Crew make everyone stack there bags in one place at the front of the boat and then do nothing to assist customers collect their bags to disembark leaving chaos. This made us late for our train connection. The boat was also late departing.
The boat to Koh Tao was extremely crowded and hot, so it felt a bit like a COVID trap. No AC, no fans, and no way to get outside to the deck or to an upper deck outside. The return boat was much better with spacing and AC.
When the announcements began as we arrived at the pier in Chumpon, people who were going to the Chumpon train station were told to get ready and to exit the boat first. There was absolutely no way to do that because all the passengers were already crowding around the exits, and it was not clear which exit might be best. Also, it was nearly impossible to retrieve our luggage stacked in the middle of the boat, since everyone was already standing packed around it. In the end, despite our best efforts, we were among the last to leave the boat. This caused a lot of stress for us because we were instructed to leave first. And in the end, it made ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE. The bus waited quite a while before leaving.
The sleeper boat is great, just two things: the air-conditioning was strong and it was cold there in the sleeping room. There are only light blankets to cover yourself with so have some extra clothes with you. Also the beds are hard (personally I like that as well as hard pillows- so Ithis is just FYI) We left on time, people were great, slept as a baby. Arrived on time. Everything was very well organized.
Boat was OK, even if waiting for boarding at the pier under the sun was hard.
But The bus from Chumphon pier to the airport was lame: dirty, old, and it took 15 min longer than scheduled: a bit frightening to catch our flight