FishingBookerReviews 652

We booked a trip out of Destin for a 6 am departure. It is our experience that fish bite in the morning. Our deposit for that time slot was processed and THEN the captain called and said his boat was in the shop and he might be able to take us out at 11 or the next day. We had plans for the next day.
They did not give us our deposit back! This is a scam. The reviews for this captains had 3 cancelled trips in a row. Do they just take people's deposits all day and then inform that there boat is broken but so sorry... no refund. This was for the charter boat Malia Ann

Wife's 40th birthday approaching. Can't throw a party with COVID... can't travel like we normally do... so let's do a private fishing charter!

Talked to several friends with boats, all busy that weekend. Called local charters that we knew of. All booked. Someone mentioned this site, fishingbooker.com.

On July 11th I booked a charter for Aug 1st. Offshore fishing for 6 hours. Paid a deposit. Received several emails and text messages confirming our trip. Also received emails reminding me of my reservation.

Attempted to contact the captain through the website messaging system just to find out what we needed to bring. Didn't hear anything back. Finally, clicked on the button to get captains number directly. Received a call back the day before the scheduled and confirmed trip that he had absolutely NO idea that we booked a trip with him. He apologized, and attempted to do his best to reach out directly with other charters that he knew of.

I went BACK on fishingfinder.com on July 31st and looked for another charter for Aug 1st. Found one that showed available. Booked the trip, and PAID ANOTHER DEPOSIT.

Now that I knew to look for the button to contact the captain directly, I immediately called to confirm with him directly. He called me back a few hours later. He also explained that he had NO IDEA HOW we were able to book a trip with his charter through this site. He was completely booked for the weekend, just like everyone else.

Summarize... planned a nice fishing trip for my wife's 40th birthday. Paid a deposit. Got several confirmations via email and text.

No fishing! No trip actually booked! Attempted to book ANOTHER TRIP through the same website. Again, paid another deposit. NO TRIP. NO FISHING.

I basically paid this site money twice for nothing. Great birthday present! Sorry honey, I failed on the highlight of the weekend birthday experience.

I'm sure I will get my refunded deposits... but no fishing! So I pay a website money twice and have to do work to get money back.

Words can't describe how frustrating this is.

So we booked a trip very easily and deposited just $75. 00. 6 hour trip out of Fernandina Florida. Everything seemed fine till the day of our trip. I get a text from the "Capt" stating his boat broke he had to cancel. Fine I get it. I tried to call him and see about rebooking or if there was another Capt and boat available to fish same day. The number is a non working number. I then try to contact fishingbooker and can not reach a single person. This company never tried to contact me or reach out to make other arrangements. They left us high and dry. I would never use them again or recommend this company to anyone STAY AWAY FOLKS. Find a Capt and contact them directly. We normally fish a few times a year on the gulf coast we use Tomcat out of PCB Fl. I have had trips canceled but they contacted me personally and made arrangements to fix it or make my next trip better. Fishingbooker is crap.

I booked a trip on Sunday afternoon for our planned trip next week to Miami. 48 hours later, we are informed that a positive COVID19 traveler has required us to cancel our condo stay. We live 12 hours away so obviously we had to cancel all our activities. The captain of the charter was so nice, but the Fishing Booker company still took our $190 deposit. I guess the 48 hour reservation didn't fall into their terms and conditions. I just think as a business owner myself that's not good business courtesy.

After booking a 1/2 day inshore pm tripwaited for verification. I went back to charters website and saw it was booked at the time i booked it so i was under the impression we where going once we got verification. I waited for verification upto 3 hrs before departure and no answer by email i started calling customer service all they could say is wait till our departure time and wait for a reply from the captain from first landing charters here in Virginia. Not waiting i looked for a phone number and called no answer left a message. I then got an email saying sorry for not decling your request earlier from the capt. Now its to late to find another to take the kids out. And yet no response from fishbooker thks for your help on our vac.

Booked a time slot for my son and I. Terms said deposit would only be charged after the Captain confirmed. My deposit was charged to my credit card. I never actually heard from the captain, so I messaged through the site. My booking was immediate cancelled, and I got an auto message that my deposit would be returned within 7 days.

My suspicion - the site didn't wait for the captain to confirm and charged me before confirmation. It didn't follow the procedure it said it would. I'm stuck without enough time to book another trip, too close to the trip date, and my son and I don't have availability due to work and other trips for 6 weeks for another trip, so we're just out of luck.

I will never attempt to use the site again, will only book by direct calling charter services and booking directly through them.

Fishing Booker doesn't provide all the reviews of the captains. I booked a charter and paid the deposit and received a confirmation and the Captain didn't show up. I left a review so others would know and it was removed. Fishing Booker says that "if the trip doesn't happen then the review is removed." I got stood up with 2 friends from out of town and waited and waited and the captain ghosted me until i submitted the review. Buyer Beware. Fishing Booker is a unreliable.

Fishing booker was very helpful when Captain Mark Garcy notified me at 7; 30 the night before a 7:00 AM departure that he had a trip with 5 people and would be able to take us out at 1:30 PM. The only way I found out was when I called him to verify at 7:30 the night before. Fishing booker refunded my deposit immediately. I would never get on his boat especially after he gave me an attitude. If you book with Fishhing booker, I would recommend not using Cruise Fish Dive-Spear 1 Up.

Fishingbooker is a business originally owned company based out of Belgrade Serbia.
Buyer be where this company suckers fishing guide to compete and lower rates to unsustainable levels leading to business failure. Big hotels can do it with hundreds of rooms but check to check fishing guides struggle at regular rates. Fishing Booker can out internet anybody because they are good at that and they can afford Google AdWords and a regular small business cannot keep up the cash flow needed to compete on the internet.
Deposits are taken not returned Captains are unlicensed make for dangerous trips. Captains are unreliable and don't care. Book directly if you want good service and quality experienced Captains. Fishing booker is ruining the small charter fishing industry. They only allow select reviews on their site and they will not put themselves out to be reviewed by Google and the real world.
I will never use them again for fishing trips.

Booked and paid $100 non refundable deposit for a boat /captain that was listed as available for the next day. Website said to expect a response in about an hour. Actual response time 12 hours only to be told that the booking was cancelled because the boat/captain were not available. They waited until 1am to decide, 5 hours before the charter was to leave. Multiple boats were available just not this one. Fishingbooker holds your funds and when you attempt to cancel and rebook they will keep your $100 deposit. Tried reaching out to customer service on multiple occasions and only received copy/paste responses that didn't address the problem. They actually told me it was my fault for using their service within 24 hours of the intended trip. Ye be warned!

I have been out on the Blue Fin with Captain David numerous times and have to say that each time was truly amazing. We fished and caught many types of fish and other times we took an evening cruise when friends or family to see the Miami Harbor. It's almost the only boat truly in South Beach where you don't have to drive to Miami, Key Biscayne, or Haulover inlet. I think he's been on the water since 1965. Definitely a real salt. The boat is a fishing boat set up to catch fish and cruise and has all the comforts that you need. Cabin for shade, air conditioned, BBQ grill, music and a large cockpit to relax in. When my family visits from Nebraska or friends from Europe, it is a real memorable treat for them.

Booked a 5hr charter out of Cabo, with listed fees ($20/ea fishing licenses, $15 live bait). Paid owner of charter at top of dock total amount due for 2 people, owner left and another worker walked us down to boat. Once on boat he says we owe $15 for live bait which we already paid. Calls owner who says we did not pay for live and the $15 went to a "dock fee" which was not listed on the confirmation email and no live bait. Totally a lie and deceptive practice.

I Told them we weren't paying them any more money, and demanded them to return the money we paid which they did. We didn't go fishing, Later called fishing booker who made me jump through hoops a bit but eventually return my deposit. This is the only reason I'm giving them two stars and not one. I received messages from the fishing Charter saying we stole his licenses which we never saw, they probably never even bought them. He went on to threaten that he was going to come to our hotel and collect the money.

I contacted fishing Booker and told them to look at the messages and they should not list this type of person on their platform. They said they would look into it. 10 days later there still listing this charter. They obviously do not care.