Isle of Wight Christmas ferry travel disrupted by Wightlink changes

Maintenance work on Victoria of Wight has taken longer than planned, Wightlink said

Ferry passengers have said their plans are in "tatters" after a cross-Solent operator announced a ship would be out of action over Christmas.

Wightlink said maintenance work on its Victoria of Wight vessel was taking longer than planned.

A smaller replacement ship has less capacity so passengers have been offered alternative sailings.

Anne Noon from Alton, Hampshire said she had to scrap travel plans and accused Wightlink of "poor planning".

She had been planning to travel to the island for Christmas along with her husband, son, friend and daughter's family.

The company contacted her earlier this week to offer alternative crossings or a refund.

'Utterly ridiculous'

Mrs Noon said: "Our Christmas plans are in tatters. We've had to cancel Christmas on the Isle of Wight and everyone has had to cancel their travel plans.

"I'm very frustrated - you don't plan a major maintenance programme on your best boat, your fastest, most capable boat, just before Christmas - its utterly ridiculous," she added.

Other travellers turned to social media to complain.

One Twitter user said he had been moved to 06:00 GMT on Christmas Eve, with a return journey switched to Yarmouth and delayed by 10 hours.

Another complained about having a 19:00 booking on the 23 December moved to 04:00.

In a statement, Wightlink said about 1,000 bookings for 23 December on its Portsmouth - Fishbourne service had been affected.

It added: "Wightlink apologises for inconveniencing customers this Christmas. This is because essential maintenance of the engines of our largest ship, Victoria of Wight, is taking longer than planned.

"We have had to move bookings to different sailings and to Wightlink's Lymington to Yarmouth route as the remaining ferries St Faith and St Clare on the Portsmouth to Fishbourne route are smaller."