Guide To Moonraker Canalboats

A fairly last minute decision to hire Moonshine. Not the cheapest but definitely one of the best decisions my wife and I have ever made. Moonshine was everything that the website described and promised. I’m 6’4″ and had no issues with headroom. From the galley, with granite worktops and all mod cons, including a dishwasher, through the spacious lounge and past the jacuzzi bath, on into the bedroom with a very comfy king sized bed. Skylar and Tony gave us the necessary instructions as how to get going and proceeding through locks etc. They really gave us the confidence to enjoy the canal.

It was very quickly apparent that, as other boats passed, there was a lot of boat envy. Moonshine attracted loads of attention and kept us smiling. So comfortable and a complete relaxation for the 4 nights of our trip. The other major thing is that we met so many genuinely lovely people who helped each other with locks etc. A real community spirit.

We are home now, totally relaxed and enjoying the memories. Would love to go again.

Thank you Nikki for seeing us back and sharing our experience. You have an excellent team.

We hired Moonbeam, in July 2022, for a family holiday. We did the Bath route (doing the Devises flight) over 10 days. We really enjoyed the canal boating experience itself, learning how to use a lock, learning new skills and lingo, doing the Devizes flight and cruising along and spotting the lovely wildlife on the canal. We got to experience a different holiday and found some gems of pubs along the way. We are fairly hardy experience seekers, but decided to opt for a bit more luxury than we usually would – due to the high price and smooth wording on the Moonraker website, we booked it expecting a luxury experience, and the expectation unfortunately, did not match reality.

I will break down our (un)luxury experience into two parts: Moonbeam & Service.

Moonbeam the Boat

Moonbeam was unfortunately poorly maintained and tired:

• Looking at reviews on Trip Advisor across the years, it appears that the bow thrusters on the Moonraker boats never work, they also didn’t work for us. We got the same spiel as other reviewers, they had only just broke, couldn’t be fixed in the turnaround time. It made handling Moonbeam that much harder, and was a key selling point on the website as part of the experience so to have them not working wasn’t a great start.

• Broken radiator in the bathroom, again it was ‘oh that must have just broken’, but the brown goop dripping from it, showed it had been like that for months and the plumber who had to come on board to fix it (after we complained), corroborated this and said it had been broken for ages.

• As we had 6 adults in our party we opted to have the pull-out bed in the living room as the third bed, the website stated it is a king pull out bed, however in reality it was a large single futon – not suitable for two adults, certainly not what was on the website. We were told it was a brand new futon (that didn’t increase the size of it) so we requested extra bedding brought so we could make use of the bunkbeds. It meant two adult couples were sharing a small bunk-bed room, not ideal when not anticipated.

• The washing machine would have been great to use, but the lead was too small to reach the plug socket, 2 foot too short. We requested an extension lead twice and it never materialised. It looked like it had never been used (go figure), but again was something mentioned on the website as being part of the luxury of this floating home, so to not have it was a disappointment.

Service

Across the board the service was disorganised:

• We were given very latest check-in time so the boat would be ready, it wasn’t. Housekeeping were rushing to get Moonbeam ready and therefore it really wasn’t very clean – think youth hostel standard. There was mould in the spouts of the whirlpool bath which was grim (another part of the luxury we couldn’t use) and cobwebs everywhere.

• When delivering Moonbeam back no one asked if we had a good time, not one of the team. As we departed and said goodbye to housekeeping who had roundly ignored our presence, we were accosted by one who asked if we broke anything and to tell her immediately if we had. We hadn’t, but made us feel like naughty school kids, not customers.

• Finally, there was ample parking, however guests are asked to park under very large trees, while old broken ambulances and staff parking is in an area clear of trees. There were some very expensive cars of customers parked in the under tree parking, covered and I mean, covered, in bird poo (think albatross levels). What a way to end your holiday, than scrubbing your car clean. My husband and father spent at least 30 minutes each, trying to get it all off. It just reinforced how there was no thought to customer experience at Moonraker.

We raised issues as they came in, so felt we conveyed our displeasure to the owner and what could be fixed was done so. This review is to help other travellers who are looking at canal holidays, to help them not being mis-sold an experience it just isn’t. We recommend going with another company, for a much lower price, for the same standard.

What a lovely few days we have had on Moonshine, a really beautiful boat with all the details thought of. Robes, slippers, hairdryer, toiletries, waterproofs. A beautifully fitted and well equipped kitchen. We cooked a roast 😊. Cosy and comfortable lounge area with log burner and soft lighting. The bed is very comfortable and the freshest cotton bedding. Yamaha sound bar is a treat and although we didn’t use the bath, what a luxury onboard a canal boat. Liz, Nikki, Dan and team were all so helpful and friendly and nothing was to much trouble. Highly recommend booking early as this a popular boat and I can see why. Thank you to all at Moonraker Boats we will back soon.

Four of us on Moondance for 10 days. Our voyage took us East from Honeystreet Wharf as far as Marsh Benham near Newbury. Had a great time and the weather was very kind too. We only had 2 days of inclement weather. Although classed as a Luxury wide beamed 65ft barge, Moondance is starting to show her age, however this did not stop us having a great time. I understand the owners have now put her up for sale. We did get stuck for 36 hours at the Crofton locks on the way back due to a lack of water being pumped up to the top lock from Crofton steam pumping station but this was thankfully soon resolved to allow us to return her to Moonboats on time. Would we do it again. Absolutely. Many Thanks to Nikki and her staff. 👍⚓️👍

We’ve just come back from a week on Moonshine and had such a wonderful time. It was just two of us, and Moonshine was the perfect size for us. We cooked nearly every night in the galley (our fridge was jam packed), and spent most nights watching a bit of telly on the comfy sofa. The bed was so nice as well, I slept perfectly. Nikki was lovely to us, and gave us everything we needed. Thank you so much for a great week, can’t wait to do it again!!