College Cruisers

Really enjoyed our short holiday. The boat was in good condition and clean. It had two toilets and two showers. The shower was better than I expected on a boat and nice and warm with the engine running. The kitchen facilities were good and the beds were comfortable. The staff were friendly.

Returning to college cruisers for a break was a seriously good idea. They are great quality & well maintained boats on this beautiful stretch of water. The team are on hand and helpful from the first contact when booking until drop off at the end of the trip. Thank you for a relaxing time. (the perfect Covoid break, vertically no contact with other humans!)

My partner and I just spent a week on Magdalen. It was clean, comfortable and well equipped. It was lovely having the log burner as it was late October. Cary’s and her team really looked after us and we can’t thank them enough for making this a wonderful week on the charming Oxfordshire canals. Good value for money and competitively priced. Highly recommended.

Spent a week on Trinity on the Oxford Canal. Arrived very apprehensive about the whole process of locks etc the training by Greg was amazing. By the time I came back from that I feel confident I could tackle anything that arose. Had a wonderful week stopping where we wanted and enjoying the slow pace of life highly recommend.

Really good week on the boat, James was thorough with his training on navigating the boat and operating the canals. Narrow boat was clean and well equipped, other boaters were really friendly and there were plenty of pubs along the canal. Make sure you pack lip balm and plenty of water if you decide to go!

Lee & Terry" spent our long awaited honeymoon from the 9/10 - 13/10/23 on The Kebel. We had the most amazing time due to the Lovely Cary's & staff. We had Fred as our guide before we set off on our own. The Kebel was fit for a Princess - all due to the staff that clean & maintain these boats beautifully - all her kitchen equipment looked as though it had been polished for Royalty. When it came to night - The Keble was extremely comfortable - we were very lucky with the sunshine

We has such a good time !Such a lovely team to help you off on your holiday.We were couple with a 7 month old. Tricky first day learning how to balance how to do everything but day 2 and 3 was heavenly !

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” ― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows. We researched canal boat holidays at many different companies over many different canals, and finally settled on College Cruisers; mostly because of the reviews, descriptions we’d read of the Oxford canal and countryside, and a boat with a coal fire - a novelty not experienced where we’re from. Turned out to be the right choice, and then some. Three middle aged men, leaving wives and families at home in Canada setting off on a real ale, old pubs, and boating adventure on Magdalen. What could go wrong? Well as it turns out – nothing! From the time we picked the boat up, to the moment we returned to the yard and drove away from College Cruisers, the entire experience was perfect. The instructions and boat run through was brief enough in recognition of our keenness to set off, and comprehensive enough to satisfy our trepidation about trying something new. It almost seemed like information overload until after about 20 minutes of sauntering along (with pedestrians on the tow path walking faster), the world slowed down, and it all clicked into place. We then enjoyed the most wonderful time, almost like a different life zone. First impression of the boat: spotlessly clean and tidy. Comfy beds. Well appointed galley with everything (and more) we needed to cook four gannet sized dinners on board. We moored up each night in remote spots. The smells of breakfast each day wafting back to the rudder area as we set off as early as possible each morning, the coal fire roaring in the cooling October Autumn evenings, even the gentle sounds of the boat engine…all of it; magical. On our second last day, we were treated to a lengthy downfall of biblical proportions. But with the boat provided waterproofs (our own proving woefully inadequate), we were able to forge ahead, and keep to our return schedule. Once again, the coal fire came through as we lived through the hull punctured scene from Das Boot. Even this experience was brilliant! College Cruisers had it all covered – at drop off, I think we were on our way in minutes. I really cannot say enough about the College Cruisers team and our 5 day trip. Would heartily endorse anyone trying this experience, and will rave about College Cruisers for a long time; at least until we can do this all over again. Single regret; should have booked for the 7 days.

My wife and I hope to retire on a narrowboat and wanted to rent from a smaller, family-owned business to 'test the waters!' and see if it was doable for us. College cruisers were accommodating and informative every step of the way, even understanding why two people would need to rent a 57' narrowboat (it's the size we hope to retire on).We had read narrowboat rental companies threw renters onto the canal with no or little preparation or walk through. That's not the case with College Cruisers. Micheal gave a thorough orientation from steering, going through a lock (twice) a walkthrough on everything in the boat, weed hatch and even some handy knots to use for mooring.A great example of the service was seen when we had an issue with our cooker and Micheal drove to us to work it out. Embarrassingly, it was user error, but Micheal was gracious about being called out.The narrowboat we rented didn't have anything showing it was a rental, so to the uninformed, we probably looked like seasoned boat-owners. Appearance-wise at least.Renting from College cruisers is like canal life itself, straight forward, friendly and very helpful. We will have some of our Narrowboat adventures on our you tube channel @lovetwotravel if interested.

We spent a week on the Exeter. Very comfortable boat. A special thanks to James who explained how everything worked and made us feel comfortable hanlding the Exeter (one of their biggest boats). The Oxford Canal is absolutely beautiful with some challenging locks. College Cruisers is a great place to start your holiday, friendly staff and beautiful boats. Thanks again!