Nantucket Steamship Vehicle Ferry
 

Hello....my family is booking a last minute trip out to ACK the last week of July. No surprise but there are no available reservations to bring our car over. We are staying mid island with a 2 year old so we definitely want to bring our car. Anyone have any experience with the waitlist? I find it odd that Steamship has no clue how big the waitlist is for a particular date. What are the chances we would get a reservation? What about Standby? At this point, we are just considering renting a car and if something becomes available within 48 hours, cancelling but would love any tips or other travelers experience with this. Should mention it is a Sunday to Sunday rental.

I suspect the chances you'll get to bring your car are close to zero. I'd look into a rental.

The rental idea is a good one. I know sometimes family who lives on the island and has a second on on island will leave their car in Woods Hole and a ferry guy will bring it over in the next trip that has room. I don't know if it is a case that they know the ferry guy and the car is put in the standby line or if it is a courtesy to the folks who live there.

In any case, the cost of the ferry for your car is significant, so you might (in your mind) reduce the cost of the rental by that much.

We spent summer vacations on Nantucket 30 years ago. Even then, we made sure to have our auto reservations by January. Can't imagine what it's like now.