Waterways Holidays Ltd Reviews

4.9 Rating 4,447 Reviews

100 %

of reviewers recommend Waterways Holidays Ltd

4.9

Based on 4,447 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

“The prices are amazing but the site is incredibly hard to use, with small images, broken links, and pop-out windows for boat details that have an impossible to use image slider.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

Thank you for your review. I am sorry to hear that you experienced difficulties with our website. We appreciate your feedback. We are continually updating our site and hope in the future to improve our image slideshow of the boats.

Posted 2 years ago

“Very good but had to ring back to get a booking confirmation sent through”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

Dear Mr Erskine Many thanks for your review and please accept our sincere apologies that your emailed booking confirmation was not received. This was resent as soon as we became aware and we wish you a very enjoyable holiday. Nigel

Posted 2 years ago

“Your website has a flaw that must be losing you lots of business, and disappointing a lot of customers. The search page is well presented, but if as someone who hasn't yet decided what kind of break I'm looking for, I might well not put anything in the 'length of holiday' field. There's an option in there for 'All available', but it's at the bottom, and why would I go looking for an option that's basically 'unspecified'? If I don't pick one and click search, the response doesn't say 'You must pick from the list of options', it says 'Sorry.......no availability for your selected dates & location'!!!!! It took me a long time to work this out, others will have given up assuming all boats were booked. Please fix search so that I don't have to choose 'Show all', otherwise many people will miss out on the best holidays of their lives.”

Waterways Holidays Ltd 3 star review on 28th July 2021

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

Hi Mr Hurst-Frost, Thank you for providing your feedback of our website. Your thoughts have been passed on. I am glad you were able to find a suitable holiday and I hope you have a great time. Many thanks Abbie

Posted 2 years ago

“Disappointing. Made an enquiry, got a call to say that we could book, took the details for us to pay the deposit. Said “have a lovely holiday”, so we started making plans for our trip, only to get a call the following day to say that a mistake had been made and the boat wasn’t available after all. We fully understand that these things might happen - but it would have been helpful (& avoided huge disappointment) if checks on availability had been carried out before telling us that our trip was available...”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

Hi Mr Smith, Thank you for providing us feedback on our service. As a long standing valued customer, I am sorry to hear that you experienced an error on our website availbility. We do always strive to show live availability online, and I can only apologize that this was not the case for your holiday request. I really hope you found a suitable alternative for your boating holiday. Kind regards, Abbie

Posted 2 years ago

“Strange in these days of on-line booking to have to wait for a phone call during working hours to pay - even the boatyard has an on-line payments system - not convenient for those who work full-time”

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Posted 3 years ago

“Does seem pretty expensive as ya only really get 3 days but it’s on my partners bucket list just wish we could get on earlier and leave later in the last day plus when had already booked had to pay extra for the dog”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“The website is awful. Doesn't remember your selections so that you can tweak them. Have to start from scratch every time you want to make a slight change. Lady on the phone (Trudy) was lovely though.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Thank you for your feedback, we appreciate hearing customer's experiences and are continuously striving to improve. I hope you have a lovely holiday.

Posted 5 years ago

“easy to use, and lots of choice”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“The telesales handler was polite, well spoken and knowledgable”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

“Website hard to navigate, insecure and does not provide standard online payment options. Follow up was by phone only, instructions, both on website and in confirmation email, contradict those provided on the phone. Lack of written confirmation of what was booked before payment. Otherwise happy, the approach works, just plenty of room for improvement.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Many thanks for your review and very helpful feedback. All personal booking details are sent securely from our site using encrypted booking pages but we do like to discuss each chosen boat reservation. This ensures you receive the best possible holiday option for your comfort and price before a payment is taken and your booking finalised. Once again, thank you for your feedback and we wish you a very enjoyable holiday.

Posted 7 years ago

“The booking process was relatively easy and the staff were very helpful in answering all my questions”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

“We loved the Broads and would definitely come again but we were very disappointed with Emperor 2 which was not the quality we were expecting. A downpour during one evening left my daughter sleeping in a soaking wet bed! There were screws missing from the front windscreen and the wipers didn't work. We did not feel the boat was priced to reflect its standard!”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Dear Mrs Mancini, Many thanks for taking the time to leave a review, we are glad to hear that you loved the Broads. We appreciate all feedback and shall pass on your comments about the boat to the boatyard. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can help further. Best wishes, Waterways Holidays

Posted 7 years ago

“booked this as a Monday to Friday break was disappointed to be informed we would have to be back Thursday evening to hand boat back 9.00 am Friday”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Dear Mr Price. Many thanks for your feedback. All midweek breaks for all 80 boatyards we represent are 4 nights starting Monday or Tursday from around 2 pm with checkout at 9 am on the final day. These are the timings discussed before any booking is confirmed and as shown on every boat detail. It is not required to return the boat the day before unless you wish to. I am sorry if the timings are not ideal but it is essential for boats to return early on the final day in order that they can be fully serviced for collection by the next customer the same afternoon. We wish you a lovely boating holiday and hope the timings don't spoil your enjoyment. Nigel

Posted 7 years ago

“Far too early to write a review. I have only just booked the boat. That went well. The lady I dealt with, Helen, was very helpful and the responses to questions are very fast and thorough. Very impressed with her community engagement. Only one question. It does feel that the whole process is trying to wring as much money out of us as they can. I am hiring a very expensive boat. It would have been nice to have a complimentary rowing boat. I have had to find an extra £40. However, it won't ruin what will be a fantastic holiday”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Dear Mr Harbon Many thanks for your kind review. Sorry that we are unable to offer a rowing boat at no charge as this is outside of our control but we wish you a very enjoyable holiday.

Posted 8 years ago

“Booking dates did not fit exactly to our preferences - eg: available in blocks of weeks only. So we needed to change other plans but the block date system is understandable which was no big deal. We were making booking from Australia and the email system worked well. the time zone difference was OK because responses were prompt. The narrowboat safety and operation videos were appreciated. We probably would have appreciated more info on the canal routes and attractions.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

“Although the booking process is painless, there is scope to improve the experience of searching for and comparing boating holidays, especially on a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Dear Mr Delaney. I am pleased to confirm that in response to your feedback, we have now introduced a mobile App version of our Waterways Holidays website which will automatically load when using a phone to search our holidays - Many thanks again for taking the time to let us know how we can improve our customer service.

Posted 7 years ago

“A bit difficult to navigate too the place you want to start. Quick reponse after booking”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Hi Mr Mogstad. It is indeed true that the most difficult part in selecting your holiday is choosing where to start from as there are so many choices with over 80 bases across the UK. Our booking team are all experienced boaters and are always delighted to advise on the most suitable routes based on personal experience and the type of holiday you would like to enjoy (e.g. chilled gentle cruising or plenty of locks and activity!) Glad we could help you find the best holiday for your party and have a great time! - the Waterways Holidays Team 01252 796400

Posted 8 years ago

“I would have liked to be able to pay the deposit on line at the same time as I made the booking.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Dear Mr Wharton, thank you for your feedback. 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 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 hope you have a fantastic boating holiday. Best wishes, Waterways Holidays.

Posted 8 years ago

“The lady I spoke to was very nice! I did ask her to look up some to see if there were some cheaper alternatives for us but she only read out more expensive ones so I think there was a lack of understanding... but didn't really matter too much. It wasn't clear to us from the start that fuel (£120) would need to be paid for in advance, nor that the pet would cost £35. So what we thought would be costing £497 plus £45 damager waiver (totalling £542), ended up costing £702!! This was a bit of a shock.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Dear Miss Allen, Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback on your booking experience. After speaking with my colleague, it would appear that the boat you have confirmed was the best priced option left available in your chosen area of the UK. The fuel cost is paid as a deposit only, and the usage is calculated on your return, and if applicable a refund of the difference will be actioned for you. To clarify, the fuel is only paid up-front if you are within 8 weeks to the holiday. From all of us at Waterways Holidays, we hope you have an enjoyable holiday.

Posted 8 years ago

“Booking went through as we would have expected. However, we had chosen a different craft and requested this on via the web based booking/ enquiry system on the Friday night, as we had not had a reply I called Waterways Holidays Saturday morning to be to the vessel requested had been booked by another party directly through the owners. Surely if a booking request had been submitted then this should stand and whoever requested the vessel first should be able to book it.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Dear Mr Griffiths, Thank you for your feedback. Most boats show live availability linked directly to each boatyard booking system. Unfortunately on occasion, more than one last minute enquiry is received for the same boat and in such cases you are correct, the boat is always offered to the customer that enquired first. Fortunately we were able to find you an alternative boat for your requested dates and wish you a great boating holiday.

Posted 8 years ago

Waterways Holidays Ltd is rated 4.9 based on 4,447 reviews