Written by Kevin
Rating: 1
VERIFIED
We had a terrible experience at a few times on the boat to say the least with the captain Reece and one of the crew members called Dave.
Firstly when in the queue we were about 50 back in the line. I had my 4 tickets in my hand and Dave who I later learned was his name was outside the queue over one of the wall and leaned over to ask me for my tickets. This person had not asked anyone in front of me and was not wearing anything to identify himself as a member of the crew, the others had tops saying crew he did not. I asked him why as he wasn’t a member of the crew. He said he worked here and so I asked him for some id as I thought this person had spotted it had my tickets in my hand and was going to take them. He then decided to get abusive and say “I f…ing work here show me your ticket or you aren’t getting on”. I said will will some them to the crew that were in the queue the same as everyone else. He continued to be abusive but moved on from me.
Then as we are on the boat, the DJ suggested if people wanted a few extra chairs then you can get these from the back. My Son and a number of others then goes to get the chairs and comes back with 2 chairs only to be accosted by the captain Reece and tells him he can’t have these. My son then says but there are lots of people getting them, the captain gets very angry and says put those back otherwise you are being thrown off the boat, then continues to be rude to my son, the DJ had announced that he could get these and to then be threaten to get thrown of the boat was completely out of order.
For information then two times in the trip once at half way, down by Greenwich and then again at Tower Bridge dock the boat pulled along side the two piers to lets friends of Dave about 20 people all told onto the boat. After being told that they could not pull along side a dock by one of the security guards after we asked about getting off.
Then at the end of the night the captain talks to me, which I appreciated but only to be sarcastic and basically say, it doesn’t matter what we say and no complaint will back any difference. To which I said thank you so much for making my son’s 21st birthday so unforgettable for all the wrong reasons to which both Reece and Dave just laughed.
Reply from London's ORIGINAL Christmas Boat Party
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We use a variety of boats and each have their own set of staff and crew. Hence Dave and Reece are not part of our Company. That aside, they are aiding us with providing an experience for our customers. On this occasion, it sounds like there have been some internal problems. This surprises me as the operator of the boat that evening is somebody we have worked with for several years and the crew and staff are usually very diligent and friendly. I shall forward on your comments for an internal review. And thank you for bringing to my attention that the boat stopped to board more guests. We were not notified of this. On some occasions, if a group have missed boarding and contact can be made with the boat, then they are directed to another Pier to be collected en-route. Again, we will need to ask for further comment from the Operator regarding this. Without prejudice