Seastreak Cancels Nantucket Trips After Ferry License Snafu

Travelers who booked a trip to Nantucket aboard the Seastreak ferry out of New Bedford during the Thanksgiving holiday week got a troubling email Tuesday morning.

The boat line had abruptly canceled all trips through December 1st, claiming that "our operating license with the Steamship Authority has not been renewed, or extended for this weekend, and we are unable to run the service until this is done by SSA." 

That left more than 200 people with roundtrip tickets to and from Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard scrambling to find alternatives.

"You did not know this information until today?" island resident Amanda Mason wrote in a message to Seastreak that she shared with the Current. "Our daughter attends school at URI and had an Uber reserved, ferry tickets, etc and now she may miss Thanksgiving and her sister's birthday due to this. She doesn't have a car and now we may have to jump through hoops to go get her."

As the Steamship Authority is the entity designated by the state to provide ferry service to the islands, private entities such as Hy-Line Cruises and Seastreak must obtain licenses directly from the Steamship to operate on the same route.

While initially appearing to blame the Steamship Authority for the license issue, Seastreak president James Barker told the Current in an interview that it was his company's mistake.

"Our license expired at the end of October and we were going through the process of renewing with the Steamship for the whole year," Barker said. "We misunderstood the timing for when paperwork could get submitted for Steamship Authority board meetings and unfortunately the Thanksgiving weekend is affected. It was our error and we misjudged the date we needed to get the paperwork over to the Steamship for Thanksgiving. We sincerely apologize to our customers for this error."

The Seastreak also clarified the situation with customers in a subsequent email sent to Mason and others who had their bookings canceled on Tuesday.

"We'd like to take the time to clarify the reason for the canceled service between New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket between November 27 and December 1st, 2024.

"Seastreak, and all ferry operators on these routes, require a license issued by the Steamship Authority. The license needs to be renewed every few years and there is a process that requires the renewal application to be placed on the board meeting agenda. Seastreak's license expired at the end of October and because of a Seastreak mistake with regard to the timing of our application submission, Seastreak did not get its application in on time for it to be placed on the meeting agenda far enough in advance for the license to be renewed to operate for Thanksgiving week. This was a Seastreak mistake and not something that the Steamship Authority has caused.

"We apologize for the impact that this has had on our customers, which we do not take lightly. We are hopeful that our license will be in place in time for the scheduled December service but will let customers know as soon as we have more information to that end. Again, we will provide customers with refunds for any unused tickets and parking passes."