Which ferries to Elba island transport bicycles?

Question

This website shows symbols for vehicles which include cars and motorcycles and this website mentions that the booking process is manual by phone.

How are bicycles handled on these routes?

1. Which ferry operator take bikes? I assume the car ferries all do.

2. Which routes/ships allow taking bikes along? I assume the fast 15 min ferry Piombino-Cavo does not take bikes. If one wants to go to Cavo any way is there an option for it?

3. If a ferry operator take bikes what is the booking process? It seems online booking is not directly possible (see above)

4. If a ferry operator takes bikes how do they handle/store them during the journey? E.g. how much time in advance do we have to be at the port. Do bikes go first/last? Is a reservation mandatory?

5. Is taking bikes along free or are there any extra fees involved?

I am a bit confused about the handling for the Elba ferries since our experience with ferries is mostly from scotland and norway where the procedures are clearly explained by the ferry operators and simple to follow.

Answer 1

Wolfgang's answer is the theory. In practice our experience for the booking process was different (see below). For the booking procedure with bikes you mileage may vary!

1. We called the hotline 2 days in advance. They asked us for all the details and we spelled our names and e-mail address using the nato-alphabet and double checked everything. We were promised to get an e-mail to confirm our data.
2. The e-mail did not arrive so after a few hours we send an e-mail with all the details again.
3. This time we got a reply by e-mail 30 min later but the times for the ferry were wrong so we asked to have these fixed. Also we were asked for our details again which we had given two times so far to no avail.
4. In the next reply by e-mail the ferry times were wrong again so we gave up and told the operator we'd take the ferry time as offered.
5. Next morning we get another e-mail with fixed times and a new offer and we are asked for our details for the 4th time.
6. We respond that we'd like to get the payment link now
7. Next we get forwarded an e-mail in german having our booking details
8. We get an e-mail with the payment link shortly before noon (while we are on our bikes)
9. At 5 pm we get an e-mail urgently asking us to pay otherwise we could not get the service
10. We reply by 5:30 pm and pay using an awkward system that has no SSL protection
11. We get our tickets by e-mail at around 7 pm and are asked to print them out
12. At 1 am we get an e-mail reminding us to print out the tickets.
13. Next morning we ask our hotel reception to print the tickets for us
14. We get a feedback link to [email protected]

We are now going to give our feedback via the above link and share it here:

1. The whole procedure is awkward, error-prone, complicated and slow
2. Why is there no proper internet procedure?
3. Why are we charged some 40 EUR extra for two bikes for a return ticket - that is basicaly the same prices a if going with a 200cc motorcycle?
4. Why is the WIFI on board called free while you have to allow e-mail marketing to use it - after having payed over 100 EUR for a two people-two bike return ticket this seems to be outrageous!

All in all the main question is why there seems to be no competition on this service that would lead to a better situation for bike-riding customers.

Answer 2

To get an "official" answer I called the TraghettiPer Hotline. Deborah was so kind to let me send the 5. questions per e-mail for the purpose of publishing the answers here and this is the reply i got:

Before starting to answer your questions, I would like to say that at the moment, as a sales decision from our web site www.traghetti-elbareservation.it, it was decided not to book the bike as a vehicle directly following the portal but to manage it only by telephone.

The context of the answers is relative to the case in which the passenger takes his bike inside the garage. As you requested, now I answer to your questions:

1. All the ferry companies (Toremar - Moby - Blunavy and Corsica/Elbaferries) take bikes.

2. All the route/ships allow taking bikes. For Piombino _ Cavo with hydrofoil "the Schiopparello Jet"/Toremar (15 ') passenger must to contact/buy the ticket office at the port. Alternatively if one wants to go to Cavo with bike, he can take the Moby ferry.

3. First, we do the estimate, and then if the customer wants to confirm, we ask for the data to fill in the reservation form (names + email + telephone number) and the payment by phone always with the customer by credit card (Visa / mastercard). Once the payment is completed, the ticket's issue procedure begins, the pdf generation of the tickets and the tickets are sent via email.

4. Bicycles are placed in an area of the ship's garage by operators of the company.It 's a passenger care. The timing of presentation depends on the company - approximately 40 minutes before departure. Generally, passengers with bikes / motorcycles or other necessities are made to go up first, to prevent the exhaust fumes of cars entering the garage. Booking is always recommended.

5. The hand-carried bicycle inside has its cost / price.

Attention! In the case of a bicycle that is carried in its special bag inside - it is referred to as baggage. For this reason all that is mentioned above is no longer valid.

Hoping to have answered in a clear and understandable way,

Best regards

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Traghetti-Elbareservation.it Deborah - callcenter

Tel. +39 0565 960130