Attention all Martha’s Vineyard summer vacation renters – the annual car ferry reservation ritual begins in one week. Advance sales for car summer reservations begin online at 7:30 a.m., Thursday, January 12th.
Summer may still be a ways off, but this is one piece of advance planning that you need to get ready to pull the trigger on. If you’re bringing a car to the Vineyard, you need a ticket for that, and car reservations always sell out long before summer.
In the last two years, we’ve seen reservations for the good times on Saturdays and Sundays sell out very quickly (within the first day or two). So, this is the time to plan on the day and time you want to shoot for. Be sure to have a couple of backup times ready as well. Click here for summer ferry schedule.
No reason to get nervous, but you do need to plan ahead. One other tip that will help expedite things when tickets do go on sale. If you haven’t yet created a Steamship Authority account yet, go ahead and do that now (click here). Then on next Thursday morning, return to the Steamship Authority website to book your reservation.
Headstart Resident Ferry Tickets
If you’re lucky enough to live here, and you’re in the Steamship Authority Excursion and Preferred Programs, and you’ve signed up for the Headstart program, time to get going. Headstart tickets are now on sale. And the main benefit of this program is that you can make up to five reservations, and three of them are transferrable! You have a full week to cherry pick the best dates before everyone else joins the car ferry reservation dance.
And if you’re new to the whole process, remember that only cars need these advance reservations. If you’re walking on, you can always grab some tickets at the terminal.