I would just like to take a minute to let your company know how dissatisfied I was with my trip to Key West aboard your ship. It was without a doubt, the worst traveling experience I ever had.

We were on the March 5th trip to Marco. It was quite cold that morning and even though we arrived at 7:30 there was a line of people 15 deep already. The line did not move one inch for the first ten minutes. Evidently when you have people checking in that don't have reservations, the process is quite lengthy. I think it would be a good idea to have a line for pre-registered people whom only have to flash id and get their boarding pass. Everyone in the line was grumbling about how slow the check in process was going.

When we boarded, the lower enclosed area was pretty full already so we wound up on the top deck enclosed area that didn't appear to be heated. It was very annoying considering most of us were chilled to the bone from waiting a half an hour in 50 degree temperatures to check in.

The check-in procedures were minor compared to the trip itself. It was in a word, dreadful. When we left the captain said there were some "three to four foot swells, but nothing too severe"

Once the boat hit open seas the engines were gunned and the boat immediately started fish tailing, non-stop back and forth. This motion continued for the entire three hour trip, it was in tandem with the front end of the boat crashing up and down over the waves as we plowed ahead. Every single passengers face I saw looked miserable.

Finally we arrived and had an enjoyable four hour jaunt in Key West and then we had to get back on the boat. When we boarded I noticed the Fort Myers ferry was there. It was a much larger, much nicer looking boat both on the outside and inside. Perhaps the dual hull design was able to cut through the water without making it's passengers feel like they were in a blender. I felt a bit ripped off that we paid the same price as the Fort Myers passengers did, even though we obviously had a far inferior ship.

Once we boarded and started to pull out, the captain again came over the PA and said that in order to avoid the rough conditions we experienced on the way down, he was taking a different route that would take us into rougher waters for a period of a half hour but then the rest of the ride should be much better. Well that certainly was not the case. Although I thought it was not possible, the ride back was considerably worse than the ride to Key West. It looked like a scene out of Perfect Storm. The nose of the boat veered up and down violently the entire trip. People were thrown about, appendages banged off tables and walls, it was unreal. The passengers had to all stay glued to their seats the entire three hours or risk being thrown to the floor if they dare stood up. People were throwing up all around the ship.

After the longest three hours I ever spent traveling we thankfully arrived back at Marco. The captain came on the PA and acted like nothing was wrong and said he hoped we enjoyed our trip. Not even a, "We're sorry it was so rough please accept our apologies" It was ludicrous. The guy on the ramp holding out the tip jar was lucky he didn't get decked.

I have been on boats before. I realize that rough sea conditions are a reality. My gripe is if accurate information was relayed to us about the travel conditions, there is no way we would have subjected ourselves to this horrible experience. I would have much preferred if we were told up front the ride was going to be rough so we could have opted out. I think failing to do this as well as failing to acknowledge the terrible experience your crew subjected your customers to is a huge oversight. We will never frequent your business again and am already letting anyone that will listen just how rotten the experience was.

Sincerely,
Shawn Duffey