Thames Cruises Ltd — Local services in London

Total scam. Brutal overbooking. I booked the NYE service with the Thames Princess from Lambeth Pier. Boarding was scheduled for 19.30 so I went early (as did many other people) and we waited in the cold until about 21.00. The ship was late and also clearly did not have the necessary permits. It had a police check. Then a man appeared with a briefcase and papers, hugged and celebrated by the crew before he left. There was no organisation of the queues, so new people jumped the queue and got into any place on any pretext. When entering the ship, it was impossible to order something to drink, too many people on board, too little space, only 2 people to attend the bar. There was no control over who bought the dinner and/or drinks package, so anyone could eat and drink for free if they wanted to. After only one hour there was no more wine, the stock was really limited despite the fact that the ticket includes unlimited drinks. By the way, the wine was the cheapest they could buy, bottles with screw cap instead of cork...colouring with ethanol... In the toilet there was no soap to wash your hands and no paper at all. Also the hot air dryer did not work. The package was scheduled to locate the boat somewhere with good visibility, but we were again cheated. The boat did a tour around 22.00 until we passed Tower Bridge and then returned to Lambeth Pier (starting point) without moving any further. The view of the fireworks was distant and sideways, not being able to see the artistic pattern in which it was designed. The boats that had permits for this event were anchored near Westminster Bridge, with a better view. Finally, there were perhaps 20 seats for about 200 people. About 50 people left the boat and so there was a little more place. I can personally understand the emotional damage done to all those people, it...

My God. Our company booked this trip for our Christmas party. The ‘Thames Princess.’

I’m still in shock about how awful this was!

The boat was late, we stood on the pier waiting, freezing, for 15 mins. They announced a need to search everyone’s bags boarding which is understandable, but delayed take off to 30 mins after agreed time. We were very cold boarding the boat.

Once onboard the 70s\80s decor was…. Well it’s obvious that no~one has spent money on this vessel in decades. Blue pub style patterned carpet on the floor and brown plastic wood everything else. The air smelled like vomit.

It was minus 4 degrees Celsius outside and yet there was no heating inside the boat. We kept our puffa jackets on for three hours, including the sit-down meal.

There was one very inexperienced barman available for 50 people. No digital technology. He wrote down every drink we ordered on a sheet of paper.

The sit down meal was served in an area too small for the amount of us. Chairs were wedged so tightly together, we couldn’t get up to use the bathroom during the meal. Imagine 50 of us back-to-back, all wearing big puffs jackets.

There were two people serving the food to 50 of us at the same time, so unless you were on tha lucky first table, the roast dinner was served cold.

One bottle of cheap wine with plastic cups was given to each table.

At the half way point (Lambeth) most of us got off the boat, instead of what we thought we’d do, stay on until the end which was due to be 11pm

Awful, nasty, do not not not so this as your Xmas party unless you are chavvy and don’t mind a dinner wearing puff-...

I would give them 0 stars if I could. We booked a trip to scatter my mother in-laws ashes 2 months before the even, we even sent an email 2 weeks before the event to confirm everything was still booked and going ahead. On the day of the event, they cancel. We had people from all over the UK attending, taking the day off work. We had no notification of the cancellation and they even tried to blame it on the bad weather. It's not like this weather was a surprise. It's been cold for the last 2 weeks. They don't answer their phone, or respond to emails. Lucky for us, we were in the café at the top of the pier and they had a contact number for the owner. I spoke directly to the owner and they transferred our money back. My advice, stay clear of this company. I would not recommend...