I wish to first point out that this blog was written about a month ago and not published initially and then the coronavirus really began to affect us in the UK and it's publication postponed again.
Now we're all at home and looking for something to pass the time, it seems the right point to let it loose.
Cheap at half the cost
If I read another comment online that moans about boat hire
on the Broads being expensive and that you can get cheaper holidays elsewhere,
I think my blood will boil dry.
A quick look at some Norfolk Broads Facebook groups and
Broads forums will quickly unearth people moaning about the cost of hiring a
boat. The very same people might revel in a £4 take-away coffee, but when
comparing the cost of a Broads Boating Holiday with, say Orlando and they’ll
blow a gasket.
Let’s first put a few things straight. The Broads is the
cheapest 125 mile stretch of navigable waterway to hire a boat on in the UK. It
might even be one of the cheapest in western Europe. For sure, a boating
holiday is more expensive than some other holidays, but it can also be a whole
lot cheaper too; never forget, when you hire a Broads Cruiser for, say, six
people, you are paying, perhaps £1200 in high season (more if you want) and you
get accommodation and travel for six people; the price is not per-person which
travel-package-hotel stay holidays inevitably are. Look at it per person
and it’s £200 per person per week or just £28.57 a night per person; less than
a B&B.
The Broads is the largest inland river network in the UK on
which to take a boating holiday. There is no competition in terms of navigable
distance without entering the canal network. And if you begin to look at
narrowboat costs, you’ll quickly find that the Broads compares very
favourably. If you have not already read my blog last week, I would recommend
taking a look, as the Toll for Puddle Marchers will give you a bit of
background into the taxes charged for using the river (a bit like road tax).
A statement of fact
So, my statement is “The Broads is the cheapest waterway in
the UK on which to hire a boat for a holiday”. There is no need to take
my word for this, you can do this look up online for yourself.
It is fair to say, though, that direct comparisons are
becoming more difficult these days as the availability of cabin cruisers on
other navigations is dwindling. There are lots of narrowboats for hire, but
only The Thames, Caledonian Canal, Cambridge Ouse and Broads seem to offer
cruisers now. Of these navigations, the Ouse is limited to two holiday hire
operators; Bridge Boats in Ely and Purvis Marine in Huntingdon which has only
one narrowboat and one Broads DC30 cruiser. There are a few day boat operators
too which I will come to shortly. There are just two cruiser hire bases on the
Caledonian Canal and four or five on the Thames.
Direct comparisons can be made with two boats from Reading;
chosen only because both Freedom and Caversham boat operate similarly sized
fleets with a couple of identical boats.
So, let’s take a look at the smaller one first; Lady of
Freedom and Caversham Monarch.
Lady of Freedom for a week from Saturday 25th
July 2020 will cost £1042
Caversham Monarch for the same week will cost £1445.
That is £403 more expensive. Expressed another way, that’s
almost 39% or over a third more expensive. Whichever way you view this, it’s
significantly cheaper in Norfolk and, remember, this is a direct
like-with-like comparison: same boat model, same dates, including fuel deposit,
including damage waiver.
Let’s try comparing Caversham Emperor with Absolute Freedom.
Again, the same boat with exactly the same layout; the only key difference is
the soft furnishings and galley finish: £2379 against £1499 for Absolute (and
anybody following our facebook page will know that Absolute is having new
upholstery right now among lots of other work).
Even parking is substantially more: £15 at Freedom for the
week and £35 in Reading. That’s over double.
I take absolutely nothing away from Caversham Cruisers here;
I selected this operator because both fleets are similarly sized and have
direct like-for-like vessels to compare.
Why the cost difference?
Last week’s blog, Toll for Puddle Marchers, examined
the river tolls for the Broads and discussed the differences between Norfolk
and other navigations. The point I made was that the Broads river tolls are
much lower than elsewhere and the toll for Caversham Monarch is on the Thames
is eye-watering in comparison. I have little doubt too that rent and rates in
Reading are painful compared with the Broads and I would anticipate wages are
higher too. All these fixed overheads play a key role in the prices operators
have to charge.
Peaks and Troughs
Remember too that holiday demand for boats is entirely
seasonal and the season is quite short. Tourism’s problems are
exacerbated by the government policy of fining parents who take children out of
school during term. This makes all such businesses very dependent on school
holiday periods of peak demand which always leads to parents and grandparents
blaming holiday operators for the higher costs during school vacation periods.
However, you need to stop a minute and analyse this. Let’s start with a
joke:
“Not sure when the school holidays start? Just take a look at the Centre Parc’s price list for clarification”.
Now, let’s set this joke in a different scenario,
“Not sure when the morning rush hour is? Compare train prices before and after 9:30am”.
This illustrates the issue rather better; it can help focus
on the real reason holidays are more expensive during school holiday times:
demand.
Back to trains and the biggest demand for travel is to get
people to work (note that it is not to get home). Most workplaces begin between
7 and 9am so the greatest demand on the travel network is to ensure that people
are able to travel with the aim to arrive in time for work. This is when the
rail network has the heaviest demand; when it needs to run longer trains, more
frequent trains and ensure uninterrupted service. In short, this is the most
expensive time of day for a rail operator and hence the most expensive time to
travel.
After 10am, demand drops significantly and trains are less
frequent, probably shorter too and the fares are considerably lower.
If demand for the rail network was roughly even throughout
the day, then the supply of trains would be even and the costs would be evened
out too. We can say this with almost 100% certainty because if travel before
9:30 cost 50% more than travel after and nobody actually needed to travel earlier,
who in their right mind would travel early? It would be too expensive and those
trains would be comparatively empty and maybe not cover their costs.
Leaving the rail analogy in the sidings of explanation, a
large number of traditional holiday destinations have suffered from the
government’s school policy which serves to exaggerate peaks and troughs in
tourism businesses throughout England.
Day boating
But it’s not just crusier hire; day boats are cheaper here
than elsewhere too. We’ll start with Stratford Upon Avon. I take this example
as I visited the town last year and noticed the costs of a dinghy with an
outboard being £35 for an hour for up to five people. In Norwich, £35 will put
five people on an electric Bishy Barney Boat for two hours. So, Stratford is
not only 100% more expensive but you get much less a vessel, a very small
cruising area, and you’re also burning petrol whereas the Bishy is pure
electric drive and comes with a canopy. In Windermere where the Bishy boats
were purchased from, 2 hours will cost £70 for five people. Again, this is 100%
more expensive than in Norwich.
Over the pond
Comparing a boating holiday with travelling to Orlando is
hardly reasonable either; unless you are going to Orlando for a boating
holiday; though I am entirely unaware that any such thing exists. Is it even
possible to hire a live-aboard river boat in America like you can on the Broads
or Thames? I’ve looked today and found nothing that seems remotely similar.
You might say “yeah, but it’s still cheaper to fly out to
Orlando for a week in a hotel than hire a boat”. It might be. It’s cheaper too
to buy cox apples than blueberries; they are both fruits but where else is the
correlation? I did a quick search here: I got the headline
Now, I am not sure I know anybody gullible enough to believe
the headline price, so I clicked. The best price I could find quickly was £1295
which was for two people sharing a self-catering room in a hotel (along with
over 700 other rooms), flights and car hire in June. Add a teenager and the
price jumps to nearly £2000. Add another and you’re on the wrong side of two
and a half thousand pounds. That will get you one of the most expensive boats
on the Broads and have money left for a carvery or two.
Take a long hard look.
It might be that if somebody looks hard enough, they might
be able to find boat hire in the UK cheaper than the Norfolk Broads. I’d truly
like to know as I have looked and compared quite a lot as this is my line of
work. If someone finds it, please comment below.
For now, I am happy that my assertion that Boating Holidays
on the Broads not only remain extremely good value, they are positively cheap.
Maybe not quite half the price of similar boats elsewhere, but so much more
affordable to make me comfortable about the title of this blog.
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