English tourist David Potts, who with wife Amelia, has booked a transfer for this week, labelled the charge a rip-off.
He booked through the Cromwell information centre and when he complained about the high price, he was told it was because the operator has to bring the boat from elsewhere and would provide a river tour as well as the transfer.
He was especially annoyed that there was no way to opt out of the tour.
He continued with the booking only because he had already booked hotels.
Beaumont Jet and Clutha River Cruises have both signed up to provide the boat transfer service and both have priced their services at $95 per person.
Clutha River Cruises owner-operator Laurence van der Eb said his agreement with the Roxburgh Gorge Trail Charitable Trust allowed him to set his own price and it was $95 because of the distance involved.
He usually operates a two-and-a-half-hour tour down the Clutha River from Alexandra to Doctors Point, about 11km each way, for $90 per person.
Transfers between Doctors Point and Shingle Creek are expected to take about half an hour but would add about 15km each way to his run, he said.
Although official material puts the distance between the two sections at 12km or 13km, Mr van der Eb and Beaumont Jet owner-operator Dave Crawford say they think it is more like 15km.
The tour component of the service would just be a history talk about the area, Mr van der Eb said, because he did not want to delay passengers.
Mr Crawford said he was in the same position as Mr van der Eb but had to travel from Beaumont to Roxburgh before even launching his boat and ''jet- boats are expensive to run''.
He said there had been a lot of interest in his service and had some bookings but declined to say how many.
By yesterday, Mr van der Eb had not had any bookings for his transfer service.
Trail trust chairman Stephen Jeffery said the two operators had been the only ones able to begin operating last Thursday, when the trail officially opened, although others had put their hands up for the tender.
He had hoped the cost would be lower but ''it's a commercial thing'' and ''who knows what will happen in the future''.
Trail users are also expected to pay an annual maintenance contribution of $25 per person or $50 per family. That charge also covers use of the adjoining 73km Clutha Gold Trail, between the Roxburgh Dam and Lawrence.
