A Family Experience

Abhainn Cruises is a family run business so naturally we strive to provide a family friendly experience. Whether you’re a couple, a small family unit with children, a multi-generational family, a group of families who enjoy spending time together, a group of friends or community group who love and support each other (that’s family in our eyes), we want to ensure you get the best experience possible.

Family time offers many benefits, including building confidence, creating a stronger emotional bond between family members, improving communication skills, better performance in school and reduced behavioural issues, as well as providing an opportunity to make memories built on fun, laughter and togetherness. Family time can be something as simple as going for a walk together, cooking together or can include embarking on a new experience or organised activity.

There are many activity providers locally offering experiences which you and your family can enjoy. We think these experiences are incredibly valuable and enriching. In fact, researchers agree that experiential purchases provide more happiness and satisfaction than material purchases.

“Research published in the Journal of Positive Psychology reveals that people who spent money on experiences rather than on material goods were happier because the excitement we often get from purchasing things tends to diminish quickly as we get used to them and start taking them for granted. However, the joy and memories experiences bring can give us stronger feelings of satisfaction. That can be true even if the experience doesn’t last nearly as long as the physical item that we purchased”.

(Henderson, R., 2020, Atlanta Financial Blog, https://atlantafinancial.com/why-people-who-spend-money-on-experiences-are-happier/)

Our sight-seeing tours on the water are specially designed for small groups on our ten seater and twelve seater RHIBs. We only provide private charter so it’s only your group onboard together, affording you privacy and a Skipper who is fully invested in just your group’s experience.

We will help you plan your tour, picking one that is just right for your family. For younger children between four and seven years we recommend our shortest most sheltered sea tour, Carrick-a-Rede Sea Safari. If you have a nervous child or adult onboard our Skipper will seat them beside him in the navigator’s seat, putting them at ease and giving them a sense of control over their experience. Our Skippers are experienced with children who have diverse sensory needs so please let us know when booking and we will do everything we can to cater to their comfort.

If a sea tour is not suitable for your family but you still yearn to get on the water, we also provide sight-seeing tours on Lough Neagh and the River Bann. These locations have a wealth of history and legends to reveal and our Skippers love to share their stories of this area which is so close to our own home beside Lough Beg. On any tour our Skippers will modify their stories and information to your family’s interests, although we tend to find that everyone of any age loves a good story about pirates and smugglers or legends of giants and sea monsters.

No family outing is complete without a good belly laugh, and with our Skippers we can certainly promise you that. Just read the reviews or better yet book a tour yourself. You will step off the boat with memories that will last a lifetime, stories to tell friends and the warm glow of shared laughs with your loved ones. You’ll love it so much you’ll want to come again. As the years go on, more and more of our custom is return business and there’s nothing more gratifying to us than seeing familiar faces summer after summer. We love knowing that we’ve played a part in giving your family joy and we look fondly on the smiles in your family photos of your experience with Abhainn Cruises.