It’s gonna be a long holiday — Holy Week — and I just made up my mind to take a vacation in Romblon, my birthplace and where I spent my entire childhood.
Romblon (also the capital itself of Romblon Province) is a third-class island municipality in the MIMAROPA region, lying south of Marinduque and Quezon. And yes, it’s the marble capital of the Philippines.
If not convinced by my mom, I think I would rather say ‘yes’ either to our biannual charity outreach in Paluan, Occidental Mindoro or to the Bicol excursion with friends and former coworkers.
If my memory serves me right, it was 11 years ago when I had the last visit. That must be a very long time ago, more than a decade already.
Anyway, I am still in a meditative state after having resigned from my job for eight years. I have yet to figure out completely what I want to do next although there’s something I’ve already started.
Both mom and dad, although visit us here every Christmas, have their permanent residence there, around ten kilometers away from the town proper.
We still don’t have an airport in the island, and it normally takes 12 to 16 hours of sea travel by a ferry from Batangas Port.
Although infrastructures and developments have stretched far from the crowded Metro Manila over the past years, still the mobility of the locals and tourists combined, particularly in many low-class provinces and municipalities, cannot justify constructions of airports and air travel operations.
Interisland and interprovincial sea travels remain common, and apart from the thousands of islands and the serious issues in the transportation sector, there are more intrinsic, maybe also cultural, reasons for it.
While I haven’t traveled back to the province for such a long time, I haven’t also known that people have been booking travel tickets online already for convenience and for securing seats and accommodations.
So, I’m sharing in this article a helpful guide on how to book a sea travel through Chelsea Travel. Just to clarify, this isn’t sponsored.
For frequent travelers due to the nature of work or who are just into exploring the islands, booking systems such as this serve the very purpose at its finest.
BTW, it was my eldest sister who just sent me the link. I simply explored the intuitive interface, and successfully booked and paid with my BPI Blue Mastercard in a matter of minutes.
Quick Summary — With Chelsea Travel, you can book and pay for your interisland sea travels with Chelsea shipping lines — Starlite, Trans-Asia, and SuperCat vessels and ferries — conveniently and stress-free.
Chelsea Logistics
Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corporation, a Udenna company, is the biggest shipping and logistics company in the Philippines.
It operates through its wholly-owned subsidiaries and its associates — Chelsea Shipping Corp., Trans-Asia Shipping Lines, Inc., Starlite Ferries, Inc., TASLI Services, Inc., The SuperCat Fast Ferry Corporation, and Worklink Services, Inc.
With its shipping lines, it provides sea travel and cargo services across various islands in country including Romblon.
Chelsea Travel
It is a unified online booking system primarily for three CLC shipping lines — Trans-Asia Shipping Lines, Inc., Starlite Ferries, Inc., and SuperCat Fast Ferry Corporation — that provides passengers an easy, fast, and stress-free booking of interisland sea travels.
It enables passengers to buy and pay their tickets at a time that is most convenient for them even outside the business hours.
Starlite Ferries, Inc.
It currently services the some of the major ports in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. As now part of CLC, it expects to have more improvements in its system, more vessels, and additional routes, all for the satisfaction of marine transportation needs of the Filipino people.
Based on its website, Starlite Ferries has available sea travel and cargo forwarding routes in these port areas:
- Agusan del Norte (Nasipit)
- Aklan (Caticlan)
- Batangas
- Cebu
- Capiz (Roxas City)
- Mindoro (Calapan/Puerto Galera/Roxas)
- Romblon (Romblon/San Agustin/Magdiwang/Odiongan)
- Surigao
- Zamboanga del Norte (Palauan, Dapitan)
SuperCat Fast Ferry Corporation
It operates a fleet of high-speed catamarans, plying the major sea travel routes in the country. Equipped with advanced safety and navigational equipment, it offers business class, tourist class and open-air accommodations.
Based on its website, SuperCat has available sea travel and cargo forwarding routes in these port areas:
- Batangas
- Bohol (Tagbilaran)
- Cebu
- Iloilo
- Leyte (Ormoc)
- Negros Occidental (Bacolod)
- Oriental Mindoro (Calapan)
Trans-Asia Shipping Lines, Inc.
With its complement of ROPAX vessels, it is strategically positioned as a Cebu-based company with unsurpassed shipping services in the Visayas and Mindanao areas.
Based on its website, Trans-Asia has available sea travel and cargo forwarding routes in these port areas:
- Bohol (Tagbilaran)
- Cagayan
- Cebu
- Iloilo
- Lanao del Norte (Iligan)
- Masbate
- Misamis Occidental (Ozamis)
How to Book an Interisland Sea Travel with Chelsea Travel (Starlite Ferries, SuperCat, and Trans-Asia) Online
Booking travels online is popular these days with advantages such as convenience, flexible digital payments, and efficient itinerary management.
Especially during long holidays, such as the Holy Week rush, you need not to worry about the heavy traffic, fully booked transport vehicles, and booths running out of tickets.
To book your sea travel with Chelsea Travel online, you just need a internet-connected device, a payment source, and this nine-step guide:
- Visit the official website of Chelsea Travel.
- Shipping Line — Select your shipping line among Starlite Ferries, Trans-Asia Shipping Lines, and SuperCat Ferries.
- Route — Set your origin, destination, and departure date.
- Schedule — Select your departure time.
- Accommodation — Select your type of accommodation and check the price.
- Guest — Select guest type (adult, student, senior, PWD, minor, and infant) and check the actual cost for each.
- Detail — Fill out the online form with passenger details and contact details.
- Payment — Choose from the available payment channels (credit card, ewallet, etc.) and pay.
- Itinerary — Download and print out your travel itinerary.
Important Reminders When Booking on Chelsea Travel Online
Before you head over to the port, make sure you have read these important reminders:
Check-In
- Download and print your itinerary.
- Go to the shipping line (Starlite Ferries, SuperCat, or Trans-Asia) ticketing booth at least 3 hours before departure. Boarding cut off is thirty (30) minutes prior departure schedule.
- Booking itinerary will be replaced by an actual ticket at the port of origin.
Valid ID with Photo
- For everyone’s security, a valid photo ID is a must.
- For Senior Citizens, PWD, and Students: the OSCA ID, PWD ID and Student ID, respectively, must be presented upon check-in.
Baggage Allowance
- Baggage allowance of up to fifty (50 kilograms per paying passenger is provided.
- Any excess shall be charged ten pesos per kilogram (PHP10/kg) accordingly.
Passengers with Vehicles
- For bookings with vehicles, Official Receipt (OR) and Certificate of Registration (CR) must be presented upon claiming the actual ticket for verification purposes.
Rebooking
- Rebooking requests should be coordinated and processed by the corresponding ticket sellers where passengers bought the ticket (i.e website, travel agent, ticketing office).
- If booked through www.starliteferries.com, request may be emailed at [email protected].
- Passengers can rebook at least (1) day prior their scheduled trip.
- Rebooking is subject to slot availability regardless of reason.
- Rebooking fee is 10% of the previous booking fare.
- Changing of departure schedule and/or time must be processed under rebooking request.
- For trip rebooking due to weather and technical concerns, no rebooking fee is applied.
- Passengers cannot change route when rebooking, only the trip schedule and time can be changed.
Trip Cancellation and Refund
- Cancellation and refund requests can be requested from the ticket seller where the booking has been processed or from any Starlite Ferries ticketing office.
- If booked through www.starliteferries.com, requests may be emailed at [email protected].
- Passengers can cancel their bookings before or after the scheduled trip.
- Cancellation fee is applied. If the passenger requested before the scheduled trip, the fee is 20% of the fare. Otherwise, the fee is 30% of the fare.
- Only the base fare is refundable. Other fees such as service fee, and web admin fee are non-refundable under any circumstances.
- For trip cancellations due to weather and technical concerns, no cancellation fee shall be applied.
- If the cancellation and refund are requested after the issuance of the actual ticket, the passenger must surrender the actual ticket to proceed. Starlite Ferries strictly implements No Ticket No Refund policy.
- Passengers cannot change route when rebooking, only the trip schedule and time can be changed.
Read also:
Holy Week and Charity Outreach in Paluan, Occidental Mindoro: Travel Expenses. This article presents a simple breakdown of expenses for a three-day charity outreach slash Holy Week vacation in Paluan, Occidental Mindoro.
6 Financial Tips for Your First International Holiday. This article provides some helpful tips on how to plan your first international holiday trip or vacation and the expenses involved to avoid financial pitfalls.
5 days trying to contact Catictan Starlite for my rebook but no one answering my calls and email.