“Due to traffic, and half term business, we started our hire 1 hr late, BUT this wasn’t their fault, they cut no corners and made sure we were safe and ready for our hire. They also accommodated extending our hire time by 1 hr so we didn’t miss out on any hire time. It was a fantastic experience for our anniversary and we enjoyed our selves entirely.”
“We as a family hired a boat on Tuesday afternoon,it wasnt planned a spur of the moment decision and able to book a boat in the afternoon for 2 hours.Great informative service throughout from booking,instruction talk before taking boat out and also on our return to boat yard.Will definately be using this company again in the future.”
“Very difficult to complete booking. I have a confirmed booking but when I log into my account I'm told I have no bookings. Also difficult to add more than one guest name.”
Thank you for your feedback, and we’re sorry to hear you found the booking process frustrating.
We were able to see your booking successfully in our system, but it’s clearly not ideal that it wasn’t visible when you logged into your account. We’ll be looking into this further with our booking software provider to see what may have caused the issue.
We also appreciate your comments regarding adding guest names. While this isn’t something we’ve had reported previously for day boat bookings, feedback like yours is really helpful as it allows us to review the customer experience and identify anything that may not be working as smoothly as it should.
Thank you again for taking the time to leave a review, and we do hope you enjoyed your time on the water.
“To book a boat and then to be told last minute when we arrived that it had broken down was extremely disappointing. Yes you gave a full refund which was to be expected.
You could have contacted us beforehand as you obviously knew it had broken down before our arrival time of 9.30am. We won't be booking through you again.”
We’re very sorry for the disappointment caused on the day of your booking.
Unfortunately, despite our engineers working on the boat prior to your arrival, it became clear that the issue could not be resolved safely in time for your hire. We completely understand how frustrating this was, particularly when you had made plans for the day.
We genuinely believed earlier that morning that the problem could be fixed and the boat made ready for you, which is why we had not cancelled in advance. In hindsight, we appreciate that better communication would have helped manage expectations, and we are sorry for the inconvenience caused.
While breakdowns are thankfully rare, boats are mechanical and unexpected faults can occasionally occur despite regular maintenance. We did, of course, issue a full refund immediately, but we appreciate this did not make up for the disappointment to your day.
Thank you for your feedback.
“We have been holidaying on the broads for the last 10 years or so , the last 8 years with barnes brinkcraft,
Wroxham is the perfect place to start off a holiday on the. Broads and barnes is for us the best boatyard. Customer service is always 5 stars, the boats are quality and easy to handle . We have hired a variety of sizes of boat from the 2/4 berth encore to a 10 berth melody, depending how many family has come with us. The little touches like a welcome bottle of bubbly and a fantastic hamper for returning customers really make a great start to a holiday on a barnes cruise. We love the broads and barnes do all they can to make sure you're experience on the rivers is the best it can be. We are currently looking forward to our week on the new Chorus 2 in July 2026 and have already booked with barnes for 2027 on chorus3 .”
“Good introduction on arrival. Clean boat, clear instructions. Diesel boats are quite noisy, would go electric next time. No maps given - bring your own.
4 hours gave us enough time to get to Horning, drink at the Ferry Inn, around Wroxham Board and a quick walk through the nature reserve.
We cycled there, nowhere to lock up bikes but they did allow us to leave them locked together behind reception. The assumption is that you are driving or walking up.”
Thank you for your lovely review and for your kind comments about the handover, cleanliness and onboard instructions. It sounds as though you made the most of your four hours on the water — Horning, the Ferry Inn and a trip around Wroxham Broad is a pretty good Broads day out!
We’re sorry to hear the maps were not easy to find onboard. We provide a complimentary copy of Broadcaster magazine on all of our day boats, which includes maps and Broads information, and this should have been onboard for your trip. We’ll make sure the team double check these are more clearly positioned for future guests.
We also really appreciate your comments regarding bicycle storage. You’re absolutely right that many guests arrive by car or on foot, but with more people choosing to cycle to us, providing a proper bike locking area is a very sensible suggestion and one we’ll certainly look into.
Thank you again for taking the time to leave your feedback, and perhaps next time we’ll be able to tempt you aboard one of our quieter electric boats!
“I rented a boat from this company for what was supposed to be a relaxing 4-hour trip, but the customer service completely ruined the experience.
To start, they gave us the boat an hour late, sitting around wasting our day before we could even get on the water. Because of their delay, our actual boating time was cut short, yet they still charged us the full price for 4 hours.
Trying to get a partial refund for the hour they stole from us has been an absolute nightmare. Their customer service is incredibly rude, unhelpful, and completely evasive. They are more than happy to take your money for 4 hours, but good luck getting any of it back when they fail to deliver on their end.”
We’re sorry to hear that your experience did not meet expectations.
Unfortunately, on the day of your booking, the return of the previous boat was delayed by another customer, which had a knock-on effect on later departures. We completely understand that this was frustrating and disappointing, particularly when you had planned a relaxing afternoon on the water.
Our team did everything possible to minimise the delay, however we were unable to extend the hire later into the evening due to operational and staffing limitations at the end of a very busy day.
We did provide details of how to contact management regarding compensation, as our front-of-house team are not authorised to process refunds directly.
While we appreciate this impacted your trip, we do feel it’s important to recognise that the delay was caused by circumstances outside the control of the staff you dealt with on the day, who were working hard in difficult conditions to assist all customers safely and fairly.
We are genuinely sorry your experience fell short and appreciate your feedback.
“Will was very helpful and explanied everything before we set off.
Had the basic Brinklet boat, which was fine for novices like we were. But after 6.5 hours listening to the diesel engine, Ill try an electric next time .”
Thanks for the review — we’re glad Will helped get you confidently underway. And yes, after a full day on the river, the quiet life of an electric boat does start to sound quite appealing. We’ll look forward to hearing how you get on with one next time.
All the best,
The Team at Barnes Brinkcraft
