Valbiska, the port with no town
A quay, a ticket window and a car park in a wooded inlet on the west side of Krk. Everything else is 20 min away, which matters more than it sounds when the queue is long.
Updated
Valbiska took its name from the bay rather than from a settlement, because there is no settlement. The port is a quay, a ticket window, a car park and a set of marshalling lanes in a green inlet on the west coast of Krk.
Getting there
From the mainland you cross the Krk Bridge, which carries the D102 and has been free of charge since 15 June 2020. The island road runs south past Omišalj and Malinska, and the D104 branches west to the port.
Rijeka Airport is on Krk itself, at Omišalj, reached by the D103. That makes flying in and crossing to Cres on the same day realistic, provided you allow for missing a sailing.
What is at the port
The marshalling area is a strip of concrete along the quay, divided into lanes by red and white barriers, with the ticket window beside it. Cars are held in the lanes until the arriving ferry has unloaded, then loaded in sequence.
There is little in the way of food or shelter. On a hot afternoon in August with a full queue ahead of you, that is worth knowing before you arrive rather than after.
The other line from the same quay
Valbiska is not only the Cres port. The line to Lopar on Rab leaves from here too, a crossing of 80 min, running up to four times a day in summer and twice in winter.
It is worth knowing because the rule is different. Jadrolinija states that a ticket on the Rab line also reserves a place on the ferry and a departure at the desired time. Same quay, same operator, opposite arrangement. If you have used the Rab line before and assumed the Cres line works the same way, it does not.
Waiting well
Because there is nothing at the port, the practical approach is to arrive with what you need rather than expecting to buy it. Fuel up on the island road, not at the quay.
If you are aiming at an early sailing, sleeping nearby is the calmer option. Malinska is roughly 20 min away and Krk town a little further; the accommodation page covers both sides of the crossing.