Has anyone else noticed that the nasty little bumpy fast ferry is NOT FAST. It takes just as long as the nasty slow ferries, and if you factor in that it can take 5 minutes just getting off the damned thing (God help us if there's an accident) then the little nasty fast ferry is probably the slowest of the lot. Anyone else think this is worth whinging about?

The nasty little fast ferry is a nightmare, I do not think that the boat is designed for the sea, it should be a river ferry. Whilst on the subject of fast/slow ferries, the 6.20 is a total rip off. It takes the same amount of time as the slow one, I know that the fast ferry can get to Lamma from HK in 17mins, so why does the 6.20 take over 30minutes, whoever gets this ferry are being charged 5$ a time too much, yet if you miss the 6.20 and get the 6.40 instead, you arrive in Lamma 10 minutes after the 6.20 gets in. You do the math.

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I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!

I thought the distinguishing characteristic was the "fast" ferries had soft seats.

If the soft seats are the only difference, let's invest a few dollars in a little soft pillow and take slow ferries only! That pillow would pay for itself within a few days.

Actually, I prefer the slow ferries personally:
less bumpy ride, I find the blue plastic seats more comfortable and these 5 dollars saved every time add up over the months and years...
If I take the slow ferry both ways, I save enough money on each trip to town for a free hot coffee on the way back.

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Has anyone had the gall to point out some of these irregularities to the ferry company? A pointless exercise I imagine, but anyway, I wonder....?

When the 6:20 "fast ferry" took 40 minutes to reach Lamma I tried to complain to the person manning the change counter and was met with a blank stare - he either didn't understand a word I said or pretended he didn't.

I doubt a Cantonese speaker would get much further as the ferry people don't seem to give a sh*t but I suppose it's worth a try... any volunteers?

The only way a complaint will be heard is if you make it to the Transport Department, not to HKKF.

How many years has it been since HKKF had any passenger liaison meetings? HYF used to do them about once a year. Nothing was ever accomplished by them, but at least they pretended to care.

One thing I have never managed to work out with the ferry company is that on Sundays they have a fast ferry from Lamma every hour at 16:00, 17:00, 18:00, 19:00 and 20:00, and they only seem to use the big ferries on Sundays.

But they don't have a fast ferry going from Central back to Lamma in between these times. So they must be returning a fast ferry to Lamma empty and burning a lot of fuel in the process. They must be the dimmest company in the world........

Those who usually take the 8.35am ferry may be interested to know that we will have to put up with being stuffed into a small 'fast' ferry for another 3 weeks or so - the big fast ferry with seats out back is having an MOT - which takes at least a month.

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Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

They do the opposite in the mornings and has all to do with the tourists. Ferries from Central in the morning are fast and from YSW are slow. In the afternoon the ferries from YSW are fast and from Central are slow.
Yes, they are the dimmest and dumbest ferry company in the world.

April Lam is the DGM for HKKF Holdings, Management Executive for HKKF, GM for HKKF Travel and DGM for Winnertex and her email is april_lam@hkkf.com.hk if you want to email her. I tried last year when a client wanted to 'dress' the Central side in advertising but she never got back to me regarding my offer of money for nothing for them.

Yes, same experience from my side.
Media enquiries go unanswered and calls not returned;
wanting to pay them for advertising in the terminals: unanswered;
even booking one of their tours: no reply;
doing an interview about the fare increase: forget it!

Calling her, she won't usually reply to a message and when you get her on the phone, finally, she'll just refer to her bosses and not give you any straight answers, promising to call back which she never does. And she's the only person in HKKF who's supposed to handle these enquiries above, having all these hats and a few more. For example, she's also the official PR person and media liaison, supposedly.

I think it's not really her fault, her bosses just pile everything on her, overloading her and making her ineffective in many of her roles, avoiding all not top-urgent, not absolutely crucial tasks, like reacting to any enquiries from customers, media or advertisers.

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I think any extra revenue stream for them is more of an inconvenience. I am sure that the only reason they continue with the franchise is because they run all their costs through it leaving all the money made by the tours and other business as pure profit.