my canto is none existent - and my landlady speaks no eng or mandarin but we manage to figure stuff out in general (simplified characters, pictionary and hand signals...)

I think she said there are no ferrys on the day of chinese new year...... is there a misunderstanding here?

There are ferries, running on the Sunday/holiday schedule.
May also be an extra one after midninght.

If there are fireworks one or two ferries will be delayed or cancelled, around 8-9 pm.

There should be notices at the piers with details.