The boat ride was lovely and could not have gone better!
Pablo = amazing!
Highly recommend
Let me start saying that the Dream Yacht Charter people on base were absolutely kind and understanding, and every interaction with them was nothing but pleasant and nice. 5 stars for that
However, the boat was very poorly maintained and run down, which made me question its seaworthiness.
- Chips all over the boat, with the fiberglass exposed on many areas and never patched
- Overall the boat was clean, but had mold and corrosion in many places (shower head, faucets, ceiling, ...)
- The holding tank in the aft head started leaking on day 2 and made the bathroom unusable for the smell
- Outside cushions latches were mostly broken, and the instruments panel presented some plastic frames that were broken
- The aft sea platform latch on the port side was heavily corroded, to the point that it was lifting when stepping on it
- The dinghy was ok, although looked deflated, but the engine would not stay idle and shut off if you close the accelerator
I don't think the price paid reflects the quality of the boat we received, ESPECIALLY considering that they had way newer and better maintained boat on base (e.g., the Dufour 430 and 390). We booked months in advance, and had no heads up whatsoever on the conditions of the boat. Felt more like an old or 3rd party boat that they charter occasionally rather than a well maintained, base boat.
The Dream Yacht folks were very understanding of the situation, but admitted openly that the boat got "some love" and was in BVI thus ran down pretty hard due to lack of time to maintain them.
I'd like to ask for at least a partial refund of the trip given the situation we encountered. Happy to discuss a voucher for a future sailing charter (which we will happily do with them, but NOT on such a bad boat).
Thank you
Marco
