GNV Reviews 

One star is too high.
We used this 'service' from Barcelona to Palma and back. The whole experience was absolutely awful. The booking process very awkward, instructions at the hectic port non existent. The food onboard was expensive tepid soggy fishy pasta which was something else! We had to REVERSE a lwb van into the bowels of the ship down a very long (200 meter), narrow 35 degree ramp, a further 2hr delay on return, for no apparent reason, + 1hr on the bottom hot car deck with families in camper vans and children boiling with no escape. It was awful, Staff were completely untrained, unorganised and frankly couldn't care less. And.. if your phone isn't switched off, you'll get automatically charged 62 euros the second it finds the ships 4G (regardless of whether you've used it or agreed to anything etc) which no-one want's to know about resulting in our phone being blocked while abroad. AVOID GNV.

Good booking site but every time I tried to book a cabin was thrown out of the site. Travelled before and was always good.

I am currently on board the Majestic ferry on August 26, 2025, heading to the port of Sète via Barcelona, and unfortunately, my experience so far has been deeply disappointing.
On the outbound trip, I had to wait more than five and a half hours at the port under extreme heat, with no nearby place to buy water or drinks, which left us exhausted and dehydrated. That trip eventually went smoothly, but the return journey has been a different story.

For the return, I paid over €1,700 for a sea-view cabin, only to feel insulted from the very start due to the rude behavior of some staff members—especially a receptionist whose name began with the letters EM. She was even vaping on board and treated passengers with arrogance and a complete lack of respect, as if we were from a lower class or not worthy of humane treatment.

Things got even worse when I realized that passengers without cabins or assigned seats were allowed to sleep on the chairs in the restaurants and cafés, making it impossible to enjoy a simple coffee or meal in peace. And the worst part is that the main restaurant—despite its excessively high prices—remains closed, particularly during essential times such as breakfast, lunch, and dinner, allegedly to keep it “protected” from those passengers.

In short, my current experience with this company is extremely poor. I will never travel with them again and strongly advise others to avoid it.

One of the worst experiences I ever had, Almeria/ Nador is just a disaster experience. On the way to Nador, the Golden Bridge is just not a ferry for human beings, service is bad, not clean at all, especially WC’s. Not enough space for everyone… Retour, was even worse, I had to pay extra for the car box, according to them , the box was higher. in short I will never travel with GNV, and I will not recommend it.

Our recent journey from Barcelona to Genoa was one of the most disappointing ferry experiences we’ve ever had.

The cabin had a dated, retro look and was in urgent need of refurbishment. Unfortunately, it was also not properly cleaned. The cafeteria offered very limited food choices, which made things worse for a long journey.

However, the most frustrating part of the crossing was the atmosphere on board. Large groups and families allowed their children to run wild—screaming, banging on cabin doors, and causing disruption well past 2am. It was an absolute nightmare for anyone hoping for a restful night.

In the morning, we were asked to vacate our cabin early as the cleaning staff began their rounds—despite us still being onboard for quite a while. We were then left to wait in the hallway for over 1.5 hours before we could access our vehicle.

To be clear: the crew members were kind and tried their best, but they seemed overwhelmed and unable to manage the overall chaos on board. I wouldn’t want their job for all the gold in the world.

This experience has left us reluctant to ever travel with this service again.

I booked a ticket with a car for €470. My car is a BMW Series 7 sedan. Most small cars are 1.9 meters high and 5 meters long, and that's how I booked. When I bought the ticket, they didn't realize that my car is 5.029 mm. The ticket purchase went smoothly when I got in, but I was told I have to pay an additional €361 because my car is more than 5 meters long due to a difference of 0.29 mm. The question is, where should I know this? Is it saved in the system and how should I measure my car?

Delay departure: scheduled at 8pm, real depart: 3am for the night…
Helpful and nice of crew are not present onboard: always wait or not possible
No possible to have toilet paper more
Cabin very dirty
Self to eat for 47€ for … so bad quality meal. Shame
Bad smell from shower. Black water tank not filtered from shower evacuation. Can’t stand in the bathroom more than 1 min
Permanently Noise and vibration from the engine wherever in the boat even in cabin. Difficult to sleep

The reservation went very smoothly, there are great options like choosing a different accomodation/car/passengers for the outbound and inbound trip.

Port staff are good. The ferry staff treated us like an inconvenience, they had no idea what they were doing, I understand it was a new ferry and maybe new staff but they were rude. Expensive crossing to Palermo from Genoa, the bed was so hard, the food was cold and expensive and when i took it back they gave me another portion out of the same cold dish...twice. Shop expensive and rubbish unless you wanted fake perfume. There is nothing to do, no entertainment no nice relaxing seating area inside or outside. you get more on a P&O trip for 12 hours than this 20 hour trip with these.

Traveled from Barcelona to Ibiza with my wife, picked the presidental suite, payed 400 Eur. For this price, it was an absolute disgrace. It was ice cold in the room and everything was dirty. We tend to practice the attitude of positive thinking, so we laughed on it, but never again using GNV.

The food was not good and overpriced. You have the option of purchasing food ticket with the booking but its just to trick you to commit buying their lunch from the restaurant. Portion dize depending on the mood of the person behind the counter. If you want to just buy a panini from the bar its not available all times although its on their menu. They seem to be overstaffed with a low quality staff who seem to work like in factory doing only one operation but chitchatting all the time. Cabin was more or less decent but onboarding with a vehicle took at least an hour - it seems to be better arriving late to avoid long time of getting out on the destination

This ferry company is simply awful and with the raft of terrible reviews, there should be some kind of government or maritime investigation regarding the service provided - it is not fit for purpose!
I needed to change the crossing date for medical reasons, and even with over 2 weeks' notice, I was charged an extra 112 euros for two people and a car. I wrote to complain and request a refund via the broker, but have heard nothing. The amended crossing was on 22/04/25 and was a terrible, stressful experience. The loading of vehicles was chaotic, with crew shouting at drivers - a great start to the holiday with elevated stress levels. We witnessed a driver being told to drive up the ramp in reverse!
GNV I am still waiting for my REFUND!
N de Reserva 50411005646

Traveled from Genoa to Palermo on La Suprema. This ship should be removed from service and scrapped. Barely enough staff to run a corner shop, disgusting food…disembarking took 90 minutes with no updates as to why. Doesn’t even feel safe. I’d rather walk next time.

We had a very disappointing experience with GNV.

On both journeys (outbound and return), we were informed only two days before departure that the family suite we had booked was not available. Instead, we were assigned a cabin with four bunk beds – despite traveling with a baby and a toddler, neither of whom can sleep in a high bed alone. With such short notice, we had no chance to reorganize or change plans.

Both crossings were also heavily delayed. On the first trip, we were allowed to board only at midnight, after hours of waiting in the car with two completely exhausted small children. The cabin we received smelled strongly of dog upon entering. Due to the unsafe sleeping situation, my husband had to sleep on a mattress on the floor so the kids wouldn’t fall out of the beds.

The next morning we discovered that the bags we had placed on the floor were soaked and smelled like urine. Completely unacceptable!

As "compensation", we received meal vouchers that didn’t even cover meals for the whole family. For the level of discomfort, poor hygiene, and disorganization we experienced, that is simply not enough.

To make things worse, our written complaint from October 2024 has never been answered – even though GNV’s website clearly states that all complaints will be responded to within 30 days. We even followed up, but received nothing.

Tanger to Genua!
Everything was good.friendly staff,boat clean and on time.food for sure is cantina style,but not bad at all.
Can’t really understand so many bad reviews.it’s a ferry not a luxury boat cruise

I love the ferries, they are handy and cheap since it saves you milage on your car and petrol!!! Being a Tunisian is not a good thing on the Italan ferries!! Apart from reception Staff, everybody else was so rude and unpleasant, maybe even racist!! I know they have immigrant problems but what's that got to do with me I don't even live in Italy!!! I just had to avoid the pricks, I have italian freinds in the uk and they are nothing like these people!! They just give a bad image of Italians !!! Horrible horrible staff. I only got my order and the restaurant manager (I suppose) walking away out through the restaurant shouting to the waiter "we are closed now "Mmmm OK I guess there won't be any desert🤣😂 the steak was amazing though!!! Pity I didn't get to enjoy it. I ordered a cofee and the guy hardly steamed the milk, the coffee was cold, that was the last thing I ordered on the GNV!! I have seen racism at some point or another before but never seen people so devoted to it an so openly😳😔

Traveling with Grandi Navi Veloci is no longer a journey and a torture both on board and outside waiting like dogs under the sun there is no service no kindness. on board lack of staff closed bars closed decks horrible cabins and sky-high prices!!! I decided differently this year also because Italy is no longer as it once was even eating Italian cuisine has lost everything only foreigners in the kitchen and sky-high prices zero quality! It is a real and proper disgrace.

Service very poor while aboard the Ferry, staff unhelpful and not properly trained, especially on how to accept and process the online purchased food vouchers, both in the restaurant and bar. Also Ferry docked 35 minutes late, even though weather was fine. Lastly it took over an hour to unload a total of 9 cars on the upper deck!! Overall a lousy experience.

Very complete website to book, easy to use and effective. The prices are affordables in comparation with other companies. And the itinerary is perfect to come back home (Madrid - Spain) after holidays in Italy.