The Steamship Authority has announced the dates for reserving vehicle passage on summer ferries, and officials say that they have tested the website and are ready for the increase in online traffic.
The Head Start program for Islanders opens Tuesday, Jan. 14, at 8 am, and summertime reservations for the general public on the Vineyard route open at 8 am on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The travel dates are from May 13 through Oct. 21.
Telephone and In-person openings will begin at 7:30 am on Feb. 11. The reservation office can be reached at 508-477-8600.
The Head Start program allows year-round and seasonal residents of the Vineyard and Nantucket the opportunity to make up to 10 summer reservations per customer prior to the openings to the public. Head Start is open to all year-round residents (who qualify for the Excursion Program) and seasonal homeowners (who qualify for the Preferred Program). The program allows Islanders more assistance in traveling back and forth to the mainland for their daily living needs during the summer season, when vehicle reservations are more difficult to obtain.
Starting at 8 am on Tuesday, Jan. 14, Head Start customers can make reservations
online and by mail for travel from May 13 through Oct. 21. The program is exclusively for qualified preferred or excursion customers, to book for their account only. Reservations made during this period, which ends on Jan. 27, cannot be made in another individual’s name, and are nontransferable.
At 8 am on Tuesday, Jan. 21, up to five reservations of the 10 allotted trips can be made directly to another person’s name, for personal use. Three of those five reservations can be requested as a transferable reservation, which can be transferred to another individual at a later date.
The general public can begin reserving spots on the Nantucket route beginning on Jan. 28 at 8 am.
There have been hiccups and complications in past opening dates, which the Steamship says it has anticipated.
“To ensure the most performative and error-free experience for the traveling public during the 2025 reservation openings, the Authority’s IT department and external vendors have been conducting increasingly demanding load tests in preparation for the upcoming reservation opening period,” a statement announcing the reservation dates reads. “The results of those tests show the website is capable of processing more than the peak number of reservations per minute experienced in 2024.”
Visit steamshipauthority.com/reservationtips for more information.
