Capri

Le Boat have been a true pleasure to deal with whether on the phone to the main office or at base at Benson. Sharon, Ollie & the team made us feel like we were the only customers & looked after our every need sympathetically & professionally & also very friendly. We have holiday’ed with ale Boat twice now & already have another booking for the summer & we can’t wait. We know we will be looked after by Benson base & so there is no anxiety looming about our next trip. Just Excitement! I have great praise for Le Boat even when things go unforeseen problems arise they are quick to sort it out & are committed to making your time in their care enjoyable. Well done & thank you. Jayson & Amy Great holiday on the Thames, we’ve certainly got ‘the boating bug’.. There are tense moments when you’re in tight manoeuvres but that’s only a small moment the rest is relaxing & fun

Very efficient and helpful staff at the Benson Base. Smooth hand over and great experience Weather was on our side this year and had an amazing weekend on the Thames, Very relaxing and enjoyable. 2nd time we have hired this boat

Excellent friendly service, giving all the information needed to enjoy our break. Really enjoyed the break, boat very easy to use

Good advices on local conditions Good, handy small boat for 3 persons

Our arrival experience was rather disorganised as staff were unsure of the location of files and computer info. This may have been due to new staff and overstretched existing staff. Consequently we waited a long time before boarding our boat on a windy rainy day. After that things picked up with expert coaching on the water and friendly advice.Good experience following a faltering start. See earlier comments. Good boat.

Prep prior to arrival was good and staff at base friendly. Handover was mixed; Engineer DID point out gas compartment and to turn off gas at night, but DIDN'T point out gas isolator next to stove, Buoyancy Aids or Fire Extinguishers. Also, hard to understand explanation of how to preheat engine. He did provide the option to extend the driving trial prior to departure, which we gratefully accepted. Boat handbook was good. Boat was "tired"; cabin leaked on to bed from skylight when it rained. Also there seemed to be a gas ignition system on the stove, but it didn't work; it was lucky that we took our own battery powered gas igniter. It would be nice if Le Boat provided such an igniter, rather than a box of matches (we used both the grill and oven as well as the hob). We hired a "Capri", which is the smallest and cheapest budget boat, because we didn't want a large boat for just two people. We expected it to be basic (the pump out toilet was fine) and we didn't mind the lack of facilities such as no microwave and mains voltage (we took our own 200W mains inverter to plug into the 12V system), but we did expect everything to be in good order and to work. Benson is ideally located for the upper part of the Thames (excluding the river above Oxford). The Capri was quick to respond to the helm when under way. By comparison to a narrowboat, steering from the enclosed cabin felt "cut off", with limited vision of what was happening at the bow and difficulty communicating with crew at the bow. The Capri (being short in comparison to a much longer narrowboat) quickly veered off course (rather than holding a straight line) when going astern. The saloon was adequate, if a little cramped; I image that it it would be tedious if it was necessary to make up the third berth in the saloon. The sink lacked a draining rack. The stove was again adequate, with two rings on the hob, a grill and an oven. The grill didn't spread the heat well, but the oven was fine; we cooked a Frey Bentos pie and achieved a crispy pastry crust. The electrical sockets weren't labelled well. The front cabin is again cramped, but adequate. You will have to climb over your partner if he/she is on the outside and gets to bed first! Far worse than this, however, is that the cabin is prone to condensation in cold weather, with the condensation liable to drip n to the bed. There was adequate cupboard space, providing that you don't bring your tuxedo and ball gown with you. If the boat had been in good condition, rather than tired and needing refreshing/replacing) it would have been fine for our needs.

The Manager at your Benson Base was efficient and helpful and the advice we received from your staff certainly helped our itinerary. We did not have this particular boat so cannot comment. We had a Tango which apart from the few issues mentioned was very much fit for purpose.

Friendly service. very busy on turnround days so maybe some temporary staff to help with tihs. Good value. Prefer to buy fuel rather than be charged by engine hours

The check in desk was very helpful, answered any questions we had and on return was very responsive at checkout. We underestimated the work involved at the locks, and should have done a shorter distance. More information on port or town stops might be helpful. We found most towns had little to no food services or place to buy food items.

Service technique de la base bon. Service commercial moyen.Trop d'options payantes style coussin de pont. Les commerciaux ne connaissent pas les produits par ex il n'est pas possible de prendre un vélo sur Capri (si c'est possible).L'arrivée prioritaire à 13h ,le problème c'est qu'à 13h la base est fermée du coup c'est pas très intéressant vu le prix de l'option.Le personnel de la base (Messac) est par contre compétant et sympathique Voir commentaire précédent