Messing about on the water! (The Broads)

Member Name: numberthree

Product:	The Broads
Date:	15/04/04 (111 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Relaxing, Reasnably proced

Disadvantages: ?

Many thanks to Proxam for directing me to the correct place with my review. I shall get around to expanding this to a fuller Broads review in the future.

well we fancied a holiday with a bit of a difference. i have wanted to go on a boating holiday since i was a kid and my husband enjoyed a boating holiday when he was younger so we thought we'd give it a go. we also have 2 children, girls aged 10 and 8, and as they like the outdoors and wildlife this type of holiday should suit us down to the ground (or water!).

well i was tasked with finding a tour company and booking the holiday. my first stop was the web. i requested brochures from over 8 companies and only 2 sent them to me, one being blakes. now blakes web site is pretty good and easy to use but i do like to have a brochure when i'm choosing anything like this as i find them easier to use.

so the brochure arrived and then we decided where we would like to go. well if you want to go boating anywhere in the uk then blakes will have a boatyard they use, from the grand union canal all the way up to the caledonian and more. well we decided on the norfolk broads. now blakes have 10 boatyards which they use scattered all over the broads. the brochure was very easy to use and had lots of choice of boat, varying from 2 berth all the way up to 12 and either cruiser or narrow boats. you can also choose between a typical broads style boat or a more cruiser type which is what we went for. they even supply sailing yachts with tuition for those with little or no experience.

i chose a selection of motor cruisers which slept 4 to 6 people in 2 cabins and the saloon, which meant that my husband and i would have a cabin and the girls one too - ours was even en-suite! the information provided about the boats in the brochure is excellent and there is a layout diagram of the interior which was very accurate in our case. it was then a matter of contacting blakes by phone and finding out
about availability - this can also be done online or by post, but i find a human voice more appealing.

the staff at the other end of the phone were most helpful and the boat we had put as our second choice was available. I was able to pay by sending a cheque rather than by credit card as they saved the booking for 7 days - some companies insist on credit cards being used. I received a booking confirmation within 14 days of sending the deposit. I then needed to send the balance of payment 6 weeks before the holiday started. However, on the down side, no reminder is sent and although I remembered it would be easy for someone to forget and maybe jepordise their holiday.

Blakes really then have little to do with the rest of the holiday. Bouancy aids are provided free of charge by the boatyard and they have a large variety of sizes. Everything is handled by the boatyard, who are all independent. Any problems which arise during the course of the holiday need to be referred to the boatyard and not to Blakes who have no reps as such other than the boatyard owners. We sailed from Barnes Brinkcraft in Wroxham and they were excellent and I would thoroughly recommend using them.

Our weeks holiday cost around £1000 for 2 adults and 2 children. An extra 2 people could have come for the same cost but the boat would have been a little cramped. All in all an excellent value for money holiday and very relaxing - totally different from lying on a beach, although I haven't done that for a long time!

Blakes are a good company to use. Their staff were very helpful and the brochure and website easy to use and understand. You can book your holiday yourself direct from home. If this type of holiday appeals to you then I would recommend you take a look at using Blakes Holiday Boating

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