On the 23rd of October 2022, the only ferry connection between Tasmania and Australia moved from Melbourne-Devonport to Geelong-Devonport. One month after this move: How are the reviews, what is the status, and did things improve for the millions of tourists between Tasmania and Australia?
The move to Geelong
Early 2020[1]ABC News: Spirit of Tasmania to move Victorian operations from Port Melbourne to Geelong already the Spirit of Tasmania ferry service announced the move from Melbourne to Geelong. The ferry service needed the space and also better check-in facilities and above all: better parking services as the parking space in Melbourne was expensive. At that time the CEO of TT-Line Mike Grainer said the following:
“The move to Geelong provided the company with a unique opportunity to enhance the passenger experience”.
ABN News – Mike Grainger
The advantages of Geelong
Geelong (250K inhabitants) isn't a big city like Melbourne (5M inhabitants) which means you can reach the ferry service towards Devonport way easier. While in Melbourne it was about 20 minutes to reach the highway in Geelong you can already get there in less than 5 minutes. But that's not even the biggest gain:
In Geelong the parking near the ferry is free. While in Melbourne this was very expensive.
Reviews we've spotted so far:
“We left the mainland from Melbourne Port and arrived back in Geelong. Geelong is the better location as you can be on the highway home in a few minutes.”
Tripadvisor
“The move of the departure point for the Spirit really suited us, as we drove from Adelaide, and Geelong is much closer.Β “
Tripadvisor
Booking was easy, loading our motorhome and all of the other transport professionally undertaken.Β
Productreviews.com.au
The Spirit of Tasmania does need to work on the toilet block though! =)
Arriving in Geelong early, top of the queue, we had to walk a long way back to circumvent the barrier, in order to get to the toilet.
Productreviews.com.au
The future
Now the only thing we have to do is wait for 2024 when the new ships arrive to really see what this route may bring:
More info about this route: Geelong to Devonport.
References
| ↑1 | ABC News: Spirit of Tasmania to move Victorian operations from Port Melbourne to Geelong |
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