Deborah H.
Yelp
My previous attempt at kayaking was in a small lake (note: enclosed space) way back in fourth grade, so I was a little nervous about going out on a river, but it was a lot easier than I thought. Thankfully, my friend and I ended up getting a two-person kayak, so we helped each other.
What certainly did not help was the apathetic attitude of the staff, who were amazingly good looking (all of them!), even with cute European accents, but completely unfriendly about what to do my backpack ("You can leave it here, but we're not responsible, or you can take it on the kayak with you, but we're not responsible if it gets wet").
After filling out a little quiz, we were instructed to go by the dock, where we stood a little confused, and looking dumb, while the staff kinda watched us before deciding to help us. Then we were told to pick out oars and stand on the dock.
Once we got in the kayak, my friend and I were assuming that they would give us SOME spiel about what to do on the water, but he just pushed us into the river! When I asked in a panicked voice, "Are you going to give us some sort of instruction?!?" he replied, "You can go that way, or that way."
Though I was appalled at the lack of customer service, once we were in the water, my friend and I had a fabulous time. The river is big enough for everyone, even the boats that pass by. We also got to see a gaggle of geese come into the water, one at a time. =)
To Note: Their credit card machine is super slow, so it would probably behoove you to bring cash. The rates are very reasonable. The owner was super nice; very apologetic about the fact that I had to wait 10 minutes for my credit card to process.
To the cute boys that work at Charles River Canoe and Kayak: If you were the slightest bit nicer to us, it would have made our day. Instead we ended up feeling incompetent and dumb. =( This is the reason I'm giving 4 out of 5 stars.