shepler's mackinac island ferry

Thank you for review. One of our main goals is to keep our vessels clean. We think it just adds so much more to your trip to Mackinac if it starts out on a clean boat. We are happy that you noticed! Please come back and see us again on your next trip to Mackinaw City.

Thanks for visiting with us from Minnesota. We are glad that you had a great trip and we hope that we will see you again next time you are over this way.

Thank you for the great review! We are happy that you had such a fun trip and hope you will keep coming back!

We are sorry to hear that you had a bad experience this past summer. We are definitely committed to our customer service and that includes keeping to our printed schedule. Our guests want us to be on time going to the Island and coming back. We do suggest that you arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the departure that you would like to take in order to be sure to get a spot on the boat, whether that is a space issue or a time issue. We do hope that you will choose to ride with us again on a future trip to the Island.

Thank your for trusting your transportation to us. We are definitely in a high-paced atmosphere with a departure every half hour during the summer. We are happy that we were able to grab your needed items from your car and get them to you before the boat left. We hope to see you again on a return trip to Mackinac Island!

My wife and I used Shepler's Ferry Service in September. We have used them several times without issue and felt comfortable using them again. We parked our car at the required location for valet service, purchased tickets and parking. Their crew took our luggage and instructed us to get in line as the ferry was just loading. While in line, I noticed a woman in a pink coat getting into the driver's seat. I thought it was strange that she did not have the normal navy blue coat with Shepler's name but it was cold and I asked one of their employees is she should be getting into my black 2015 Tahoe (rental) and he said she was simply parking the car. We returned to the dock 2 days later (great stay at the Grand Hotel although a little cold) and picked up our luggage as normal and walked to our car which was in the lot they next to the luggage pick up tent. I loaded our luggage and noticed some trash (we keep the car very neat) and then loaded a bag in the back seat and noticed two empty sundae cups and soda cups. I told my wife someone had taken our car for a joy ride and she noticed two water bottles and and an empty brown paper bag (hotel to go bag for breakfast). The keys were not in it as indicated so I went back to the tent and asked what was up. The following was even more frustrating. He said I must have had the wrong vehicle so we walked to it and I lifted hidden compartment in the back to show him my Illini coffee cup I had placed there (again, don't like a messy car). He radio'd the person in charge of the dock and he said that the woman in the pink coat actually was a customer, not an employee as I was told and for some reason she took my SUV instead of her Toyota 4Runner rental from Hertz, not National. They were able to leave and drove to the airport, after a stop for ice cream, and tried to return the car. However Hertz told her it was the wrong rental agency and type of car. They called Shepler's who drove her car to the airport and picked up mine. They filed a police report and said they filled it up with gas (I had filled it within 1 mile of the dock). I asked them to send me a copy of the police report in case there were damages that I did not see and they agreed. I was very disappointed since they never sent a copy of the police report, did not fill the car with gas as indicated and did not respond to an email I sent in follow up. Luckily the car was not damaged and only driven about 70 miles, what if the woman had lived 500 miles away? They should have better control over the vehicles and put a in place process to prevent this. So while their ferry service is great, their parking is a major issue and responsiveness after they have a problem is terrible. Why did they not call my cell while I was on the island as they had my number. Use caution when leaving your car with them.

Thank you for posting pictures to go along with your great review. We are happy to hear that you and furry friends had a great trip with us. We look forward to having you onboard on your future vacations to Mackinac Island.

Thank you for the recommendation. We are lucky to celebrate 70 years in business this year because of loyal guests like you. We can't wait to see you on your next trip to Mackinac Island!

Thank you for such a great review. We are seeing more people use our St. Ignace dock because of the laid-back atmosphere. We are happy that you enjoyed it. See you next time!

Wow! This review makes US want to take a vacation on Mackinac Island! Thank you for visiting with us on your way to Grand Hotel. We hope to see you on a future trip to the Island.

Thank you for riding with us and for taking the time to tell the world about your experience. We have worked really hard for the past 70 years to get the system down and we are happy that it worked so well for you. Come back and see us soon!

We are so excited to hear that you had such a great experience! Thank you for taking the time to write about it. We hope to see you again very soon.

Thank you for your continued support of Shepler's! We can't wait to see you on your next trip!

Thanks for the 5 stars and the A+ grade! We are happy to have been a part of your trip and we hope to see you again next year!

Thank you for taking the time to write about your experience. We are sorry to hear that you were not pleased with our services. We do have all of our overnight guests come to the unloading area on the dock so we can take care of any luggage that needs to go to the Island. Once on the dock, you do have the choice to go and park in our free lot yourself, or to pay the $7.00 drop off fee for us to park the vehicle. The lot that you have referred to that we shuttle from is not our overnight lot. It is our satellite parking for guests visiting for the day, so you are not able to leave your vehicle there overnight. We have a separate lot for overnight guests that would require a parking pass that you get at the dock. So, we encourage all of our overnight guests to come to the dock so we can conveniently take care of their luggage and supply the needed parking pass.As for the speed of the boats, we have the fastest ferries on the Straits, taking just 16 minutes to get to the Island. Arnold Line has used their classic ferries all this year and it takes between 35-45 minutes to get to the Island with them. Therefore we are taking more people to the Island this year and we do have limited parking space at our dock.With that being said, we never want our guests to feel like they are a commodity and we apologize for that. We hope that you will give us another chance in the future.