Watersports 4U — Attraction in Carolina

ZERO STARS IF I COULD*

Today me and 5 friends decided to go on a banana boat ride while enjoying the beach and we ALL left this place extremely sore and in so much pain. I would not recommend the banana boat to anyone. We paid $150 for the WORST water-related experience ever. Lets keep in mind we are all pretty fit and in our 20s and got a really bad headaches, back and neck pains and sore fingers leaving this ride. Its been about 5+ hours since we departed the boat ride and I still have a pounding headache from this experience.

There was no warning at all how fast and unsafe this ride was. The staff was not friendly, did not communicate how to prepare for this ride and were very unprofessional & yes our group spoke both english and spanish so there wasn’t a language barrier.

Just to get on the boat is a hassle, they make you swim to it which is a nice workout. Once we swim up to the boat its pretty difficult to climb up on top of it. The ride begins immediately with no warning and takes off VERY quickly. During the ride the boat driver took such a sharpe turn that ALL SIX of us fell off the boat in THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN. I honestly feel like it was intentional how hard it was and how badly it through us off. I got a brand new manicure before this ride and every single one of my nails broke off.

Once we fell into the ocean the staff just stared at us waiting for us to get back on and whistling at us to hurry back to the boat as if we were animals. You think they would bring the boat to us because we are panicking in the middle of the ocean but no, we just swam back in distress for as long as it took to swim back on our own and climb back on. Yes we had life vests, but they do not offer any assistance getting back on the boat when you fall so essentially you will fall and the boat continues to moves for a bit because of how fast its going and wherever it stops is where you have to swim to get back on. The boat driver will just watch us impatiently until you swim back to the boat and struggle to get back on. It requires the upmost upper body strength to bring your entire body back up on the boat. I would like to note that the staff were not wearing life vest so they had no intentions at all to help us out the water.

After we fell we all got a better grip of the only handle we are given to hold on to while moving at least 90mph and members of our group FELL AGAIN!!!! The unprofessional workers found this HILARIOUS. Now if this would've been one or even two of us who fell then okay we can blame our group for not getting enough of a grip but if we ALL fell then it wasn’t on us and the with tough water current / waves it was not at ALL easy to swim in. We asked several times for the boat driver to slow down and he refused.

We begged them to take us back to shore because we were all out of breathe, hurting and not enjoying the ride at all and instead they reminded us how much time remained and put us through more torture of holding on so tight and causing our fingers to go numb. Do not come here if you are looking for a place to have fun.

These terrible people get a good laugh out of visitors looking for a good time. They are extremely unprofessional and rude. Don’t waste your time or money.

I will be expecting a follow up email to the inconvenience this company caused my...

Update April 2025: Since the owner wants to respond a whole year later. First, I experienced racism and colorism and almost lost my life because the staff refused to assist me; that is until MULTIPLE people had to tell them to help me or I would have drowned, especially since I went under the boat twice. Second, it is amazing how they could not pull the boat closer to shore so we could get on, but magically had the ability to do so once the whole ordeal was finished. Third, how would you as an owner know what happened if you waited a whole year to respond to a review instead of reaching out to find out what happened when it did. Oh and your employee called to ask about a refund because we didn't go anywhere and we were refused; we simply said ok and walked away. So do not tell me what I didn't experience with your staff. If I could give 0 stars I would. A group of 5 we opted to do the banana boat. First we were told they could not bring the boat closer to shore so we could get on (although the people before and after us had that option), then when we finally did get on, we were told we could tell them the speed we wanted to go; we were never asked and with the way the waves were we wanted to ease into the ride. Nope, they immediately went fast and three of us went over board; I went under the boat and they at first refused to help me get back into the boat. The other two in my group were rescued by someone on a jet ski who was also made at the men in the boat with their treatment of us. When they took us back to shore suddenly they were able to get the boat close to shore so we could get off (remember they said they couldn't do that earlier). I have never experienced blatant racism and colorism like I have with them and this ride. The people that went after us were able to get on the boat close to shore and they were able to ease into the ride like we requested without an issue. We were never able to experience the ride and they refused to give us a refund. And no, we were not rude nor did we act like heathens even after the incident. I am highly disappointed and I don't recommend this company at all. I have done plenty of watersports and never had my life placed in jeopardy like they had...

I was in San Juan recently, and we chose Watersport4U for some banana boat fun. When we got to the hut to register, the woman who was there said that we could. get on the boat, and that everyone needed to register. As we were calling our people (six of us) to come over and register, she offered some light threat to us. She said, "If you want to go you need to hurry up, or I'm going to go and leave you standing here. I'm leaving."

I didn't take kindly to it. She was not joking, and it was not a joking setting. She had a very serious look on her face. I looked at my godson and he told me not to say anything. As more were coming over, he was preparing to pay. She says, "You need to hurry up, or I am not going to let you go. I am going to leave. We will pack up and you will not get on this." I replied, "Son, it sounds like she's threatening us when we are paying customers." She just looked at me and smirked. We paid, and were instructed to go to the water after our fitting.

I am displeased because, as a paying customer, I should not be made to feel as though I am at her mercy and I am doing her a favor. Her attitude was horrible! She looked like she did not want to be there, and she wasn't kind. It was 3:30pm, and if they were closing for the day, and didn't want the business, she should have told us when we approached the counter that they are closed for the day. Instead, she told us we could go, saw that we had money to pay, but threatened us and rushed us through the process. It's not a good business practice and it's not...