Clipper

The boat was well maintained, serviced and looked after. Comfortable…

The boat was well maintained, serviced and looked after. Comfortable and warm!

As it was late in the season, the clipper had…

As it was late in the season, the clipper had been well used but clean. A few mechanical issues arose, but were fixed by ream. No working horn concerned captain.

Very good boat for 4 people.

Very good boat for 4 people.

The boat was as described but the ropes were old…

The boat was as described but the ropes were old and worn, the parasols are not suitable for shade and cannot be used if it’s windy. A bimini would be better. . Seat cushions on the sun deck should be included in the price.

Great boat. Perfect in all the aspects. I'd chose this…

Great boat. Perfect in all the aspects. I’d chose this one for the next trip.

The Clipper is not the youngest boat in the fleet…

The Clipper is not the youngest boat in the fleet but nor is it the oldest. It is a very well built boat, coming from a well-known boatyard in Norfolk. It is very comfortably furnished and well laid-out. It has a very sociable aft deck, while access on and off is very simple. It’s not high out of the water, unlike some boats, and for access at locks and alongside it is a simple step on and off – very important to consider. It’s also a very solid boat and tracks well in the water. Very easy to steer.

Boat was a clipper, plenty big enough for two couples.…

Boat was a clipper, plenty big enough for two couples. Has everything needed in the kitchen apart from, some proper size wine glasses would have been nice and maybe some taller tumblers…… G&T is not good in a three inch glass !
Apart from this, it’s amazing

Lovely quite river with lots of beautiful French towns

Lovely quite river with lots of beautiful French towns

Boat was pretty good, places to stop okay, would have…

Boat was pretty good, places to stop okay, would have liked to have been able to do the flights of locks at Fort Augustus.

Good morning with regards to our recent trip, (as per…

Good morning

with regards to our recent trip, (as per below reference), I would like to make a formal complaint on the points mentioned below,

upon arrival to Laggan we were informed that we could not use the canal north of Cullochy lock which meant we couldnt travel to Fort Augustus and into Loch Ness as we had planned, This was our intended routing for our stay and if we had known about this we would have cancelled

we then had to change our route to Fort William, upon which on the 3rd day our boat broke down and we had to get an engineer call out

finally we could not travel fully back over loch lochy to the base as the gairlochy swing bridge had failed

This has resulted in our holiday being not so much a disappointment but a disaster

I also note that now Le Boat are now advertising 50% discounts due to the Cullochy lock being under repair,

can you please advise why we were not offered this?

we have paid £800 for the boat and another £190 for fuel etc

I can accept the fuel costs but I would like a significant refund, ie the 50% discount you are offering as we should have been informed of this in the first place

I await to hear your response and hopefully this can be resolved amicably without me taking legal proceedings

regards
Stuart

Excellent boat with all the amenities that is required. Boat…

Excellent boat with all the amenities that is required. Boat was easy to handle even without side thrusters. It would have been nice if we were told that the boat had a heating system at the start of our voyage.

Solid ship, all working, nothing extraordinary, neither exciting nor disappoining.

Solid ship, all working, nothing extraordinary, neither exciting nor disappoining.

I felt the mattress in the boat could be cleaner.…

I felt the mattress in the boat could be cleaner. You should provide a mattress protector with the sheets.under the shower tray in one of the rooms was extremely dirty when we lifted it to release the water as it was getting blocked,so we only used the showers once.

To whom it may concern, With regard to feedback on our…

To whom it may concern,
With regard to feedback on our cruise earlier this year. 
Background – this was our first time going on a cruise and we went with friends who took another boat. We paid slightly more than them as ours was supposedly a larger boat and they had a new boat (Name – Jones)   
Positives:A new experience with our children and they learned an enormous amount about boating, river, geography as well as directions.Great way to see Ireland and at a different tempo, a revelationA memory for us allWe  found out on Friday evening at 5.45pm that we could check out before 6pm, this made a tremendous difference next morning when we were able to get back to Dublin for 11amIn the year that was in it, great to support local tourism and enterprise as would not have otherwise have taken the cruiseNegatives:Shocking standard of boat especially when compared to our friends boat who we travelled with for the week. This boat was not fit for use on a cruise no less for a family for a week. This is what gives Irish tourism a bad name.I know it costs money to manage facilities and the year that was in it, everyone made choices. However, directions to the site were poor and the standard of the building / yard / walkway could all be significantly improved upon with painting etc. This did not happen overnight and does not reconcile with new boats and the image you are trying to project.  We manage the use of facilities on the boat (toilets and showers) and still has a smell on the boat down below. On Thursday evening (Lanesborough) we saw the person who gave the initial induction on check-in with a colleague. They could not find any issue except to pump out the boat. As they were about to leave the colleague noticed that the bilge pump switch was not on. When turned on, the boat started pumping! The boat was old and showed it in every facet, whereby we generally ate / socialised on our friends boat. In my view the boat should have been decommissioned.Stating that the boat was bigger when we booked was factually correct in terms of measurements but misleading when we compared to our friends boat which was modern, ergonomic and clean. Customer experience was not on the agenda for Le Boat.Overall I really felt taken advantage off. It annoys me in terms of customer experience which takes from all the good things that did happen, Hence I would not be recommending Le Boat in a hurry as it took from all the positive elements that are happening in Irish Tourism. 
I know that from other tourism initiatives whereby representatives are brought in from other countries to see what is so wonderful to see and do in Ireland so that they can go back and sell Ireland in their countries, there is no way they would be taken on old boat / sold a pup like we were. It was a short term view to make a quick buck which was a short sighted way of doing business.
It is an expensive holiday. Cruising on the wonderful Shannon does have lots of potential and I would love to see it realised. I do hope that this feedback resonates and that you can do something about it.

Perfect boat for our needs

Perfect boat for our needs

Older boat but with everything you would need on it.…

Older boat but with everything you would need on it. I am an experienced boat owner and was really surprised with the amount of storage aboard which makes a week on board so much easier. The boat was easy to manoeuvre and moor with the lock keepers ready to help. Stunning scenery through both the lochs and the canal. I particularly like Fort Augustus, probably due to the pubs!

We were a couple of 2 individuals, plenty of room,…

We were a couple of 2 individuals, plenty of room, would recommend this boat for up to 4. Equipment excellence, everything clean.

Easy to handle and comfortable. We just missed a suncreen…

Easy to handle and comfortable. We just missed a suncreen on top of the boat. Apart from the technical issue with the rudder there’s not very much to be unsatisfied about. Oh yes, maybe the fridge: it had rather difficult to cool our food (I suspect that there’s not enough ventilation the way it is built in in the boat. Finally: the frifge is too smaal if you want to have cool drinks for 4 at all times. Lukily we had our own portable fridge.