Thames River Sightseeing — Attraction in London

This is the second time we have used the company for a school party. The first time, we waited on the quayside for almost an hour as the boat we had booked (confirmed over the phone and on ticket) didn't exist. We had 60 children standing on the quayside for 50 minutes on a very cold, January day. The staff on the quayside were very unhelpful and just told is that we had to wait and that there was never a 12.40 boat to Westminster. The company were apologetic when I called and when we requested some reimbursement for the children, were offered a just a 15% discount on future bookings. We rebooked this year as the costings worked for a large school party and hoped that the incident was a one-off. Unfortunately, we were once again left waiting on the quayside for 40 minutes. We arrived while the boat was still docked but the gate to the boarding platform was locked. A member of staff waved to the attendant who turned their back on us and the boat left - we were there 10 minutes before the boat was due to leave. I called the office who then told me our boat was delayed but when the attendants came to us, they confirmed that the boat that had just left was ours. They also told us they were not made aware that a school party was boarding at 12.40 despite having booked 2 months in advance. We had to wait a further 30 minutes for another boat with 60 children and were late for our workshop at the Houses of Parliament. Disappointingly, there is also no audio on the boat to make passengers aware of the sights along the Thames. I am not sure it should be branded a sightseeing tour but rather a water taxi.

Needless to say, we will not re-book for next year's trip. I would definitely not recommend booking for large parties especially if you are relying on getting somewhere at a...

In a nutshell - it's a lot of wasted time, waiting. We purchased the two-day hop-on hop-off ticket. We were staying near the Bankside dock and, as their instructions say you can hop on at any one of the docks listed, we were out there around noon one day waiting. We followed all the signs and we waited for almost an hour, and no boat showed. We were pretty sure we saw one go by, but it didn't stop. We went back up to the top of the gangway and did see that there was now a person at the booth. After speaking with them, they said that the boats start later at Bankside, and that one HAD just gone by but they didn't know anyone was waiting. The next boat would be about a half hour. That seems to be their schedule - a boat every half hour BUT not all boats stop at all the listed docks. So it MIGHT actually be an hour between boats. Also, the boats seem to go 'out of service' at each end so you are required to get off and wait for the next one. And then you have the pitch for tips by the staff doing the commentary. They say that they are not "professional tour guides" and that they are doing the commentary for your enjoyment and so they will pass around the hat for tips when you get off. It's a little cheesy and feels a bit slimy. One other thing which might be a little bit picky (but that spoiled the atmosphere) is that one of their staff members who greets people, had an American accent and couldn't even pronounce the River Thames properly (Tames!!). All in all, if you are looking for value in a hop-on hop-off experience, I think I would pay a little more and use the Uber boats as they came probably every 10 minutes! Yes, they were busier and probably didn't have the commentary, but you would get where you were going much,...

Absolutely terrible company offering wrong information to tourists. We were a group of 9, including 4 seniors and one toddler. Unfortunately, we missed the last boat to Greenwich by just 3 minutes due to a genuine train delay.

When we asked about our options, two staff members in company uniforms (one at the counter and one at Gate B on the pier) told us that we would receive a refund if the tickets were unused. To be sure, we even called our ticketing partner right there in front of the counter, and they confirmed that a refund would be possible if the local operator agreed. We double-checked with the long-haired man at the counter, who repeated the same assurance.

However, when we later contacted the call center to formally request the refund, we were told this information was completely incorrect—and even accused of possibly speaking to the wrong company, which is absurd. We were then told we could only reschedule. Because of this wrong information from the company’s own staff, we had to take an Uber Boat, costing us another £100 on top of the £150 we had already spent with this company.

This was truly frustrating and disheartening, especially since we had elderly family and a toddler with us. We can’t just redo the trip to London for the sake of this boat ride, and it’s disappointing to lose so much money over misleading guidance from staff.

⚠️ Advice to others: Please double-check all information before booking online or at the counter — do not rely on what the staff say without written...