Canal Cruising Co Ltd

I called at short notice for a repair to my narrowboat. The advice I got and the service provided saved me time and money. Highly recommended. A special mention for Charlie, who repaired my boat. A real gent.

Hired boats of Canal Cruising for a number of years and always found them very friendly and helpful. Boats are well maintained and reliable. Always a great holiday.

My son and I have recently come back from our first narrow boat holiday and canal cruising made this a joy. In the lead up, every silly or sensible question we had they answered and they have a range of boat sizes that suits both different budgets but also experience and how many people in board. We hired their smallest 34ft boat Angela, an old girl but absolutely perfect for us as she allowed both my teenage son and me to properly learn, over two weeks, really how to handle a narrow boat. Even we were tutting at the hire boats later on!Handover was great, even with c-19 limitations, especially as canal cruising is on the trent and Mersey with two locks upstream and two downstream so they take you through two either way if you need it, or not if you don't. Also crt services are next to them if you want them to show you how to use them.A lot of info available on pickup, more than you can remember so it's all available online and much also available on the boat. Within a couple of days my teenager (who was insured) could do all the engine checks and start the engine, handle the boat and deal with locks. Much of this due to info provided by canal cruising. He was worried he'd be bored, in two weeks he watched two Netflix episodes and now wants to go again, being a bit frustrated the boat he wants next time is already booked!So yes, they are small and do have a limited fleet but I haven't knocked a star off for that as I wouldn't change it for a moment as it means this family run company, owned by the same family since 1968, knows who's on each boat at any time. That meant when my son rang up from out on the network because I'd slipped and put my hand through a bathroom window (fortunately no major injury) they knew who was on that boat straight away and dealt with it so well. When I spoke to them the first line I heard after I said I'd broken the window was don't worry about that

We've just returned from a brilliant week on a canal boat hired from the Canal Cruising Company and I highly recommend it! It is a family run company who were extremely friendly and welcoming when we arrived at their boat yard in Stone. I was a novice to canal boating so I was a little nervous, but they made us all feel at ease and explained everything really well before we set off. They then came through a few locks with us on the boat to teach us how to drive the boat and operate the locks safely. The charming canal boat 'Agnes' was very well equipped with everything we needed, and was comfortable and cosy and warm on a cooler night when we tried out the heating for a little while. The shower was also great. We were sent a really good welcome pack beforehand with some reviews of routes that had been written by previous customers. The boatyard is well situated to try a number of different routes and we chose the Leek and Froghall route via the Calden Canal. We were provided with an excellent canal map book to follow. It was a beautiful and peaceful route through a small canal passing a steam railway, an aqueduct, lovely pubs and tea rooms and two very long narrow tunnels that were great fun! We stopped at some of the Potteries on the return journey as we passed through Stoke-on-Trent which were really interesting. On our return to the yard we were welcomed again by the friendly staff who had seen us off the week before, and they took the time to chat with us about our week and even showed us some of the other impressive boat restoration work that goes on at the yard. We hope to return soon for another holiday! Thanks very much for a great week!

Amazing experience from start to finish!! The staff are friendly and helpful and extremely knowledgeable! The boat we stayed on 'Alice' was better than I expected! Had everything you could need, comfortable and clean! We had the best time! Thank you so much guys!

We just wanted to let you know how much we really enjoyed our time in one of your canal boats. The instructions you gave us made us feel very reassured that we were in safe hands. We really appreciated Dom and Kim staying with us while we navigated the first lock, as we were complete novices. The boat had everything we needed, the parking area was spacious and secure and all the staff were very pleasant. Thank you so much. Mark & Jane Smith

Had 2 brilliant holidays, both on Martha Ginger.The narrowboats are well equipped.The people at the boat yard are knowledgeable and very helpful.

Good to start, training was good on how to manage the boat. Felt our holiday was rushed as, was told where we could go to and back. Boat was very small, basic and old. On return, staff were abrupt and not at all friendly.. No deposit returned as, its a con. Wegher u oay £50 or any other amount. You dont get the depisit back. They say its a non refundable deposit????? Even if no damage is done. Would not recommend.

Had an excellent holiday on a 70ft canal boat. No problems at all with the boat, and a great, friendly team at the canal cruising company.