice. It's not many human beings who dislike the sound of natural water. If you have out-of-town guests, you can Seattleize them in an hour, since a lot of the other passengers will be taking their daily commute while you soak in the ambience of the Puget Sound. To Bainbridge Island it's 35 minutes one way, and you can take a cruise-ship-port-of-call style stroll through town once there. The Bremerton Ferry ride goes about an hour, with the Navy Yard there. Another ride up to the San Juans is available if you're looking for a full day. Crime wouldn't pay if the government ran it? Wow, the ferries are the first thing I'd point to if I wanted to sell somebody on the idea that the gov't can do a good job at something. You go amig-os. read more

The sea was angry that day - spitting, tossing and churning, like a talk show host at a pharmacy. Dark clouds littered the sky and a harsh wind pushed passengers into the galley, where they were greeted with reasonably priced snacks, beverages and novelty items. The trip to Bainbridge Island would only take about 30 minutes, announced Captain Wolf Cookie. "This is all I need today," sighed Big Rig Tom, my travel companion. "Let's just get to the island, take care of business and get the hell out of this little mountain town." I assured Big Rig Tom that, despite the weather, everything would go according to plan. "Plan?" coughed a slouched and tattered man as he passed. "The sea...the sea has no plan. There's no telling what lies in these waters." "That was the captain," Big Rig Tom whispered. I watched as the Captain slowly hobbled away, worn from the years at sea that left him armless and missing his index toe on his left foot. He made his way up to the bridge as we disembarked, leaving us to casually chit chat and enjoy alcoholic beverages available on board, which were more expensive than bar prices, but cheaper than your average cocktail in the coach section on a red eye flight to Des Moines. Suddenly, the ferry lurched, as if we had struck something, tilting the great ship to the side before correcting itself. Outside the vessel, the wind picked up and a torrential rain beat down on the sea men trying to stable passengers swept into the drink. Out of the water, rose a large beast, roaring and thrashing, like a talk show host in a pharmacy. Water poured aboard the ship as the beast picked passengers from the boat, devouring them like the Kraken in "Clash of the Titans." "This is all I needed today," shouted Big Rig Tom, stabling himself as the cool sea air struck his face. Then, emerging from the bridge, a dark figure hobbled out, looked the beast in the eye with his one remaining eye, and declared "'tis been 17 years since ye stole my toe...now I shall eat your heart." The Captain charged the beast, but the hobbling geriatric was no match for the massive sea beast. He really had no chance. While distracted by the taste of fresh blood, Big Rig Tom acted quickly: He took up a great spear and slain the beast, lancing it in the left testicle, for it is common knowledge in these waters that a Kraken's weakest point is the left testicle. The beast sank back into the water, defeated. Although many sea men lost their lives that day, the memory of Captain Wolf Cookie lives on in the tales of the passengers that arrived on Bainbridge island, alive, but never the same. read more

We always love riding the ferry when we want to have a good little weekend something to do instead of being couch potatoes but for the most part it's spending good quality family time and shutting down from the outside world and chaos! read more

San Juan Islands are my favorite destination starting in early 1990's. Crossing from Seattle to various islands is great fun on the ferry. Drive up and getting into line with a cup of coffee passes the time with my sweetie at my side. On the ferry we will sit up in the front for awhile. Then we will move to the rear. Then circle around back to the front to see where we approach with smiles on our faces since again we are on an adventure. Each island is unique with great bed and breakfasts to chose from if spending the night. One island had the best spa! Many years have passed and Washington feels like home at times on visits. read more

I take the ferries from Bremerton to Seattle fairly frequently. It is inexpensive, easy, and my favorite part is the view during the day. I especially enjoy the view of the Bremerton shipyard as we pass by. Only thing I would complain about is the price of food and drink on the ferry. Food isn't very great, and is very expensive.Other than that I would suggest checking it out, it's definitely a relaxing ride. read more

Apparently first come first serve doesn't apply here. While dozens of cars in front if me missed the boat due to max load some how the lady behind all of us turns get hazards on and makes the boat we all missed. Since when do people get special treatment? The attendant the booth said she had to be in Seattle for an appointment of course nobody asked where I was going or if I need to be on that boat. My point is nobody's time is more valuable than the others if you need to be on that boat then make sure you are early enough that you don't cut the rest of off that waited for it. Crew attitude is poor but who can blame them after feeling with a bunch of over privileged Bainbridge islanders.. read more

We take the ferry every weekend. 80% of the time we get screwed by the incompetency of the workers. We are in line for sometimes hours. People pulling travel trailers or big trucks that were 20-50 cars behind us are given preference, causing us to not be able to board. Today, the lady in the booth forgot to charge us for our pull trailer, made us stop to refund and charge us again. It took so long, they opened another lane to let other cars ahead of us. The car in front of us was the last one to board. Had to wait for the next ferry. Every week it seems there are new workers that don't know how to work together. One worker tells you to pull into a lane and another one yells at us to move over. If someone cuts in line and doesn't have a boarding pass, if they argue long and loud enough, they are allowed to board. You've set the bar pretty low WashDOT. read more

One of the workers at the West Seattle Fauntleroy ferry dock was extremely rude to me. She was short with short brown hair. I was already upset and crying about something personal. I was very obviously upset and yet this woman chose to speak to me in a condescending tone. She clearly does not have the skills required to have a job where she interacts with people. It is completely unacceptable to be rude to customers. I didn't pay $14.45 to be spoken to in a condescending way. Wish I could have gotten my money back. read more

I had a horrible experience with the employees at the Whidbey Island Ferry. As someone who has never rode a ferry in their life, I was excited to see the sign for the Whidbey Island Ferry and decided to take a quick detour while on my way to Canada. As we neared the ferry, I realized that I was in the wrong line and worried that I might miss an exit for the ferry. As I tried to enter the right shoulder lane, I looked for an opportunity to get in the appropriate lane. Unbeknownst to me, I was now a lane cutter. As I was waiting in the line, a driver exited her car and proceeded to tap on my window. Against my better judgement I lowered my window thinking that this lady needed help or something. She rudely informed me that I had cut the line and needed to go to the back of the line. She didn't bother to even tell me that there was a law. I just thought it was some crazy island nuttjob dishing out vigilante justice for lane cutters. In my eyes, I would be breaking the law by making an illegal u-turn just to go to the back of the line. After waiting in this silly line for an hour, I was chastised at the ticketing booth for being a "lane cutter" (apparently I pissed a bunch of people off) and then, after waiting in line to get on the ferry, was asked to pull over by another rude WSF employee who said he was holding me back because I was a line cutter. After all this, we decided that there couldn't possibly be anything worth doing on Whidbey Island. We received a refund and vowed never to go to Whidbey Island again. What a horrible way to get introduced into a community. "Hey Whidbey Islander's, lighten up!" There are people in Seattle that die from gang warfare and children getting abused...real crimes. From the reaction I received and the way I was treated, you would have thought I committed a heinous act. Don't direct your ire at someone unfamiliar with ferry culture. It's not fair and its no way to treat a visitor. You can take your stinkin' island and shove it where the sun don't shine.....I won't be back! read more

Unless you get seasick, I implore any visitor to Seattle to take a ride on the Washington State Ferry, at sunset if you can. I shun shooting to the top of the Space Needle in favor of the ferry; I'd much rather have the most recognizable part of Seattle's skyline IN my gorgeous view rather than be atop it. And gorgeous views we did have -- we were treated to amazing dusk landscapes on the way to Bainbridge Island (my excuse concocted for riding the ferry was that I needed to get me some Mora Ice Cream), and spectacular nighttime landscapes on the way back. The half hour ride itself was also great - relaxing, scenic, and amusing (we started counting the number of times we'd seen the same two people power independently walk by -- apparently a lot of people get their daily exercise on the ferry). The ferry was also immaculate -- all the white was white, no garbage to be seen, well-maintained cushions on the seats indoors, clean bathrooms.... It put the Staten Island Ferry to shame! For Seattle, a city whose being is so defined by Puget Sound, do it justice and get on the boat already! read more

On our way home now. To get to Sea-Tac airport we went from Bainbridge Island to downtown Seattle via ferry. 35 minute smooth crossing.

We took a ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor. I may have taken a plane if I knew how long we had to wait. Since we didn't have a car we had to rely on the Airporter service from the airport. The two schedules since don't sync up very well. We arrived in Seattle before 1PM. Since we had luggage we just missed that bus, so we had to wait till 3. By the time we got to Anacortes it was after 6 and there wasn't a ferry until 8:20. We didn't arrive to our rental until almost 10. Both days we traveled using the ferry and airporter were very long days. read more

Riding the Seattle/Bremerton run a couple days ago. Starving, needed food and a beer to wash it down. Get in line and grab a sandwich and a sausage dog - thinking "what can go wrong?". $30 spent. I started with the hotdog. Awful, grey colored wierd tube meat in a bun that was simultaneously soggy and bone dry/hard. I should stop there and preface the rest of this with the fact that I used to work in a meat packing plant in another life as a mechanic years ago and got to see all kinds of stuff. Like the fact that bull penis' are saved and sold to god knows who for food. So, back to it..... Biting into that sausage dog was exactly what I would imagine if someone had cut off, cleaned, and steamed one of those bull penis' with a skin so thick and chewy it was like trying to gnaw thru an opaque, gelatinous, & stringy rawhide. I had to wrap both my hands around it, bite down and pull down like a starving animal would on nat geo after taking down an antelope. I thought I was going to have to put my foot on it to stabilize it. The effect was that the entire skin came off the hot dog like you would imagine a table cloth trick (where you yank the cloth and it slides off the table leaving the glasses and flower arrangement upright?), except that when it finally gave way I ended up with a mouthful (some of it hanging down my chin) of chewy rawhide and my hands and face covered in mustard and relish. The resulting skinless tube of meat was the most un-natural color and had a "seperate layer" thing going on like the individual pieces of ear, lips and anus never really came together and were shoved into the skin tube one chunk at a time - I don't know what it was, or what animal it came from - and my standards for food are generally pretty low. I've eaten meat on a stick at 3 am outside a bar in Osan, South Korea and that was better than this hotdog. Pretty sure it was rat or something. Still way better than that hotdog. 2 beers later in a contest with myself to see who could chug it fastest, I was able to get most of the greasy coating out of my mouth (like I had swished lard in my mouth but worse tasting than I imagine actual lard would actually taste like?) The sandwich was a dry brick of crap too. Speaking of crap.... 2 days later I emerged from the bathroom, wishing I could time travel so I could slap the food out of my hands and then slap the taste out of my mouth. Moral of the story - don't eat truckstop sushi, and never eat a hot dog on a WSF ferry. The beer was great though, love the new selections! 3 stars for that at least. read more

Everything was good except for one employee was absolutely drunk. The employees name is Jason Buttery I made sure to write his name down so I could call the main office and let them know. How effective would a state employee be if there was an emergency and the guy leading the rescue efforts was super drunk like this guy wich made me very uneasy. The boss better handle this gentleman before someone gets seriously injured. read more

Cheap cruise. Can't beat it. I do it once a year, otherwise it doens't feel like I live in Seattle.

expensive views for everyone to see cheaply! riding the ferry for fun is a romantic and cheap date. riding the ferry to actually get to or from work keeps you out of your car. the ferry system is great. read more

my wife and i took a ferry to bainbridge... the seats are comfortable... and the views of Puget sound are spectacular.. the return trip was free read more

This was the weirdest thing I've ever done in my life. To drive your car onto a boat with tons of other cars was an experience of a lifetime. After waiting about 30 minutes due to a mechanical problem with the boat we finally departed on the way to Poulsbo. The view while on the boat was beautiful. Once we arrived, we drove of the boat and we had a great time. We drove around Poulsbo sightseeing and stopped at a coffee shop and had dinner. The people there were awesome and very helpful. I would definitely do it again. read more

Traveled the ferry from Seattle to Mukilteo and back. Had an incredible ride...the employees were smiling,helpful, and friendly, the view is awesome and the fact that we could bring a puppy with us made it much more enjoyable. The puppy enjoyed it as much as we did! "All Aboard!" read more

I like the ferry, but man is it expensive... that's my largest complaint- expensive. Very relaxing and a great time just to see Puget Sound. But, boy - did I say expensive? Probably one of the most expensive ferries I have ridden...I'm not sure how - but somehow with a car and 2 adults we spent $30 roundtrip. Boy oh boy... read more

One ticket = roundtrip. I wasn't sure about taking the ferry to Bainbridge because I didn't know if it would be fun, but it ended up being my favorite part of my Seattle trip. The view was amazing and I was skeptical about standing outside because it was windy and there was a little drizzle (versus sitting inside where it was warm and dry), but it was really nice to be outside and enjoy the view. There was even a double rainbow on the way to Bainbridge. I didn't do much in Bainbridge--the rain started pouring, so I just went to Island Vinters and Eleven Winery for wine tasting, but it was the perfect way to spend by afternoon. The ferry trip was a memorable experience and allowed me to be on the water and experience a great view. read more

We were surprised by the ease of the voyage from Bremmerton to Seattle, having no previous ferry experience. The employees were friendly and helpful, the interior was spacious, clean and comfortable, and the views were spectacular. It would be an inexpensive and fun day trip even for locals. One of the highlights of our vacation there. read more

This is a must if you are visiting Seattle. It is inexpensive for a round trip to Bainbridge Island, and you just can't beat the views. A relaxing 30 minute trip. There's plenty of seating inside the boat or you can go outside to the deck on the upper or lower levels. This was my favorite activity on my first trip here. read more

Fun way to see the waterfront from the water, only $7.70. I rode to both Bainbridge and Bremerton. The thing I don't get is the shorter trip to Bainbridge had the nicer boat with a great cafeteria, while the hour long Bremerton ride had less in the way of seating, and the cafeteria was quite inferior. Still fun though. read more

Fast, clean, tasty. It is a reasonably priced, convenient way to catch a quick bite in the city!

for $6.90 you can't do anything these days.. except get an amazing roundtrip boat trip through puget sound.

I hesitate to rate the overall ferry system so poorly as the Mukilteo side of things was fantastic! The women we paid asked us about our travel plans and everyone was kind and smiling. Now, leaving from Clinton is totally different. We waited in the long line along the road with everyone else. Once you get to the end of the line, there are three or four stations to pay in and with all of them showing green arrows, we went to the one that had room for another car in their line. Apparently, the U-haul in front of us cut in. We didn't notice that occur as you can choose any of the pay stations and the car that had been in front of us choose a different pay station but had remained in front of us long enough to obscure our view of the U-haul "cutting in" incident. Someone approached our car and aggressively interrogated us about what we might have seen. We said we weren't sure if the U-haul had cut in or not. Then we finally move forward to the pay station and the women asked us if we had cut in too? We said no. She asked if we ran the red light then? We told her that the arrows were green. She gruffly told us the price and ordered us to line 9 once we paid her. I don't understand why anyone would accuse us without some sort of evidence as we waited in line and there was nothing to indicate we had done anything wrong. So so rude! read more