Herbert Woods Reviews 

We had such a fab time!

Having not been to the Norfolk broads since I was little it was great to go back and with such a great boatyard who informed me of all information required and supplied an excellent boat. Considering it was one of the older boats of the fleet we still found it very comfortable and well presented regardless of the fact it was at the end of the season. Will use again without a doubt.
Thanks

We enjoyed the short break experience and will be looking to repeat the Holiday experience

We had a week in November on a Cruiser and had a perfect week. Although the weather was cold the boat was warm and toasty. Just had 2 small niggles - The cooker was old and we had trouble lighting it and at the end of the week on receiving the fuel bill we did think it was a bit expensive. But on the whole a great week and will definitely book again.

We have had three boating holidays in the last 2 years and enjoyed them all. Looking forward to some more! After our first holiday we didn't hesitate in hiring via Herbert Woods again: the other Broads cruiser hire companies didn't get a look in. Herbert Woods boats are clean, well laid out, comfortable, have enough kitchen utensils (we prefer to eat on the boat most days, as you can go to a pub anytime...) and the staff are friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable. In fact I'd better NOT tell you how good they are, as next time we want to go they could be fully booked due to my glowing review....

Our holiday was in what seemed like the one week of summer in September. We arrived at Herbert Woods yard, and initial impressions are good with a professional reception and staff busy cleaning and making ready the boats. We had a short instruction session and even though we had hired a very large boat for just two people, left the yard fairly confident on handling the boat, having never done any cruising before. The boat was in a reasonable state of repair, it obviously wasn't new, but had been refurnished and more importantly was spotlessly clean. We had an enjoyable couple of days until our canopy jammed and spent a morning heading back to the yard. Things go wrong on the best of holidays and i'm a big believer in its how people put things right - well on this occasion Herbert Woods customer service was spot on... after trying to fix our boat (canopy motor completely broken) and a little persuasion, they gave us a new boat, and an extra night free to make up for the time we'd spent trying to repair the other. We finished out holiday without any other incidents, returned the boat and they even refunded the extra days fuel as a sign of good will. From what could have been a disappointing end to our holiday we left the yard with a smile and all the good memories of our sunny time on the water. 10 out of 10 for customer service and i'd have no hesitation in returning to Herbert Woods and a holiday on the Broads.

I booked a mid week break, monday to friday, the trip was a surprise holiday for Mike's 50th birthday. Monday we arrived a little early, the boat wasn't ready quite ready but we were able to transfer our belongings onto the boat, well we were sorted before Mike and Rod got their brief about how to handle the boat. Before i knew what was happening Paula handed a chilled glass of wine to me to enjoy before starting out, the men well as they were in control of the boat they had to wait until we had moored up later in the afternoon!
The boat had everything we needed, admittedly we did not cook on the boat as there were so many nice places to eat along the way but i am quite sure that had we wanted to cook a roast dinner then we could easily have done so.
Having a shower was a bit of an unusual experience in such a compact space.
Every day we laughed, we had such fun! We eat, we drank (lots of wine), we did card making whilst cruising along, we read, we just sat and watched the scenery which was beautiful and every day ended with a laughter as being short and opting for the front cabin i struggled to get up on the bed!
On the return day we got back to the yard very sharp as we had a long car journey, the staff were very professional and all was dealt with speedily.
This was a great week away and look forward to the next time we can go on the Norfolk Broads.

Not going to spend a long time describing things, just to say that our holiday was wonderful, but the boat was long past its prime. Next to no heating, leaking skylights and moss growing on the inside of most of the windows meant that in the October halfterm we were struggling to stay warm or see out!

With a more modern boat I am sure our holiday would have been much more relaxed.

We have had numerous holidays on the broads and this holiday with Herbert woods was a fantastic holiday, the boat was presented to us in a professional way as always, all the staff were very friendly, we will be back again in the future

Everything was organised , we collected the boat before th time allocated and all was ready and waiting for us

Over all we had a great long weekend.

My only complaint was that the pubs were awful!

We have been renting the same cottages for New Year for the past 8 years ,need I say more

On Sunday of the holiday we needed to fill with water, I hunted everywhere for the key to open the filler cap to the water tank to no avail. So I phoned Herbert Woods boat yard and they sent someone out to me in Wroxham. He was there with a key for the tank within half an hour.

Brilliant, I felt like a valued customer. I would, and have recommended Herbert Woods to my friends, and if I am to holiday on the boards again, I would choose no other boat yard than Herbert Woods

Our boat was excellent, clean and tidy.
Service was excellent.
Staff extremely friendly
We had a problem with my sisters boat. It was replace speedily.
We will return.

Herbert woods cottages and service we recived are second to none,we have two holidays booked for this year,

We've used Herbert Woods many times and can't fault them, boats are always clean and perfect for a little bit off time out. Staff always friendly and helpful. Some of our best holidays are spent on the Broads

We've hired this boat (Brilliant Light 2) on two previous Short Break weekends and know it well, as it's a really good design we think (good visibility from central steering and a wind-back central coachroof) plus 2 toilets in less than 36 foot. But on arrival Saturday morning 6th Ocotber 2012 (we couldn't get the Friday off work and had to be back to work Monday 9am - so cruising time was of the essence), despite the fact we'd informed Herbert Woods we'd be arriving 9am Sat for a prompt departure - we arrived 09.10 to find the boat all locked up (pretty pointless being locked up anyway in a busy boatyard on a Saturday!). So we rushed the long walk to Reception who said go to shed X to ask for the key - we were then told at Shed X they were on a tea break and to come back in 15 mins!! I blew my top at this back in Reception (by now we'd lost about 30 mins of expensive cruising time), so they then sent a man round with the key. BUT the key wouldn't open the rear door, and there's no other way in when all's secured for the night. By now it was 09.45 and they had to send for a fitter to get into the boat as the lock was knackered. By now we'd lost 75 mins of cruising time (which is charged at about £250 per day for this boat in October - i.e. about £25 an hour per daylight hour - but I was later told I'd have to negotiate with the Yard Manager for any compensation for time lost. So - it was SMAMBOLIC SERVICE on this occasion, and no form of partial refund or credit note was offered .

I have had 3 boating holidays with Herbert Woods. I have not had any need to complain except for a few small mechanical things going wrong with the boats & an oversight when I was charged £120 too much for fuel. That was put right after I pointed out that I had already paid for it.
I would definitely go on another boating holiday & would be quite happy to use Herbert Woods again.
I had a boat with a bow thruster last year & I would not have a boat without one now.
There is only my wife & I & we like very large boats. We are getting on a bit now so the bow thruster really makes it easier for us when mooring.

From start to finish it was 5 star - friendly staff well laid out, nice boat, simply superb.

The service at the reception was excellen but the service provided by the gfentleman to prepare us for the trip on "Diamond" was awesome and we were lucky enough to have him receive us back.