Jones Valley House Boat Review…read more Our extended family just returned from our 2nd annual house boat vacation with Jones Valley House Boats, and we highly recommend this company, this location and this form of vacationing with a group.  We're already planning our return for next year! We rented an Excapade, which comfortably slept 8 people without having to convert the couch or the kitchen table for beds.  We could've easily accommodated 3-4 more people. The boat was really well-outfitted in the kitchen. The BBQ was great! They provide plenty of white plastic chairs and even though both years we brought comfortable camp chairs, we 've decided they really aren't necessary.  The white chairs are awesome! They provide one cooler, a drip coffee maker, and a toaster.  The refrigerator is a full-size refrigerator, so even though we used coolers to transport perishable items on our long drive to the lake, we don't use them during the week because on the upper deck there is a small refrigerator to keep drinks.  We brought inflatable paddle boards, blow-up floating mattresses and fishing gear.   Office staff have been very friendly and accommodating.  Each trip they come out to the boat to orient you and help you learn how to use the boat.  For RVers out there, it's easy! Others will want to ask a lot of questions to understand the electrical panel and take notes during your orientation.  When you arrive, they are so friendly and helpful, bringing large dock carts right to your car to help you load all your items into the carts and drive everything to the front door of the house boat.  They also have someone who drives back and forth from the parking lot down to the dock giving people rides, which is so appreciated especially during those hot days!  Their team is so efficient and friendly at all times.  We researched all the house boat companies at Lake Shasta and are really happy we picked Jones Valley because of their exceptional quality, value, scheduling, and friendliness.  We're already looking forward to our 3rd annual trip with Jones Valley House Boats 2027!

This was the scariest most uncomfortable experience of my entire life. I had a very rare brain…read moretumor and we did not know if I would survive the surgery and these three sleepless nights on this houseboat were genuinely scarier. We rented the Corinthian houseboat for three nights. Our orientation was more of a 45-minute dark comedy than a serious instruction on how to safely stay alive on this thing. We recorded the orientation so we could reference it should we need to. At no point did we receive an overview on emergency protocols. We were told all info is available in this book and the solution to any problem is basically just call the Marina. We take off to our first cove and decide to stake down to fish for a while. We were never shown how to properly stake so we did not unhitch the ropes, meaning we had about five feet of rope connected us to the side of a rocky hill. We were in the mouth of a cove and it was getting windy so we thought to find another spot for the evening. We try MANY times and the boat would not turn on. Doing everything they told us to over and over again, reviewing the book (which we learn now that we are nearing an emergency situation was missing MANY pages), it would NOT turn on. We decide we have to stay here all night since it's getting dark and maybe the boat engine needs to rest. Luckily we still had one stake in but we had to physically pull this massive boat with our hands and bodies while perched on the side of a rocky hill, fighting against wind, just to get a second stake in. By the sheer will and grit and strength of an amazing group of friends we muscled a 50,000 pound boat down. WTF! All night the boat was rotating around the corner of this cove, I was convinced we would come untethered and have no ability to turn the boat on or call the Marina. I stayed up ALL night with a flashlight on the those stakes in case they came up. WTF! Finally the morning came and we were able to turn the boat on for about 3 minutes, just enough time to pull one stake, and it just SHUT OFF. We could not turn it on again. Thank god we still had one stake in. After 20 mins of trying to turn it on we have to call the Marina. We climbed the hill and searched for service, finally getting them after 30+ attempts and they said they'd send someone. We waited HOURS and no one came. We are once again one stake away from floating away and who knows what would happen! We climb the mountain and finally get another glimpse of service to call again and beg them to come help. After another HOUR Isaac the Angel finally comes and turns it on. Thank the heavens for Isaac! We finally got the houseboat back to the Marina to pick up our speed boat and THREE staff members attempted to turn on our houseboat and could NOT turn it on. Isaac is the only person that can do it so he needs to be called in. We learn on our speed boat orientation that we were in grave danger all night and emergency protocols include a flag which we've never seen, calling the police with service we didn't have, and ringing a bell which we never knew existed. WTF! We also learned that you need the full length of rope to stake the boat properly and should use four NOT two stakes. We take off to find a new place to stake down for the next two nights. We find a cove and are able to stake down but once we hitch our speedboat, we come untethered. We attempt to turn on the houseboat and of course, it WILL NOT TURN ON! After climbing another hill and attempting many calls to the Marina, Isaac the Angel is dispatched and turns the death machine on allowing us to straighten the boat and get all four stakes in. Mind you, before he arrives our incredible group is in the water and on the shore pushing and pulling this thing to avoid it tipping or crashing into the rocks! Once again, we avoid death by the strength and power of our own bodies! Finally, Monday morning arrives and we are ready to get out of here. We are able to turn the boat on using the special tricks Isaac taught us that are not intuitive or written down anywhere and we get three of the four stakes out. We leave one stake in because we now know better and we pull ropes. We attempt to take off. The boat is fully beached. We spend 30 minutes trying to get this thing unbeached, no luck. This was not in the book or in the orientation, of course. We call the Marina over and over, please send Isaac! We wait one HOUR with the boat ON because we know if it turns off it'll never turn back on. No one comes. Then the carbon monoxide alarm goes off and we pull open all the windows and doors and run up into the hills. The boat is on, untethered, and now filled with carbon monoxide, and we are all 30 feet away from it. I call the Marina and beg for immediate help! We wait for another 45 minutes and finally Isaac arrives, gets us off the beach, and another very nice staff person drives us back to the Marina. I sob as we drive off, exhausted, so grateful for my friends, and that this trip is over.