Marine Cruises Reviews

We cannot recommend Hayley and her team highly enough! From booking to boarding the boat, the whole process was easy and friendly. We boarded our boat (Maia) at Swanley Bridge Marina. We were greeted by the team who gave us a full tour of the boat and explained how everything worked. The boat was absolutely beautiful! Spotlessly clean, modern and had everything we could possibly need for our trip. I was very apprehensive about the locks but the lovely gentleman who took us out stayed with us until the first set of locks and helped put my mind at ease. We had a fantastic trip and cannot recommend Marine Cruises highly enough. We can't wait to return and are already looking forward to our next adventure

My family and I took Suzanne out from Swanley Bridge Marina for 3 nights and had the best time! There was 7 of us and 2 dogs in total and we had more than enough space. The boat is beautiful with loads of room, two toilets, a shower, loads of storage, 3 sleeping areas, a kitchen, a dining areas which turns into another sleeping area on a night if required. The boat itself was spotless, clean and very modern. We loved it!! We took the Llangollen canal to Wrenbury where we stayed at the Dusty Miller pub for an evening meal in the first night. The next morning we set sail to Gridley Brooke and up to Whitchurch where we turned around so we were pointing in the right direction to head back the next morning. We went to another lovely pub called The Horse and Jokey. The was lots of locks and bridges, including a staircase canal lock which was great fun for all. We had the best time and are looking to book Falkirk next year. Thank you Hayley and the Marine Cruises team for the tutorial also. We were a little apprehensive with it being out first time on a canal boat but you were great and we got the swing of it straight away. Thank you!

What a brilliant week! A breeze to book and all relevant info/YouTube videos emailed in advance of the holiday just to get an idea of things 1st. We were met by the lovely Hayley and had a thorough handover from Ian who guided us through the 1st lock. Then we were on our own on the Llangollen canal! A bit daunting at 1st but it didn't take long to get used to the boat and the locks and there always seemed someone with experience to give us a helping hand in the 1st day or 2, (big shout out to Laura and Ben for keeping a gentle eye on us.) Our boat 'Maia' was perfect for 2 and had everything we needed and made for a comfortable week easing our way through the countryside. What a fabulous way to spend some time enjoying the serenity of the water and seeing the wildlife. We chugged our way past fields and through woods watching kestrels hovering and ducks with their ducklings bob by. We chose quiet stretches along the canal for our nighttime stops and it was so quiet, just the birds and maybe a few cows or sheep breaking the silence. We made it across the aquaduct, turned and made our way leisurely back to the marina. I felt quite sad when our holiday came to an end and we had to hand our temporary home back. If you're up for trying something different give this a go, I'm already looking forward to planning another trip!

We had a great time on the canals with beautiful weather. The employees of Marine Cruises did a great job training us and giving us enough basic skills to use the boat. We had 2 boats and both of them had a couple of issues, ex. water pressure failure and batteries that wouldn´t charge up during the time the boat was running. When calling their hot line for support they responded after about 40 minutes, and we felt this was a long time since they didn't know what kind of help we needed (could have been more serious). The wifi onboard was at it´s best weak, and the telephone signals travelling the canals the same. From a safety point of view this is not good enough if traveling with small kids or people with illness, allergies or that are on medicine etc.. It would have been great to be able to swim and bath in the canals, but this is of course not possible because of the canals polluted water quality. All in all this was a great experience, and we loved our country side adventure facilitated by Marine Cruises.

Knowing nothing of narrowboats, I made a call to Marine Cruises to "nose around." Hayley answered, and was so absolutely inviting, energetic, and full of information that once I hung up, I quite literally, immediately booked "Kimberley." Once my group arrived at Falkirk, we were delighted to meet Myra who made us feel like family. She accommodated for adjustments and tackled all our queries with a smile on her face. We had an amazing cruise on the Union Canal aboard Kimberly and could have asked for nothing more in terms of comfort or reliability. She was perfect. I cannot recommend narrowboating, Marine Cruises, or the Kimberly more highly. All receive 10 Stars in our books.

Having trouble finding a narrow boat to hire, I contacted a few companies. Hailey from Marine Cruises was the only one that got back to me, and a few minutes later, Maia was booked. What an absolutely wonderful trip. The boat was great, weather was great. From Nantwich to Llangollen and back. Loved the whole experience and would love to do another trip. Murray

In this our 5th year of hiring boats from this company, we have found their customer service to be excellent in all aspects from administration to the maintenance teams. We have just completed a round trip from Swanley to Whaley Bridge in the Peak District and thoroughly enjoyed it on a very comfortable and reliable Marine Cruises narrowboat. I would highly recommend this family company to anyone thinking of a boating holiday!

We booked from Switzerland the boat hire on the Llangollen canal with Marine Cruise. When we arrived at the Marina near Nantwich we were delighted of the well equiped Lucy Michelle class boat and the friendly instruction of the local representative. During the one week up to Pontcysylite viaduct and back we had no negative incident except the weather! Peter Scheidegger, Bern (Switzerland)

I had my own boat at Swanley Bridge for eleven years and always admired the Marine Cruiser boats. I sold my boat a year ago due to poor health but missed the boating life so took the plunge to hire one of the Marine Cruiser boats. I was not disappointed; the boat was well fitted out and comfortable. We had no problems and the hand over by the Marine Cruiser’s team was very good. Cupboard space was adequate and the boat was nice and warm on the cool evenings. If we hire again I would definitely hire from this company again. Thank you.

Fantastic narrow boat hire company. The best presented boat and in fact accommodation ive stayed with. And im in the trade so know what effort goes in providing holiday accommodation. Every thing you need clean and some extras what made all the difference.

Just got back from a 3 day family narrowboat break with Marine Cruises (8 of us in two boats - including kids, disabled Grandad and German Shepherd) - we have been boating before but I highly recommend this company. The attention to detail and customer service has been impeccable! Complementary toiletries and cleaning products throughout the boat, local sample coffee, biscuits and juice and even a jar of dog treats (which we only found on the last day but so thoughtful) ... Super communication and information from initial enquiry to us dropping the boat back off at the end. Great instruction videos sent before we went which would be brilliant for novices, and great instruction in person before we set off ! Super family business, very much appreciated the human touch - will definetely use Marine Cruises again. Thanks Hayley and team :) x

From start to end Marine Cruises was a excellent company to book our two week canal trip with. From answering questions , giving recommendations, and the boat were top notch. Stewart is a gem and helped us with knowing the boat and started us off with a winding hole for turning around and a run through a lock as well before we departed. Can’t wait to try another round in the near future.

Just returned from a 4 night holiday aboard Narrow boat ‘Debbie’. A brilliant experience starting off from Falkirk Wheel we headed off along the Union Canal. The scenery was beautiful with plenty to see. The boat was well equipped with everything you need, beds really comfy and very warm. We had lots of information and phone numbers to contact if we needed assistance. Highly recommended and we would definitely book again.

We are coming to the end of a 3 week cruise on “Debbie” from Swanley. We cruised on the Llangollen, Montgomery & Shropshire Union canals which gave us mainly rural scenery, peace and quiet. However, we also had the opportunity to moor up in a wide variety of places from the middle of nowhere, to the middle of Chester, to amongst the exhibits at the Inland Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port. Plenty of locks too - narrow, wide, flights & staircases - but not so many as to turn it into a chore as there were only 2 of us on the boat. We wanted to try a style of boat more suited to longer trips than boats we had hired before and “Debbie” did not disappoint. The layout, furniture and equipment were excellent and the easy chairs so comfortable. This trip was booked for last year but we had to cancel for family reasons at the very last minute. Marine Cruises offered to transfer the booking to this year without us even having to ask. The service whilst on holiday has also been great - for example they offered to come out to replace our tv aerial on the day we reported it which we really hadn’t expected. We had not hired from Marine Cruises before but would definitely do so again and would recommend them to others. We won’t want to hand “Debbie” back!

Love canal boating, it takes you to a quiet beautiful place that can be so near industry and town centres but you’d never know. It’s like a secret place, peaceful with amazing scenery and wildlife. Canal boat people are so polite, friendly and helpful too not to mention the great pubs along the way, just moor up and grab a bite to eat and a well earned drink.

We had loveliest time on the Falkirk to Edinburgh canal. The boat we used Kimberley 2 was fantastically equipped, clean and the beds were very comfy. The staff at Marine cruises were all friendly and helpful and we would definaley use them again.

We have been holiday cruising with this firm for many years,the boats are always spotlessly clean and well maintained, the staff very helpful and you can contact them at anytime for help with any problems, once you go with marine cruises you stay.

We had a fantastic holiday on Debbie, chosen as it was the wifes name ! We had a text to say the boat was ready earlier than the normal collection time, so we got to Swanley Marina earlier and had a handover talk by Stuart and Hayley. We loaded our things onboard and Stuart took us up the canal for some practice, having already done it many years earlier he was satisfied we were competent !! We were then away on our own...the wife wanted Stuart to go through the lock process so he met us at the first lock and talked us through it again. The boat was equipped with everything we could need and was spotless clean. We did our research on the Four Counties Ring route and had booked evening meals at a canal side pub every night. If you are thinking about a narrowboat holiday do it with these guys, cannot praise them enough. We will be back next year for another trip. Thank you from the Bullock Family

A fantastic holiday. The team at Marine Cruises were helpful and friendly, and our narrow boat Suzanne was very well equipped and perfect for a family of six.

We pushed the concept to its limits by being eight adults (four couples) in one boat, Suzanne Marie, with two double and four single beds. Really enjoyable and relaxing journey. Not one bad remark. Great company.