5 Rivers Adventures — Local services in Newport

After some thoughts, I want to share our experience with 5 River Adventures. Our experience with this company was awful. There are a lot of misleading information so I hope readers can find this review helpful. On their website, tubing was advertised as something appropriate for kids age 12 and up. It also states that tubing is a leisure activity great for ages 8 and up and all skill levels. It continues that tubing is a “lazy floating quality time with family and friends.” Seemed like a great fun family activity—we opted for tubing versus rafting because it was a lazy floating quality time activity great for everyone—per their website. My family was a party of 12, with ages ranging from 11-58, majority under 5 feet and under, with skill levels ranging from none to average.

I can’t speak for rafting because we did not do rafting, we opted for tubing. But this activity IS NOT appropriate for kids. This activity IS NOT appropriate if you have zero to limited skills. This activity IS NOT for short people. This activity IS NOT for heavy people. When we were heading towards the water, our guide along with other staff called this “EXTREME tubing”. This term was used multiple times in describing the kind of activity we were doing. They said, “You’re basically fending for your own self out there (on the river)

Safety is a 0 out of 5. There were no instructions given on how to paddle in our tubes-what to do if we struggle to paddle. There was no help for anyone who may struggle. All our guide told us was to sit on our tube and get to the other side of the river and telling us we need to try harder.

This tubing experience was doomed from the get-go. No one set our group up for any success.We had multiple people who ended up falling in to the water and losing their tube in the process. They were stranded and needed to be saved by other groups who were rafting. And I hate that their rafting trip was inconvenienced by having to save people who were tubing because I don’t think that’s their responsibility to have to do that. But whatever the case, two rafts ended up picking up two of our people for the duration of trip. We did not get to complete our trip down the river. Our guide ended up calling off the rest of the trip.

Professionalism is a 0 out of 5. I’m sure our guide had it tough. I’m not saying it was easy, but they set themselves up for failure. What did they think was going to happen when you have a large group of 12 with a wide age range and abilities? Were we just suppose to drift down the river easy peasy with no problem, stick together in a big group and all is great? That DID NOt happen. It literally was every person fending for him/herself out there. Our guide was telling the other staff in front of us that of all his years of experience “this was the ABSOLUTE WORST.” How did they think this made us feel? I’m sure he was frustrated not being able to control the situation but really, what did they think was going to happen? As frustrated as he may have been, that statement did not need to be said in front of paying costumers.

Overall, though the tubing activity was an awful experience, the family was a good sport, and we laughed and laughed the entire time re-telling all of our experiences on the river. I would not recommend tubing with...

Would we come back to this adventure? Absolutely! We’d give 5 Rivers Adventures 10 stars if we could! We highly recommend them!

As a BSA Scout Leader, I'm always looking for safe, new experiences for my scouts, and whitewater rafting is in the top five experiences my Scouts wanted to try this summer, not to mention an exciting merit badge to work towards.

This summer I put out a call to my parents and scouts and asked for any information, or references they could give. Every single recommendation for whitewater rafting recommended 5 Rivers Adventures.

What an amazing organization. Every person, whether working behind the desk, as a guide, or driving the bus was extremely friendly, informative, helpful, and courteous. They went above and beyond, in their care of my Scouts. The owner came out personally and assured me of their years of experience in guiding whitewater rafting trips, and shared our guide’s experience, which I really appreciated.

Their equipment is topnotch. Their passenger’s safety is paramount. Training is thorough and to the point (I listened in). We explained the requirements for their whitewater rafting merit badge, and as we were the last trip of the day, their guide, Willie, spent a few extra minutes making sure our scouts got an opportunity to demonstrate what they’d learned. What an amazing day!

A thumb drive of about 15 pictures was available of the kids floating down the river, or paddling over the rapids, which I appreciated, as I like to have pictures of my scouts to show their parents of our activities. We not only posted several on our Band App, but we also printed the best ones out and placed them in our scrapbook.

We'll be back, 5...

Do not trust this company if you are smart! My family has been rafting this river for many years and never had problems, they are aware of what to do Incase of a over board situation but the guides are lazy and don't don't do their job properly. The equipment is shotty and old you see broken helmets hanging they overload the rafts and they are totally unprofessional to max! While giving their safety talk they have kids trying to do it along with the so called safety pro. Confusing the customer totally. They think it's cool " to run stop signs" on your way to the river to drop the rafts off with a bus full of people with no seat belts. If you want a great day and safe trip spend the few extra dollars and use one of the many other companies that raft the very same river! The bus is in horrible shape holes in the seats and it smells like something died in it. Our clothes were dirty just from the ride. The guides have dirty old clothes on and floatation devices that barely hang from their body. It's not as they advertise at all! If you have been down this river with a company with another company you will see the difference from the start. They DON'T help handicapped individual at all either with the getting on the bus or climbing the big hill to get back to the cars, they're too busy getting the raft back so they keep your family from helping you as well! I could go on about this company but I hope my warning is enough. Stay safe stay...