Thames RIB Experience

Brilliant.
Fast, funny, and a great way to see the landmarks along the Thames. Takes just over an hour, with a tour guide chucking in some facts and (so bad they’re good!) jokes.
There’s nothing more British than speeding along the Thames with the James Bond theme blaring out in the background… and getting soaked by rain of course! I’m sure it’d be even better on a sunny day, but alas, the heavens opened when I did it.
Anyway, defo recommended!

Had a good time on the river Themes, and the boat was very exciting. Our guide was very entertaining and she kept everyone on their toes with here facts and jokes.
You catch the boat right under the London Eye. Reservations were not hard to get but you should make them a few days in advance. There are coupons available.
The boat goes very fast and makes twists and turns to thrill and excite. The tour guide provides a comical history of London, the monarchy, and the architecture.
It’s the architecture that excites on this tour. For one thing, the boat goes way past the central district of London out to the financial center with it’s sky scrapers. You are unlikely to see that any other way.
What is amazing, and this was the best view we saw, were all the divergent styles of architecture along the river. From low rise modern apartments to medium sized commercial buildings to the fantastic historical (old) buildings, London has it all.
When I got back to the US the contrast to our American craptastick buildings was stark.
They play a variety of music on the tour, including the James Bond theme and the song from the movie Titanic. The tour is not very long – about an hour. It’s an easy and fun thing to do, but is not inexpensive.
We did this, a bike tour, the open bus tour and a few walking tours. If I only could pick one thing is do, the specialty walking tours: Harry Potter, graffiti, Jack the Ripper, etc are best. A more general tour is better accomplished by bike. That was the best way to get a sense of the city. Next I’d do a river tour, speed boat or otherwise. Last would be the bus – I hated that.

Had an exhilarating ride in river Thames. It was one of the most memorable moments of my life.

how much is it for two adults for a day trip?

Wir waren am 18. Juli 2012 auf einem Schnellboot von Thames Rib Experience. Es war ein wirklich grossartiges Erlebnis, selbst wenn das Wetter nicht mitspielte und wir nicht allzu viel der Infos des Guides verstanden, da er hinter uns standen. An dem Nachmittag regnete es mässig, die Regentropfen waren jedoch alles andere als angenehm bei der Fahrgeschwindigkeit. Ansonsten kann ich allen diese rasante Spritztour empfehlen. Das Boot schlug, bedingt durch die Wellen recht heftig auf, was den Fahrspass noch zusätzlich erhöhte. Wir fühlten uns in jedem Moment absolut sicher und je länger je mehr waren wir trotz des Regenanzuges von Rib Experience relativ nass. Ohne Regen hätten wir vermutlich nur einige Spritzer abbekommen, wenn überhaupt. Unser Guide hat zwar einiges erzählt, aber es fehlte uns am nötigen genügend Insiderwissen. Trotz allem, hätten wir nicht die längere Tour gemacht, wir würden es sicherlich bereuen, selbst wenn wir am Schluss froh waren angekommen zu sein.

We booked tickets for my daughter’s 10^th birthday. We arrived excited and were told that we were not able to go on the 2pm boat as they had only one boat which was full despite the fact we had pre booked on the internet a week before and had email confirmation. We were told we had to go on the 4.30 boat. The employees said they had tried to email and text to warn me. However I received no texts and no emails and I checked they had the correct address which they did –so it was very strange that no messages had reached me. They offered no compensation. We could not go at 4.30 as had a family tea for my daughter. They made some lame excuses as to why this happened ranging from the company directors wedding (wouldn’t this have been planned or was this a spontaneous wedding?!) None of the excuses sounded convincing or professional. The fact that we had paid a lot of money and booked over the internet to then be turned away with no compensation made me think this company was unprofessional, unreliable and not at all friendly to its customers. My daughter’s birthday was ruined and we have been told we will be refunded –but how fast or efficiently this will happen i do not know as they weren’t even able to refund it on the day. Awful terrible service clearly they care about getting their money and nothing else as they made no effort with us even though they cancelled the boat and failed to get in contact with me. Any company with quality and integrity would have dealt with this situation in a far more generous and professional way. It does not seem a trustworthy company at all.

I thought this was just great!
As an out and out Londoner treating a tourist friend from Spain to an ‘unconventional’ sightseeign tour, I wasn’t expecting to be hugely impressed by the sightseeing element atleast — but I was! The guy onboard doing commentary on the sights was actually really funny, and it turns out there’s a bunch of intriguing facts about my city that I didn’t know before! When we got to Canary Wharf I felt like a filmstar as we cut throught the water at breakneck speed, and in the end it was my friend who had to drag me off the boat!
Soooo much fun… would recommend it to anyone but be warned — it will probably turn you into an embarrassing tourist for the duration of the ‘Experience’!

We booked the night before only to be told when we arrived that the system was down so they didn’t know if there was going to be space for us.
In the end, there wasn’t and we were offered space on a journey 3 hours later.
Very poor customer service, barely an apology, we have to contact their office to get a refund. Really disappointed.
Appears its not just us tho.

Absolutely great! I booked it on 20^th june 2010 for my wifes birthday on and it is great value for money. The commentary was funny and informative and we went at breakneck speeds with some james bond manoeuvres added!!! I would definitely go again. Thanks to all at the thames rib experience, my wife and I had a great time.

Well it’s not so bad afterall but i was thinking about something a littl ebit more fun or impressive.
Not cheap, not expensive juste nice

Took my dad on this for his birthday. Certainly very exhilarating. I’d say this is an ‘experience’ tour rather than an ‘information’ tour. What we were told about the things we saw was minimal. Dad’s a historian and stated the information/​commentary was pretty inaccurate and dodgy… but who cares! You get to tear down the Thames in a speedboat. I did feel like James Bond at the start of ‘The World is Not Enough’. Great fun!

Loved it. My only complaint is that it wasn’t quite dangerous enough. Maybe I’m too much of an adrenaline junky, but I’d liked there to have been a couple of moments when I felt scared.
Good smooth fast ride though. Commentary was a bit poor.

This was given to me as a gift for my birthday. This type of experience is not normaly my cup of tea but truth be told it was totally brilliant! I would throughly recommend this to everyone! You get a different London experience and the Thames just bursts alive. I would advice not to wear your sunday best and beware that you will get wet wet wet!

Dr. Samuel Johnson famously said When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life, now I appreciate the sentiment of this quote but as with most things I can’t help but think about the ‘other guy’ or to be precise, the man who is not tired of london, life or in fact life in london. I’d like to think that if Johnson was still walking the streets of the fair city of London then he would be telling all and sundry that he who is not tired of London should hop aboard the Thames RIB Experience because it really is the only way to see the city in all its glory.
The insights from the tour guide are revelating, the views are sublime and when the boat goes ‘full throttle’ you get to realise your childhood dream of being James Bond.
This tour has a ‘Licence to thrill’ and you must take advantage!

Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhooooooooooooo­oooooooooooo!
That (
) was fun. I had such a blast zipping along the Thames. It was the first time I’d seen the Thames Barrier and — wow — what a sight (especially up so close)! I was lucky in that I went out on a gloriously sunny day with blue sky and puffy white clouds. I’m not sure how pleasant this experience would be when rainy and gray. I’d recommend the Thames RIB Experience to anyone interested in seeing sightseeing and riding in a very fast boat. Of course, it’s not all thrills, the guide was very informative in his presentation which was filled with quirky facts and lots of history. London truly is a dynamic and beautiful city — and viewing it from one of these speedboats is one of the coolest ways I know to take it all in.

I love the water — being near it, in it or on it — and if we’re talking about the Thames I’m only really interested in options one and three, so when I got the chance to see London from a bright yellow speedboat I jumped at the chance and managed to drag a group of fellow Qypers and gadget geeks along with me.
We lucked out with the weather, and I can tell you that racing down the river with the wind in my hair (and eyes, and mouth) and the sun glinting off the water was a treat never to be forgotten. I was impressed by the subtle approach of the tour guide, who was knowledgeable, confident, funny but unshowy — perfect! — and learned some cool facts about the city that I’ll definitely use to impress friends in the future.
Seeing the Thames Barrier come in to view was a special moment — having never realised there was one I now know what it does and how much it cost to build! And you can check it out yourself in the Qype Does London blog post and video right here (
).

I heard the words Bond and speed boat and the response to go was an automatic yes. Our guide was filled with great facts, as well as the obligatory chortle remarks, which meant information delivered in an entertaining way. Viewing London from the Thames is an experience in itself. It’s such a completely different way to see the city — all tourists should get out on the water. It’s impressive to think how this city was built, based on its riverside location.
This company offers various themed tours from 50min to 1.5hrs. It goes so quickly that I was sorry it ended. Personally, I give the experience 5 stars, however price is a huge deterrent for a repeat venture as it’s not cheap — hence the knocking off a star. Otherwise, it’s a fun adventure that is great for all ages!