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How to use Wightlink’s Multilink deal to get cheap Isle of Wight ferry travel
**Wightlink offers: Kids go free during school holidays + afternoon return from £15.60**
Wightlink’s Multilink deal is one of the cheapest ways to get to and from the Isle of Wight if you are travelling on a semi-regular basis.
Curiously, lots of people who are eligible for a Multilink pass, don’t bother buying one.
My hunch is that many people assume that they need to be a mega-regular traveller to make the Wightlink Multilink deal worthwhile. It’s actually worth considering if you only use an Isle of Wight ferry every few months.
Sure, it requires a little bit of investment in time and money, but you can potentially get car ferry travel for about one third of the peak time prices and passenger ferry travel for about half price.
So please stop putting all that energy into whinging about the ferries on social media. Instead, read our lovely guide to save yourself some money.
Prices are for 2023.
Curiously, lots of people who are eligible for a Multilink pass, don’t bother buying one.
My hunch is that many people assume that they need to be a mega-regular traveller to make the Wightlink Multilink deal worthwhile. It’s actually worth considering if you only use an Isle of Wight ferry every few months.
Sure, it requires a little bit of investment in time and money, but you can potentially get car ferry travel for about one third of the peak time prices and passenger ferry travel for about half price.
So please stop putting all that energy into whinging about the ferries on social media. Instead, read our lovely guide to save yourself some money.
Prices are for 2023.
I live on the Isle of Wight – is Wightlink’s Multilink deal worth it for me?
If you live on the Isle of Wight or have a second home on the Isle of Wight then you’ve got free reign to buy any type of Multilink tickets until the cows come home.
There’s a car ferry Wightlink Multilink deal and a passenger ferry Wightlink Multilink deal.
For the car ferry Wightlink Multilink deal you need to prove you have an Isle of Wight address the first time you apply by visiting a Wightlink ticket office. After that, you renew it online. It really isn’t a lot of faff.
You then pay £330 upfront for a book of 10 single journeys which works out as about £66 for a return (2023 prices). They need to be used within 12 months. However, there are five bits of smallprint which – for once – actually work in the customer’s favour.
There’s a car ferry Wightlink Multilink deal and a passenger ferry Wightlink Multilink deal.
For the car ferry Wightlink Multilink deal you need to prove you have an Isle of Wight address the first time you apply by visiting a Wightlink ticket office. After that, you renew it online. It really isn’t a lot of faff.
You then pay £330 upfront for a book of 10 single journeys which works out as about £66 for a return (2023 prices). They need to be used within 12 months. However, there are five bits of smallprint which – for once – actually work in the customer’s favour.
- You can share a pass with someone else who lives at your address. You don’t have to travel with them, and they don’t even have to be the driver in the car.
- If you top up your account just before your 12 months is up, you keep your remaining credit. So, you could travel four times in your first year and then six times in your second year (or something similar).
- If you want to cancel your Wightlink Multilink vouchers they will refund you 75% of your credit (check the small print as you have to do it within a certain timeframe). So, even if you only managed three return journeys in 12 months it would work out as £77 per return journey. That is still far cheaper than most standard Wightlink fares. You might decide this is a little complicated and too much hassle to save yourself £100+ per return journey. If so, this is probably the wrong website for you.
- It's available to second homeowners. The Isle of Wight doesn’t have to be your only residence.
- You can easily amend bookings online. You don’t need to phone any expensive phone lines and it doesn’t cost you anything to change or cancel a booking 24 hours beforehand.
So how much could I save with the WIghtlink Multilink car ferry deal?
The exact amount you'll save varies considerably because Wightlink (and Red Funnel) car ferry prices fluctuate with demand. In fact, you might occasionally find it is cheaper to not use a Multilink pass. For example, if Red Funnel or Wightlink was running a fixed-price day return deal or if you were travelling at 3am on a January in the middle of the week then the standard fare might be cheaper.
However, if you are travelling during school holidays or on Saturday lunchtimes then the difference in price can be jaw-dropping.
For example, I searched in October 2023 for a car ferry for a week's holiday in August 2024. The Multilink fare would work out as £33 for a single crossing...
However, if you are travelling during school holidays or on Saturday lunchtimes then the difference in price can be jaw-dropping.
For example, I searched in October 2023 for a car ferry for a week's holiday in August 2024. The Multilink fare would work out as £33 for a single crossing...
...whilst the standard single fare was showing up as £119.50, or more if you want the flexible option.
That's a saving of £86.50 for a single fare, although obviously that's at the extreme end of the savings available. I actually think the saving is more than that as the Multilink fare is more flexible than Wightlink's 'economy' fare.
However...there are a couple of catches
One important caveat with the Wightlink Multilink deal is that there are a limited number of Multilink ticket spaces on each ferry. Once these are taken, you will either have to pay full price or book onto another ferry.
According to the Wightlink website (in 2023) 'Every sailing, on every day on each route has a minimum of 10% space reserved for Multilink Pass holders.'
If we take that 10% figure and apply it to the size of each Wightlink ferry, we can get an idea of how many spaces are reserved for Multilink. Of course, it might be more complicated than this but let's plough on:
The earlier you book, the greater your chance of getting the crossing that you want.
It's also worth realising that the Multilink prices are fixed, regardless of whether you are staying overnight or just doing a day trip. The standard fares are much cheaper for day trips than overnight trips, so the saving is much less significant.
Another note of caution is that you will occasionally find fixed price ferry offers from Red Funnel or Wightlink which beat the Multilink fare. It's worth checking the official offers pages for Wightlink and Red Funnel or our discount ferry travel guide first.
According to the Wightlink website (in 2023) 'Every sailing, on every day on each route has a minimum of 10% space reserved for Multilink Pass holders.'
If we take that 10% figure and apply it to the size of each Wightlink ferry, we can get an idea of how many spaces are reserved for Multilink. Of course, it might be more complicated than this but let's plough on:
- Victoria of Wight (Portsmouth to Fishbourne) - space for 178 cars, so at least 18 Multilink spaces
- St Clare - (Portsmouth to Fishbourne) - space for 186 cars, so at least 19 Multilink spaces. Honestly, I thought Victoria of Wight had more space for cars but that's what it says on the Wightlink website.
- St Faith (Portsmouth to Fishbourne) - space for 142 cars, so at least 15 Multilink spaces
- Wight Sun, Wight Sky and Wight Light (Lymington to Yarmouth) - these three ferries are all the same size and have space for 65 cars, so at least seven Multilink spaces.
The earlier you book, the greater your chance of getting the crossing that you want.
It's also worth realising that the Multilink prices are fixed, regardless of whether you are staying overnight or just doing a day trip. The standard fares are much cheaper for day trips than overnight trips, so the saving is much less significant.
Another note of caution is that you will occasionally find fixed price ferry offers from Red Funnel or Wightlink which beat the Multilink fare. It's worth checking the official offers pages for Wightlink and Red Funnel or our discount ferry travel guide first.
What about Wightlink foot passenger fares? Can I save money on those too?
Yes, you can, thanks for asking.
Wightlink also offer a separate Multilink deal for foot passengers, which is available to anyone. That's regardless of whether you live on the Isle of Wight or the mainland.
It works in a similar way to the car ferry deal where you buy a book of ten or more single tickets. The more you buy, the cheaper it is per crossing.
For five returns in 12 months the 2023 price worked out as £16 return compared to £36.60 for a period return on the Ryde Pier Head to Portsmouth Harbour crossing. As you have already worked out for yourself, that’s less than half price. It’s a less spectacular difference compared to the day return price of £21 from Yarmouth to Lymington so this deal is best for people doing overnight trips.
The main difference is that the foot passenger Multilink can’t be shared with someone else. They belong to you, so you need to be making a few journeys yourself each year.
However, here’s why I think it’s a good deal:
Wightlink also offer a separate Multilink deal for foot passengers, which is available to anyone. That's regardless of whether you live on the Isle of Wight or the mainland.
It works in a similar way to the car ferry deal where you buy a book of ten or more single tickets. The more you buy, the cheaper it is per crossing.
For five returns in 12 months the 2023 price worked out as £16 return compared to £36.60 for a period return on the Ryde Pier Head to Portsmouth Harbour crossing. As you have already worked out for yourself, that’s less than half price. It’s a less spectacular difference compared to the day return price of £21 from Yarmouth to Lymington so this deal is best for people doing overnight trips.
The main difference is that the foot passenger Multilink can’t be shared with someone else. They belong to you, so you need to be making a few journeys yourself each year.
However, here’s why I think it’s a good deal:
- If you top up just before the 12 months has expired, you keep your remaining credit. So, you could do three returns in the first year and seven in the second year.
- If you want to cancel your card, you can get 75% of the credit back (if you follow the refund process). So, as with the car ferry Multilink deal, it is actually worth getting even if you don’t use up all of the credit. You’d only really need to complete two overnight returns on the Ryde Pierhead to Portsmouth Harbour crossing in 12 months before you start saving money.
- You can use it on any of the Wightlink crossings, which increases the chance that you will use up all the credit.
Are there any downsides to the Wightlink Multilink passenger deal?
As mentioned earlier, this is a stonking deal if you are travelling to or from the Island and staying overnight on a semi-regular basis. However, it’s less worthwhile if you mostly do day returns. You’ll save yourself a few pounds, but if you’re unsure if you’ll manage five crossings in a year and you only do day returns then I probably wouldn’t bother.
Also, bear in mind that special offers and discount codes come along fairly regularly for Wightlink, Red Funnel and Hovertravel crossings. Occasionally these will beat the Wightlink Multilink fare, but not all that often in my experience (Red Funnel did a few day return deals for £12 to coincide with big events in 2023).
If you’ve got credit to use up, you’ll probably feel obliged to use your Multilink pass rather than taking up the special offer, which might be a bit annoying.
There are other ongoing deals which make the Multilink saving less significant. For example, you can sometimes book a foot passenger crossing as a train journey and save yourself a third if you've got a railcard (more details on this in our ferry discounts guide). If you just do off peak day returns and have a railcard, then Multilink probably isn't worth it for you.
Also, bear in mind that special offers and discount codes come along fairly regularly for Wightlink, Red Funnel and Hovertravel crossings. Occasionally these will beat the Wightlink Multilink fare, but not all that often in my experience (Red Funnel did a few day return deals for £12 to coincide with big events in 2023).
If you’ve got credit to use up, you’ll probably feel obliged to use your Multilink pass rather than taking up the special offer, which might be a bit annoying.
There are other ongoing deals which make the Multilink saving less significant. For example, you can sometimes book a foot passenger crossing as a train journey and save yourself a third if you've got a railcard (more details on this in our ferry discounts guide). If you just do off peak day returns and have a railcard, then Multilink probably isn't worth it for you.
I don’t live on the Isle of Wight. Is the Wightlink Multilink deal any good for me?
If you don’t have an Isle of Wight address then you can’t use the Wightlink Multilink car ferry deal. Sorry about that. However, there are other deals in our discount ferry guide such as using our Red Funnel 10% off discount, getting an accommodation + ferry bundle, or using Wightlink's Tesco Clubcard deal.
However, you can use the Multilink foot passenger deal. It would probably be worth getting one if you are completing at least two overnight returns within 12 months. You’d need to then apply to get the rest of the credit back as a partial refund, so you might not think it is worth the bother.
Have a scroll up the page for more on the passenger deal.
However, you can use the Multilink foot passenger deal. It would probably be worth getting one if you are completing at least two overnight returns within 12 months. You’d need to then apply to get the rest of the credit back as a partial refund, so you might not think it is worth the bother.
Have a scroll up the page for more on the passenger deal.
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