Marine Cruises Reviews

Very helpful and friendly staff, boat was extremely clean and tidy and equipped with everything you could need. Handover at the end was hassle free!

Marine Cruises were an absolute delight. We recieved lots of information from them which made organising our trip so easy considering we were absolute beginners. The boat was excellent. Beautifully clean and very well stocked. The little extras were a lovely touch. Dave was our instructor and really put us at ease which enabled us to tackle the locks with confidence. Big shout out to Hayley who answered all my questions with patience and even very kindly returned some items we left behind. We enjoyed it so much, we have already booked again for next year.

We are finally home from our trip on the beautiful Marine Cruises narrow boat ‘Kimberley’ in May.  We were delighted with everything to do with our canal holiday. The customer service from Hayley, David and the team before, during and after the trip; the beautiful boat, authentic, delightful, comfy and practical; the information provided for a smooth trip, from pubs to eat at, a map to follow our way and hints and tips. Such an exceptional holiday on the canals of England and Wales.

Pre Holiday and embarkment information all excellent. The boat was well equiped in the kitchen and had good quality bedding. The fact that wifi was provided was also a bonus compared with previous narrow boat suppliers.

Very well organised and The Kimberley was excellent. Only one small thing I would improve and that is the quality of the maps and information but this did not detract anything from our wonderful adventure. Thank You.

Thank you so much Marine Cruises, We are very satisfied , They give us an option too excellent services , The Scenery was very Fantastic. Absolutely 5 star this company. I can highly recommend.!!!

A fabulous short break on Kimberley. This must be our sixth or seventh narrowboat holiday and the very best yet. Staff were so helpful and friendly and welcoming. Special mention for Stuart who recommended places of local interest and nice places to stop. Kimberley, not even one of the newer boats, was spotless, perfectly equipped and beautifully furnished. Everything worked just as it should, reliable, easy to use, and we found it very hard to leave! The routes we took from Swanley Bridge Marina onto the Shropshire Union, Middlewich and Trent and Mersey then back down to Nantwich were pleasantly pastoral with very friendly canal folk. All were easy to navigate with helpful Canal Trust volunteers on Hurleston Locks and indeed just enough but not too many locks on these routes. We went during May half term and there were boats aplenty but not at all noisy or overcrowded. In sum, Swanley Bridge Marina was super, their location excellent and their boats perfect!

Staff are fabulous, the boat was perfect and the cruising just beautiful

Have just come back after a weeks holiday based at Falkirk. Picked up boat very easily with no hassle. Handover team are first class and friendly. On the Saturday 25/05/24 when we arrived there was a celebration for the 22nd anniversary of the Falkirk Wheel. All car parks were full but staff offered to park our car when we left on canalboat and keep keys when we returned a week later. We were on Marine Cruises boat which was clean and tidy when we boarded. All Canal staff on Lock gates were quick efficient and very friendly. We are booked to return with Marine Cruises again 2025. 3 adults 1 15yr old and a chocolate labrador. Highly recommended

We hired Susanne from Swanley Marina and had a great few days cruising on the Llangollen canal. I've done many canal holidays and I think that Marine cruises' boat was particularly well fitted out and everything worked well. I'd definitely consider cruising with them in the future. Thanks Hayley and team.

We hired Debbie canal boat for a long weekend. The team at Marinecruises were extremely helpful and prompt on their replies when booking. The boat was lovely and the extra little touches made it perfect. Would definitely recommend.

This is our second trip with marine cruises and honestly this company (and their Scottish Canals partners) are fantastic! This time we did a 7 NT trip from Falkirk to Edinburgh on Suzanne Marie. There were 4 adults, a teen and two kids and we utilised the beds as follows: 2 adults each in the 2 doubles, teen and 4 year old in a single each at the back and 8 year old on the sofa at front. The boat itself is spotless, well kitted out (plenty pots, pans, utensils, cups, glasses, cloths, cleaning products, toilet roll, soap, sweeping brushes etc). We had a main bathroom with shower plus another toilet which had cool doors that opened out to make another bathroom. There is a TV with dvd player, WiFi (no connectivity issues at all even with 7 of us on board), 4 usb charging outlets and 1 regular socket. We paid the £110 fuel deposit before we set off and on return we had used £139 so only had a £29 top up to pay which is more than reasonable. Mooring wise we stopped first night at a wee picnic spot, next night linlithgow, then park inn (had a nice dinner there too), ratho, Harrison park, ratho, linlithgow, Falkirk wheel. If you have kids with you, Harrison park is a great stop for Edinburgh as theres a fab park at the mooring and laser tag/adventure golf nearby. At ratho the bridge inn restaurant is spectacular (I almost cried over my haddock mornay it was so delicious!) We had a slight issue where we thought our toilet had blocked (bowl backed up and wouldn't flush). We called the breakdown number and bothe the man who came to empty the tanks and will the engineer were amazing. They met us in ratho and sorted the issues quickly (it was a wiring fault with toilet, not a blockage) and this is included in the cost of your holiday (unless you deliberately or negligently cause damage of course) Edinburgh international climbing centre is also great with major indoor climbing arena, kids climbing course and soft play (with cafe). Its a hilly five minutes walk from the mooring so folks with mobility issues may struggle. The staff at Falkirk (Gail and co in the office as well as all of the guys maintaining the boats /handover / operating the locks and wheel etc ) are incredible. There was always a cheery face and nothing was too much trouble. They were friendly, helpful and really seem invested in ensuring you have a great trip. When organising the holiday the folks at marine cruises (based in England), are wonderful. They are responsive, friendly, helpful and you can feel that they family business who are really committed to providing high quality service and trips. I honestly don't think I've ever dealt with such a lovely bunch of people than those at marine and Scottish canal staff at Falkirk. As for negatives? It would have been handy to have a couple more charging points on the boat and a shed by the bed for the middle double but that's really really picky! We will definitely be back on the canals with this company and have told everyone we know to do the same!

We hired a Suzanne class boat for 4 days to cruise the union canal from Falkirk. We had time constraints due to flights and other commitments, and the team at Marine Cruises were so helpful in arranging our holiday. On the day we were meant to arrive, our daughter came down sick, so we missed our train to Falkirk. The team at Marine Cruises went out of their way to ensure that we could still access the boat, and sent an engineer out first thing the next morning to do handover and get us started as soon as possible. The boat was lovely, fully equipped, clean and comfortable. The canals and countryside are beautiful, and the Falkirk wheel and tunnels were a lot of fun. We loved our narrowboating holiday, and can't wait to do another.

Marvellous holiday on the Shropshire Union and Llangollen Canal, picking up from Swanley Marina. Ian gave us a thorough briefing and took us through a lock to make sure we understood the drill. Plenty of action with locks and bridges on the first stretch to Whitchurch! We motored hard to get to Chirk, sadly no time for Pontcysyllte. Amazing engineering from Thomas Telford, a fellow Scot! Hayley was very helpful, courteous and thoughtful. The boat was very clean, tidy and comfortable. The shower was excellent and toilets easy to use. Highly recommend a Marine Cruise for a family holiday.

Hired a boat for a week out for of Falkirk. The booking process was straight forward, communicationsclear and timely and the customer service when collecting and returning the boat exemplary. The boat (Suzanne class) was well equipped, maintained and made for the perfect trip to Edinburgh. Would definitely recommend and use again.

I booked for a May trip which I had to change due to a forthcoming operation. The girls quickly allocated another free date quickly with no extra charge. Our boat, Debbie, was excellent with a good layout and well equipped. When the diesel heater failed to start one morning it was replaced within a few hours. When handing over/back the staff were very helpful and even helped carry and load our bags. A truly 5 star experience.

My husband and I hired ‘Maia’ for 10 days to cruise the Four Counties ring. The arrival team were superb! Nothing was too much trouble for Stuart and the other gentleman (whose name I unfortunately cannot remember), they took us through the first set of 4 locks as it was our first time narrowboating. I built up a good set of muscles completing over a 100 locks in all!! Maia was spotlessly clean and modern with a lovely welcome pack of goodies. Complimentary Wi-Fi didn’t work at all, so I just topped up my phone allowance. Thoroughly enjoyed and will definitely return to Marine Cruisers to cruise the Llangollen canal and up to Chester.

Hayley at Marine Cruises was brilliant (an angel!) from booking through to being on the end of the phone helping us when we were having trouble getting a pump out. When we rocked up at Swanley Bridge, our car was filled so full that Steve and Andy were surprised to find 4 crew and 3 dogs climb out! Andy introduced us to our boat - Suzanne - which was 20ft larger than the narrow boat I had driven last year (this was only our second adventure)! Thankfully, Andy kindly travelled with us to a winding hole to practice a turn and then on to the first lock to refresh our memories. The beautiful gift box of goodies on board was a lovely treat - the apple juice was to die (or murder the rest of the crew) for! 😂 We had the most amazing time on a beautiful, comfortable and homely narrow boat that we fell in love with and didn’t want to leave. She took us on a journey and allowed us the time and space to making happy, fun memories to be treasured for years to come. We look forward to booking with Marine Cruises in the near future and are already dreaming of our next big adventure. Many thanks to all the team, we hope to see you soon!

We could not be happier with our narrowboat holiday with Marine Cruises! We took a 10 day trip from the Swanley base up the Llangollen canal and back again. It was a beautiful holiday, a really amazing, up-to-date boat and the team at Marine Cruises was the best. Hayley helped us so much to start with. Thanks to Hayley and the team at Marine Cruises we got the best start, a thorough walkthrough of the boat, and although the weather could be a littlle bit better, we had a really fantastic narrowboat holiday with Marine Cruises. We have tried two other companies in the past, but Marine Cruises was exceptional, personal and we loved the (more) modern feel of the interior of the boat.

We (a Brit and three Norwegians) have just returned from 11 nights aboard canal boat Debbie. Great service from start to finish and a wonderful experience. After travelling from Bergen in Norway, we were met by Hayley and her team at Swanley Marina and they could not have been more friendly and helpful. After a very thorough handover and instruction on boat handling and lock operation we set off on the Llangollen Canal to Llangollen and back. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience, even the various "challenges" of first time canal boating. I would definitely recommend Marine Cruises.