Summer's here!

This coming Saturday promises to be one of the hottest, sunniest days of the year so far and what a great build-up to the Whitsun holiday it's going to be. We've got a few boats leaving on holiday this weekend and have a few out already. Our customer feedback this year had been very positive overall and our booking levels are up on last year. Some vessels, notably Song of Freedom have surpassed our expectations; there's just three nights left to sell for June 2010!

Sadly though, you can't please everyone and, purely to provide some balance to this posting, we had some customers out for two nights over the last weekend who absolutely hated the boat and came back with some choice phrases about it. In fairness, a couple of thing did go wrong (about half of which was a direct result of the customer's intervention) but the customer chose not to telephone us to get them fixed and, instead, complained when they returned the boat (more than three hours late, I might add). I really can't fathom why they didn't call as one of their issues was that the domestic water pump wasn't working and with 9 people on board (one a 2 year old) and no water, it's difficult to see how they managed. What's worse is that the problem was as simple as one of the party having turned the pump off via the isolator switch.

It's so disapointing when people decide not to call; we have a dedicated fault reporting service monitored by a number of people, specifically so that we can deal with problems quickly and efficiently. Most customers will report things quickly but there's a few who'll not mention anything until they return when there's nothing we can do to assist.

So, a plea. Please, if you have any questions, concerns or faults to report, please let us know as soon as possible and we'll do what we can to get a speedy resolution.

Fair Freedom

Progress is still steady but we're horrendously behind on the boat and now have people working long hours on it to get it ready for Whitsun. We've just taken recepit of new headlining material today which we'll be fitting to cabins over the next few days. The outside is in the process of being painted now and the first couple of coats of undercoat are on.

We've got a replacement engine to fit and we're waiting for a local engineering company to produce an adaptor plate so we can connect the hydralic pump to the flywheel.

There's a couple of new cabinets being fitted; one to the saloon and one in the twin cabin and new flooring will be laid too.

Whitsun

The Whitsun week is looking very busy. Pretty much all our boats are booked for the week with the only availablity being to Day Boats and the occasional picnic boat. We still have availability at some of the holiday cottages, so if you're looking to get away, we can do a deal for a cottage and you'll also get 10% off day hire too. Plus, if you're a Facebook Fan, you'll get two free bottles of wine if you book a cottage or boat today (19th May 2010). Take a look at www.NorfolkCottageHolidays.com for availability and pricing.