Moonraker Canalboats - BEWARE

[rumgal]

After multiple efforts to reach out to the owner, Nikki Weir, and twenty days, I felt I wanted to share my rental experience with Moonraker Canal boats, on their Moondance. After traveling throughout the world, I have to admit that this was the most unprofessional organization I have ever dealt with, on any continent.

When we called for a reservation, my husband asked what the terms were in case of the canals being frozen. Nikki stated that it had not happened in twelve years. A week before our trip, I reached out to her, just to finalize a few details. It was at that time she said the canals were frozen and we would not be able to go anywhere. She refused to refund our money….we would have been thrilled with 75% return and 25% towards a future rental.

But we were left with no option but to go. To begin, we did not receive the rental terms and cancellation from her until after we paid her, and we did try to buy cancellation insurance. The insurance companies she sent us would not sell to out of country renters, and US companies would not recognize Moonrakers as a tour operator.

After returning, I sent the following to Nikki, since she did not show up to collect our keys but sent her son.

Nikki,

I did want to follow up on our stay. While the intent was to spend time with friends, we had a good time doing that. However, I am still very disappointed and feeling a little taken advantage of with the inability of you to be flexible and work with us on an alternative plan. We also had the additional cost of a car rental that enabled us to salvage something from the holiday. I ask that you return £50 per night towards our stay.

With a six night stay, we paid £183+ per night, understanding our rental to be a boat rental. A boat frozen in ice is not the same as a boat that is moving. The vacation experience totally changes when you are forced to use the boat as a stationary cottage. We would have been satisfied if you had offered to work with us, and offered 75% return and applied 25% towards another rental.

I am still confused about how we sent in the email request and the booking form for an arrival of 28 December, and the first email came back stating it was available Dec 28/29, but we wound up with arrival on the 29th. But shame on us for not triple checking what you sent back.

The frozen in mooring at the Barge Inn is not what I, or most reasonable people would consider an equal alternative, at the same rate, for a boating trip. While we enjoyed ourselves, we did that in spite of where we were.

The agreement to get water from the pub, while a solution, was something we found to be very much uncomfortable with. Asking a business to use their water source, even in their quiet time, is not a fix, but should be a one time remedy for an extreme circumstance. Having to wait until 10.00 -11.30 or so until we could get access to water also limited our time for excursions. Graham was very unhappy with having to run long lengths of hose along the towpath through rubbish and dog mess which had to be cleaned from the hoses, resulting in them being left on the deck and not stored inside, since we did not want to track dog feces on to the boat. The remaining water in the hoses then froze making it difficult to use them until it thawed. With the ability to top up water limited it was impossible to use the Jacuzzi.

Of course, there was one day where we could have moved the boat to the water source, but would not move the steel boat due to the wooden and fiberglass boats in the area that would almost certainly have been damaged by the remaining chunks of broken ice being forced into them. There are a few winter moorings that are nothing more than dumps…..vagrant, not documented. The tow path was muddy and covered with dog mess. I am surprised that you would want your fleet moored in the area. When it was dark you had no idea what you were treading in and I certainly did not feel safe walking on my own without one of the men along.

This message was reinforced one evening when returning home, we ran into two men in an, out and out brawl, fighting each other on the towpath. Two men living on boats there at the Barge Inn. Not exactly an environment I felt good about bringing guests to.

The people that have moored at the same location did not seem surprised with the icing in, since they said that it happens every year. Again, we felt a little misinformed since Graham had asked specifically about the icing in and was told it had not happened in a long time. Even if there was no ice I am also wondering how we could have gone anywhere due to the stoppages, we certainly could not have gone to Bath which was our intention and made it back in time on the return day.

Nikki, I really feel it is fair to ask for you to work with us on this matter. The rental was not as described. We were forced to come and make the best of it. We had no contact or support from you even though you knew we were stuck. I feel that there is some obligation on your behalf to work with us.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Dolores Howitt

I received one email from her, after sending eight emails and two phone calls. “I am aware that we need to contact you but I have had a death in my family and I am sorry but cannot discuss this situation at this time.”

I replied to Nikki and was very sorry to hear of the death in her family and to please reach out when she was able. That was over two weeks ago, and I can only assume we will never hear from Nikki again. I still feel the same as when I sent the letter…..very taken advantage of. We rented a boat, that was supposed to be able to move, but were stuck in a small shabby canal side. I would not recommend renting from Moonraker Canal boats, or Nikki Weir, as there are many reliable, professional rental companies out there.

[YoungDubFan]

I am very sorry to read about your misadventures. However, I think if you had done a little more homework when booking your trip, you could have avoided some of the issues. You claim that you tried to buy trip insurance but were not successful. If you are indeed experienced travelers, you should have known not to use the insurance companies recommended by your host but gotten your own independent insurance. As has been mentioned many times on this board and on TripAdvisor, you could have gotten insurance through Travel Guard or any other company listed on insuremytripdotcom. If you had gotten independent travel insurance, you could have canceled your trip when you found out about the icy conditions. You also probably should not have paid for a vacation before you had gotten the rental terms and cancellation procedures. This should have been another red flag.

 

Hopefully you get some resolution from Nikki, but if not, this has been a huge learning experience and maybe others will learn from your experience.

[LHT28]

After multiple efforts to reach out to the owner, Nikki Weir, and twenty days, I felt I wanted to share my rental experience with MoonrakerCanal boats, on their Moondance. After traveling throughout the world, I have to admit that this was the most unprofessional organization I have ever dealt with, on any continent.

 

 

Just curious but what time of year did go on the canal cruise?

 

I agree with the other poster you can buy travel insurance from independent sources

[rumgal]

I agree with all of you...never let your guard down. A great learning experience.

[rumgal]

Today is one month and three days from our return. I email on a regular basis in regards to following up on our trip. I have received one response.

Yes I’m receiving your emails and when I am more able I will contact you.

Kind regards,

Nikki Weir

I believe over one month is an appropoiate time to wait for a response from this company. Again, a warning to anyone looking to do business with them.

[rumgal]

;)

Nikki Weir, of Moonraker Canalboats has sent an email today and offered to meet us in the middle. I thanked her for her professionalism and now consider this matter closed.

[letsgo39]

;)

Nikki Weir, of Moonraker Canalboats has sent an email today and offered to meet us in the middle. I thanked her for her professionalism and now consider this matter closed.

 

 

Thank you bringing us up to date regarding the resolution of this issue.

[riqi007]

I've waited about a year so I could give a review of Moonraker Narrowboats. When I first read the previous review I was shocked because it had not matched my experience to date or the information provided by Nikki at Moonraker. I decided to wait until after my own holiday so I can give an honest evaluation.

 

As a comment, I had booked my charter with Moonraker back in the summer of 2010, so the experience of the previous reviewer would not have had any affect on my communication with Nikki and Moonraker.

 

The written information clear states that the weather and canal conditions are beyond the control of Moonraker Narrowboat. They made no guarantees about conditions and suggest acquiring vacation insurance. This was repeated several times in the provided information and their website. Nikki even offed to provide the names of insurance companies. It is clearly stated that there is not a refund in the case of weather or canal work. This seems standard with all the narrowboat and cruise companies I contacted so I'm not sure how anyone could miss that part. We decided to not purchase insurance, but we watched the weather reports closely and checked canal conditions to make sure no work was being done on our route. I do know that none of the travel insurance companies I contacted (including American Express Travel) had any problem providing insurance coverage for a holiday with Moonraker.

 

All the paperwork including the rental terms (and the DVD of narrowboating) were provided via Royal Mail when we submitted our booking form. I found no surprises or hidden expenses in any of the paperwork. Everything was stated very clearly and nothing was confusing.

 

The property along the canal is either public land or privately held. Moonraker does not own the property along the canal or at the Barge Inn. Be ready for a bit of mud along the canal and yes, the English love dogs. I was actually surprised at the amount of foot and bike traffic on the towpath, but we saw it as an opportunity to meet local people and get advice on the best pubs.

 

As for my experience:

 

I cannot say enough good about how hard Nikki worked to make sure we were comfortable with our arrangements and with the boat. All my previous experience had been with sailboats (max 52ft) and a 65ft long wide-beam narrowboat was a bit intimidating to say the least.

 

Nikki stayed with us for a bit while I got the hang of steering the boat and my crew passed us through one lock. Then it was off to Bath for a few days (Bonfire Night) and afterwards we worked our way back to Cain Hill Flight. Being in the center of Bath on the river Avon was a wonderful experience.

 

Nikki currently has a fleet of 4 narrowboats. Ours for the week was Moondance. No issues with the boat at all. Being a sailboat owner I know how hard you must work to keep everything working on a boat. The only issue we had was a fuel gauge that doesn't like cold weather. Nikki arranged for a marina on our route to add an additional 100 liters of fuel and naturally the gauge worked perfectly after that.

 

Moondance has a very open feel to her and the cabins are all very large for someone coming from sailboats. In spite of being about the size of "Rubeus Hagrid", I never found the space cramped or claustrophobic. The coal stove keeps the galley and living area nice and warm and there is always central heat if you need it. We were out during November, so at night we just snuggled in under the down comforters and enjoyed a peaceful sleep.

 

I highly recommend Nikki and Moonraker!

 

Cheers