Waterways Holidays Ltd Reviews

4.9 Rating 4,443 Reviews

100 %

of reviewers recommend Waterways Holidays Ltd

4.9

Based on 4,443 reviews


Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service
On-time Delivery	100%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	5 out of 5

About Waterways Holidays Ltd:

Self-drive boating holidays on the UK Canals, Rivers and Norfolk Broads plus European boat hire in France, Germany and Portugal. No experience necessary. Family friendly holidays. City breaks by boat.

Visit Website

Phone:

01252 796400

Email:

info@waterwaysholidays.com

Location:

47 Station Road
Aldershot
GU111BA

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Waterways Holidays Ltd 4 star review on 30th July 2022

Janine Hudson

Waterways Holidays Ltd 5 star review on 7th July 2022

Mr Moat

Waterways Holidays Ltd 5 star review on 19th April 2022

Anonymous

Waterways Holidays Ltd 3 star review on 16th April 2022

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 3 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Very pleasant staff, but the confirmation took 3 days to come through, we had to chase it up, the payment took 4 days to come out the account.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Dear Mr Newbold. Many thanks for leaving us your feedback which we really appreciate. On investigation, the administrator at the boatyard was on one weeks annual leave at the time of your booking so your payment and confirmation was held securely on the system until their return when it was processed immediately by the boatyard. Please accept our apologies for any concern that this short delay may have caused and we wish you a fantastic boating holiday. Kind regards, Nigel

Posted 8 years ago

“It would have been much more straightforward to have provided all our details on a secure web page connection than providing some of them and then having to receive a form, complete it and resubmit by email or fax. Booking on line is the norm now and I was surprised to book any other way. Other than that, booking was fine.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

Dear Mr Atkinson, Many thanks for your feedback which is always really appreciated. The booking form process you describle is currently only used for customers visiting us from overseas (Australia) and we are moving to online payment where supported by your chosen marina. We wish you a fantastic boating holiday from all of us at Waterways Holidays

Posted 9 years ago

“Very dissappointed that we were not allowed to navigate the London ring. I am experienced boater with VHF license.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

Dear Mr O'Connor, many thanks for your review and I fully understand your disappointment at not being permitted to cruise the tidal Thames which would be necessary to complete the Thames Ring. Unfortunately this restriction is a recent ruling by the Port of London Authority and applies to every hire boat. As such, it is completely beyond the control of the boat operator. You can still cruise into the heart of London or North up the Grand Union Canal from the London hire base. The hire boat industry is engaged in negotiations with the PLA and it is hoped that a future agreement can be reached to once again allow hire boats to navigate the section of the Thames between Limehouse Basin and Brentford. I hope that you still enjoyed your trip despite not being able to complete your preferred route And thanks once again for your feedback. Nigel

Posted 9 years ago

“Very friendly staff, lovely to speak to on the phone and very helpful. Would have given a better score but for one thing....the website. It looks unprofessional, dated, unappealing, busy not slick. Just comes across a bit amateurish. (I'm probably a harsh critic as I develop websites for a living) but still...you'd sell more holidays with a decent website. Time for an update.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Website is not actually an instant booking service - you just make a reservation which has to be confirmed by phone or email and is then subject to them checking with the relevant boatyard. I got through easily on the phone when I rang them.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

Many thanks for your feedback Mr Burnell. Our system is directly linked to many of the major boatyards and availability is live as shown on our site. A number of smaller operators we work for are however still more manual so full online booking is not yet possible. We are looking to improve our systems all the time and thank you for your comments. We do also really like to talk through your holiday with you to ensure that we have offered you the best possible option to meet all of your requirements. We wish you a fantastic holiday.

Posted 9 years ago

“Staff were really friendly, engineer was great too, was a good weekend.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“Booking was very easy and the staff helpful. I did think that there were an awful lot of 'add-ons' tho: Damage Waiver Part refundable fuel deposit Refundable Security deposit (payable per person in cash) 1.5% admin fee on credit cards What started out as £490/boat ended up with me needing to free up over £1000/boat. Also as you have my credit card details, I think that the requirement of £750 in cash as a 'security deposit' is a bit of an insult considering I am already spending about £1000 in rental fees.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

Dear Mr Squires, Many thanks for your kind review and feedback. I am delighted that you found the booking process both easy and helpful. Bookings via Waterways Holidays are always direct with the operator of your boat and subject to their terms and conditions of hire. Your chosen boatyard requires a fully refundable security deposit of £50 per person, payable on arrival for all stag, hen or young parties. This is fully refunded on return of your boat at end of your holiday on time and in a clean and undamaged condition. Credit Card surcharges apply at certain boatyards (including your chosen start location) but this can be avoided if you prefer to pay using a debit card. You will receive a refund of any unused fuel at the end of your holiday as it is unlikely that you will use all of your full fuel deposit. After all refunds on return of your boat, your final holiday cost is likely to be under £600 per boat. We wish you a very enjoyable boating break.

Posted 9 years ago

“the search through the website and first booking is fine. However, it feels like after confirming my booking, I received a lot of emails/calls from different agents which were a bit confusing: i provided some info over the phone, then had to provide different pieces of info via email to 2 different email addresses. Also I received a couple of confirmation emails about my booking, coming from different email addresses. All in all, quite confusing: I would expect a seamless experience like in hotel aggregation websites: book, pay, confirmation email, done.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

Dear Mr Fornos. Many thanks for your review. It is always really helpful to learn how we can make the booking experience as easy as possible. The only two companies involved in your booking are ourselves, Waterways Holidays and the Boatyard where you will be collecting your boat. There are no other agents or third parties involved and any emails or correspondence will only be from ourselves or the boatyard. We wish you a very enjoyable holiday and apologise if we inadvertently caused any confusion when you booked.

Posted 9 years ago

“Friendly, descriptive and efficient. Booking completed in a matter of minutes with all questions fully answered.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“The one drawback is not (I think) seeing availability, and hence immediate booking”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

Dear Mr Bratcher, Thank you for your feedback. The website www.waterwaysholidays.com only shows available holidays and is linked to the back office booking system. We are pleased to have been able to book you on your first choice of boat for your chosen date. We wish you a fantastic holiday, Waterways Holidays

Posted 9 years ago

“Disapointed that our original choice was unavailable due to an incident with the boat which has put it out of commision for the season. The boat should have been withdrawn from your advertising for such an extended period of unavalabilty. You offered an alternative vessel based on our original choice, however it was fortunate that I carfuilly checked the alternative offered as there was no option for 240v which was a key descision on our original choice. Had we arrived for our holiday to find the 240v was not available on the alternative offered we would have had no option other than to abort our holiday which would no doubt have led to a very ugly dispute.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

Dear Mr Causon, Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. I am pleased to confirm that the alternative boat you have booked with us, Lydia, has a 240V supply as requested. We wish you a very enjoyable boating holiday, Waterways Holidays.

Posted 9 years ago

“The lady I spoke to covered almost everything but at the end despite trying 3 or more times to say 'there is just one more thing' she chose to ignore me and carry on with her pitch, finally cutting me off saying goodbye as I was still trying to stay 'just one more thing' Very rude I thought.”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 years ago

Dear Mrs Hope Many thanks for your feedback. As a small family business of experienced boaters, none of our team use any scripted answers and I can only sincerely apologise if we failed to answer all of your questions during your inotial booking call. We have called you again in response to your feedback and hopefully answered your query about taking bikes. Should you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to email us via info@waterwaysholidays.com or call us on 01252 796400 at anytime. We wish you a very enjoyable boating holiday.

Posted 10 years ago

“After leaving my details when booking my holiday i expected a phone call or email the following morning however this did not happen and i had to phone the office to confirm my booking”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 years ago

Dear Mr Wright. Many thanks for your feedback. We always endeavour to respond by return but on this occasion due to awaiting on a query between ourselves and the boatyard for your chosen holiday we fell short of this target for which I apologise. We wish you a fantastic holiday and thank you for choosing to book with us.

Posted 10 years ago

“The lady we spoke to regarding booking our boating holiday was very helpful but could have been more knowledgable about the boats she was referring to. we wanted a boat that was fine for 2 adults for a full week, the boat she recommended was one that sleeps 2 but very small. it wasnt until i did further investigation into the boat we were told that this boat was ok for short breaks but not ideal for a full week. the sleeping quarters were very small and only had seating head hight room. you couldnt stand up in the bedroom area. anyway luckily we contacted the boatyard who agreed and offered us a larger boat, so all was not lost. however, it wasnt made clear when we spoke to the lady, who will remain anonymous. so anyone booking direct, please do your own homework.”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 years ago

Dear Mr Harris, Many thanks for your feedback. As advised during our telephone conversation, your first chosen boat was too small for a comfortable one week holiday and hence we strongly suggested an upgrade to a larger boat whilst still remaining within your preferred budget. We are delighted that you have subsequently chosen to upgrade to an even larger boat and wish you a very enjoyable holiday.

Posted 10 years ago

“I found the customer advisors extremely pleasant and would rate the experience as very good except that they were only contactable before 17:30 when the recorded message that you get when ringing their number says that they are available until 19:00. I personally have a problem in contacting them during 'normal' office hours which is why I booked on-line outside these hours in the first place. Hence the one star rating. John S. (Evesham)”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 years ago

Dear Mr Shopland Many thanks for your feedback. Our offices are normally open until 7.00pm, but we were forced to close this past week at 5.30 due to unavoidable & unforeseen circumstances. Business hours will be back to normal from now. - We wish you a great holiday from all the team

Posted 10 years ago

“I tried to book a boat about 5pm yesterday and did not get the promised call or the phone answered when I rang you. When I rang again this morning I was told I would be called right back but it was an hour before Trudi called: the boat I wanted was no longer available. Trudi was very helpful and emailed me suggested alternatives. I had found another boat by then and Trudi rang immediately I had filled in the booking request, this time successfully booking the boat. More than happy with the service from Trudi but bit disappointed about missing the first boat, which was considerably less expensive.”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 years ago

Dear Mr Ogden. Many thanks for your feedback. Last minute September bookings have been exceptionally busy and I sincerely apologise that you were unable to get through on the phone. I am delighted we could find you an alternative boat and wish you a very enjoyable holiday.

Posted 10 years ago

“1st class service from initial phone call to completing booking. I would have no hesitation in recommending or using waterway holidays again. Thank you.”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 years ago

“Very helpful, one slight problem, but that was resolved extremely quickly. So all in all very pleased.”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 years ago

“Very pleasant lady on the phone, responded to questions and replied on time. However, when offer document arrived was not as specified on the web site several things missed out.”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 years ago

Waterways Holidays Ltd is rated 4.9 based on 4,443 reviews