Steamship Authority inundated with website complaints after Nantucket summer ferry reservations fail
BOSTON - The Steamship Authority opened up online reservations for the summer to Nantucket Tuesday morning and it didn't go well.
When customers went to buy tickets starting at 5 a.m. there were all kinds of problems with the website. Several complained on Twitter.
1/17/23 6:52 website update: we are experiencing website difficulties and our team is working to resolve them. The virtual waiting room is working; we do recommend that if your queue number does not change after 15 minutes, please refresh your browser. More updates to come.
— Steamship Authority (@SteamshipMA) January 17, 2023
"It's been 2 hours of waiting and resetting, we've all lost our spots in line repeatedly since 5 AM. How were you not prepared for this, and how do we actually get the spots we need?," tweeted Tristan Willey.
"What happens when we get to the front of the cue and then get sent back 5000 spots?," tweeted CBS News editor-producer Seth Fox.
Just before 7 a.m., the Steamship Authority responded, saying, "we are experiencing website difficulties and our team is working to resolve them. The virtual waiting room is working; we do recommend that if your queue number does not change after 15 minutes, please refresh your browser."
The company later tweeted, "We know many of our customers are frustrated, and this experience is clearly not meeting the level of service we expect to provide. We are continuing to work on today's issues and will provide an update as soon as there is additional information. Thank you for your patience."
The issue appeared to be resolved by 12:30 p.m., more than seven hours after the online ticketing process began.
"Customers should now be able to use the virtual waiting room and book without issue. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. We will continue to review today's activities to determine the cause of the system issues and resolve them immediately."
Reservations are being accepted for trips between May 18th and October 23rd.
Online booking for summer trips to Martha's Vineyard opens next Tuesday with phone and mail reservations starting January 31st.