Who did we book through:-

Ferries-booking.com

When did we travel:-

December 4th 2015

Ferry left at 11pm and we arrived into Bari around 8AM

I am always worried when booking flights, ferry’s, bus’s or trains online, always worried that the company is reputable.

When trying to book our ferry from Albania to Italy, I was especially worried, I always try researching and found a fair bit of info re Italy to Albania but not the other way round, the info that was given on the ferry from Italy wasn’t too great, some people’s stories sounded positively frightening, it really made me nervous, but I had to pick one company to go through and hope for the best.

So I booked our 4-Bed outside cabin with shower/WC from Durres to Bari travelling on the RIGEL II and the total cost was 188 Euros

Total travel time was 9 hours, perfect for a good nights sleep!

We got to Durres probably 3 hours before the departure time (they recommend 2 hours early) we checked in super fast, with just our bar code on our mobile phone for the tickets and our passports, bags were x-rayed and we were allowed on the Ferry, which Lucas was really excited about as the ferry didn’t leave until 11pm, and he didn’t want to go straight to sleep then wake up and get off, he wanted time to check out the ferry…so we were on at just after 8pm.

All staff members seemed to be Italian, and they were all friendly, you had everything you needed on this ferry, there was even a cinema that unfortunately for us wasn’t running, the kind man told us it would be the next day though :).

We dropped our luggage into our room, which I wasn’t sure if you would be able to do but was relieved to be told we could..

We went to the top took a  few photos…

Found the restaurant, had an expensive little meal because you paid per plate, I only wanted Rice and peas but I had to have them as two plates

We had a further look around, then went to our cabin, which was actually bigger than expected, Grant set up the laptop and, as he had some Albanian data left on a sim, we watched a couple of episodes of `Jessica Jones’…which was a bonus,  after that we went to sleep…what a peaceful night’s sleep, the journey couldn’t have been smoother, the sea was like a lake, the sheets and covers were very clean and the room warm, possibly a fraction too warm, but I loved it.

In the morning at around 7ish, they announced over the tanoy for people with cabins to bring the keys to reception, we piddled around a bit getting bags sorted etc then went and dropped our keys off…a little annoying as after that we had to wait around for what felt like 45 mins to actually get off the ferry.

Overall it was easier than a flight, and we saved a nights accommodation. It’s also a nice novelty for the kids. We’d certainly do it again, if going a similar distance, sleeping your way to your next dream destination is a great way to travel.