Mediocre at best
Dear Reader, I will make this as brief as possible but … First and foremost, Yacht Vacation Company LLC (the broker) is not the same as The Yacht Vacation Company LLC (the management company). For this reason I am posting this review on both companies. The broker sells you an expensive $26,000 week-long vacation including all food, wine and crew, and the management company takes little notice of this. The boat breaks, is full to the brim of the owners ‘stuff’, the food is mediocre and the wine which was agreed upon in writing does not appear! I don’t know about you, but to us $26,500.00 (not including flights and transport) but including mandatory crew tip at the minimum rate of 15 % is a fair amount of money for 7 nights on a catamaran. My family (5 in total on an 8-berth boat, coming from different countries) was to be picked up from Red Hook in St Thomas (as stated in the contract) after lunch on 19th December which was my 60th birthday! Not together since Covid, we were excited. The plan was to moor up in a nearby bay, celebrate my birthday and worry about customs the next day. Two days before, the crew decided they didn’t want to pick us up and we should get a water taxi for $1,500+. We said no. After numerous conversations, the crew finally persuaded us it would be better this way and agreed to pay, but our taxi didn’t materialize. We eventually ended up on the wrong boat with 2 other annoyed families. Hours later, sore and wet, we finally got on our boat at 6.30 pm by which time my 60th was pretty much over. In addition, the boat was broken (problems with the batteries apparently) and, according to the captain, had been broken since the previous charter three weeks before. From then on it was a case of a new day and a new problem. It was the battery … no, it was the fuse … no, it was the charger. A different day and a different story but no spare parts. Over the week charter, we spent at least 1.5 days sitting on a dock or mooring waiting to be fixed. This amounts to around $5,000! The repercussions of a battery/charger fault are numerous: The oven didn’t work at full power so pizza night was distinctly soggy - they came out of the oven one-at-a-time so we had to eat in turn; We had to keep the engine on to charge the battery but you couldn’t have the A/C on while the engine was running; My daughter was woken up early each morning by the engine which was located through a thin wall behind her head; The freezer defrosted and all the bread/croissants (which were stored with the defrosted chicken and pork ribs) ended up swimming around in raw chicken juice. I have pictures of this too. How many times had it defrosted and frozen? In fact, I was so worried about our health that I decided to sit down with the cook and explain that she would have to throw it away. I know it is difficult to cater for the demands of different people but if you promise an open bar plus 6 bottles of rose/white/prosecco/champagne per day (it was Christmas after all!) then you must provide it. It was agreed with the broker by email yet the crew told us they didn’t have anything in their budget for this … or the lobster rolls we requested on our preference sheet. So much for those pretty food pictures on their websites, we just got 80’s style pear halves with stilton on top! The cook and the skipper were young and despite being sweet, were a little unsophisticated. They were also new and did not have the local knowledge required. Now we know that they are not so sweet and I really wish we had left with our tip. The brokers took our money and made promises which I have in writing. They even tried emotional blackmail when I told them we would be writing a review. All we requested was a refund for 1.5 days of waiting and the wine we didn’t receive but they won’t even do this. They say: “Under the CYBA contract dated June 10, 2024, the terms of the charter agreement clearly delineate the responsibilities of all parties involved. Our role as the charter broker is to facilitate the arrangement between the client and the yacht owner via the Yacht management company The Yacht Vacation Company LLC. This includes managing initial expectations regarding provisions, crew, and amenities based on the information provided to us at the time of booking.” I am all for managing expectations but I also want what I paid for. I hope you find the right holiday with an alternative company and Bon Voyage!
By CR