ORGANIZING OUR OCEAN JET FERRY RIDE FROM CEBU CITY TO BOHOL

Island hopping made easy – Our little detailed guide on how to get from Cebu City to Tagbilaran, Bohol using the Ocean Jet ferry. In the following post we make occasionally use of affiliate links, which means that if you book a stay through these links, we’ll get a small commission. Don’t worry–the price is still the same for you.

We started our Philippine adventure in Puerto Princesa on the Palawan island and loved every minute of it. However, after spending 20 days exploring this gorgeous piece of land it was time to visit another potentially beautiful part of the Philippines: the island of BOHOL! (Check out our whole 1 month itinerary for the Philippines here!

After researching the crap out of it we came to the conclusion, that it would be best to fly from Puerto Princesa to Cebu City and take a ferry to Bohol from there. The flight tickets where much cheaper then flying from Puerto Princesa to Tagbilaran directly and since we are always on a tight budget this seemed to be the best option for us. 🙂

After having done it, we decided to put together a little overview of the whole ferry procedure from Cebu City to the island of Bohol or better said the proper “etiquette” as we were as well slightly confused about the whole process, the costs, the waiting times and so on…hoping that with this guide you shouldn’t have any issues getting from Cebu City to Bohol!

Pier 4 and the big confusion

As our flight arrived late in Cebu City we decided to book ourselves a one night stay at a hotel before crossing over to Bohol. We’ve selected a hotel near the port to have the possibility to to buy our tickets on the spot and easily walk to the pier the next morning.

The so called “Pier Quatro Hotel” with it’s close location to pier four seemed to be perfect for us. It’s literally across the street from the Pier we thought the ferry was leaving from. Check out our recommended place to stay in Cebu City before crossing over to Bohol below.. It’s basic accommodation, but at a very good price.

Btw, we got a $15 discount at Booking.com for you, if you book via this link 🙂 !

There is even a big modern mall just across the street which we visited the next morning. Featuring a supermarket, a pharmacy and a very good hairdresser which comes highly recommended by Martin 🙂 He would say this guy was the best of all in his entire life, but that’s another story.

When it comes to organizing your trip to Bohol from Cebuy City, you’ll notice that there are two main fast ferries companies going to Tagbilaran: SuperCat 2GO and the Ocean Jet.

Initially we’ve chosen the SuperCat, because they where going from pier 4, exactly where our hotel was located. But when we checked for the location of their ticket office one day prior our departure, we found out that they had abandoned Pier 4 due to safety reasons and all ferries where now going from pier 1 instead. Crap…pier 1 was NOT in walking distance anymore. 🙂

This could have potentially ruined all our plans we made for this morning. However since our hotel in Bohol was not ready for check-in before 2pm anyway there was actually no reason to rush to Tagbilaran. So our new revised schedule for the day was as follows:

Relaxed breakfast at the hotel, quick stroll to the ticket office to get our ferry tickets for around noon and check out Robinson Mall after having our tickets secured to get us some snacks (or for Martin – a new haircut 🙂 ).

At 12 o’clock we would get our luggage, go to the ferry and cross over to Bohol. Sounds perfect? Well my friends, IT WAS! 🙂

Our luck started with finding out that Ocean Jet had a ticket office just around the corner of the Pier Quatro Hotel. How cool was that? Meaning we did not have to walk (or get a taxi) to get to Pier 1 just to buy our tickets there.

Here is what you need to do

The detailed overview for our trip from Cebu City to Tagbilaran from start to finish:

As mentioned we bought our tickets at P500 each for the OCEAN JET FERRY at a ocean jet ticket office close to our hotel. However you could also go to pier one directly and buy your tickets for the Ocean Jet or Supercat Ferry there.

There might even be the possibility to book online in advance, but we found that the book now button on Ocean Jets website was not working and the requirements of Supercat sounded very confusing, so we decided not to.

Aeehhhmmm?!

Note: You get seats assigned already when buying the ticket so be nice to the lady if you have special requests.

Later we took short taxi ride from the hotel at pier four to pier one. Very uncomplicated it’s just down the road, but too far to walk – Costs: P50

When entering the terminal building, you need to present your ticket and pay a terminal fee – Costs: P25 p.P.

After that comes the obligatory security check (surprisingly no charges here 🙂 )

Now go to the OCEAN JET FERRY check in desk and show your tickets again.

If you travel with luggage, go to the baggage drop (counter right next to the check in desk) – and please note that AGAIN a fee was charged of P100 for our two backpacks.

Finally proceed to the waiting lounge (a huge hall with a cafe at the back, some snack stalls and free Wi-Fi access (slow though) – there was even a band playing which I thought was a nice touch.

Waiting area Pier 1, Cebu

Board your ferry. Boarding starts approx. 20 minutes prior so be sure to be at the terminal approx. 40 minutes before your scheduled departure to allow enough time to go through all the steps that can all incur some extra waiting time.

Ocean Jet Ferry

Last but not least – Enjoy your ride! 🙂 The transfer can be a bit rough depending on the weather but having taken some motion sickness pills I was totally fine. They play a movie but no sound so be sure to bring your own entertainment.

Arrival in Tagbilaran. Once you arrive at the pier you get off the ferry and get your backpacks/luggage outside right from the staff, don’t just run off like in the airport expecting you’ll be reunited with your bags at the luggage belt. You won’t 🙂

Sort our Transfer. Either you have organised your transfer to your hotel before (most hotels offer a shuttle to the airport or the ferry port so it’s worth checking but prices might be quiet high) or you negotiate a reasonable rate to your hotel with one of the many tricycles or taxi drivers awaiting you at the port.

WELCOME TO BOHOL! 🙂

Click here for our PDF CHECKLIST of the best places in Panglao, Bohol. It is a list of our recommendations of the best hotel, restaurant, cafe, tour and DIY activity when in Panglao such as the popular COUNTRYSIDE TOUR of Bohol by scooter – SO MUCH FUN!

Enjoy and let us know if you have any more questions!!!