The Moorings British Virgin Islands Bareboat Yacht Charter Reviews
- Overall1.75
- Boat Quality2
- Service1
- Value1
- Boat3
A warning to all. We had sailing trip with Moorings in the BVI out of tortola. We were told they had never had a theft of any personal items before so didn't need to use a safe etc. While we were at Brewer's Bay (anchored) two men swam to our boat and stole all of our cash (approx $1200). We reported this to the police. Apparently theyve had numerous thefts before per the head of the Tortola branch. We believe the captain was in on it. Additionally, our motor broke for 1.5 days. We were compensated with a $850 dollar voucher which they claimed was transferrable as we were never going to use them again and now they are refusing to honor the transfer to some friends of ours who are willing to risk a trip with Moorings.
- Overall
- Overall1
- Boat Quality1
- Service1
- Value1
- Boat1
The boat was in poor repair, it constantly stank like a sewer, and it didn’t even have a chart on board. Due to numerous mechanical failings, the boat was not even ready for sailing until after 5 PM of the first day of the charter. The provisions were nothing like what we ordered. The refrigerator barely worked and dripped water all over the kitchen floor the whole time. The staff's solution was to tell us to put some of our towels on the floor. The Tortola Moorings’ staff’s rudeness, total lack of helpfulness, and inability to properly maintain the vessel was appalling. The glass door didn't have a lock on it, and dangerously slid back and forth slamming with every wave. We purchased all the trip protection insurance offered, at a cost of over $700 but a Tropical Cyclone prevented us from ever leaving port more than just for a nerve-wracking, dangerous brief period. Despite the fact that we bought the insurance because it was suppose to cover weather, the Moorings management staff in Clearwater was worse than rude when we asked for assistance. This charter was a huge waste of money; don't waste your time or your money. The Moorings is lousy. We paid over $4000 to be insulted - they cannot stay in business for long when they run a company this way. Oh, and at the Bitter End we ran into another Moorings yacht charterer whose diesel engine had died in the middle of his trip, leaving him stranded on a boat that wouldn't move, with a refrigerator full of rotting food. He said that he had called the Moorings for assistance, but that it had been more than 16 hours and they still hadn't responded. Avoid the Moorings.
- Overall
- Overall2
- Boat Quality1
- Service3
- Value1
- Boat3
These guys USED to have good equipment. Think boat we had was in service TOO long. OK..25 yrs ago cud count on refrigeration not working,,but today?? If MAINTAINED it shud work..ours never did..crapped out completelly second day. Two service calls couldnt fix it. SO.. 7days with two coolers ..stops for ice..not to mention replacing food that went bad.
PLUS...nighmare getting main sail up thru the LAzy JAck...I swear the thing was not rigged properly..took 20-30 min ..up and down...swinging sail bak and forth to get loose of Lazy Jack. Service guy said this was manufacturer problem..daaa?? Outboard crapped out as we were going to follow service guy to go get ice/food..couldn't have happend at better time...HE COULD NOT get it going. HAd to wait a day to get new spark plug..and change the gas that had water in it. Think these guys are trying to stretch the equipment a bit these days..NOT worth the extra bucks anymore..- Overall
- Overall2.75
- Boat Quality2
- Service2
- Value2
- Boat5
Where do I start. I have never written a complaint letter before, probably because I have never felt the need, but this trip changed that. This was the second time we bareboat chartered with the Moorings in Tortola, BVI. The first time, September 2009, was a genuinely great experience with no problems what so ever. The second time however, February 2011, was a different story.
The day we arrived, we were expecting an Evening Start, where your boat is ready for you at 6 PM the night before you set sail. This is meant to allow you to get ready and sail early in the morning. We paid $604.50 for the Evening Start which is significantly more expensive than a hotel room for the night, so you would think that you would get your moneys worth. To our surprise, our boat was not ready until 7PM, when a customer service representative told me the boat “Up Next” was ready for us. They then went on to address the many other waiting customers questions without another word to us about our boat (like slip number).
I decided to take matters into my own hands and walk down the docks looking for the boat. I found it and brought my family aboard. Remember, they said it was ready and it was one hour after we were supposed to board. Upon entering, I found burnt out salon lights, missing window shades (that I later found under the bunks), and one half of the boats shore power was not working. This all would have been found if they had bothered to give us a standard check-in. The missing power was later tracked back to the docks circuit and rerouted. All other problems were fixed, but it was clear that the boat was no where near ready to set sail.
The next surprise was that none of the provisioning (groceries) that we ordered was onboard. We paid $690.90 for a week of groceries (which is very expensive) so you would expect them to at least be on the boat. When I asked customer service about the provisioning, they said that they were running a little behind and would get it to us soon. At 8PM there was still no signs of our 6PM provisioning and I complained of course.
They said that they were still on the way and asked me to please be patient. I explained that I had young kids on the boat and that they could not just walk up to the boat a 10PM or 11PM when the kids are asleep and bring them on. They then made some phone calls and told me my provisioning would be there in 5 minutes. It was, so we took delivery and went to bed. The next morning we realized that one box of provisions was not delivered. When I exited the boat to tell the front desk, I found the box of provisioning (which required refrigeration) sitting in the cockpit. They had brought it later on in the night and just left it in the cockpit. By the time we found it in the morning, everything in it was defrosted and unusable. It took them some time to replace the food, causing us to sail late.
While in the marina, the policy is to use the marina showers and bathrooms instead of the ones on the boats. This posed a problem, because the showers were filthy. I mean “third world filthy” (remember we paid $604.50 for that night), this is apparently not enough for clean showers and bathrooms. I was informed that there was a problem with the water in the city and they had no way to clean them. I decided that this was fair enough or out of their control and I would make the best of it. The real problem arose when we returned at the end of our sail a week later. When I went to the showers (the water was only out for a few hours the week before), they were still “third world filthy”. There was even a “shower service” person there that was supposed to clean the showers after use, but she was reading a book. When I asked if she was going to clean the showers, she said that they are clean and got up and walked away. I complained at the front desk and they said she is cleaning them. When I complained again, they called the base customer service manager, Julien Hodge. He asked me to show the night manager what was dirty. We went into every shower and I could not find even one that was clean.
Also, during the whole time we were sailing, the oven on the boat did not work. We took it to port in the middle of the week for repairs, and they said they fixed the problems, but it still did not work. This may seem like a minor problem, but remember we paid for $690.90 for food, much of which required the oven to cook. This caused us to waste a huge amount of food that was pre-bought through provisioning and money that we had to spend dining out.
The final problem was the snorkeling gear. The snorkels were full of mold and had obviously not been cleaned in many months. We were forced to clean them ourselves before our first use.
Throughout all of this trip, the staff was polite and smiled wide as they patiently listened to our problems. They would all answer with the same “Let me see what I can do ....” response, and then nothing would get done. They would give excused like “this is a very busy time for us”, “that is another department”, “he would know more, so ask him about it”. It was busy, but the customers book these boats 2 to 3 months in advance, so this should not have been a surprise to them, and staffing should be anticipated.
The only offer of restitution they made throughout the entire trip was to waive the $50 charge we incurred for breaking a boat hook. This was greatly appreciated, but was too little, too late.
I am not sure if I would recommend against chartering through Moorings, because my first experience was so great. However, great consideration should be given to other charter companies, because the Moorings has at least proven to not be consistent.- Overall
- Overall2
- Boat Quality3
- Service1
- Value1
- Boat3
It was a terrible shame. We had an expolsive woman , chef, and wife of thr captain. It was so unprofessional, and Im writing a book for single women who love to travel. This is the worst experience Ive ever had in my life. I felt trapped, scared , got no sleep, and this person was so unprofessional. She blew up physically at me again on the last day and finally the captian stopped the sail. Shame in me for not demanding to get off the boat the moment I got on the boat. Sadly would not recommend this to anyone. I was exhausted for a week after this trip. The other boat, of 5 saw it all, we became friends, and they said you need to get your money back.
- Overall
- Overall2.75
- Boat Quality1
- Service2
- Value3
- Boat5
My brother and I planned and booked our bareboat charter almost a year ago, and paid top prices for the newest, top of the line monohull 37.2 available at the Moorings BVI. We arrived the day before our charter was to begin, and walked up and down the docks trying to figure out which boat would be ours (they wouldn't tell us) both the evening before and the morning of the charter. We were supposed to leave at 12 noon, and it seemed everone else was...there were either signs welcoming the party aboard the boat, or the other parties were already loading supplies and getting familiar with their boat. In our case, there were only two 37.2 monohulls in the whole harbor, and neither of them had a sign for us. Finally, at 12 pm, when we were supposed to be beginning our charter, we were told that fuel had been spilled on our boat and it had a strong diesel smell, they were attempting to air out the boat. The smell was truly horrible, causing headache and nausea within minutes of boarding. My brother then asked for a replacement, and was told no other boats were available, even tho the Esmerelda 37.2 was sitting right next to the boat they had assigned to us. When we requested that boat, we were told that the Esmerelda was assigned to a 14 day charter leaving the day before we were due back, and that a 14 day charter is "a big deal", obviously more important than our 7 day charter, even tho we paid premium prices for a top boat, just like they did. We were then given the choice of either taking the boat with the fuel spill or canceling our charter. They did ask if we were interested in a catamaran, which we weren't. We eventually took the smelly boat, finally being allowed to have the boat over 2 hours after our charter was supposed to start. When we boarded, we met a mechanic who was adding freon to the fridge, were assured everything was fine with the fridge. While doing our briefing before departure, we were told by the Moorings employee who was briefing us that the party who had brought the boat back a couple of days before had complained of the fuel smell, and suspected a leak in the fuel line...this wasn't an accidental fuel spill, they knew there was a problem before we ever got there! We finally got off 3 hours late, but when we requested to return 3 hours late on the last day of our charter, that was also refused us. There was another charter assigned the boat that day, and they couldn't possibly make them wait, they said. In addition, just hours out of port the fridge died and never worked the rest of the trip, wasting the perishables we brought along. We searched the entire boat several time for flatware, finally buying plastic ware, and when we arrived back in port discovered that only one person in the place knew where the flatware is stored on that boat...in the cabinet under the map station, in a tiny drawer behind the flares...arghhhhh! With the exception of Ursula (thank you Ursula!) no one seemed to care about us. If you're planning a charter on a 37.2 monohull, and they try to give you Mistique (no name on the boat when we sailed it) ...beware!
- Overall
- Overall5
- Boat Quality5
- Service5
- Value5
- Boat5
We have chartered on a per cabin basis on catamarans, monohulls, and tall ships in a variety of sailing ports in the Caribbean and particularly love and are experienced with the BVI and the Moorings, although we have been with other charter companies as well. The service this year, the food, and the interest in giving us the best adventure for our week were the best we have ever encountered and we've been plenty pleased in the past - particularly with the Moorings. We would recommend for anyone that loves sailing catamarans and snorkeling or diving to charter with the Moorings!
- Overall
- Overall4.5
- Boat Quality5
- Service4
- Value4
- Boat5
Boat and all equipment was perfect. Provisioning was fantastic---beyond our expectations (although not exactly what we ordered). The only problem was time amount of time it took to get out and in---they really needed more employees for the amount of traffic they had at the time we were there.
- Overall
- Overall5
- Boat Quality5
- Service5
- Value5
- Boat5
My husband and recently I took our children for a sail with The Moorings. As a family we have been with them 3 times. We love this vacation. Lots for the kids to do (swimming, snorkeling) and the cruising grounds are wonderful. Our vacations have always been reliably fun with great service and great yachts. Next time we plan to sail with friends. Thumbs up for The Moorings.
- Overall
- Overall5
- Boat Quality5
- Service5
- Value5
- Boat5
Excellent, great service, th enew facility is going to be amazing ! Certainly sets the global standard.
- Overall