Twin Anchors Houseboat Vacations — Attraction in Sicamous

I understand the potential impact a negative review could have on a business but I have to write this because our experience Twin Anchors was awful. The check in process (we had Cruise Craft 5) was an absolute nightmare. It took just over 8 hours from start to finish. We arrived at just a bit after 12pm and were on the boat after 8pm. 2 captains (my husband and my brother in law) were required to attend a 45 min safety orientation on a boat. They were given a time slot of 2pm but because of the chaotic and unorganized way this business is run, they weren’t taken till 3pm. The most frustrating part of this was that the boat the orientation was held on wasnt even cleaned let alone sanitized. Is this company even aware of the global pandemic?! My brother noted the hand railings were sticky and my husband told me the floors were filthy. The “safety orientation” was about 30 mins (maybe it was cut short because they were experienced with boats?) and was mainly about things like “if you lose a spoon it will cost you $20, if you break the coffee pot it will cost you $60” etc. Fast forward almost 5 hours later where we finally were told our boat was ready. Only one guy who shuttled our luggage to the boat was helpful, an older gentleman. We of course tipped him The rest of the kids didn’t lift a finger. We weren’t expecting 5 star service but I don’t know, would helping a lady with a bag kill you?! We finally got on the boat which we were told was thoroughly cleaned. There were spiderwebs and spiders in EVERY SINGLE CORNER. There was a used bandaid in the corner of a closet space. The floor in my cabin had a sticky spot of God knows what. There was still hair in the bathroom. I don’t know what kind of “cleaning” went on. Because of this and the orientation our captains attended on a dirty boat, I will be reporting the company. Clearly there are no precautions being taken in regards to COVID-19. We finally set out onto the water at 8:09pm but were expected to find a place to dock before dark. Obviously that didn’t happen because the sun set about 10 mins later. You can imagine the stress of trying to find a spot for a 75 foot houseboat....in a completely unfamiliar area....and tie it up.....ALL IN THE DARK. By this time it was almost 10pm.We unpacked and only then did someone find where the life jackets were stored. Shouldn’t that be the first thing shown during the so called “safety orientation”?? The captains confirmed they were never once shown where they were kept. The dinette in the galley turned into a bed. My cousin went to sleep on it but at around 3am we all heard a loud bang. In the middle of the night while the poor guy was asleep, one of the hinges broke off and he fell to the ground, hitting his back and head on the way down. I took a picture of the injuries to his back. Monday rolled around and time to go. We were expected to return the boat Monday at 9am. Once again, no one but the older man offered an ounce of help (he was once again tipped for his kindness) My sister went to check out and bring some of the issues up with the receptionist? but the old lady was a rude b&@! to her. At that point my sister was just completely done trying to deal with this place. Everyone (with the exception of the older man) just sits around with no answers and no customer service skills. 10K is not a small amount to spend for a weekend and believe me when I say, when the service is good, my family has no problem spending that again and again but what we received this weekend wasn’t even mediocre service. It was complete trash. I would strongly suggest whoever is running this place to take some time with their staff and have conversations about customer service. There is a wealth of information on the internet. May I suggest an oldie but a goodie “Give Em The Pickle” as a starting off point. It’s a simple video that is easy to comprehend for people who struggle with understanding basic concepts. Needless to say we will never use, or recommend Twin Anchors to anyone. We will do our best to dissuade anyone...

Part 1 of review

Our family of 11 set sail on August 21, 2021 for a 7 day sail on “Enterprise”. What a fantastic trip! Six adults and 5 kids motored around the lake stopping at some great beaches for some swimming and some overnights. This was a memorable family vacation.

The staff at the Twin Anchors Marina were excellent, from the front office registration team, to the “dock boys”, to the shuttle drivers. Everyone was friendly and went “overboard” to be helpful. Both our launch and our return went quickly and smoothly, especially considering we all had to manage the Covid protocols. While the wildfires prevented us from traveling to some parts of the lake, we were able to enjoy much of it as we motored along.

Your note to us asked for feedback on any issues or suggestions. We are happy to oblige with two categories:

Issues with our boat Enterprise

The most serious issue was the CO alarm in the bunk room going off at 2 am of our 5th day. No engine had been running for several hours and no other boats were near us on the beach. Pushing mute silenced the alarm for 5 minutes. All of the instructions in the manual suggested evacuating the boat and then airing it out. That is a serious event to undertake at 2 am. Our second monitor in the kitchen remained silent with a green light. We opened the doors at both ends of the boat and even ran a fan for 30 min to blow the air through. When we called the base, they said we were probably OK and that the alarm may be at end of life and that, in any case, they would send out a service boat in the morning. At about 2:45, the alarm returned to a safe state, and we went back to bed. Til 4:30 am when it went off again. This time, it stayed on no matter what we did. We set up a watch where someone sat by the alarm and muted it every time it started up. Not a fun duty. At 6:30 am I again called the base to report a: we had not succumbed in the night, b: the alarm was still sounding, and c: we were waiting for the service call. Perhaps coincidently, over a 24 hour period, we heard as many as 6 other boats reporting the same problem. My 6:30 call got the suggestion from base to start our generator. Not an intuitive solution, but we gave it a try. And the alarm stopped, and the light turned green. We have no idea why this would work as our voltage level never went below 12.5 on our meter. The manual says there is no indicator light for low voltage, just the alarm noise. We had a solid red light showing a CO problem. What was the answer? We don’t know. In any event, the service boat tracked us down the next morning and they put a new monitor in. We had no further occurrence of the alarm.

The door to the outside in the loft could not be closed properly.

The window in the small bathroom would not stay open. Problematic after certain activities.

The front door did not lock.

Bug screens missing on some windows. In the bunk bedroom, the sliding glass was cross fit between the screen track and its proper track. This left a gap where water got in when it rained.

One of our spikes turned out to be 6 inches shorter than the other which meant that, when we thought we had driven it in to the appropriate depth, it really wasn’t as deep as we thought. We had two pull outs on this spike but fortunately, we had secured the extra rope to a log.

Cleanliness. By and large, the boat was reasonably clean. But it could have been better. In our case, shelves in the bedroom were dirty and had to be wiped down, the dryer lint trap was over full complete with somebody’s long black hairs, the microwave door was gummy, and the floor under the table was grubby. Small items, I know, but you asked.

Part 2 to follow except it is not letting me add it at the moment. Too many characters Maybe? I...

As we arrived at their main dock to do orientation we couldn't help but notice the lack of covid-19 prevention protocols that were in place. None of the staff wore face masks, which was fine for the office staff who had plexiglas barriers, but no one else, from the man who helped us with out luggage to the person who did our on board orientation (something which took place in the very confined spaces within a houseboat) had equipped any means of protection. We were even asked to do a group on board orientation with two other groups meaning there were 7 of us, all strangers, confined in hallways and kitchens trying to learn how our boats worked. Once we had gotten our boat, which was the Ina/Inna Belle (the name was spelt differently depending on what side of the boat you were looking at), our problems didn't really begin until the second or third day (if you disregard the fact that half the toaster didn't work) when we began to notice the most abhorrent smell emanating from our bathrooms. A smell that was more than noticeable across the entire boat, even on the roof. When we radioed in for solutions to this problem we were told to pour water down our toilets. This, which we did several times, made no real difference, and it would not be until a day or two later that we would discover that our toilets leaked from the base. I also suspect that there was some sort of leak in our black water tank, which would potentially explain the smell being perceivable from the roof. This was not the sole problem we faced, in chronological order there was a leak in the hose which fed our water slide, below the valve meaning the water pump would constantly run unless we turned the water off at the fuse box (something which was sometimes difficult to remember to do). We radioed in for support and though we were assured the repair man would assist us, the problem was never fixed. One of our propane tanks was faulty, something we only noticed as were about to cook dinner one night and suddenly our fridges turned off. This was repaired after several hours of waiting (the repairman wore no mask either). Since our trip was 7 days long we had to use the fuel transfer station which I believe broke, as I could still see fuel in our auxiliary tank and yet the pump wouldn't even turn on, or the tank was really empty in which case our auxiliary tank fuel gauge was broken. As it indicated that the tank was practically full. Other problems included a hole in our canvas cover which came with the boat, a substantial hole in our front screen door, our front door did not lock properly, the door to the loft from the outside would not close completely, resulting in the inhabitants of the loft being eaten alive by mosquitoes every night, the boat developed an inexplicable list of about 5 or 6 degrees to the starboard side around day 5, the upstairs speaker system was completely blown, somewhere in the rear either the door or a window did not create a proper seal resulting in CO wafting into the cabin setting off the alarm regularly when in motion. If you are reading this thinking about going on a houseboat trip on the Shuswap, I recommend choosing another company. We paid nearly 7000 dollars for this trip and I cannot believe what we received...