richardsonsboatingholidays.co.uk Reviews 940

Just got back from another wonderful time on the broads. The boat was clean and well maintained, staff were very friendly and helpful. This is our 44th year holidaying on the broads, twice a year if we can, most have been with richardsons.

Excellent service and friendly staff helped us to enjoy a lovely holiday. We hired Magic Gem 1 for my sister, myself and our elderly Dad for a week in June. The tutorial and handover were very good, and the staff will take whatever time you need to feel comfortable handling the boat.
Our boat sleeps 6 but for living space and not climbing over each other, 3 was definitely enough on board!
The only issue an elderly person may have is in getting on and off the boat. Even though the tide makes only 4-6 inches of difference in the northern broads, this is quite a bit to deal with if an elderly traveller has knee issues etc. Dad managed with our help, however.
We had two issues during the week but Richardsons sorted them within the hour both times. One of our keys broke one day, and one of our two loos blocked on another. Having these fixed in the same hour as reported was excellent service.
We will definitely use Richardsons again. I don't recognise some of the negative comments on here at all. Problems can occur with any company but in our experience, Richardsons were friendly, efficient and supportive. Would definitely recommend!

***YOU MUST READ THIS***
***PLEASE ENSURE THAT THE FUEL GUAGE IS WORKING AND IF NOT PRESENT, ASK FOR THE FUEL TO BE CHECKED AND ASK THEM TO TOP UP THE FUEL TANK WITH YOU WATCHING ON.*** This could save you a lot of Money.
We recently had the misfortune to hire a small 2 Berth Cruiser from Richardson’s of Stalham and the pickup went without any problems. I was told that the boat was fully checked and that the Fuel tank was FULL but no fuel gauge on the boat. Our first problem occurred on the first day, when we wanted a coffee, we turned on the tap and all that came out was a Black fluid and we had to ‘Borrow’ some water from another boat. The second problem occurred the next morning when it was extremely cold, we put the heater on and after about 10minutes, the boat was full of fumes and we had to switch it off. The third problem was when we opened the fridge freezer compartment, everything had de-frosted and the whole contents of the fridge had to be thrown away. The engineer came out and told us that a new fridge was needed and he would deliver and fit the next morning.
By this time, our 4 day short break was ruined and decided to come back I day early. On our return, the boat was fuelled with 44 litres of fuel, which meant we owed Richardson’s another £13.00 on top of the £60.00 deposit that was left. We covered 30 miles and ran the boat for 7.4 hours, which we were charged £73.00 for. This boat, with the Nanni engine should return 1.25 litres per 1 hour of running time, so we should have used no more than 9.5 litres. The problems with the boat were due to bad maintenance and servicing, the problem with the fuel, I believe, is something else, which you can work out for yourself, what the possibilities may be.
Although £150.00 in ‘Compensation’ was given, of which I am certain, £50.00 plus was for fuel I never used or did not have to begin with, I feel that a full refund was in order, considering the, the four day break we were looking forward to for months, was cut short by a day and the three days that we had on the boat were spoilt by the extremely low standard of service and maintenance.
***To anyone reading this, please be very careful when using this company.***

I am still having nightmares from a Richardsons Boating Holiday I had in October 2021.
The boat filled up with water as soon as we left the boat yard.
If it wasn't for another boat towing us back we would have sunk.

We have booked with Richardsons on 4 occasions. Low grade to top grade. Each time you hope that the quality will get better! But no.
Our handover was so delayed that we had to stay at the yard due to lack of light to reach any moorings.
The cleanliness of the boat was terrible. Cigarette butt's in the lounge. The boat stank of cigarette smoke. We are not smokers. But I always thought that the boars were non smoking?.
The hand over was interesting. Sign here and here. Sign here so I can say I took you for a run up the river!.... I think he was late going home.
This will be the last hire ever with them. I would advise other people to look elsewhere.

The holiday was awesome as always, Richardson's know how to do boating holidays the handover processes were really easy and the boat was spiffing, an awesome little camper on the water..

They went above and beyond in helping return my rod and reel that was left on the cruiser we hired, the rod and reel were packed so well and securely they arrived back without a mark on them, i couldn't be happier, it was the cherry on the top. an awesome holiday and a really helpful company . ill be back for my sixth holiday with them in the near future x

We've just had 3 nights on a boat with this company and never again. The boat was so dirty it was shocking. The water tank hadn't been filled up and the wait for our boat to be ready and for our test drive was totally unacceptable. The cooker didn't work properly and the dirt and grime was awful. I have emailed the company but doubt I will get a response. I will never use this company again. Totally ruined our break.

We hired a functional boat which suited our needs, upon arrival the handover was good and to see a young apprentice actually enjoying his new role. The boat itself lacked a few items but hey ho easily rectified. Ran out of water after a few days clearly not filled up before the off. Rang reception who had no idea really about customer service we were concerned about running out of diesel only to be told NO you will not run out. The boat really needed a fuel and water gauge. In our humble opinion a speedometer would be an asset there are speed limits for a reason, unfortunately some hirers like the fast lane to much it was like being in a choppy North Sea. River police would be a welcome sight which would help protect the environment we hopefully all enjoy. Fit all boats with a gps would be helpful. Do mind the height of the doors they need a rubber strip which would have prevented many a headache. Simple solutions would enhance the holiday experience. The broads are a fantastic environment may I suggest go slow and enjoy.

We hired a boat called Moon Beam. Firstly the boatyard is so big we were in a queue of traffic, inside the boatyard, for 45 minutes and was told this was the usual wait time. When we boarded our boat I noticed that only one bedroom had been made up when I specified both to be made up. We also had to go and find a hairdryer which should come as standard on this boat. The main problem, however was the fuel. The way they work out how much you have used is you pay £150 up front, they then fill the tank on your return and subtract the amount used from the £150 and refund the difference. The problem with our boat was that it wasn't full when we started. All boats are different and I didn't notice it had a fuel gauge until early the next day and it was showing half full. We had only been cruising for about an hour the previous day. I took a picture of the gauge and called the yard. They said don't worry the gauge is faulty. When we returned the boat the tank was filled, I took another picture of the gauge showing a full tank so the gauge was working fine. When I went to reception to get my refund I was told I owed an additional £20. I explained the situation and was again told the gauge was faulty. When I showed the lady both pictures of the gauge she offered me £50 refund from my £150 which I accepted, we just wanted to get going on our long journey home. The lady in the next queue returning a boat who had covered the same route as us received over £100 pounds. So an unacceptable wait at the beginning,a half full tank and assertions of a faulty gauge, plus a poorly prepared boat took the shine of our experience with Richardsons and we wont be returning.

Boat - Carousel 2 - June 2021

The reason for the poor review is entirely down to Richardson’s treatment of the 5% VAT issue which I find deplorable. VAT was reduced to 5% for ‘Holiday Accommodation’ by the Chancellor last year and extended several times to the end of March this year (2021). Prior to that end March extension, Richardson’s had already fixed their 2021 prices on the basis of a return to 20% VAT and we booked our boat on that basis. Then, at the last minute, the 5% VAT was extended again.

I rang the Booking Office before the final payment was due and was told that we would not be discounted the difference in VAT despite that being directly contrary to their Terms and Conditions which were attached to my Invoice. This states: ‘If the rate or application of the VAT changes during the course of the year, your holiday will be invoiced at the new amount of VAT unless you have already taken your holiday or paid the balance in full prior to the date of the change’. They said “We are going to change the T&C’s” !!

They had already increased their basic boat price for our boat and period of our booking by 21% against 2020 prices - which we understood and accepted, but by withholding the VAT it amounted to a 38% increase on the basic boat price against the equivalent 2020 price.

They seem to regard this ‘windfall’ as a handout from the government when it is actually straight out of the pockets of their Customers! They could have split the ‘windfall’ with their Customers and I wouldn’t have complained but they just grabbed the lot with total disregard for the financial circumstances of their Customers. When contacted they simply said several times, “We know you will be disappointed but if you are not happy, you can cancel for a full refund”. How is that going to make me happy? I am not disappointed, I am disgusted. This VAT reduction was designed to enable holiday accommodation providers to attract more business by offering lower prices but of course with the vast increase in ‘staycations’, they have a captive market and could fill their boats many times over and have taken full advantage of that. Moreover, they admitted that they had agreed (perhaps colluded) this approach with all the other Hire Companies on the Broads.

Issues with the boat were as follows:

Forward Shower water heat control not functioning and very dangerous - when tried to adjust, changed from cold to maximum heat which is scalding when water is at its maximum heat eg if showering when cruising (reported when handing back over). No point in contacting the boatyard during the trip as arranging stop time for any repair would have ruined our itinerary so we generally used just the Stern Shower when the water was very hot.

Fridge Door - lost all its shelves and retaining lugs broken (reported when handing back over) - new door needed - gives very poor impression.

The boat was equipped with a large waste bin in the galley area but had no lid! A new proper pedal bin would not cost a lot!

On handover we were informed the fresh water tank was full despite the tank gauge showing just over half full, so assumed the gauge was faulty but when we first refilled, the gauge went to full when overflow started - indicating that the tank had not been fully filled. Also had to have a pump-out after 3 days so also suspect the boat had not had a full pump-out before handover. After that we restricted flushing to ‘solids only’.

The modern toilet flush system is very effective but consumes large quantities of fresh water. Both Waste and Fresh water tanks are too small for size and occupancy of this boat.

Fresh Water Filter - would question how often it is changed? Very small filter under the sink and scum on tea and coffee - don’t get that at home from our water filter.

Starboard Canopy Rear Window jamming on closing canopy - we were told about that at handover but why don’t they fix it?

The boat (Carousel 2) on the whole was excellent but showed some signs of its age and the limited time cleaners etc have to service them between hires. Some areas were filthy, especially those that only appear when the canopy is opened (which it presumably isn’t between hires).

This was our first boat with both Bow and Stern Thrusters and they made mooring and handling easy.

It was good to have wifi on the boat and when logging in we were asked to complete a survey which included questions requesting answers ‘relative to the cost of the hire’. Hence the detail given above - we paid a considerable amount for this boat.

We recently boarded the Rhapsody 2 for 3 nights.
We had to wait 2 hours after the allotted time we were told to get there.
The boat was not clean especially the steering control unit, settee and bathroom.
4 of us did not shower for 3 days as the shower base was filthy
The sheets we were given did not fit the beds.
The double bed was so noisy you didnt like to move.
The broads are beautiful to travel but we paid £900 for three nights on a very old,tired,and not very clean boat

Great holiday as ever, only one problem with wc. Sorted in an hour. Excellent service, very friendly, covid awareness 👏. Have been using them for over 40 years. Only the second problem we had experienced! Have already booked two more trips.

One of the best holidays we have had.
Easy check in easy check out and the best holiday.

Shown the ropes at the beginning clear instructions. Excuse the pun.

Will definitely be booking with Richardson again very soon.

Thank you so much.

Just returned from long weekend and unfortunately was a complete disaster from day one . Boat breakdown everyday.. and if you're thinking of making a complaint by email don't bother as they do not answer only when you comment on social media that they will respond would never book with this terrible company again .. just read their reviews on their webpage and I'm sure you may think twice about booking with these ..

We always use Richardsons for our boating holidays and they have always been great. We like the classic fleet - great value for money and they have everything you need for your holiday. Fabulous customer service. No quibble when asking for a covid refund Easter 2020 (they offered a full refund or to move the booking). We ended up going October 2020 and they were very good - we felt safe despite covid. We are going again very soon and can't wait! (after another no quibble Easter refund!). They are knowledgeable and helpful and give good recommendations on places to moor/eat/etc. and the broads are great. We popped back to the boatyard midweek last time to get a pump out and some shopping and they couldn't have been more helpful.

Excellent holiday and the crew at Richardson's were so knowledgeable and helpful. We love the Broads - it has something for everyone and always reassuring to know their team is on hand to respond to any issues if we needed them. Would happily recommend. Be aware, boats cannot take wipes down the toilets as they block pipes and cause leakage and backflow - not nice!!

Unfortunately, this was the worst holiday experience I have ever had.

The main issue we had, like many others who have a bad experience with Richardson's, were to do with the toilets. In our case the main toilet leaked waste water every time it was used. At first we didn't realise it was waste water as we were very naive and didn't think that a company that promised hospital standards of hygiene, would hire out a boat which had such a fundamental flaw. However, when in the middle of the holiday, I emptied my menstrual cup, the pool of 'water' that we'd been wiping up throughout turned red, and the horrible truth dawned upon us.

We had actually mentioned this leak to the Richardson's engineers who visited our boat earlier that day, as we thought this leak may have been a contributory factor to the problems we had with our water supply, which meant that our water ran out daily, however, much we restricted our water usage.

However, the engineers said that that the leak in the toilet was ok and wasn't causing the problem with our water supply. They replaced the boat's water pump, which didn't resolve the problems we had with the water supply.

The combination of these issues was very stressful. If you have been wiping up urine and menstrual blood, with your bare hands, it makes you feel very unclean. To then be unable to use water to wash your hands because it had once again ran out, despite having refilled your water supply earlier that day, and having rationed your water use is a very depressing situation. To have paid approximately £150 per night for this experience feels like a total rip off

Unfortunately, Richardson's after care was as poor as the hygiene levels on the boat. They have yet to respond to our letter of complaint sent back in July. We haven't received any compensation. From the reply of their customer care champion to another online review that I submitted, it seems that they rely upon the previous customers to flag up issues on the boats.
I think they should change their procedure, so that they check that toilets are functioning properly and that they have been pumped out, before handing boats over to customers.
If you are planning to stay in a Richardson's boat then I would advise you to try to test that the toilets work prior to setting off,
I would also suggest that you look carefully at the details of the boat, with regards to room and berth sizes and layouts prior to making your booking, as I failed to do this and some areas of the boat made me feel claustrophobic.

Following Richardson's Boating Holidays response to my review, my husband sent another copy of his original letter of complaint back on December, once again this has been completely ignored. As our complaint was made due to serious defects on the boat which was hired to us, the continued failure of Richardson's to take any accountability or to offer any compensation is vexatious. Why claim on this site. to reply to all letters of complaint, when that is clearly not the case. I would have hoped that Richardson's Boating Holidays, would have taken the initiative and written to us following their inspection of Gold Gem 7, to apologise for hiring out a boat in such a sorry state. However, apparently they think it is fine to hire out s boat with a leaking toilet and faulty water supply, despite promising hospital level standards of hygiene

We have just got back from a great week on the broads courtesy of Richardsons' "Jolly Ritchie". For those that don't know, this boat is decorated with pirate ship style vinyls and certainly stands out! Whilst it wouldn't have normally been my first choice, our two kids loved it, it was cheap and there was little else available when we booked. Having only holidayed on the broads once many years ago on a sailing yacht, I wasn't really certain what to expect but, with COVID severely restricting our options this year we decided it was worth a try.
Arrival and check in was smooth - The first half of our party to arrive reported a fairly significant queue in the car before being seen but, by the time we arrived a little later, this had shrunk to almost nothing. Considering the current social distancing rules and procedures that are required as well as the significant number of people arriving at once, everything seemed to go smoothly and efficiently. Having some boating experience, we did not take up the offer of a "trial run" so cant comment on this aspect but the advice and handover be received was all fine. Unloading the car was easy with short term parking right next to the boat and long stay parking only 100m or so away.

After the shock of seeing the boats "decoration" for the first time in real life we loaded our gear and started to get a feel for our new temporary home. first impressions were that there was plenty of space inside for everything and, despite being a fairly small boat, it didn't feel cramped for 4 adults and 2 small children. The main cabin was OK but the bed length was only 6 foot. I am exactly 6 foot tall so i could cope but be wary if you are any taller! The kids loved the pirate theme bunk beds and had no issues with their cabin. The second double bed is in the main lounge and converts from the seating, this was reported as uncomfortable due to the wooden divider down the centre and the fact that the cushions tended to separate during the night....the main lounge also got very cold at night whilst the two cabins stayed comfortable throughout.
The boat was easy to handle and generally very quite and smooth (although it did have a bit of vibration at medium speed) though the upper steering position was not the most comfortable for long periods of time. The biggest issue for a boat that is aimed at children is that access to and from the upper deck is not straightforward requiring either so walk all around the narrow (6inch) side deck to reach the ladder or to climb directly from the side door to the upper deck which was tricky enough as an adult let alone a child - supervision was definately required!
The holiday itself was fantastic - really relaxing and was over too soon.
The handback time on the last day is 0900 so we arrived back the night before - stupidly we hadnt pumped out the toilet tank during the week (we had been told the tank should last 3 days and thought we could get away with 4) and the toilet wouldn't flush. Despite not being an "emergency" the boatyard on call came over and sorted us out with no hesitation or complaint which was much appreciated.
Handback the following day was efficient and we even got half our fuel deposit back which was a welcome suprise. Everyone we dealt with at Richardsons' throughout the week was friendly and helpful and even with COVID restrictions everything seemed to "just work".

In summary, Richardsons were great and highly recommended; the Jolly Ritchie was great value for money and would be ideal for 4 people but the saloon bed was not really ideal even though the boat was spacious enough for 6 during the day, it was also not ideal for young kids due to the lack of side decks or internal access to the top deck.

We have already booked for next year - Richardsons again but a slightly bigger boat.

Last month we hired Swan Ranger from Richardson’s, the weather was amazing for September, the boat was really good and the whirlpool bath fantastic. The layout of the boat is ideal for two people, the kitchen is very small but well equipped, we used the heating a couple of times which worked very well.
When mooring up the bow thrusters are a wonderful help and makes it so easy.
One or two niggles the battery only lasted a couple of hours with the tv on, the wiper blades required replacing, however overall a great boat and we had a terrific holiday, thank you once again Richardson’s.

We booked our boating trip With Richardson’s via Hoseasons and having been on a Ferry Marina boat earlier in the year we were really looking forward to another week on the broads. On arrival at our allotted time on Saturday 3rd October we were asked to wait as they were busy and ended up queuing for over an hour. We were shown our boat Commander 6 and the crew member that explained everything to us was great and really helpful, he also pointed out we should have enough fuel to last 2 weeks on a boat our size. When we eventually got on to the boat and away it was passed 4pm so when I found the boat to be less clean than I would have liked it especially in current conditions with Covid I had no choice but to clean it myself whilst my husband headed to our overnight destination. Compared to Ferry Marina who cleaned so well and also fogged to give it us that final reassurance I was concerned with how Richardson’s were taking the extra steps for safety. The next day we woke up and had showers ready for the day ahead and were concerned that there was a strong sewage smell from the main bedroom en-suite which made it unusable. We decided as there was only the 2 of us in a boat for 8 people we would use the 3rd bedroom en-suite as the smell was so bad. After showering we noticed that the shower tray was not draining the water properly and my husband had to plunge it! We also noticed that there was a smell of gas when using the cooker and the grill wouldn’t work! With a much needed week of relaxation planned we decided to “put up with the niggles” . On Monday 5th we arrived in Norwich for an overnight stay and found the mud weight would not work and as we needed to use this to moor up we called Richardson’s to tell them. They agreed to send someone someone out to fix it and at this point we mentioned the toilet and shower issue, we were told “pump it out”. Having spoken to the yacht ranger he said it was usual to have to do this after less than 48 hours with 2 people on a boat so big but we went ahead and whilst pumping out he commented that the tank was “full”! This made us think that as well as not cleaning properly the tank also hadn’t been emptied. On our last full day we noticed that we were running low on fuel so paid to put in £25 to finish our last day without any worry. We headed back to Ludham ready to go under the bridge and noticed that the height restriction were at 7ft 7inches with our boat height at 8ft 6inches we were concerned they we wouldn’t get under so called the boat yard to ask for advice. We were told by the lady that answered “well you got it Under last week and read your tide times”! Not as helpful as i would have expected.
We eventually got back to the boat yard ready to hand over the boat and come away. We were left standing in the cold for over 30 minutes and was then given the diesel confirmation paperwork to take in to reception. Now bearing in mind we were told 2 weeks of fuel, we filled up £25 of our own money we were shocked to be told by the lady in reception that we owed £31 for fuel!! We did get a refund for the pump out after complaining about this but all in all a disappointing end to what should have been a relaxing week away. The boat clearly hasn’t been cleaned properly or prepared for us properly and we then had to pay the charges for this. Whilst it was a beautiful boat design we have learnt a valuable lesson and will use Ferry Marina next time and would not recommend Richardson’s to family or friends due to these issues.