Tao - Chumphon - BKK.... Night ferry

[alt]

Hi all,

We are thinking of doing the above via night ferry as to not lose a day travelling.

I notice that we'd ever 6 hours on the ferry. Is this method safe? Comfortable?

The other option is the fast ferry. We had planned to fly from samui but left it too late to book

[samuijimmy]

I have known a few people who have done the night ferry from Donsak to Koh Phangnan, and wished they had not.... it's not comfortable and not a good sleep! (Noise from engines) and a thin mattress

I cannot imagine the trip from Chumpon to KT would be any better!

The trip to KT from Chumpon, is not a day's ride on Lomprayah, .... and not that bad a trip as long as water is reasonably calm...

I think Seatran also does the same trip on that route... too??? Check web sites!

Edited December 27, 2014 by samuijimmy

[khunPer]

The night ferries, to my knowledge, are the original slow wooden boats from mainland to the islands, today mainly bringing cargo and some passengers only. The ones I’ve seen (running Surat Thani to Samui and Phangan) has a quite spacey upper deck with space to sleep on the floor (think the provide a mattress or blanket).

I would not recommend the night ferry, presume it’s mainly for Thais and even they do not seem to prefer it today, but rather take the Lomprayah catamaran and express bus to Bangkok, they have a “all inclusive” ticket. Don’t wait too long to book, it’s peak season and sometimes everything can be fully booked up to several days in advance.

[CaptainS]

I took that night ferry before, maybe they have more than one ferry, so they could have different standards. At the one I took we didn´t have to sleep on mats on the floor, they actually had an airconditioned "dorm" there with ihmo quite comfortable bunk beds and even sockets to charge the phone.

[Rooo]

Off topic Troll post removed.

[Finlaco]

i agree with the posting above

I took that night ferry before, maybe they have more than one ferry, so they could have different standards. At the one I took we didn´t have to sleep on mats on the floor, they actually had an airconditioned "dorm" there with ihmo quite comfortable bunk beds and even sockets to charge the phone.

Did the trip two years ago and perfect night's sleep

There is one company notorious for thievery - They do combination bus and boat tickets - Easily found on google - It's not Lomprayah

[sikishrory]

I have done the night boat from koh tao to don sak (surat) a few times. Its fine.

First time I did it i also took a couple of diazapam pills and was asleep pretty much half hour after departing and awoken by the arrival at don sak. Perfect. The mattresses are shoulder to shoulder but its not much of an issue. The are similar to the gymnastics mats from school but narrower obviously. There will no doubt be noisy full moon goers on the boat but in my experience they wernt that bad. They talk crap for awhile but when they turn the lights out people tend to quieten down. It is a bit hot but there are fans and a lot of air flowing most of the heat comes from the mattress underneath you. I think from the engine.

The second time i did it, it was basically the same but i noticed i was on top off the engine area and there was more heat and vibration than the first time. Also i didn't have any sleeping medication the second time and although i ended up getting a nice sleep it certainly wasn't as easy as the first time.

Another time I did it the boat actually had bunk style beds. This was better in my opinion as you have a little bit more privacy and peace. Seemed to be more comfortable as well than laying in between 2 people.

Overall its fine. Theres nothing glamorous about it but if you want to save costs i would recommend it. Personally i find travel like this unpleasant without sleep medication but thats just me. A lot of people disagree.

Good luck with your trip.

[sikishrory]

The theiving company is songserm by the way. Aside from thievery they are also a very rude and unpleasant service to travel with. I am pretty sure the night boats have no connection at all with songserm. Songserm runs ferries only during the day but they also use buses from other companies sometimes (one is called lemon apparently). In the case of a reported theft songserm and the police will tell you that it wasn't songserm but the contracted bus companies responsibility. I was reading about a case like this only a coule of weeks ago.

[alt]

We are going with the fast ferry and bus by day. Sitting on the cat right now.

Were losing half a day but will make up for it.

Thanks for help guys

[12GoAsia]

The easiest way to get your ferry tickets in Thailand is with us
For Koh Tao to Chumporn just click here: https://12go.asia/en/travel/koh-tao/tung-makham

[alt]

Can I buy some spam with those tickets? Bit late to be posting btw, we're back in Ireland, but thanks for the spammmm

[quantum]

What kind of spam ?

[sketcher]

Can I buy some spam with those tickets? Bit late to be posting btw, we're back in Ireland, but thanks for the spammmm

No spam here, just a forum sponsor trying to help.....you're welcome.

[alt]

^^ Didn't realise it was a site sponsor, sorry. Just saw the 1 post and got immediately suspicious.

[Rooo]

All need fulfilled OP already traveled.

Closed.