Turbo Jet vs Cotai Ferry to Macau

My wife had a terrible experience last year when we were coming back from Macau after a rather enjoyable evening and hit rough weather. The Cotai Ferry rocked violently and my wife got really sea sick. The weather was not very good that day and we just thought that might be it.

Then a month later we found ourselves using Cotai Ferry and again the trip was more rocky than usual. Coming back, we took Turbo Jet and the ride was quite smooth like almost every other time we used their service.

We were talking to friends who told us that they have also not had a very good experience with Cotai.

I know this is statistically not a significant sample but has anyone else felt that Turbo jet ride is more smooth than the Cotai Jet ?

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Katetam · 14 February

well, not an expert but to my knowledge..... Turbo Jet's vessels (not all, but most to Macau) is the JETFOIL, it rises, to you're above the water ? While Cotai Ferry and First Ferry uses Catamarans... which are like Fast Ferries. Hence the difference in feeling the motion. I have many friends who say they can only take Jetfoil from Turbojet because it gets quite rough leaving and approaching the piers, esp on windy and rainy days. I just took Cotai Ferry to Macau and back last week, it was fine. Typical motion... but my daughter got seasick and did throw up once during the 1 hour ride.

Singh is King OP · 14 February

hmmmm.... that does make sense. "Feeling the motion" when the water is choppy is not a very pleasant experience for some of us.....I wonder why they went for catamarans

axptguy38 · 14 February

Turbo Jet has both hydrofoils and catamarans. The catamarans actually feel more stable in this case. The hydrofoils are simply older boats and have a rougher ride if there is any wave motion. As for individual trips, it depends a lot on water conditions. Finally, different people simply react differently. "well, not an expert but to my knowledge..... Turbo Jet's vessels (not all, but most to Macau) is the JETFOIL, it rises, to you're above the water ?" Turbo Jet has both kinds in service to Macau. AFAIK more than half are catamarans nowadays.

Katetam · 14 February

axptguy38, are you sure you don't have it reversed? Hydrofoil is the older vessels of Turbojet, but according to my friends who cannot take First Ferry because it's catamarans... they get really seasick ! They live on Kowloon, and would STILL go to Sheung Wan Shun Tak to take Turbojet to Macau because hydrofoil is less motion for them. But it's true, everyone has different tolerance for "motion" sickness. It changes too... my daughter used to be very good with airplanes, boats and ferries, and cars.... now she's older, (6 years old)... she seems to be more sensitive to motion sickness recently..... Maybe it will pass... (a phase?)

axptguy38 · 14 February

"axptguy38, are you sure you don't have it reversed? Hydrofoil is the older vessels of Turbojet, but according to my friends who cannot take First Ferry because it's catamarans... they get really seasick ! They live on Kowloon, and would STILL go to Sheung Wan Shun Tak to take Turbojet to Macau because hydrofoil is less motion for them." Well, motion sickness is a very individual thing, so different people are affected in different ways. I know I experience the cats as smoother, but that's just me. In any case I am not so prone to motion sickness on boats. I do believe Turbo Jet is slowly phasing out the hydrofoils btw.