Clipper Navigation Inc

Save your money!!! This is the WORST company to deal with! VERY rude customer service. If they make an error they will REFUSE to fix it and blame you for it so BUYER beware!!!!!!!! Made reservations right after purchasing a deal. I called to find out about adding anothe...r child passenger to our fare and was told that our reservation could not be found... Then they mentioned that the deal that I purchased had to be booked 2 days prior to my calling and so they could not honor the promotion anymore and so sorry, but I could use the promotional purchased price amount toward another booking of something.WHAT!!!!! If I wanted to do that then I wouldn't have purchased the promotional package!!!! They have the same deal going on currently for $16 more then what I payed and they still REFUSE to make this right. I refuse to pay more for something that I already paid for and booked! Extremely POOR Customer service to blame your customers for something that one of your employees did!!!! I would gladly pay DOUBLE the amount to go with another company then to give this company one cent more! Read More

If you want a nice romantic getaway to Victoria DO NOT TAKE THE VICTORIA CLIPPER. If the weather turns bad or they have a mechanical breakdown, your romantic getaway will turn into a 6+ hour bus ride of the worst sort. Nothing quite kills a romantic weekend like getti...ng the Greyhound treatment from the Clipper. When they had mechanical difficulties they wouldn't extend our stay for a night, they wouldn't refund our passage so that we could find our own way home. Our only option was to report to the terminal at 3pm, cue up like animals, and endure a 6+ hour bus trip home. Save yourself the grief and drive to Port Angeles park and walk on the Black Ball Ferry's Coho to get to Victoria. Much more reliable and a better maintained boat, better food, etc. Clipper management should be ashamed of how they treat their passengers. Read More

We booked a whale watching tour with the Victoria Clipper last spring (2010). My husband, myself and 3 young kids (4,6 and 8). The trip was supposed to go to Friday harbor where we would stay on the boat, and then head directly out for a 2 hour whale watching tour wit...h lunch. Then back to Friday Harbor for 1 hour of free time before boarding back for Seattle. About 1/2 hour (current speed) out of Friday Harbor, I see one of the boathands run by and grab a fire extinguisher and go out the back of the boat. A few moments later, she came back in and opened up the fire hose - the kind mounted on the wall - and took that out the back of the boat. I was looking at my neighbors thinking "I can take them" if I needed to bust in and get the life perservers under their seats! Needless to say, apparently one of the engines blew up and was on fire. We managed to limp into Friday Harbor on one engine (1 hour later) with all the doors open freezing anyone on the first floor (which was everyone because they had all of the 2nd floor come downstairs). We were informed that there would be no whalewatching tour today but that we would have 3+ hours to wander around friday harbor - yippee! That's loads of fun with 3 little children wanting to touch every little object in every store. I can remember seeing the Kenmore Air plane at the dock when we arrived and thinking "it would be worth the price". After what seemed like an eternity in Friday Harbor, we went back to the Victoria Clipper dock. We all proceeded over to the Wa state Ferry dock to head back to Anacortes. Lucky us, the ferry was almost 1/2 hour late that day. Upon arriving in Anacortes, we all filed like cattle into greyhound style busses to head back to Seattle. We were informed that we would all receive 1/2 off our next trip "letters" upon arriving back in Seattle. For those that traveled far for this trip, they could fill out paperwork and "ask" for their money back. \t\nAll of this I could have forgiven - it's not their fault the boat broke - I get it. But after a long, tired, cranky day with 3 very cranky kids, I get off the bus at their terminal and go up to the representative handing out the 1/2 off letters and say "5", he looks at me and says "kids were free". Seriously bad move on his part. First off, kids were NOT free, one was full price and the other two I paid a portion for. Second, did this idiot truly not understand what hell we had all gone thru that day? To this day, my kids still don't want to go anywhere near a boat! Not only did I rip him a new one, but then I proceeded onto another representative who appeared to be freely handing out "stacks" of 1/2 off letters to anyone in her vicinity. I would have possibly considered going back at some future time (and using one of the many letters the second rep shoved in my hand), but because of this jerk and his "penny pinching" attitude, NEVER!!!!!!! Read More

We scheduled an overnight with Clipper for my wife (me) and her grandma who was visiting from Minnesota. At the time we were experiencing the worst snow storm in Seattle in 20 years (12/2008), however the Nat'l weather service had been predicting a change to rain a few ...days before our scheduled departure. \t\n \t\nThe afternoon before we were scheduled to leave, out of nowhere we got blasted with another 5" of snow on top of our already 19" snowpack, and we were stuck at home. \t\n \t\nI called Victoria Clipper to cancel and request a refund, since this was obviously an extreme circumstance (at this point the Governer of WA had declared a statewide state of emergency because of the snow). \t\n \t\nLong story short, we got the run around, and my wife was spoken to rudely and at one point hung up on. They offered us 2 bad options: 1) reschedule for a 15% fee....which was stupid since the trip was for my wife and her VISITING grandma who was leaving soon thereafter. OR 2) cancel and send in a refund request with NO guarantee that a refund will be issued. \t\n \t\nIt was bad enough being snowed in but then to have this sorry excuse for a travel company holding our money hostage made it even worse. They could have earned a customer for life if they would have just played fair. We even called the hotel directly that we had booked through Clipper Vacations, and they agreed right away to cancel and give us a full refund do to the extreme circumstances (this was Mike at Executive Suites in Victoria...they were awesome to deal with, and they aren't even in Seattle!) \t\n \t\nWe decided to cancel and send in the form, so now we're in the waiting period to see what they say....it can take up to a MONTH....like they're some national travel agency. What do they do all day, sleep? Anyways, we filed a complaint with the Better bus bur and will be doing more than that if they refuse refund. Nobody should have to gamble their money away on 'maybe's' when they are already facing a difficult situation. \t\n \t\nSHAME ON CLIPPER. WE WILL NEVER TRAVEL WITH YOU OR RECOMMEND YOU TO ANYBODY, EVER!\t\n\t\nAddendum:\t\n\t\nWe did finally get a voucher but it is not enough to cover a new trip. Which would not involve my grandma anyway since she can not afford to travel back to WA. Read More

This is a special weekend kind of outing! They have packages with hotels for a good price and you just park downtown nearby and off you go! The reservations people were very helpful and friendly, too!

My Clipper ride to Victoria on Dec. 20/05 was much better than I expected. We left on time, the staff sold dramamine for the rough ""wintertime"" open water Juan De Fuca crossing (only 25 cents each -- I took one and felt just fine on the upper deck). There were plent...y of attentive staff on both decks who frequently circulated to look after any need we had. The foggy windows were wiped off shortly into our cruise with an anti-fogging liquid... they were clear the rest of the ride. Disembarking is a process... those without checked bags exit first, followed by those with bags to claim. After claiming bags, you see Canadian Customs and Immigation and you're free to go. A very decent ride and MUCH better than I expected based on the other posters here. Good job, Clipper. Keep up the good work. Read More