Ferries from Cebu

Cebu is the busiest ferry hub in the Philippines, and it is not one terminal but a working waterfront: the piers run in a line along the Mactan Channel, and which one you want depends entirely on who you booked with. Fifty-two routes and around 150 sailings a day leave from here, operated by nine carriers ranging from fast craft to overnight RO-RO ships bound for Mindanao.

Which pier do I need?

Pier 1 is OceanJet's, whose ticketing office there is open 4am to 6pm — that covers the Tagbilaran, Ormoc, Getafe and Palompon fast-craft departures. Pier 2 is FastCat's, in the GP Building on Arellano Boulevard at the corner of McArthur Street, Barangay San Roque, and handles the RO-RO run to Tubigon. Ocean Fast Ferries keeps its main office at Pier 4 on McArthur Road. SuperCat sells from the Trans-Asia Building at M.J. Cuenco Avenue and Osmeña Boulevard, and Lite Ferries from 1022 M.J. Cuenco — both city offices rather than berths, so confirm the pier when you buy. Arriving at the wrong pier is the most common way to miss a Cebu sailing; they are close together but not interchangeable, and fast-craft gates close well before departure.

Where the ferries go

Bohol takes the most traffic. Tagbilaran is the heaviest route on the board — roughly nineteen sailings a day, with OceanJet's fast craft crossing in about two hours and the conventional ferries taking closer to four. Tubigon is the other Bohol gateway, twelve sailings and a two-hour crossing, and Getafe is the quickest hop out of Cebu at one hour fifteen. For Leyte, Ormoc runs about ten times a day; SuperCat and OceanJet do it in three hours while the RO-RO ships take most of the working day. Longer sailings — Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Surigao, Manila — are overnight or near-overnight passages, and several run only a few times a week.

Practical notes

Fares split by class rather than by ferry: an open-air or tourist seat is the cheap option, business class costs roughly a third more, and cabins appear on the overnight ships. Students, senior citizens and passengers with disability cards get statutory discounts on domestic sailings, and children between three and eleven travel at about half fare. Weather closes this port more often than mechanical trouble does — the Philippine Coast Guard suspends sailings during storm signals, and Cebu's typhoon season runs roughly June to November, so a same-day rebooking plan is worth having between those months.