Would Your Boat Sail? The Philippine Sea Crossing Common Sense Test

Ten pier-side calls: gale warnings on sunny days, signal numbers, refund rights, the 10 kg scale and the ₱25 fee. Two minutes, and every answer is explained below.

Most missed boats in the Philippines are not bad luck. They are a gale warning nobody read, a bag two kilos over, or a refund that was never asked for in writing. This is ten of those moments. Pick what you think happens, see your result, then check every answer in the guide underneath.

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Would your boat sail?

Ten calls you will face at a Philippine pier. Pick what happens. Nothing is sent or stored.

It is sunny and flat at the pier. PAGASA has a gale warning out for your stretch of coast. Your island boat is a 30-seat motorbanca.

It is not leaving. Gale warnings stop motorbancas and boats of 250 gross tons and below.

Ask the skipper. If the sea looks flat he can still go.

Clear sky, flat water. It sails.

Signal No. 1 is up over Cebu. You are booked on a big RoRo on a main route, departing at 10 AM.

Every boat stops under any signal. Cancel everything.

It may sail. The Coast Guard station decides by the ship’s size and the sea that day.

Signals are for planes. Boats ignore them.

Signal No. 2 is raised over the strait you need to cross tomorrow.

Book the biggest ship. Big ships always go.

Only the fastcraft stop. The RoRo will run.

Assume nothing carrying passengers sails. Stay somewhere solid.

The operator cancels your sailing because of the weather. What are you owed?

A full refund or revalidation, with no deductions.

Nothing. Weather is nobody’s fault.

A rebooking, minus the usual change fee.

You checked in for OceanJet, went for a coffee, and the boat left without you.

A rebooking for a small fee.

Nothing. A checked-in passenger who did not board gets no refund and no revalidation.

A full refund, the ticket was paid for.

Your bag weighs 14 kg and you are flying Tourist class on OceanJet.

The free allowance is 10 kg. Pay the excess or move 4 kg into a day bag.

Fine, the limit is 15 kg.

There are no weight limits on boats.

Cebu port terminal fee, regular passenger. How do you pay it?

Card at the gate.

It is already in the ticket price.

₱25 in cash, inside the terminal, after you show your ticket.

Overnight ferry, bunk in Tourist. Where do your phone, wallet and ID sleep?

In a small bag that sleeps with you.

Locked in the main bag at the foot of the bunk.

On the charging shelf by the door, so they are full by morning.

You are boarding 2GO. What do you have in your hand?

The booking reference on your phone.

Nothing. They have your name on the list.

A printed itinerary receipt and a photo ID.

When does a gale warning catch most people out in Central Visayas?

Only when a typhoon is on the map.

During surges of the amihan, the northeast monsoon, often under a clear sky.

In the middle of summer.

Check my calls

The answer guide

1. Gale warning, sunny sky

Under a PAGASA gale warning the Coast Guard has stopped motorbancas and vessels of 250 gross tons and below from sailing. The sky has nothing to do with it. The full signal-by-signal breakdown is in our typhoon signal guide.

2. Signal No. 1

Since 2023 the Coast Guard has let some larger vessels on main routes sail under Signal No. 1 in daytime, depending on their gross tonnage and the sea state. The station on the day makes the call.

3. Signal No. 2

Assume nothing carrying passengers sails from, to or through the area under the signal. If you are already on an island, stay put somewhere solid.

4. Canceled for weather

MARINA Circular 2018-07 gives passengers a full refund or revalidation for canceled and delayed voyages, without further deductions or additional charges, whatever the cause. The fees operators publish apply when you change the trip, not when they cancel it. Details in what happens when the boat does not sail.

5. Checked in, missed the boat

OceanJet refuses both refund and revalidation for a passenger who checked in and did not board. Its tickets are valid only for the voyage printed on them.

6. The 14 kg bag

OceanJet allows 10 kg in Tourist and Open Air, down from 15 kg before March 2024, and 20 kg in Business. Every operator’s limit is in our ferry baggage rules.

7. The terminal fee

₱25 for regular passengers, ₱20 for students, free for seniors, PWD and children under 12, paid in cash inside the terminal after you show a ticket. Collection has been suspended for short windows in 2025 and 2026, so a trip where nobody asked is not proof it is gone. More in the Cebu port guide.

8. Valuables on an overnight ferry

Phone, wallet and ID go in a small bag that sleeps with you, not in the main bag at the foot of the bunk. Which class to book is in our overnight ferry guide.

9. Boarding 2GO

2GO asks for a printed itinerary receipt and a photo ID, and says boarding may be refused without them.

10. When gale warnings hit

Gale warnings come most often with surges of the amihan, when the northeast wind piles the sea onto exposed coasts, and they routinely arrive under a clear sky.

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Rules and fees checked November 1, 2026. Coast Guard decisions are made station by station on the day; when in doubt, call the port.