Flora MacDonald Confederation Basin

Pros: Good staff. Clean water supply and reliable power. Great location. Cons: Update the ancient crap docks! Clean up the garbage area outside the gate. Homelessness makes walking in and out of the marina gate feel pretty insecure. Kingston does nothing. The municipality scores 1 star. They are coasting on location and safe harbour in a windy area. They could do so much more especially for the pricy dock fees.

Visited in Late August of 2020 once the Marina opened to transients under COVID restrictions. Docks are in disrepair and you need to keep your wits about you when walking on them if you want to stay dry. The City of Kingston is not spending here and should be a little embarrassed. Gas docks are at the sister Marina in Portsmouth miles away. Staff are relatively inexperienced but kind and try hard. They meet you and help with dockage which is a big help in the constant 20 knot wind that blows here. You can not beat the location relative to the downtown core of Kingston but for the rates charged and the density of the Marina they could invest some CapEx in reinvigorating this marina. Good breakwaters make this a safe dockage even in the most blustery day. Proximity to provisions is excellent. Advice to Kingston: stop relying on the Marina location and look at the infrastructure and service being delivered in the municipal Trent Port Marina in the Quinte West. They put you to shame. See https://www.quintewest.ca/en/marina/Trent-Port-Marina.asp UPDATE TO THE ABOVE REVIEW AUGUST 2022 : City of Kingston is finally investing in repairs and upkeep and it is showing in the power supply and the condition of the docks. It is still expensive but given the cap-ex and the location and staffing its probably worth it. I did not see it being used heavily which suggests they have reached a tipping point in transient rates and people are finding alternative dockage.

I have had the privilege of sailing in and out of Confederation Basin, in Kingston, Ontario, for 40 years now. At no time, as in the past few years, have I experienced such unprofessional service from the ENTIRE marina staff. No one answers the phone, which is weird because three staff were at the client service desk just gabbing and/or eating. No one responds to VHF calls from inbound boats, which is weird because I saw a dockhand with a VHF. No one knows what slip to put you in, which is weird because I filled in the online registration days ago. No one serves you at the client service, which is weird because, again, three staff are sitting around gabbing and eating, paying attention to anything except the human being at the counter. This has been going on for too long. Time for a change in leadership for marina staff in my opinion. Love Kingston. KCVI student. Queens grad. Married here. I would not normally say anything, but Confed Basin is important to me, my family, and this community. It has been hard to watch the level of service decline so drastically over the past few years. That’s my 2 cents. Thanks for listening. CC

We were there late in the season after coming down the Rideau. It was a week's wait until a good weather window opened to cross to Oswego, but Kingston and this marina worked out very well. Since it was late, there was plenty of room for berthing. All the marina's shoreside amenities were very good indeed, with clean bathrooms and showers, and new washers and driers. Kingston is a nice city with plenty of restaurants and shopping. Note: it is very exposed to wind from the north, east, and south. We were pinned pretty hard to our facing dock for several days, though when our day to leave approached we were able to maneuver off. Perhaps the lesson is if you can't get off your dock due to high winds, it's probably better to stay put. All in all a good stay.