COVID-19 Information.
Learn More >>
Block Island Ferry COVID-19 Information
update as of october 14th:
As we move into the off-season, we want to remind our passengers that we remain vigilant in our COVID-19 efforts.
What are we doing?
Our top priority is the safety of our passengers and our staff. Our vessel and landside employees are continuing to work diligently to clean and sanitize our vessels and facilities. We are fortunate to have a dedicated staff & crew that allow us to maintain high standards.
We continue to maintain an adequate supply of cleaning materials and have hand sanitizers available our customers while traveling with us.
Our employees have been advised of the health guidelines put out by RI Department of Health and CDC and understand the importance of hand washing and wearing face coverings. Employees that are not feeling well are instructed to remain home.
As a beneficial measure, we have continued to work closely with the Block Island Medical Center, Town of New Shoreham, RI Governor’s Office, and RI DOH to coordinate our combined efforts and staying informed on the most current information and advisories.
What can you do?
Be mindful of social distancing when purchasing tickets and while traveling on the ferry.
Wear a face covering at all times.
If you are traveling with a vehicle you may remain in your vehicle for the duration of the trip (vehicle engine must be shut off).
When weather permitting, utilize outdoor seating.
Temperatures inside the cabin will be affected by the introduction of fresh air flow, open windows and doors. Passengers should dress accordingly for their comfort.
If you are traveling from out-of-state, please click here for the most up to date RI DOH guidelines: https://health.ri.gov/covid/
We continue to require all passengers to wear a face covering and practice social distancing while traveling with us. We ask our passengers to be respectful of other passengers and our crew by following CDC guidelines as posted at our facilities and on our vessel. That will help containing the spread on the virus. We want to thank our customers for their cooperation in working together to keep us all safe.
UPDATE AS OF JUNE 3, 2020
As of June 1st, The State of Rhode Island is in Phase Two of reopening RI. In State and Out of State visitors are now allowed to travel to and from Block Island, as long as you are not traveling from an area that still has a stay-at-home order or advisory, at the time of travel. As we continue to move into Phase Two, we are continuing to revise our ferry schedules to accommodate ridership request and demand.
Our top priority is the safety of our passengers and our staff. Our vessel and landside employees are continuing to work diligently to clean and sanitize our vessels and facilities. We are fortunate to have a dedicated staff & crew that allows us to maintain these high standards.
We continue to require all passengers to wear a face covering and practicing social distancing while traveling with us. We ask our passengers be respectful of other passengers and our crew by following CDC guidelines as posted at our facilities and on our vessel that will help containing the spread on the virus. We want to thank our customers for their cooperation in working together to keep us all safe.
Traditional Ferry
We have posted our revised Traditional Ferry schedule through July 17th. Click here for the Traditional Ferry Schedule.
Vehicle Reservations: If you have a vehicle reservation between June 13-July 17th, we are in the process rebooking those reservations that are affected by the schedule change. Most departure times will remain the same in the event your must be moved it will be changed to the closest available departure time to your original reservation. We will be notifying those reservation holders by phone and email with their updated reservation.
Once we have rescheduled all existing vehicle reservation, we will start taking new reservations for this time period. We are now accepting new reservations through July 9th only.
If your plans have changed to visit Block Island and you are holding a reservation please call us immediately to avoid cancellation fees.
Online Passengers Tickets: Traditional online passenger tickets are available for travel through June 18th at this time. Future dates will be available for purchase soon.
Pt. Judith High Speed Ferry
We are planning on resuming our Pt. Judith High Speed Ferry in late June. We will post the start date as soon as it has been determined.
Online Passenger Tickets: Online high-speed passenger tickets will be available when we resume our service.
Concessions on Board
In continuing our efforts to keep our customers and staff safe we have elected to close our on-board concessions including all food & beverage service until further notice. No personal alcohol may be consumed on the ferry.
6-1-20: We have posted the revised ferry schedule through June 19th. Click here for the Traditional Ferry Schedule. We are accepting vehicle reservations through June 19th. Our Reservation Office is open from 9am-3pm 866-783-7996 Ext. 3. We are asking for all of our passengers to wear face coverings and to practice social distancing while traveling with us.
5-26-20: We have posted the revised ferry schedule through June 12th. Click here for the Traditional Ferry Schedule. We are accepting vehicle reservations through June 12th. Our Reservation Office is open from 9am-3pm 866-783-7996 Ext. 3. We are asking for all of our passengers to wear face coverings and to practice social distancing while traveling with us.
5-21-20: We have posted the revised ferry schedule from June 1st through June 7th. Click here for the Traditional Ferry Schedule. We are now accepting vehicle reservation through June 7th only. Our Reservation Office is open from 9am-3pm 866-783-7996 Ext. 3.
5-18-20: As of Monday, May 18th we have made minor revisions to the May 25th- May 31st ferry schedule. Revised ferry schedule through May 31st. Click here for updated schedules.
5-13-20: As of Wednesday, May 13th we have revised the Thursday schedule for May 21st & May 28th. Revised ferry schedule through May 31st. Click here for updated schedules.
MAY 18 TO MAY 24, 2020
MAY 25 TO MAY 31, 2020
5-8-20: We have made a few changes to our ferry schedule through May 31st to best accommodate the needs of our ridership. Click here for the traditional ferry schedule. As a reminder we are asking for all of our passengers to follow the guidelines of the Governor’s emergency regulations, to wear face coverings and to practice social distancing by maintaining a safe distance from others while traveling on the ferry. We are all in the same boat and we thank our passengers in advance for your cooperation.
If you have a vehicle reservation between May 11th and May 31st please call our reservation office to reschedule or cancel your reservation. 866-783-7996 ext. 3 Click here for office hours.
5-5-20: We are continuing to monitor our ridership needs and have made adjustments to our ferry schedules through May 31st. Please click here for our Traditional ferry schedules. Additionally, we have delayed the start of our seasonal high speed ferry M/V Athena, which we hope to resume in June. Customers should refer to our website prior to traveling for our most updated information.
If you have a vehicle reservation between May 11th and May 31st please call our reservation office to reschedule or cancel your reservation. 866-783-7996 ext. 3 Click here for office hours.
Our top priority is the safety of our passengers and our staff. Our vessel and landside employees are continuing to work diligently to clean and sanitize our vessel and facilities. We appreciate the cooperation from our passengers and ask that they continue to wear face coverings when traveling with us. We thank you for your patience and understanding during these challenging times.
4-24-20: The current reduced ferry schedule has been extended until May 10, 2020. We will continue to monitor our ridership and the needs of the life line service and adjust our schedule accordingly. All updates will be made available, on our website, Facebook and Twitter.
4-21-20: In our continued effort to provide the safest environment for our employees and passengers, we have required our employees to wear face coverings. We are also strongly recommending that all of our customers to also wear a face covering while traveling with us. Face coverings can include scarves, bandanas and other homemade and non-factory-made masks. We want to thank all of customers as we all work together to help mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
4-13-20: The current reduced ferry schedule has been extended until May 3, 2020. We will continue to monitor our ridership and the needs of the life line service and adjust our schedule accordingly. All updates will be made available, on our website, Facebook and Twitter. If you need to reschedule your vehicle reservation please call our Reservation Office to change or cancel your reservation, 866-783-7996 Ext. 3. Click here for office hours.
4-5-20: NOTICE FOR PASSENGERS TRAVELING TO THE MAINLAND TO GROCERY SHOP ON MONDAYS OR THURSDAYS: CLICK HERE FOR SAFE PRACTICES WHEN TRAVELING TO THE MAINLAND.
3-26-2020: Notice to our passengers: We ask passengers that may have COVID-19 symptoms or are being treated for COVID-19 follow the links below to our travel restrictions and recommendations.
Click here if you are traveling from Pt. Judith.
Click here if you are traveling from Block Island.
3-25-2020: In our ongoing effort to work with local officials regarding Block Island’s Shelter-In-Place Order that includes travel restrictions, we will be adjusting our ferry schedule to best accommodate essential travel.
Effective Saturday, March 28th, we are reducing our scheduled trips to and from Block Island. This reduced schedule will run through April 15. Customers should refer to our website for future travel, after April 15th. We will continue to monitor our ridership and the needs of the life line service and adjust our schedule accordingly. All updates will be made available, on our website, Facebook and Twitter.
We remain committed to the community of Block Island and the transportation needs of it residents, as well as maintaining the delivery of essential supplies, cargo and fuel. We thank you for your patience and understanding as we all work together through these challenging times due to the COVID-19 virus.
3-24-2020: The Town of New Shoreham has requested we share the following SHELTER IN PLACE order which goes into effect at 5:00 pm on March 24, 2020 and will extend to APRIL 15, 2020. Click here for more info.
3-20-20: Starting Thursday, March 26th; We will be making a minor schedule adjustment to the published Monday & Thursday ferry schedule. We will continue to provide 3 trips per day, however the timing adjustments will allow us to meet our staffing and cleaning needs.
The Revised March 26th-April 26th Traditional Ferry Schedule will be as follows:
|
DAY OF WEEK |
DEPARTS POINT JUDITH |
DEPARTS BLOCK ISLAND |
|
Monday & Thursday |
8a, 11:30a, 3:45p |
9:30a, 2:00p, 5:15p |
If you have a vehicle reservation on one of these dates, or need a future car reservation, please call our reservation office 866-783-7996 Ext. 3. Click here for reservation office hours.
We thank you for your patience and understanding as we all work through these challenging times due to the COVID-19 virus.
3-20-20: The Town of New Shoreham has requested we share the following infomational notification relating to discretionary travel to Block Island. To view this information click here.
3-19-20: We are continuing to operate our ferry service on our published schedule. Our top priority is the safety of our passengers and our staff. Our vessel and landside employees are continuing to working diligently to clean and sanitize our vessel and facilities. We are fortunate to have a dedicated staff & crew that allows us to maintain these high standards.
In the interest of reducing the spread of the COVID-19 virus, we recommend that for those passengers traveling with a vehicle on the ferry: that they consider remaining in their vehicle for the duration of the trip, if they are comfortable doing so. For those passengers that are traveling without a vehicle; we strongly recommend social distancing, avoid congregating in groups, and utilizing outside seating, weather permitting. As a general safety and health precaution please do not congregate in or on the stairwells of the ferry at any time. All on-board food and beverage concessions remain closed until further notice. We ask our passengers be respectful of other passengers and our crew by following CDC guidelines as posted at our facilities and on our vessel that will help containing the spread on the virus.
3-16-2020: In continuing our efforts to keep our customers and staff safe we have elected to close our on-board concessions including all food & beverage service, beginning Tuesday, March 17th until further notice.
3-15-2020: Considering recent developments with the COVID-19 virus in the last several days; Interstate Navigation IS OPERATING AND WILL CONTINUE TO OPERATE its lifeline ferry service from Point Judith to Block Island, RI.
We will continue to operate our ferry on our published schedule; unless we are requested to do otherwise by the applicable Federal or State authorities that regulate us. It is important to note that misinformation is often distributed through social media and third-party platforms. For that reason, we ask our customers and the traveling public to refer to our official BLOCK ISLAND FERRY website; www.blockislandferry.com for accurate and up to date information.
In addition, if circumstances change, we will also provide ferry service updates, through our social media platforms (Facebook & Twitter), which will in turn refer customers to our website: www.blockislandferry.com That information will also be shared with the local media and other news outlets.
The health and safety of our traveling passengers and employees is our highest priority. To that end we are informing our customers and passengers of the steps that we are taking to employ precautions against the COVID-19 virus, commonly known as coronavirus. The measures that we are taking are in response to the latest health advisories from Federal, State and local officials, and to keep passengers and employees healthy and safe. We have instructed our employees to frequently wash hands for at least 20 seconds and have extensively deployed the use of latex or rubber gloves. We have instructed our ticketing, freight terminal and vessel personnel to maintain their cleaning schedule and work to disinfect all hand railings, tabletops, door handles, seats, faucets and toilets in between trips, at a minimum, and during trips as needed. We are well-stocked with cleaning supplies and have ordered extra supplies to the extent that supplies are available for our customers to use while traveling with us. In following these extra measures, we hope that our passengers and employees will remain stay healthy.
Interstate Navigation Co. (The Block Island Ferry) is taking guidance from the Rhode Island Department of Health, Federal Centers for Disease Control, and the U.S. Coast Guard on any operational changes that may be required due to the virus. So far, no specific changes for ferry vessels have been recommended.
If special transportation needs are required on board the ferry to and from Block Island, please contact William McCombe, our Director of Security and Block Island’s EMA director at (401) 675-1234.
Thank you for your help in this matter.
