Earlier this year I drove my car from The Netherlands to Malta. In order to get to Malta I had to take 2 ferries: one from mainland Italy to Sicily and the other from Sicily to Malta. Both were very confusing and I couldn’t find all answers to my questions online, so I’m here to provide you with my answers from experience.
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Note: we bought all our tickets through Direct Ferries.
Ferry Italy – Sicily
To be more specific, we took the Caronte & Tourist ferry from Villa San Giovanni to Messina. This ferry goes very often, every 40 minutes to be exact. This means that there is a lot of people queuing to get on the boat.
Boarding process
On the booking confirmation it stated our last check-in time was 120 minutes before departure. I personally think this is a very extreme time frame for a 20-minute boat ride. As I said earlier, a lot of people were there waiting to board, but as soon as you got in line, you were in line. There was no waiting area. So when we got in line 2.5 hours before our departure, taking that extra half an hour to be sure we didn’t miss our latest check-in, we just moved forward and ended up taking several ferries earlier than was planned.
Online they said most ferry companies don’t allow you to get on an earlier ferry as your ticket is only valid for the time of departure, but even if they didn’t want us on the ferry yet, there was nowhere for us to go and wait for ours.
Our conclusion was that they just ask everyone to come early, so the early people can take the empty spots from people who run late, so they have free spots for them on a later ferry and everyone who booked that day will cross the water eventually.
If you want to be sure you get to the other side on time and your ferry goes often, just show up early!
On board
On board you could choose to sit inside or outside. Most people stayed outside to enjoy the views of mainland Italy disappearing and Sicily coming closer.
Ferry Sicily – Malta
For this crossing we took a Virtu Ferries boat from Pozzallo to Valletta. This tour takes 1 hour and 45 minutes and often goes just once every day, sometime twice.
Booking process
Book these tickets in advance, especially when you need to go by car. We booked a few weeks out and the prices went up.
When booking the tickets we were asked to put in our passport details. We didn’t question it since we both have an ID-card as well as a passport, but don’t worry if you only have an ID-card as a EU-resident. While they ask for passport details, they do accept EU-resident ID-cards as well.
Waiting and boarding process
The last check in time was 90 minutes before departure, which seemed fair. Do make sure you went to a bathroom before leaving, because we hadn’t been able to find a public restroom near the waiting area.
When we arrived we were told to show our tickets, but I had never gotten them in the mail. After some panicking we were sent to a ticket booth where the guy simply printed our tickets. We were a bit confused, but it turns out we weren’t supposed to get the tickets, but instead go to the ticket booth instead, just like we did.
So if you don’t get your tickets in the mail, don’t freak out! Check if your mail tells you to go the ticket booth and show them the confirmation email instead.
Be careful to never lose the confirmation or ticket emails. They could charge you up to €30 if you need a replacement!
After we showed our tickets, we had to show our passports and we had to open our car booth. We were asked a few basic questions, like “is it just the two of you” and “what are you going to do in Malta”. Then we were sent to the waiting area, where everyone for our boat was lining up.
The rest of the boarding went smoothly. There was someone showing you exactly where and how to park on both boats.
On board
There was plenty of seating on board. There was also a little restaurant and an outside smoking area. They played a ‘Johnny English’ movie during the crossing. It wasn’t very crowded, so there was enough seating for everyone.
An extra tip for drivers who have always driven on the right side of the road, make sure you’re not the first one on the boat, so you can follow the driver in front of you for a bit, so you can get used to driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road.
Read more: Everything You Need To Know About Driving In Malta
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I hope my experiences have answered any questions the ferry companies weren’t able to provide.
Happy sailing!
