BC Ferries is the primary company providing vehicle and passenger ferry service within British Columbia. The TripAdvisor page entitled Inside Victoria : Arriving & Departing describes ferry routes that link Victoria with Seattle and other destinations in Washington State. For more information on ferry services between British Columbia and the United States, read BC Ferries' travel planning FAQ .
If you are travelling on a Friday or Sunday afternoon or evening in the summer months (or Monday afternoon/evening on a long weekend), there can be a lot of traffic which means you could have a wait of two or more sailings. Some radio stations in BC coastal communites have updates on the delays at the ferries as part of their regular traffic reports.
Hotel staff are not a reliable source of ferry schedule information; if you want accurate current info on sailing delays, you can check BC Ferries' current conditions page, or you can phone BC Ferries for information, at 1-888-223-3779 (1-888-BCFERRY) toll-free in North America. (If you have a cell phone from Rogers or Telus Mobility, you can phone *BCF (*223) toll-free.) To get a feel for how busy a future sailing may be, attempt to book an overheight/overlength reservation online (see below) for that day, and you can see online whether sailings are already full for that time frame before actually making a reservation.
Ferry reservations are available from BC Ferries. There is a $15 charge for reservations made more than 7 days in advance; reservations made less than 7 days ahead of time are $17.50. If you cancel your reservation, you will still have to pay the reservation charge, but because you don't pay for your ferry trip until you arrive at the ferry terminal, you are not obligated to pay for that if you cancel. If you are travelling with an overheight vehicle (over 7' high) or an overlength vehicle (over 20' in length), you will have to pay more for your ferry trip; the capacity for overheight/overlength vehicles (such as RVs or vehicles towing trailers) is limited, and you may find a reservation gives you peace of mind.
You can make your reservation online using the RBI service, or by phone. For reservations by phone, call 1-888-223-3779 (1-888-BCFERRY) toll-free in North America. From outside North America, call (250) 386-3431. If you have a cell phone from Rogers or Telus Mobility, you can phone *BCF (*223) toll-free.
Security Screening
In April 2007, BC Ferries announced that it will begin pre-boarding security screening for travellers, starting with the Nanaimo terminal in the spring of 2008, and progressing to the other major terminals by 2009. Once these security screening measures come into effect, travellers will need to allow extra time for them.
