Great day with Captain Ron and Cathy . Highly recommend for an enjoyable and informative dayread more

The guys attitude . He's grumpy and ill mannered. Not a good time at all. Spends most of his time…read moremouthing off about other charter operators

We had a wonderful time tonight. Good food, great music and beautiful scenery. We got to see wild…read morehorses and lots of dolphins. The sunset was spectacular. Our crew was super friendly and gave us lots of pointers about the area. Would definitely do it again!

We booked the Crystal Coast Lady Cruises dinner cruise on July 2, 2026, from 7-9 p.m. for our…read morefamily and extended family, which included one toddler, four children, two teens, and six adults. My husband and I paid close to $800 for our group. Because we had several small children with us, I specifically chose tables close to the buffet, knowing that the adults would need to help make plates for the kids. Anyone who has done a buffet with little ones understands that it often takes multiple trips to get everyone settled and fed. I went through the line to get my food and food for my niece, then realized my sister was holding the toddler and also needed a plate, along with my other four-year-old niece. My husband was helping our other children at the time, and my family was still in the buffet line. I stepped beside my elderly parents, who were getting their food, and said, "Sorry, I forgot two more plates." At that point, the man serving yelled, "Ma'am, STOP!" His tone and behavior were completely unnecessary and embarrassing. I was not cutting in front of another party or trying to get extra food unfairly. I was simply helping feed the children in our group -- a group we had paid a significant amount of money for. The way I was treated was rude, humiliating, and completely unacceptable. It felt as though I was being scolded for trying to get food that we had already paid for. For a family dinner cruise, there should be some understanding that adults may need to assist young children at the buffet. Unfortunately, based on this experience, I would not recommend this dinner cruise for families with small children. If your children will need help getting food from the buffet, this is not a family-friendly experience. We left feeling disappointed and disrespected.

Great experience. Captain Mark held a wonderful ceremony for my mother. He was thoughtful and…read morerespectful. We greatly appreciated his efforts and would highly recommend H2O.

Captain Mark was very knowledgeable and the trip was great! Thank you for making our boating…read moreadventure to the sand dollar sand bar fun!

I cannot recommend Captain Oliver enough! We had the most fun, joyful experience with him. He…read moreunderstood our needs (I.e. that I do poorly with ocean motion) and adapted without complaint. My ten year old said our day with him was the best day of her life. Please, if you're considering chattering a boat to visit a few islands and skip the rigid cookie-cutter experience offered by others - CALL CAPTAIN OLIVER!

HIGHLY RECOMMEND CAPT. OLIVER!! Went on a 2 hour dolphin charter with captain Oliver and It was…read moreAMAZING!! He is the nicest guy and knew everything about the area and animals. Him being so knowledgeable of the area was huge since we did this to see more of the east coast (we are from the west coast). We saw wild horses, beautiful houses and SO many dolphins. My daughters favorite part was when she got to "drive" the boat. He was the best captain we could have asked for. This tour exceeded our expectations!!

Great experience. My son has been super eager to go fishing and I wasn't sure what to expect from…read morethis type of excursion. We went with a large family group. The half day trip was 2 hours out, 2 hours fishing, 2 hours back. Unfortunately, as soon as the boat stopped I, and a few others, got sick. The crew noticed this and stepped in to help my son catch some fish while he was feeling well enough. Our group caught over 30 lbs of black sea bass and ringtail porgie.

A group of us booked the 6-person charter for the day on Saturday, June 13, 2026. Some members of…read morethe group brought their own electric fishing equipment, battery packs and all. I don't remember the Captain's name, however the First Mate's name was CJ. We paid to go out to the Gulf Stream to fish. We had a meeting before leaving the dock when we were informed that we would not be going out to the Gulf Stream due to restrictions which made the trip unworthy. Per the Captain, we went out 11 miles and dropped anchor and fished in that area. We were catching fish that we had to through back. I observed the FM claim a fish was too small & he threw it back in, but not before he stuck the fish to bleed it out. I did not understand that move. Anyway, another boat with 2 people on it went out 40 miles and all of their fish were twice the size of the fish caught on boat. One guy caught 55 lbs. of fish and the other caught 66 lbs. and more variety. Total, we caught 64 lbs. Bottom line is if we paid Gulf Stream fishing and didn't go but 11 miles offshore, I believe that we should have been reimbursed for them not holding up to their end of the bargain. Non was offered. Lloyd T

First time going out, and definitely won't be our last. The Capt., and first mate are great at what…read morethey do. Made the trip fun and enjoyable, we caught around 41 Spanish Mackerel with only a half day. Our next trip will be the 8-11 hour trip to try and catch bigger fish. Couldn't recommend these guys enough.

I had an amazing experience fishing with Justin from Family Time Fishing Charters. He had us on…read morefish within minutes and we had such a great time catching fish and learning from him. Will be back!!! John

Super professional and kind people. If your looking for a successful day on the water, this is the…read moreboat.

This is a review for a trip taken on Saturday, July 23rd. First off, had we caught more fish, this…read morewould have been a five star review. Capt Dale of the Sensation and his first mate, "Big Country" are all about business and are a first class crew. To be clear, I do not fault the crew for our lack of a "big haul" of fish, because Capt. Dale did everything in his power to find the fish. Most captains would have given up, but Capt Dale found the fish, and we managed to haul in 3 large Amber-jack, a big Wahoo, some Trigger Fish and Snapper. We wanted enough fish for a fish fry that evening, and the trip resulted in over 30lbs of fresh fish, more than enough. The Sensation is a beautiful boat, with everything you need for a day of offshore fishing. The fishing area is clean and spacious and the cabin is comfortable with COLD A/C, which was a must for this 95 degree day. We left at 0520 hours and returned at 1630. Capt Dale took us out approximately 40 miles in calm seas. The boat handled the trip beautifully. Back at the dock, I was curious to see if any other boats had a spectacular haul, but they didn't. We were one of the boats that probably fared the best that day and it showed in Capt Dale's dedication to ensure we didn't get skunked!! I highly recommend the Sensation for either a half or full day out on the water. You won't be disappointed!

Randal and Crysta were amazing! So nice and helpful. I would recommend this outfit anytime!! In…read morefact, I want to work with them!! Lol Doreen B.

Short Version: There's a strong trend in the reviews for this vendor. Many people get their boats…read moreand have a good time. But Crystal coast Boat Charters has a problem with communication, and if anything at all goes wrong, you'll find yourself wondering what just happened and be left without a boat. We booked a boat for rental on Friday, May 28, for our family coming in to town for Memorial Day weekend. We had a couple calls with Krista over the next couple weeks, up until two days before the rental. During that call she told me the person who was bringing the boat (I think she said her husband, but not sure if I remember that right) had a broken phone, but that she promised to get me "some phone number so you could reach him." Not exactly confidence inspiring, but stuff happens, so I rolled with it. I went back to other reviews after the crash and burn and found this broken phone thing was a common issue that they still haven't fixed. The day of the rental came and I finally received a phone call about an hour before our rental time. The gentleman who called me was bewildering at best. Instead of clearly telling me what was broken and whether it could be fixed soon, I got a bizarre set of contradictions ranging from, "I have a guy in Swansboro hooking me up" (With what? A new boat? A part?), to "I'm trying to just delay an hour" and then ending with, "I'm shootin for the stars, man, I just dunno. I'm a nice guy, though, I'm an owner operator." It was difficult to get further details out of him. As we got closer to delivery time, I texted. No response. Then I called at the time he was supposed to deliver the boat. "Sorry man, I'm not 1000% sure it's going to happen today." I said "ok, if it isn't, then do you know anyone else that rents boats?" Instead of responding to the question, he said "Gimme a few minutes man, I'll call you back." When he called me back, he said, "We got it and we'll be at X launch point in 30 minutes." When I told him, "We ordered it for Y launch point," he replied, "Well that's news to me!" But we expected to meet him there in 30 minutes. 30 minutes later, I received a vague text message, "The hub is done sorry I will call you." I tried calling him and he stopped picking up the phone. Not knowing exactly what that text message meant, I texted Krista indicating what a stunning failure this had been and received a text full of excuses. Mechanical issues are out of people's hands. I get that. But communication is fully in the business's hands. Bottom line: this company is a slap dash operation who won't take responsibility for their failures, and will just stop talking to you when everything founders.