Just another thread about this ferry many travelers seem to use. Our experience with this ferry on June 13th 2012 was not so good though.

We arrived in Baku on June 10th with our 5 day Turkmenistan visa starting on June 12th. Our plan was to board the ferry on June 11th to have enough time for the 14 hour sailing and arrival in Turkmenbashy on June 12th. Well, we didn't include the Azeri customs and the port staff in our plans:

On June 11th there was a ferry going but we were told to come back the next day since you must have a valid Turkmenistan Visa to board the ferry. The Azery custom guys won't let you leave THEIR country without the Turkmen visa started - that makes sense! So either way you will lose one of your five days on the ferry.

The next day we went there again, got tickets (which is a lot of hassle itself dealing with the completely corrupt ticket personnel - the price for two bikes and two people was 360$) and boarded the ferry. After having our bikes secured and all our baggage on deck a staff member came up to us and told us to leave the ferry. Reason: There is too much cargo on the boat and the Turkmen won't let them dock that way.Too much cargo huh? There are f**king trains with rolling stock on the boat weighing 1000 times more than our two F650's. After lots of discussion and even with the help of our local contact we had no chance but to get off board. Next problem: we already had an Azeri exit stamp in our passport. Luckily customs were co-operative and overstamped the exit stamp to make it invalid so we could re-enter the country. Another day lost.

On day three we finally made it onboard to stay and left the port by 5 p.m. Luckily the crossing was largely hassle free and we were docked in Turkmenbashy the next day by 11 a.m. What followed was the insane bureaucracy of Turkmen immigration and customs. 24 forms in 10 different office were to be filled out. Time consumed with the help of a Turkmen guide we met by coincidence: 4 hours. At about 3 p.m. with less than 2,5 days left on our visa we were free to go. 1300km through the desert - not much fun.

--> We are strongly advising AGAINST using the Baku Turkmenbashy ferry when you are on a transit visa. In our case the ferry ate up almost 3 of our 5 visa days. There is the possibility of getting a visa on-arrival in Turkmenbashy with an undated LOI in hand. Meanwhile the Azeri custom guys won't let you board the ferry with that! Although you could probably argue with the help of your embassy it will be a lot of hassle. Our crossing was 17 hours and quite fast. Sometimes the ferries wait up to three days before the coast for a vacant dock. If that had happened to us, our Turkmen visa would have expired before we even had the chance to enter the country.

The alternative would be the ferry to Aqtau in Kazakhstan. Although you'd have to deal with the same ticketing staff and probably have to wait longer because it runs more irregularly it still seems a better option.