Best Posts in Thread: Ferry fixers

We visited Siquijor during the May 1 long weekend. The experience on the Dumaguete side was abhorrent, my wife stood right next to the lady in the video.
We tried to make a reservation on the preceding Monday for the Friday 1:30 pm boat, only to be told that there was no option to buy a ticket ahead of time, and that it would be on a first come first serve basis. My asawa then went to the ticketing office on Friday around 9 am (ticket sales were supposed to start at 10), and when she got there there were maybe 3 others in line, but she spent the entire day there with no luck (this was at the Montenegro shipping company). Ultimately she managed to get tickets for the 6 pm boat with Aleson (which didn't leave until 7:30 or so because of a "coastguard inspection").
So yeah, it's a total mess on the Dumaguete side, and especially on busy weekends the fixers are rubbing their hands.
On the Siquijor side however, it all runs smoothly, so no problems whatsoever on our return trip. In Siquijor though, the LGU runs the ticketing office, and the staff are pleasant, and efficient. Presumably the Siquijor LGU told the shipping companies that "it's our port, and to use it you play by our rules" or something to that effect.
Dumaguete should copy the Siquijor example asap.

Admittedly, our experience was quite likely one of the worst on that Friday because we had decided to bring our car along. If you're just looking to get some pedestrian tickets it should not be as bad as that, but still a lot worse than in Siquijor.

From what I heard on the radio, the "viral video" has alerted some councilors already, and supposedly they're going to have a meeting about the situation.

 

Has anybody in the forum taken a ferry from Dumaguete port lately ?
There has been many posts and even a video on Facebook regarding people queuing for a long time then being told the ferry is fully booked but then the fixers can still get you onboard.
Somebody even reported that once the "fully booked" ferry had left the port that there were still empty seats.
The video showed a woman at Montenegro ticket booth complaining, i could not make out most of what was said but it looked like the staff are in collusion with the fixers.
If this is true then it's a sad situation but surely one that the ferry management could if they had the will to, resolve quite easily.
I ask this as within the next few weeks we are going to have to make a ferry trip and i want to know if we are wasting our time trying to use the ticket booth and should instead go straight to the fixers.
Why does everything here involve queuing ? why can you not book and pay in advance or even do it online.
I suppose i am quite lucky as i don't have to go to work as i don't know how the local people have time to go to work after spending most of their life standing in line.