Cebu To Bohol Ferry Schedule

The ferry from Cebu City to Tagbilaran on the island of Bohol is the main sea link between two of the Central Visayas' biggest tourist destinations, and it is one of the few routes in the Philippines where you can genuinely show up at a pier in Cebu in the morning, spend the afternoon at the Chocolate Hills, and be back in your Cebu hotel the same night. Cebu here means the island province in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines, whose capital Cebu City sits on the Mactan Channel directly opposite Bohol across the Tañon Strait and the Camotes Sea approaches. The schedule has shifted under your feet recently, though. A fuel surcharge took effect on 21 September 2026 and pushed OceanJet fares up by ten percent, a handful of sailings were cancelled in mid-September to save fuel, and SuperCat, which older blog posts still list on this route, is not operating Cebu to Tagbilaran at all as of September 2026.

This guide lays out the current sailing pattern, the fares as they stand after the surcharge, which operator suits which kind of traveller, and how the ferry fits into a Bohol day trip. If you are still deciding whether Bohol deserves a slot in your trip at all, the comparison on Cebu versus Bohol is the natural next stop.

What Is The Cebu To Bohol Ferry Schedule?

OceanJet, the fastcraft operator, runs roughly 13 sailings a day from Cebu City's Pier 1 to Tagbilaran in Bohol, departing approximately hourly between about 05:10 in the morning and 17:40 in the late afternoon, and each crossing takes about two hours. Lite Ferries adds two slower RORO crossings at 13:00 and 22:00 that take about four hours. SuperCat, which many older guides still list, is not operating this route as of September 2026.

The hourly OceanJet rhythm is what makes the route so workable. You do not need to build your day around one fixed departure; if you miss a boat, the next one is usually under an hour away. The pattern runs in both directions, so Tagbilaran to Cebu sailings mirror the outbound ones across the same operating day. Be aware that the exact minute of each departure shifts with demand and fuel costs: OceanJet cancelled an evening pair of sailings, the 18:40 out of Cebu and the 18:30 out of Tagbilaran, plus some midday departures, in mid-September 2026, and operators on this route have a documented habit of trimming sailings when fuel prices spike. Treat any printed timetable as a snapshot, and confirm the day's sailings on the operator's own channels before you head to the pier.

The two Lite Ferries RORO crossings serve a different market. At about four hours they are half the speed of the fastcraft, but they carry vehicles and cost noticeably less, and the 22:00 sailing is the only genuine overnight option, arriving in the small hours. For most tourists the fastcraft is the sensible default, and the rest of this guide assumes it.

How Much Does The Cebu To Bohol Ferry Cost Now?

From 21 September 2026 an OceanJet tourist or open-air ticket from Cebu to Tagbilaran costs P960 (about US$15) and a business class ticket costs P1,440 (about US$23), with the ten percent fuel surcharge already baked into those figures. Lite Ferries RORO economy fares run from roughly P400 (about US$6) to P520 (about US$8). You also pay a small terminal fee of about P25 (about US$0.40) at the pier.

The surcharge is recent and it matters if you have read anything older. Before July 2026 the OceanJet tourist fare was P880 (about US$14), and the business fare P1,320 (about US$21); the July increase brought them to their pre-surcharge levels, and the 21 September fuel adjustment added the final ten percent. Any guide still quoting "about P800 (about US$12.7)" for this crossing is years out of date.

Is business class worth the jump? The fare difference buys you a quieter, air-conditioned cabin upstairs, wider seats and priority boarding, on a crossing that lasts about two hours. Tourist class is the open-air deck seating many people picture when they think of a Philippine fastcraft: louder, windier, and perfectly tolerable in calm seas. In rough weather the enclosed cabin earns its price. Note that the terminal fee sits separately from the ticket: budget about P25 (about US$0.40) per person, with reduced rates for students and free passage for seniors and persons with disabilities, and be aware the fee has been suspended for stretches of 2026 before, so the exact amount at the window may vary.

Which Ferry Operator And Ticket Suits Your Trip?

For almost every visitor, the right answer is an OceanJet fastcraft ticket in tourist class, bought at Pier 1 or through the operator's own channels, because the two-hour crossing, hourly frequency and central Tagbilaran arrival make it the only option that comfortably supports a day trip. Choose Lite Ferries only if you are taking a vehicle or want the cheapest seat. Choose business class only if the sea forecast is rough.

The real decision is not operator against operator, it is ferry against tour. A guided Bohol countryside package bundles the round-trip ferry, transfers on the Bohol side, the Loboc River cruise with lunch and the Chocolate Hills into one booking, which removes the entire question of which sailing to catch and whether the connecting van will wait. The operator's live listing carries current prices and availability. For travellers who prefer to keep the ferry as a simple line item and arrange Bohol themselves, buying direct and hopping on a tricycle or van at Tagbilaran port works perfectly well too.

If you are weighing Bohol against other ways to spend a day out of Cebu City, the same booking surfaces above include full-day city and Mactan heritage options and a resort waterpark day pass, both of which skip the sea crossing entirely. The trade-off is simple: Bohol is the single most dramatic day trip available from Cebu, and the ferry is the price of admission.

Where Does The Ferry Leave From And How Early Should You Arrive?

Fastcraft sailings to Bohol leave from Pier 1 in Cebu City, the downtown ferry terminal within walking and short jeepney distance of Colon Street and the heritage quarter, while RORO services generally use Pier 3. Arrive at least 45 minutes before a fastcraft departure and two to three hours before a RORO sailing, and earlier still if you have not yet bought tickets.

Pier 1's location is a genuine convenience: it sits at the south end of the downtown core, so a morning sailing pairs naturally with an early walk past Magellan's Cross and the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño before you board. From the Mactan hotel strip on the other side of the channel, allow for bridge traffic, which is the single biggest variable in any Cebu City transfer; the crossing from Lapu-Lapu or Mactan can take anywhere from half an hour to well over an hour depending on the time of day. The 45-minute check-in window for fastcraft is the operator's stated minimum, and in practice the ticket queue, the terminal fee window and the boarding call eat most of it.

Once you are through, the terminal is a standard Philippine port experience: air-conditioned waiting hall, a few food stalls, and the constant announcements of departures to Bohol, Leyte and beyond. If your whole trip is still in the planning stage, the Cebu travel guide hub collects every transport, itinerary and cost page on this site in one place, and getting around Cebu covers the jeepney, bus and ride-hailing options that get you to the pier in the first place.

Can You Do Bohol As A Day Trip From Cebu?

Yes, and the ferry schedule is built for it: a 05:10 or 06:00-class OceanJet departure lands you in Tagbilaran by about 07:10 to 08:00, a full countryside circuit of the Chocolate Hills, a Loboc River cruise and the tarsier sanctuary fits into daylight hours, and a late-afternoon sailing gets you back to Cebu City by early evening, all inside one long but very doable day of roughly 14 hours door to door.

The arithmetic only works because of the hourly frequency. A day tripper targets the earliest sailings, does Bohol's compact cluster of sights in the middle, and catches a return boat in the 16:00 to 17:40 band. The packaged version of exactly this day exists, and it is the single most popular Bohol product sold from Cebu: the operator's listing shows the current price, the inclusions and the pickup arrangements. Read the full Bohol day trip guide for the hour-by-hour version, and see whether Bohol is worth visiting if you are still on the fence.

Two honest caveats. First, a day trip means the Chocolate Hills at midday heat, which is the trade-off every same-day visitor accepts. Second, the return sailing is a hard deadline: miss the last fastcraft and your day trip becomes an overnight, and accommodation in Tagbilaran books up fast in high season. If that sounds like more stress than a holiday needs, split Bohol across two days and take the 22:00 Lite Ferries RORO back, or simply start from the Cebu itinerary and carve out the nights properly.

What Happens When The Weather Turns Bad?

Coast Guard suspensions are the schedule's wild card: typhoon season runs June to November with peak activity roughly July to October, and when the Philippine Coast Guard raises a warning, all fastcraft sailings on the Cebu to Tagbilaran route stop until it is lifted, sometimes for a day or more, with no sailing regardless of what the timetable says.

The suspension mechanism is binary and it overrides everything else on this page. Operators do not make the call; the Coast Guard does, and both OceanJet and the RORO lines comply. In practice this means that during the wet season you should check the forecast and the operators' social channels the evening before and again in the morning, build a buffer day into any Bohol plan, and never book a same-day international flight connection behind a ferry crossing in typhoon months. The dry season from December to May is far more reliable, and the detailed month-by-month picture is in the best time to visit Cebu and Cebu's weather and typhoon season.

Even outside named storms, the Tañon Strait can serve up a choppy two hours. Fastcraft pitch and slam in a way RORO ferries do not, so travellers prone to seasickness should take a tablet before boarding, sit mid-ship on the lower deck, and consider business class for the enclosed cabin. Sailing early helps too: the 05:10 and 06:00 departures usually ride calmer water than mid-afternoon boats.

How Do You Get From Tagbilaran Port To Panglao And The Chocolate Hills?

Tagbilaran port sits about 25 to 30 minutes' drive from Panglao island's Alona Beach resort strip and roughly 90 minutes' drive from the Chocolate Hills viewpoint at Carmen, and the standard options at the pier are habal-habal motorbikes and tricycles for Tagbilaran itself, multicabs and vans for Panglao, and chartered vans or the countryside tour circuit for the hills.

The port exit is well organised if chaotic: a queue of tricycles and vans meets every fastcraft arrival, and drivers call out destinations as you clear the gate. Fixed shared vans run to Panglao throughout the day. For the countryside circuit, the Chocolate Hills, the Loboc River cruise, the tarsier sanctuary and the Baclayon church cluster along one loop road south and east of Tagbilaran, which is why a single chartered van or an organised tour covers all of it in one day. Public jeepneys connect the towns on the loop but run to their own logic and their own clock, and are a poor fit for a day trip on a ferry deadline.

Costs on the Bohol side are modest but add up for a family: a tricycle into Tagbilaran proper costs a fraction of the ferry ticket, while a private van charter for the full countryside loop is the biggest line item of the day. The honest budget summary, including how a Bohol day compares to staying overnight, is in is Bohol expensive and the Cebu budget and costs guide.

What Should You Do On Your Last Morning In Cebu Before The Ferry?

If your ferry leaves from Pier 1, spend your final Cebu morning inside the downtown heritage quarter, because the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, Magellan's Cross, Fort San Pedro and Colon Street all sit within a short walk or one jeepney hop of the pier, and an early sailing still leaves room for all of them before the 17:40 last departure if you plan the return leg instead.

The geography is unusually kind here. Pier 1 is the northern anchor of the old downtown, the Basilica and Magellan's Cross are a few blocks inland, and Fort San Pedro faces the harbour itself. A traveller with a 10:00 sailing can see the heritage core by 09:00, walk to the terminal, and still make check-in with time for a coffee. On the Bohol side of the same day, the equivalent logic applies in reverse: the last fastcraft back to Cebu lands you at Pier 1 in the early evening, close to the restaurants and nightlife of the IT Park and the downtown, which the Cebu City guide maps out. For travellers who want a fuller send-off, a half-day heritage tour of the city and Mactan Island pairs with an afternoon sailing:

Families with children, or anyone whose sea legs did not survive the last crossing, might prefer a day that stays on dry land entirely; the Jpark resort waterpark day pass on Mactan is the usual no-ferry fallback and appears in the Cebu family travel guide. Whichever way you go, this site, Cebu Travel Guide, keeps every ferry, itinerary and day-trip page current as schedules and fares move.

Common Questions About The Cebu To Bohol Ferry