Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry

For the countless times my family has visited Mackinac Island, we have always chosen to support Shepler’s, a family owned business for 70 years. We depart from the St. Ignace side, and on this visit I noticed the benches with dedications to Shepler family members — a nice touch to show you the personal side of the business. The boats are always impeccable and the staff is friendly, which makes it an easy choice.
Here are my tips for a great voyage:
–Purchase tickets online. They are good for any round-​trip during the season, May — October. Check out the specials, like buy two adults tickets online and either get a free child’s ticket or $ 14 off a third adult. Also, save your ferry stub to get $ 2 off your next ferry ride! You can also get discount packages of ferry + Carriage Tour or ferry + Grand Hotel admission/​lunch.
–The schedule is available online, and departures vary by times of the season.
–I recommend taking the Mighty Mac departure — no extra charge and only adds 10 minutes to your trip. You go underneath the Mackinac Bridge, and they cut the engine so you can take
pictures from a unique vantage point.
–Sit down below if it’s overcast/​windy — it gets chilly up top!
-$ 2 guidebook of Mackinac history for sale
–Free day parking — overnight options available for range of prices
–Mackinaw City departure is often more popular because you don’t pay the bridge fee so just be warned the Mackinaw City line might be much longer
–Pets travel for free
–Bringing your own bike? That will cost you $ 10 per bike (tandems count as two). Still cheaper than bike rentals on the island.

Clean, nice staff and easy parking (if you get there early enough). Had two very nice trips out to the island on our vacation. Lower deck of boat extremely hot, but that’s to be expected.

Great service, decent prices, definitely a good place to check out. Wife and I parked here for 3 days and really liked the folks working here. No hassle or issues. Definitely recommended.

Just used Shepler’s for a recent Mackinac Island trip and they were great! They loaded and unloaded our 4 bikes for us. They left on time and the trip only took about 20 minutes.
They do push paying for parking through their website. However, overnight unsecured parking is available for free. We used it and our minivan was fine.

Very professional and easy peasy. Chose free parking. We’re at island for two nights assuming our vehicle will still be in same condition as we left it. Can’t imagine why it wouldn’t be. Great experience so far getting to island. Porter Archie on island side who saw us to our hotel was great. Thanks Shepler’s and Archie!

Clean restrooms and spotless boats. Crew is friendly and full of information. Buy tickets online for a deal, we purchased a 3 adult package, which saved us the most money. All of their parking is onsite, which is a huge perk. Free day and overnight parking, just park yourself in the designated area for day or overnight.
A+ Shepler’s. Thanks for making our trip awesome!

Great views on the way to and from Mackinac Is. Ferry was efficient and clean. Enjoyed the ferry ride more than the island.

Clean waiting room with bathrooms, free coffee, and free wifi. The people who worked there were friendly. The boat was clean. Our captain was great. We got to go out under the bridge which gave us some amazing photos. What else can I say? It was easy, fast, and I’ll definitely use them again next time I go to the island!

Our first trip out to the island. We chose Shepler’s because they have great convenient parking. You can choose daily or overnight. You are greeted at the gate by a very friendly person who guides you where to park. We bought a buy one get one package, $ 10, at our hotel so we saved $ 15. The staff and crew was very good and made it a nice trip over. If you take the early cruise they take a side trip over to the bridge and go underneath and stop for everyone to take pictures. It was a beautiful day so we got some great pictures. The return trip was just as nice. If you have a bike and you want to bring it they will transport it for an additional $ 8. Rentals on the island are around $ 25-​$ 30 a day.

Only way to travel

I took my first ride over to Mackinac Island yesterday on Shepler’s Ferry — totally cool ride, that’s for sure! Loved how you can bring your bike, which is a must on the island, and how the crew took care of boarding it, etc. All went well and I had an absolute blast on the boat and on the island!

Professional crew, clean ferries, efficient. During the 10 and 11 a.m. shuttle the ferry stops under the Mighty Mac which is an extra treat. There are three ferries that service the area and they all seemed fine, we just happened to choose Sheplers and we enjoyed the ride!