Booking A Superferry On The Internet

[davfitz]

Has anybody here tried to make an internet booking for a voyage on a Superferry vessel? What has your experience been? Am I the only person experiencing difficulty in doing this?

My bride and I will be visiting Manila the week after our wedding to attend to business matters for her and visa ones for me. We HAD decided to take a leisurely return voyage via Cebu: more business for her and shopping fun for both of us.

We'll now likely fly back due to the booking difficulties we've had using the Superferry website. Once you manage to turn off the annoying jingle, the website's pages are fairly straight forward with destinations, schedules, accommodations, on-board facilities and the like. The fun begins when you attempt to pay for the accommodation you have booked. You are lead off the Superferry website to one which purportedly affects payment by a major credit card. I've done this sort of transaction many times before, in different parts of the world - never with a problem. Never that is until now. After you have entered ALL your financial data you go to submit it and poof! You get booted out into hyperspace limbo. I got the following message:

"This address uses a network port which is normally used for purposes other than Web browsing. Navigator has canceled the request for your protection."

I have never seen anything quite so weird before I tried again with another credit card and poof - same result. I complained to Superferry and got an apologetic message which re-assured me that nothing was wrong and which invited me to try again. Foolishly, I did so, assuming that all had been corrected. Before doing this, I checked all my browser, software, ISP etc connections and settings to ensure that I had introduced nothing unusual into the equation.

New try - same result. I've advised Superferry that unless a real human being can intervene to make this all work, that we would be flying. I honestly believe that that will be the case. It was only at this point that I noticed that the eventual E-ticket really was not one at all. You get an E-mail letter which you then print and present at the company's office inside the port, along with a photocopy of the credit card you used to make the booking, THREE HOURS in advance of sailing. As I'm extremely unlikely to do any of this, I can only assume that one then hopes for the best. Would you?

I'm astonished that such a convenient, leisurely, environmentally friendly and relatively economical mode of travel should be offered for booking in such a tawdry fashion. I guess that if this is your preference, you are best to book with a travel agent. On the other hand, and now that I think of it, that booking was screwed up this past January as well. Our reserved, premium accommodation was double booked / sold on that occasion too.

What are your experiences and thoughts?

[kinhason]

Has anyone recently had a good experience?
K

[davfitz]

I usually believe it to be poor form to reply too quickly with an additional offering to a thread which I started. This time I just can't resist as this firm just does NOT know when to quit. Apparently, I'm now on their mailing list!

It gets better. Obviously Superferry's ADP department are acolyte's of the Microsoft corporation which NEVER made a mistake, right? Thus I was advised:

"we would like to inform you that we have immediately coordinated your concern to our Technical Department and as per verification, our Online Payment Facility is currently working and operational and we have received no error report on the day that you processed your reservation.

We would also like to know where are you accessing the internet? It is at home or at the office? It might be that the port used by our payment gateway (port 563) is not allowed/being blocked by your network administrator or internet service provider. If you are accessing the internet at your office, kindly request your network administrator to allow access to port 563. If this will not be possible, you may try to access our website and process your transaction at the internet cafe or at your home as long as your connection will be of a different internet provider other than the one you are using now. Also, it would be best if you use Internet Explorer (IE) when processing your online payment. We do hope that through this, you will be able to process your payment online."

I simply could not resist tweaking them one final time with the following:

"You simply do not get it, do you? I'm using my laptop which I take with me everywhere in the world I travel.

Guess what? The only firm I'm having trouble with is YOURS! I will change nothing - but I respectfully suggest that you should change something.

In the past few minutes, I have successfully booked my air passage with Cebu Pacific, paid the account with one of the same credit cards I attempted unsuccessfully to offer you - and I printed my E-ticket. A real one, not a chit requiring me to report to your port office three hours before sailing.

I would respectfully suggest:

that you attempt to sort out your own obvious internet problems;

that you remove my E-mail address from your mailing list;

that you quit while you are behind; and

that you have a nice day!

I'll post this information as an additional reply to the thread I started on the Dumaguete Forum. I think that we are done.

DCFG"

I'm not likely to hear from them again, or am I?

[kinhason]

Maybe folks should consider sending an Adatar to this company, maybe using
2nd Life.
K

[uksteve1948]

Hi I was able to book it to get Cheryljane home there was a problem but it was resolved si she was booked in and shes home now even if I had to scan and send the scan of my card to her to present at Manila pier. That was because I am still in UK.

[davfitz]

Thanks for your update. I'm cheered that it worked for you. It still does not for me.

Being the good sport that I am, I decided to give it another try as I have an urge on taking a romantic trip with my bride.

Plain and simple it does not work. Admittedly, Superferry has made some improvements to some other aspects of their website. This aspect, the crucial one where your money is collected has not changed.

Now, I simply present myself to any one of the multitude of agencies which distribute their tickets and in a few minutes I'm on my way. I use the one on the extension of Colon Extension into the city (gotta learn these street names); the one opposite the city market.

I must report that Cebu Pacific's website also runs hot & cold on accepting payments to a credit card as well. The previous time I used it with no problem. This time: not. As its competitor runs DGT - MNL at approximately the same time and at approximately the same price, guess what? I rewarded the guy who provided what I wished. It's that easy!