Urban Paddle Kayak Tours, Lessons & Kayak Trips — Attraction in Jersey City

Let me just say, I love kayaking. I really do! And it was great to be able to kayak in New York/New Jersey of all places. BUT - I have my criticisms.

The cost of the kayaking tour seems to be too costly for the amount of time spent kayaking. I have kayaked with several other outfitters in different states and have been able to go out for 4 hours for the price it cost to kayak for one hour here.

I think the tour group is much too large. Many kayakers are beginners. With a larger group full of beginners, there is a lot of "bumper boat" incidents that slow down not just the guides but the experienced kayakers as well due to the amount of correction that needs making. I think this company should perhaps stagger kayaking groups to make things easier on everyone. I would suggest to break the sunset group into two subgroups - have one subgroup go out first and then twenty minutes later, another group - that way the first group is already out on the water and mitigating the bumper incidences. Especially on windier days and rougher waters.

The Sunset Tour was not what I imagined when I thought of a "sunset" tour. I barely saw a sunset. We did get to see the sun hitting different parts of the buildings of NY downtown...but that was about it. Although I can hardly blame the kayak group for mother nature. Perhaps a name change, such as "dusk" tour.

Additionally, for the amount of money paid, I would have expected to go out farther in the water. We stayed relatively close to the origin point, which was a huge disappointment. I am glad that I did get to experience kayaking in near NYC, but I think this group needs to make several changes to the tour. This is personally not one I would do again.

There are positives though! The staff was extremely nice, helpful and super patient with us customers. I really did appreciate the staff and their willingness to work with both experienced and non experience kayaking. Though not my cup of tea, I noticed several people had a lot of fun. This was just...

I bought a Double Kayak/Two Adults LED kayak tour a couple months back. However, due to unforeseen weather conditions - I had to rebook for 3 times. Which I completely understand! Weather will always be a gamble no matter how much you prepare.

I would've given this a 5-star but dropped one due to my customer service experience outside of the actual kayak experience.

Not sure if it's the anxiety in me, but every time rainy weather crept up my window, I would constantly check my emails, texts, Urban Paddle's website or Instagram to see if there was an official update whether our tour had been cancelled. Although it made sense in my head, having an official confirmation sent out would've been reassuring - rather than having me reach out via email, their live chat, text message, and Instagram to try to re-confirm my tour had been cancelled. Luckily I live close by so I didn't have commit to driving any long distances.

Because I had to rebook so often, there was an additional charge on my account that no one told me about until I got to the kayak site. But the team was able to waive it knowing that all my rebooks were due to weather conditions - which I appreciate. The whole LED kayak experience itself was extremely professional and enjoyable.

We were provided life jackets and headlights along with a quick tutorial on how to properly steer our kayaks. The team preps with a variety of water vehicles to ensure top tier safety while we go on our tour. I felt very safe having the team on the waters with us and loved the view of the NYC skyline with our glowing LED kayaks. You can tell the team's passion for kayaks and work really hard to keep this business running.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time when I was there, and recommend this experience if you're around the area! Just triple check the weather and stay on top of this team if you foresee any poor...

Edit: The owner’s response below proves why I would never again give my business to this company. The “special request” was submitted because he skipped our song the first time it played. I did ask for it to be added to the playlist before we left. $336 and there wasn’t even a water bottle to drink which is usually standard for these types of experiences. No demand was made, I asked nicely and FYI - ended up with 2 bottles that the employees were kind enough to give me since I had asked nicely.

Original review: We spent more time getting to the lookout point and bumping into one another within the marina than the time we were able to spend at the only lookout point right outside the marina. They ask every kayak for a song to add to a music playlist which was cool. You will get soaked so bring a change of pants. FYI there’s nowhere to get anything to drink around but they do have a big cooler full of Gatorade for just the tour guides. We got two double Kayak’s and spent over $300 for the experience but when I asked the owner for a Gatorade after watching the owner give one to another guest he lied, said there were only two left and that they were for the tour guides only. When I looked at the guest that had the Gatorade in their hand I asked the owner if they were tour guides and he looked me in the eyes and lied answering “yes”. The other guest looked at me in shock. The experience overall was different and something both my teens will remember forever so I don’t regret it, but I would never again give this company...