Sydney Boat Hire — Attraction in Sydney

I wasn't going to post this publicly, but after the dismissive response over email noting basically 'refer to terms and conditions' I feel obliged to.

The weather was obviously quite bad with rain and winds when we went, but it was deemed safe to proceed so we went ahead with the trip. No issues here and understand weather is not something that can be controlled.

The boat picked us up from Barangaroo and docked at the cove around the corner from the Opera House, where it stayed docked stationary for ~3.5 hours. The trip from Barangaroo took about 10 minutes. On the way back the boat went the long way and went through Woolloomooloo wharf which took about 30 minutes, but didn't dock anywhere else.

We were quite disappointed that the boat only docked at one spot so close to where we were picked up from, and it didn't feel like the usual boat experience that we were hoping for or expecting. The captains were very nice and experienced and informed us that wind conditions made it difficult to travel elsewhere.

We understand that wind and weather conditions may have made it unsafe to travel to other spots, and that these things are unpredictable. If that is the case though and a normal experience can't be offered/isn't possible, then we felt the trip should have probably been postponed in its entirety. If the trip is unsafe to have a normal experience as is usually the case, then we feel we should have been offered to reschedule or at least a discount for a trip which travels minimally and only docks at a single spot.

We also understand there are terms and conditions which say the boat travels in any weather - we get this. But again if it is unsafe to travel in a normal way with the conditions (as we have done on other boat trips in the past), then we feel we shouldn't be required to still pay full price for that limited experience. We felt that we essentially paid almost $2000 to travel a few hundred metres and remain stationary for 3.5 hours in one spot. We could have just taken a water taxi and stopped at the Botanical Gardens for a picnic - same outcome.

Overall, we just feel that we didn't get our money worth for the boat trip at all. Customer service told us 'bad luck, refer...

I booked with Sydney Boat Hire for my 30th birthday and this was without a doubt one of the worst experiences I've ever had with a company. I would just like to clarify that isn't a review that reflects the staff on the boat as they were wonderful & made sure we had a great time, this is why we have given 2 stars and not 1. This review is solely about our experience with Sydney Boat Hire.

I booked a catamaran for a sunset charter, paid the deposit and was awaiting the charter date. A few weeks before the charter, I wanted to clarify the pick up point. I was then informed that Sydney Boat Hire had not actually booked the vessel properly and that it was now no longer available. I was also informed that there were no other similar vessels available. I ended up having to pay more for a bigger boat. Yes, some of the cost was covered by Sydney Boat Hire but this is still unacceptable, the error was made on their part and I still ended up paying an additional cost to cover this. Additionally, I had paid extra to be able to use the BBQ onboard and also have the lilypad. I was informed by Sydney Boat Hire that this could not be carried across to the new boat, that I would need to pay an extra charge again. After speaking to the captain, I found out this was not true, they would have willingly spared the charge for the use of the BBQ as they had done for other charters. Yet another way for Sydney Boat Hire to try and make some more money! Additionally, the boat hired was not at all as in the pictures and arrived 45 minutes late. To add insult to injury, I had still not received my bond back after the charter for 7 days even though the captain had allowed the release of the bond immediately after the charter. I enquired as to why this was and eventually they released my bond.

Long story short, do not book with...

Going so well but sour ending…… We hired an Easyrider II (Self-Drive) for the afternoon and were really pleased with the boat and the experience from the team on arrival. The experience was phenomenal up unto the point of returning the boat.

At some point during the day a couple of scratches had occurred on the port side of the boat – which as someone who had obsessed (OCD) all day about avoiding any possible obstacle I know were not as a result of our action whilst out on the boat that afternoon.

Unfortunately, the process for the checking out the boat is that inspections are undertaken before launching and after recover (the period most likely for damage to occur) and as the hirer the company will hold you liable for any damage that occurs whilst the boat is being launched by their staff. I’m very disappointed that the staff did not take responsibility, and this has turned out to be a very expensive lesson not to trust this company.

If you do choose to use this provide, I recommend you watch very closely as they launch/recover the boat as otherwise you too could end up paying for damage you didn’t cause and losing your bond.

A very frustrating end to an...