Best and Worst Travelling Experiences: Our Interisland Ships

[BayouPinoy]

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Not for the jetsetters in the group. Bitaw, I used to be a regular traveller on our interisland fleet of vessels, before the SuperCats and the "newer" ferries. I think my worse experience was spending Christmas in Third Class (that was the only ticket I can get in Manila at that time), eating my Christmas dinner consisting of slop (it looked like scrambled eggs, but tasted like mud) aboard a ferry the name of which escapes me now. Or how about being awakened by the crew collecting tickets, all the while the boat was being buffeted by huge waves while negotiating the seas of Siquijor enroute to Cagayan de Oro. Or how about the engines literally being shut down to give a WWII-era boat a rest, near the Camotes Islands, while enroute to Baybay? Well that's 3 experiences and few more. My best experience: running into an old high school "crush" while riding out a storm while docked in Manila. Needless to say, we talked about the "good old times" while we sailed all of 20 hours from Manila to Cebu. And then when we docked at Pier 2, we were literally greeted by a marching band. I still don't know what the marching band was all about, but it made for pretty dramatic walk down the damyo.

[jao]

Bathrooms on slow boats are always a bad experience. as well as waiting for the boat to leave but cant sleep properly on tejeras and 3rd class

[BayouPinoy]

Personally, I dreaded using bathrooms while on all vessels I have sailed on. Very hard to do, especially on those Cebu-Manila trips.

[7DMM]

that was 1992 aboard william lines mabuhay uno.naguba 1 engine sa ship so we were cruising on roughly 50% power only.upon reaching romblon naguba na gyud both main engines so nag lutaw-lutaw mi sa dagat for about 3 hours.that trip was supposed to take about 22 hrs pero naabtan mi ug 32 hrs sa lawd.pag naog sa barko upon reaching manila it took me 3 days bag-o na uli-an kay pwerteng liponga nako.

[DutcheD]

I get sea-sick, so for long sea journeys (3 hours and more), I prefer the airplane. But I tried in the past a couple of times Manila-Cebu (and vice versa). It was nice. I have tried the Tourist Class, and the Cabin Suites. The bathtubs are very cute, never used it though.

The last trip I had when I was in the Philippines last December (2004) was the SuperCat Cebu-Bohol (Tagbilaran). That was so cool and fast! The Pier was also quite organized than I expected. Well done!

[crinkle]

my God i've gotta post this one.

it was a couple of years ago... i think about 10 years or so? we were on our way to Giporlos, Eastern Samar, the hometown of my Lolo. anyway, from Cebu to Ormoc, we were on comfy seats of a SuperCat and rode a bus going to Tacloban, i believe it was and there, i witnessed the scariest sight of all. naa lancha as it was called nga puno kaayo ug passengers. they all looked so crammed up inside the vessel. i dared not to even get close to it. we appropriately named it SufferCat. basta. na ning² jud ko. that was the last trip that afternoon going to Giporlos. there was another one docked bound for Guiuan ( i dunno if that's how you spell it ), a town next to Giporlos. my family and i decided to get on it and just take a tricycle to get to our main destination. a few hours passed and my tired feet wanted to rest. all the "beds/cots" were already taken but there was this flat surface on top of the boat's engine that looked effortlessly comfortable that time. so a few hours later, i found myself lying down on the hard wooden board. i was awakened by an old man screaming into my ears in Waray asking me--no--ordering me to get off of there coz the engine wouldn't start if i stuck my a*s on that spot. i just woke up from my short nap and as i looked around, i saw every inch of the boat occupied with human beings from all walks of life. and believe it or not, the roof didn't even have any room for another person. i was shocked, amazed but most importantly scared for my life! the boat is just about ready to sink before it even left the pier! the angry seas of Samar incessantly shook the boat sideways but thank God we touched land after a 48 years. whew!

on the way back, we took the bus. i later found out that the reason why we had to take the boat was because we missed the bus.

that's it. bow.

[Onins]

1997 MAN SIGURO TO naa mi sa Polloc port, thats in Cotabato, naa paman Superferry na Cot-Dgte that time, gikan man mi christmas vacation so back to school na, the ship was scheduled to leave at 10pm man siguro, natulog nami pgmata namo! waaaaaaaa ang usa namo ka kauban nihilak kay wala pami kahawa diay! naa pami sa pier 10 na sa buntag! hehehe guba diay ang makina! toinks!

another one sakay ko ug lantsa from Pagadian to Cotabato ako lang isa. wala na tejeras sus nglingkod lang jud ko from 7pm to 4am! wala najud ko niusab!

AND of course kato college years na mga buang pa mi sa barkada. kani lagi nga shabu2 ba, wala nami nakahulat naa mi sa barko sus adto mi sa CR ngsuyop! waaaaaaaaaaa!!! kaluod!

[riko diko]

2005. bantayan island going to hagnaya.
that was the very first trip allowed after a 2-day suspension because of a storm. we had to get back asap 'coz we can't afford another day of absence from work. haha.. mo suffer ang economy sa mepz. haha... anyway, waves were still huge, when the lancia tilts to one side, the horizon can't be seen anymore as the window gets so close to the water. window glasses broke, the floor was all wet, we tightened our life jackets as we individualy murmured our rosary prayers (wala nay ihap-ihap pila na ka hail mary, our fathers etc...) we were all planning our escape strategy in case the lancia flips over. for 45mins, evryone thought we'd be saying hi to the sharks in the area.

[Galadriel]

early 1990'S

manila to cebu route onboard sulpicio lines...almost the same situation as 7DMM, the trip started out ok. until the wee hours when 1 engine conked out and 1 engine na lang ang ga dagan. hangtud nga kung kanus-a hapit na maabot sa cebu wa na jud kadagan 2 ka engines. nag wait pa mi nga mo abot ang tugboat nga mo guyod namo padung dung-go sa pier...pagka alimoot sa sulod sa barko kay wala nay aircon, all of the people were already saying their rosaries, maklaro jud kay ga kupot na sa rosary beads. gutom na kay wa nay food ang canteen kay ang budget nahurot na. the trip almost took an eternity. dako jud kaayo nga pasalamat nga naka abot mi ug pier sa cebu nga safe and sound. perting suko-a sa akong mama, kay kung wa pa ko gadali ug uli, wa ta mi makasakay ato nga barko.na phobia mi, after that trip for pila mi ka trips nga wa na musakay ug sulpicio.

[Tarzan]

One of the reasons why I won't allow my baby's to come with us if and when we take boat trips. At least kung naa disgrasya, maka langoy ra ko ug.... say 5 meters. hehehehe!!! kapoy langoy ning tambok ta. my trust in our ships are very low. Karaan na kaayo ta ug mga barko, bati pa gyud ug maintenance. paita... archepelago pa gyud ta.