Golden Gate Sailing Tours

I’ve been swindled. What a bummer.
As a wedding present, a friend gave us a voucher for a sailing tour for 2. However, when the day came to go on the cruise, Captain Bob called me to tell me his daughter was in the hospital with kidney stones so the cruise was cancelled. I completely understood, wished her well, and waited for him to call or email later. He said he would send me another voucher. When I waited a good amount of time (3 months) and did not receive another voucher, I called to reschedule. They get booked months ahead so I had to wait another several months. I emailed them beforehand to make sure everything was good and received a confirmation email. The day of the sail, Captain Bob called to say that the cruise was cancelled due to lack of wind. He said it happened frequently. Again, no one called to reschedule as promised. I still wasn’t really perturbed.
Until today. I called and sent an email two days ago explaining that I’d like to reschedule for the third time. I did not receive a response. When I called just a few minutes ago, I heard a new voice on their answering service, stating that they went out of business. All voucher-​holders could get a refund from whomever they purchased the voucher. What if it was a gift? What if the voucher is a year and a half old because Golden Gate Sailing Tours cancelled twice and are incompetent as a business? Well, I guess I’m out of a wedding present and I’m a little wiser.

I reserved a sailing tour on line after a Groupon purchase, as instructed. 2 days before sailing I called the captain and left a phone message to call me to confirm the sailing date and time. He never called back. I drove from Sacramento to the dock on the assigned day, but he was not there. He did not answer when I phoned. The manager of the marina said other customers had come in the morning, but he didn’t show up then either. Don’t get stiffed by this business.

DO NOT BOOK WITH GOLDEN GATE SAILING!!!
Well we are the latest in what seems to be SOP for this POS. Scheduled months in adv, confirmed, then Capt. Bob didn’t show. How does GROUPON keep promoting this garbage.

I reserved a sail for Sunday 22 May, but received a text message from Bob a captain on Saturday night just a couple of hours before sail: «we will be cancelling our sail», the captain promised in that message to call for rescheduling. But he didn’t and since that time he ignores my emails, text messages, and calls. I’ve read feedback on his sails on Unilocal and it looks like it’s a common practice for him.

Wow, I came on here to write a review (which I hardly ever do unless a service is really great or really terrible) and have now seen that I’m not alone in getting scammed by this awful company. Like so many others, I got a sailing tour for two voucher on Living Social, scheduled my sail, and an hour beforehand, Captain Bob called and said the boat broke down and we would need to reschedule. I have now been calling and emailing for weeks to try to reschedule and am getting no response. I have left multiple voicemails asking for someone to call me back. Do not book with this company.

DO NOT BOOK with this company! Captain bob was a no show!!! I reserved a trip today 5÷14÷16 for my parents 45^th wedding anniversary. Captain bob did not show up. I bought the trip on living social and reserved through his service. I received a confirmation e mail and I called twice in the days leading up to the trip. Neither of my calls or voicemails were answered and I have not received a refund. Horrible business!

went on this tour a while ago but just joined Unilocal and love this company, I took the fan who were visiting from katmando. my mother cried when she saw the bay from the sea. the staff are really great. Aplus

Along with another couple, we purchased a Groupon voucher, hoping for the 4 of us to have a nice sail on the Bay. When I tried to set up a sail date with Golden Gate Sailing Tours„ their reservation calendar, which runs through the end of May, indicates NO SAILING DATES for the 4 of us. There are only two dates during that entire period that indicate availability for a single couple.
I contacted Groupon and they are hiding behind mumbo-​jumbo, claiming that this isn’t their fault, i. e, that my beef is with Golden Gate Sailing Tours, which won’t return my phone calls.
If you look at the other Unilocal comments since Sept. 2015, you will see a clear pattern of non-​performance and broken promises.
This company should not be offering its services if they can’t/won’t perform. Ditto with Groupon.

EVERYONE READ ALL OF THE 1 STAR REVIEWS HERE AND ON FACEBOOK.
Captain Bob, I’ve left you emails, voicemails, messages with customer service as well as messages sent through living social. Please give me my $ 75 reimbursement.
Facts:
I paid my $ 75 fee after buying a deal through living social. I was forced to reschedule my ride due to «boat maintenance» 3 times over 7 months. My last scheduled trip you simply decided not to show up. I called customer service and they said you weren’t responding to them.
You’re clearly still doing business since you still have your deal on living social and have new reviews. I know my emails aren’t going to your junk mail box because we’ve exchanged over a dozen before you decided to go dark AND I’ve sent you messages from different email addresses.
The fact that it’s been months with no response is absurd.

Similar to other reviewers, my girlfriend had purchased a voucher as a gift last Christmas for a nice little tour around the bay. We’ve had Captain Bob reschedule on us 4 times now (only 3 of which had advanced notice, one he told us when we showed up), since last year. This last time he promised that we would receive an additional certificate (since our old one was about to expire after so long) good for us and 4 friends, as a compensation for this repeated inconvenience. We’ve been trying to get a hold of him to receive said certificate to no such luck. We’ve called an emailed several times. 0 response from Bob or his staff.
These guys are borderline criminal. Going to contact the organization we purchased the voucher from for a refund as well and lodge a complaint with the BBB. No idea how this guy is still doing any kind of business.
Don’t waste your time on these folks. Use one of the many other available charters in the area.

Our sail was canceled not once, not twice, but three times. Twice due to mechanical issues. I understand that boats can be finicky, but this is your business! Keep the thing running or get a back up boat. Not to mention that the only way we found out the sail was canceled the second time was going all the way to the harbor on Treasure Island. By the third time (today) we were very skeptical so we called in advance. Yep, canceled again. A worthless operation. Do not use.

We purchased a voucher for a sailing tour for two via Zozi. Redeeming the voucher proved difficult enough with only very limited dates available, but we finally found a date that worked. Imagine our disappointment when we arrived at the dock on Saturday morning, only to be told that it was «too windy» to sail that day. This seems like something that could have been communicated in advance. The pattern of cancellations and lack of communication continued. We rebooked. This time, we called before departing for the dock. I wish I had been surprised when I was told «actually, the boat is having mechanical issues today». And so on and so forth. Eventually, Captain Bob and Golden Gate Sailing Tours simply stopped responding to any communications whatsoever.
Don’t waste your time or money dealing with this fraudulent enterprise.

We just took the sailing tour today and it was amazing! The boat is nice and Capt. Bob was extremely pleasant.
Our overall experience with Golden Gate Sailing Tours was extremely smooth. I was originally going to take the tour last month but had to cancel at the last moment because I was flying in to San Francisco the night before the sailing tour — and my flight got cancelled. I just called them up and left a voice message. And they re-​scheduled it for me with no problems at all. So I was impressed with the customer service even before I took the actual tour.
Quick tip: When you arrive at the location, you’ll see signs for «permit parking only». However, don’t worry about that. It’s okay if you park there.

As a fellow reviewer stated; «I would give this zero stars if I could.» We purchased a voucher as well and had two trips canceled. The first (⁷⁄₂₀₁₅) was canceled the day before the scheduled sail. The second (⁹⁄₂₀₁₅) was canceled the morning of the scheduled sail with no reason given. Now seeing a well established pattern of disappointment, I will not be using my voucher for the Golden Gate Sailing Three Hour Sailing Tour of the Bay!

I would give this zero stars if I could. I purchased a voucher via groupon last November and on THREE DIFFERENT OCCASIONS the tour has been cancelled within a week of the scheduled date. Different excuses — the boat isn’t fixed yet, family emergency, etc etc. It cannot be mere coincidence that in four different months (March, August, September) the tour has been cancelled for various reasons.
That is no way to run a business. When I have emailed or called «Captain Bob», my questions have gone unanswered. I’m so disappointed that this has continually been cancelled, I have been looking forward to this adventure for nearly a year. But now I’m giving up.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY OR VALUABLE TIME ON THIS.

Before the sailing tour the captain was very communicative and nice. Once we got on the sailboat, we were not offered any drinks or snacks, as advertised. The captain was nice, but he cut out trip 45 minutes due to wind. He didn’t communicate why the trip was cut short or apologize for the I convenience. We were so excited to go and we were disappointed that our trip was not shortened.

Recently, my wife and I joined 2 other couples for a 3 hour Bay Tour w/​Golden Gate Sailing Tours. For the most part, our 3 hours were spent going in a circle around Treasure Island. Not right next to it though, but that was still the route :) The boat itself was nice, and very comfortable. There really is nothing like being on a sailboat w/​the wind the only thing powering your motion. It’s so quiet and serene. On our tour, we were able to spot a couple of dolphins, and some sea lions. We also went under both spans of the Bay Bridge, which was pretty cool since the new bridge is really quite pretty.
Capt. Bob was great and knowledgeable about the bay and of course about sailing :) I think that if you are looking for something a little different and really relaxing give Capt. Bob and Golden Gate Sailing Tours a shot.

Had a great afternoon sailing the Bay with Golden Gate Sailing Tours. Capitan Bob was a lot of fun and knowelegable of the bay and let us ask tons of questions. Thanks! We will be back

I took this sail at the beginning of October this year. It was a really nice day and captain bob was a gracious host. The sail was smooth, the boat was a nice size and in good condition, the other people on our sail were friendly and good company.
We sailed pass Alcatraz, under the new bridge and to the stadium where the giants were playing. Hey we even saw a few seals, we were allowed to bring our own food and drinks which made the sail even better as it was scheduled for 3 hrs. I got great pictures of the city, Alcatraz, the stadium and many other sights while on the trip
The reason I didn’t give 5 stars is that our sail trip was ended 30 minutes early due to the tide.
Cheers to good sailing!

How do I give five stars when I didn’t even go sailing (yet)? Customer service from a great guy, that’s how.
My wife bought us three groupons for sailing, but we could not find a day that worked with the online system. I sent an email, and Bob replied promptly and set up a Saturday sail for 6 with no hassles. The week of the sail we had to drop to 2 people (family funeral for friends, etc), and then the night before my daughter got sick enough that we had to take her to the doctor on a Saturday.
I sent email notifying them and recognizing that my groupons would be lost, but health comes first. The email I got back wished us well and said that they would still honor groupons, even with cancellation the night before.
Great customer service, especially for a business catering to tourists.