The Red Boats Ltd - Party Boats & Fishing Charters Auckland

Great trip to Riverhead with Duncan and Jackson as the lovely and friendly crew. Great views, informative commentary provided, snacks and drinks can be purchased and best of all for us, was that my grandson (10) was allowed to steer the boat for a little while, which totally made his day!

We arrived just after 6:30 and found the boat with about 10 people on it, waiting for the last few to arrive. It's an old boat but it floats well enough, was clearly not originally designed for fishing, and has been only partially adapted, it has no rod holders, there's a bench seat all around the edge, a large stainless steel bait table in the middle, and plenty of room for everyone's chili bins and tackle.At the back of the boat were two families with young kids, down the sides were guys with their own gear, most people were keeping themselves to themselves and the skipper (Mike) cast off around 7 with a compliment of 15 fishers.We arrived near Takapu Rock just before 9, some people chatted a lot, and some chatted less. Everyone respected each other's space and differences, was polite, and made it really easy to just enjoy being there. The only negativity spoken was at the gulls that were constantly trying to steal our bait, or the empty hooks we kept bringing back in.There was a young family on board who were there for the affordable food they could get, so people put any unwanted legal fish into their bin, giving us a feeling of community through Manaakitanga.Fish were caught throughout the day, mostly snapper with a few kahawai, and trevally added to bins. I landed my first kingfish, as in the photo, just a baby so it went back.One of the guys landed his new PB, a 79cm snapper weighing in at 20lb, I've blurred his face in the photo as I don't have his permission to 'out' him, and don't know his full name to ask for it.Having stayed anchored near Takapu Rock for a solid 5 hours of fishing, the skipper started the engines at 2 pm and we headed back to port.Everyone who went for a feed had a full bin including their limit of snapper, those there for the sport had some good yarns, and the journey back was a relaxed and enjoyable cruise giving us a chance to relax.It was a good day out that exceeded the expectations I had from the comments I'd received, and I'm very happy with the value of the trip.

The South Auckland 60s Up seniors group enjoyed a wonderful Upper Harbour cruise on Wednesday. The weather was spectacular (LOL - I had specifically asked for good weather) and, as is often the case on our excursions, it's the Staff that make all the difference. A special shout out to Duncan and Ari who made our day so enjoyable. Also to Lisa who made my job as organiser super easy. For any groups looking for an affordable outing on the water I highly recommend The Red Boats.

Had such an amazing time with Captain Mike, super attentive to the customer needs & ensured everyone left with some fish. Have caught enough fish now to make up for all the hours of NOT. 10000% recommend - must do experience. Thank you for looking after me :)

Fantastic day out for myself and kids.We were first-time sea fishermenSkipper Mike was superb in helping make the day memorable alongside all his other duties onboard.I give 5 stars for effort, sea knowledge and willingness to make the trip a winner.

Had a great trip up to Riverhead tavern yesterday 26th Jan, skipper was fantastic along with his crew mate, great day out for the 6 of us, must do it again sometime

We took a Red Boat outing from Auckland to watch the first day of the America’s Cup races.The day started off a little bad for us, because nobody knew what boat they were supposed to be on for the day. We were not informed of our boat assignment prior to arrival. There was a lot of confusion, and nobody from the crews would answer questions or tell anyone where to line up until it was time to board. The result for us was that in spite of being one of the first in line that afternoon, we ended up boarding our boat after many others and didn’t have great seats on the boat for watching the races. My wife and I had to sit on opposite sides of the boat for much of the trip.The boat was pretty old and worn, but functional.They arrived at the race course just minutes before the race. There were hundreds of boats there already, so they didn’t position us anywhere close to the race course. It was difficult to get photos or feel that we could see enough to be part of the action from our vantage point. The television on top of our boat was jammed into a small seating area and mostly obstructed from view (especially with people trying to get close enough to actually see it). It was difficult to watch any part of the race to know what was happening.The crew seemed fairly nice but not terribly helpful. We were never sure what to do in terms of when drinks were being served or when to get our food. (Or how...) Also , they refused to serve drinks at the same time that food was being served, (for no apparent good reason- only two people were serving food and other staff were just standing around) and that upset several people.The food was basic, with a snack box (only one box for two people) before the race with some cheese, crackers, and meats. I had requested vegetarian only, but they didn’t have vegetarian snack boxes, so we couldn’t eat a lot of it, and ended up throwing more than half of it in the trash. At least they had veggie burgers as an option when they fed us after the race, instead of their sausages. There were no chips (crisps) or anything else to go along with the sausages or veggie burgers, either. (You had to pay extra for a bag of chips!) Just a bun and toppings.We did meet some nice people on the boat, and we ended up having a decent time.I don’t think that I would use them again for an event like this, or recommend them to anyone else. I guess you get what you pay for...even though I felt that the value for what we paid for our day out was overall fairly poor. Next time, I will pay a little more for a better experience with another company.

We had an awesome day today on the fishing charter and Mike did a wonderful job of helping us. The weather turned a bit windy this afternoon and there were so so many little fish. We were able to catch a feed which capped the day off well. Thanks team :)

I am a repeat customer on the red boats.Mike the skipper makes it a brilliant trip.Lots of laughs and terrible jokes .Says fish don't have homes so no such thing as a fishing spot.Despite this we went straight to a (non) spot.Loads of fish caught of course..

I went out today with Mike the skipper.6/11/22. He took us straight out for 2 hours hike , to one of his spots. Mike put us on top of plenty of good size snappers. He was very alert of peoples needs. We all had a blast, even though it got pretty rough. But by that time we had plenty of fish to be satisfied with. i would highly recommend The Red boats as a great boat to go out in. I loved the day and the adventure, and really appreciated the skippers attitude to help others. 5 star review from me. Wayne.