Dream Yacht Charter

I decided to buy a used boats from Dream Yachts (DY) a few weeks ago. They replied to me saying the boat had been sold but that a sister boat was available and it was exactly the same.

I paid the deposit and asked for DY to book a travelift at the marina so that a surveyor could inspect the boat, this was not possible according to the them and I proceeded to booking and paying for another one nearby.

On the day of the survey I became aware that the boat had nothing to do with the one advertised (no generator, no watermaker, no air conditioning, low grade equipements, 2000 more hours on the engine, etc). To make things worse I was forced to send my credit card details on the day to pay for their travelift, since they double booked it.

When I contacted the sales person from DY I was told that the missing equipment would be considered obsolete after 8 years and it was normal that it wasn't on the boat, so no adjustment on the price would be made.

In the end I had to pay for two travelifts and one survey because they tried to fool me into buying a boat much different from the one advertised.

I have also pulled their financial statements and realised they are in technical bankrupcy (negative equity of -2.445.100€) so please beware of your deposits.

Beware DYC. Avoid at all costs. You will be screwed, it's just a matter of to what degree. From boats that simply aren't there to serious safety issues on the ones that are there. In between will be old moldy mattresses, backed-up sewage from the waste tanks, contractually promised boats not available, no refrigerator, no promised gen-set. All of this NOT compensated by the "Dream Yacht" non-existent "customer service" and their lousy $600 "refund" after you've literally spent tens of thousands. Picture yourself standing in the hot sun at the marina with no place to stay no provisions no communication with them about the broken boat you've contracted, and you'll get the idea. They LITERALLY DON'T CARE.

Chartered in Tahiti in April, the boat was poorly maintained and we spent hours in the bilge fixing water pressure, steering and water maker problems. Truly the boat was unsafe and we almost returned the 2nd day when the steering failed. The roof was damaged and leaked in the rain, the mainsail wouldn't fully raise and was covered in mold. Galley was ill stocked without even a toaster which in the ad said it did have. The port side head didn't work, fuel line to dinghy had no clamp and kept falling off spilling fuel, low battery alarm Stbd side constantly sounding off, Stbd helm seat broken, propane tank ran out 2nd day which we replaced for $38 and no compensation, had to turn off the tank after each use. The beds had a single old sheet and towels were old... the boat smelled of mold and was only 10 years old. With all the issues we had to work on daily you'd think DreamYacht would have made some kind of compensation, but nothing, not even an apology! We used Conch Charters in the BVI;'s a year prior and they were excellent and the boat was amazing so do your shopping and read reviews!

This was my second time chartering with DYC in the Abacos - once before Dorian and the Rona and and once after - and I simply can't say enough good about the experience. The pre-sales team was great in getting us a boat and a plan that fit our trip, and the charter base in Abaco treated us like nothing short of family!

We initially reserved a Lagoon 52; two days before boarding, we were notified that a sail drive on the 52 needed to be repaird - we were upgraded to a Bali 5.4 at no cost. The Bali came from the New Prov base, with a few minor issues at inspection - like all charter boats do - and the Abaco base took care of everything that morning.

Chain counter was inop - we just counted like olde tyme. Bow thrusters were inop (first time I've seen bow thrusters on a cat --- why?). High Pressure pump on an A/C needing to be reset was the worst of it. Sailbag had the average charter-boat wear and tear, zero actual issues there.

Watermaker worked fine for the week. Generator worked fine for the week. Fridge worked fine for the week. Icemaker worked fine for the week. A/C worked fine for the week (HP reset was before leaving the dock).

Toilets, shower, sinks, stove, winches, lines, standing and running rigging, engines, etc, all in top shape. Two full propane tanks. Barbeque tools. SQUEAKY CLEAN barbeque (should be - it was propane). Bilges dry, through-hulls clean, circuit breaker fine, lights fine. Transom shower fine. Swim ladder fine. Hatches and ports and windows and doors all fine.

Chart plotters up to date, no scratches or sunfade on any displays. Autopilot worked like a champ. Zero scratches on the magnetic compass. Dived the boat on a few snorkel outings - very little growth underneath, rudder and skegs all in top shape.

A few torn handles on the dinghy - again, average wear and tear on a charter boat - we used the dinghy several times most days (had enough crew to require 2 trips on most outings), no problem at all. Dingy motor was tuned well.

Kitchen was well-appointed. My brother is a chef, he brought his own tools, the second day he put his tools back in his bag.

The charter base manager was great - we ran through our sail plan for the week and he suggested a few things that made the trip better. The charter base customer care manager was also great - checked to see if there was anything we needed to make our trip more comfortable or enjoyable, made sure we had answers to any questions.

We hired a day skipper for 1 day, to help us learn the specific boat; I would not do the day skipper again. He was a contractor but I still put that on DYC because they hired him. I also put that on me - crew and I should have invested the time in walking the boat and dry-running certain operations instead of relying on someone else.

We had a few challenges the first few days, and the base was always responsive and helpful. One of our crew got sunstroke towards the end of the trip, so we asked if we could come in early and stay on the dock. When we pulled in, DYC met us and asked if anyone needed medical attention - they had already called clinics to verify that someone was available should we need it.

We did cause damage to the boat (sorry, owner!) - we notified the base when it happened, and reminded them of the damage when we pulled in. They went over everything with us, and we came to a very amicable agreement.

I've got friends who are charter brokers; I've got friends who have discounts with charter companies; it might be different in other bases, but for the Abacos I simply can't think of any reason why I would not charter with DYC.

Similar experience in 2018 on a Lagoon 42 in the Abacos with DYC. Watermaker, generator, sails, rigging, cushions, galley, cabins, heads, electronics, dinghy, etc, all in great shape.

We bareboat chartered a catamaran for two weeks in June in the Exumas - my husband, me, our three kids aged 11-25, two teen nieces, and one boyfriend. The cat pictured was so perfect, 4 separate cabins with private heads each and three spacious common areas. When we arrived, we were told the boat we were supposed to charter had been damaged by the last charterers. There were no more cats available (although we saw plenty all around us) so we were downgraded to a monohull with two private heads and one head off the salon for the other cabins to share. We were very much looking forward to the cat, not only for the ideal sleeping arrangements, but also for the luxurious shared spaces - a monohull does not compare and eight people quickly gets crowded. The bahamas anchorages are very shallow, having a monohull meant we had to anchor far out or avoid anchorages we could have gone to in a cat.

We were also assured hard kayaks were available but when we got there, there were only inflatable kayaks that took forever to inflate - and they forgot to give us paddles! The base also provides shuttling to the nearby grocery store for provisioning, but it was very expensive despite the short trip (and should have been comped considering the problems). It would have been nice if provisioning was provided like Moorings does. Fitting everyone for snorkel gear and fins was irritating insanity. Rather than letting us pick our gear like Moorings does, a woman kept bringing us fins to try on and then she would run back to the storage area and get new ones for us to try on. It took forever and somehow we ended up missing an entire set of fins and a snorkel to go with its mask - so we had to take turns snorkeling rather than all go together. Also, the chart chip we were given was completely unreliable, the depths were not even close to correct - my husband had just been on our sailboat in the Bahamas the week before (our boat had an issue, hence the charter), and our several year old chart chip was spot on. The GPS screen on the monohull was in an awkward spot so you couldn't easily watch it when you were at the helm.

The boat was not available for us to leave at 5pm, we had to stay until the next day to repair the water pump and a broken fan (replaced with a fan without a protective cover, right by our head in a berth).

During the checkout, we were told the boat had a shallower draft than the boat's documentation said.

We had other issues with the boat, oil was spilling out of the engine and the forward sump pump stopped working, dream yacht quickly flew someone to where we were to fix it but we had to stay at the island that had the airport and then we had to dinghy him back-and-forth, so we spent a few days dealing with this problem, rather than having fun with our six passengers. A battery was bad and the alarm went off for the entire trip, the repairman didn't fix that. The bilge pump ran continuously. There were no tools on the boat.

The galley was pretty but so poorly outfitted we didn't even have pans to use in the oven (so the oven was completely unusable) and there were no potholders. The french press coffeemaker was cracked and not usable, no whisk, no mixing bowls, no measuring spoons, only one 1/2 cup measuring cup. We were told the bottom refrigerator drawer was a freezer but it was actually a refrigerator, so our meats defrosted until we figured out that error.

Bahamas in June is very hot, normally we don't have air-conditioning, but this boat did have it. It didn't work in three of the cabins so those people were dying while others were freezing trying to get the air to with the all of cabins. Obviously we didn't use the air conditioning 24/7 since it required running the engine but the fans were a poor replacement, some of them barely worked or didn't work at all, five guests were miserable trying to sleep.

At the end, we had to fuel up the boat, but we couldn't get anyone on the radio and had to wait outside of the channel for 45 minutes before anyone answered. Then we had to wait ages until it was our turn, because people sat at the fuel dock and didn't get out of the way when they were finished fueling.

We had a great trip anyway, but it was not at all what we expected and paid for. We did get the difference between the two boats refunded, and the kayak rentals refunded, but we would've preferred to have the things we were willing to pay for. In the past, we have chartered with Moorings in the Bahamas and Caribbean, and Hinckley in Maine, and never had issues like this.

DONT. PLEASE DONT GIVE THIS AWFUL COMPANY ANY OF YOUR TIME OR MONEY. THEY WILL RUIN YOUR VACATION.

It is evident that Dream Yacht Charters had no intention to fulfill its obligation to our reservation or booking contract from the beginning. Even if you are not a sailor the list below gives you a sense of their "double dipping" gaining monies from our booking and clearly booking the vessel to another party the minute we could not take any more lies or failed repairs. We left the unseaworthy boat and they quickly prepared it for a new client. Just about the most abhorent unsafe practice. No refund, No acknowledgement of their responsibility, no maintenance records. The pictures attached say it all.

Anchor & Windlass
Windlass broke on 2 occasions rending the boat inoperable and leaving crew in exposed unsafe conditions, without the ability to raise or lower the anchor manually.
Anchoring - a 5:1 scope ratio is generally considered the minimum standard for anchoring; we were advised to put down a 3:1 scope and when doing so the boat dragged at night despite a good set on the sandy bottom requiring crew to attempt to sail back to safe moorage during the night. For the Indian ocean a 7:1 scope may be more appropriate. At best Dream Yacht Charters provided a 3.8:1 scope ratio for the anchor yet telling us to only use 45m which is 2.8 scope without any markings.

Main sail
No reef points on luffed main sail, making it impossible to reef the main as there is no reef 1 tack or reef 2 tack point thus there is no way to secure the foot of the sail while reefed.
Reef points exist on the leech, however they are only lines through the reef points back to the winch which risks tearing of the main sail when downward pressure is applied, as usually a vessel of this size has a block system for reefing on the main sail.
Defective main sail halyard unable to winch to the top due to underpowered winch size and inappropriate line sizes.
Unable to sheet in Jib for proper sailing angle as lines slip through winch, due to inappropriate sized winch and lines.

Genoa Main Sheet winch blew apart port side under sail

Dingy
Dingy under inflated and had leak in hull, outboard motor would not stay on for more than 2 mins, no oars provided - crew had to swim 0.5km to shore dragging dingy and then waited 6 hours for rescue.
All crew members were injured during the swim with one suffering from deeply embedded sea urchin spines that required medical attention and caused inability to walk easily for 1 week.

Additional Issues
Refused to provide us with a tank key, despite us asking several times
Freezer did not work
Watermaker has not been serviced, it is "operational" but water quality is poor and monitoring dials not working – Steffan was unable to drink water from Watermaker without violent nausea
Swim step ladder was unsafe – it was attached to rotted wood on Transom which gave way under any strain
Auto pilot will not helm by wind angle

Worst charter experience we have ever had (over 20 previous bareboat charters). Unsafe, uncaring, unresponsive, unwilling to try and make it right. We chartered for 2 weeks out of Nassau in July. Reserved a 1.5 year old Lagoon 40 in hopes of getting a nice boat in good condition.
This is not a vendetta against DYC. I'd love to help them improve and make things right not just for myself but for others as well. The avenues I have tried to accomplish this so far have not worked.
The largest problem was that when issues were found, DYC just said that's the way it is and did nothing to make it better on our charter or after. After months of negotiating, they offered $300 compensation on a 2 week charter without AC, without a safe boat, without a safe dinghy, and with many other issues.
We had no reliable contact information for the base while on the boat. The number on our booking confirmation email did not work, and the number on Google did not work. The boat is a 15 min walk from the base and we were left to fend for ourselves or make the walk multiple times. We were given a semi responsive phone number at the end of day two.
The boats AC in the port hull had been disassembled / removed from the port hull at checkout, and they have known about that for a long time, said it would take a week sitting at the marina to have it fixed. Although it was July in the Bahamas and we paid for AC, we were out of luck. After returning they offered $300 compensation.
The boat ran on 220V European voltage, but had 110 appliances onboard DYC put a 110v toaster and blender on the boat. We found out that the appliances were 110V when the toaster caught fire. I had my entire family on a boat that caught fire because I trusted DYC!?
Broken vessel rudder: The Port rudder had the bottom 1-2" missing, shaft was noticeably bent, delamination in the rudder showed significant algae growth indicating that the damage has been there for a long time. We did not dive the bottom of the boat in the marina, so we discovered this after the 7 hour passage from Nassau to the Exumas. Compromised steering on a boat should be a non-starter!
Dinghy failures: Upon leaving the charter marina, the dingy davit eyelets on the dinghy ripped out of the rigid hull. The wood behind the fiberglass was rotten, black, and soft indicating that the dingy was old and neglected. This happened in the middle of the tight exit channel with coral / shoals on either side in seas much too large to safely recover a half hanging dinghy off the back of our boat. With no reliable contact number we brought the boat into the marina and backed into a slip. The workers lamented… "our dingy's are so bad" and then took off trying to find a replacement. They brought by different options that were completely unacceptable. Leaking dinghys that required constant bailing, dinghy's that did not even run well enough for the dock hands to get them to us, etc. We landed on a dinghy with two leaking tubes, an unremovable wooden plug JB welded in to drain plug, and a smoky engine with a damaged prop and questionable reliability. We asked for a better dinghy and were told that was it, otherwise we could wait a week for a different one. This dinghy almost sank while motoring back to our boat in a squall and put my family in danger.
Mis-calibrated vessel depth gauge: During "checkout" I was told that the depth reading on the boat was absolutely the depth below the keel, not the depth below the waterline. Using a lead line and measuring tape, the actual water depth was 2 feet SHALLOWER than the reading below the keel. If we trusted the DYC base (I advise not trusting DYC) we would have been in danger of running aground.
At checkout we were told the starboard refrigeration unit was a freezer and the port was a refrigerator. We provisioned for two weeks accordingly and bought a ton of meat and perishables to be frozen in the starboard "freezer" With food costs in the Bahamas, and accounting for people for 2 weeks this was a large sum of money. The starboard unit was always meant to be a refrigerator and would not reach freezing temps. Most of our meat spoiled and was wasted.
We have worked over the last 3 months to give DYC the opportunity to make this right and they have come back with a $300 refund which is insulting. I write this review in hopes of saving others from going what we went through. We spoke with other DYC guests at the base who went through similar issues. We toured the Moorings base at the same location and it looked very impressive and was a stark contrast to what was going on at the DYC side.

We were on a 6 cabines catamaran in Tahiti with skipper and cook.
Good itineraries and spots for snorkeling also good guides in the islands.
Our cook was not able to cook simple food, always pasta, little veggies and fruits. Very disappointed! I do not know what are the qualifications for a cook from this company. Not sure I will use them again!

Rental Period: 06. 08. 22-06. 19. 22 (BVI-Scrubb Island)
Boat: 52' Darfour
Captain: 45 years sailing experience. Six Pac and 100 Ton Cert., Annapolis School of Seamanship. One transatlantic crossing, Cape Horn rounding. Until Irma, 10-year owner 43' Beneteau.
Issues:
1. Fuel filter laying on engine block and leaking. DYC: "happens all the time, nothing to worry about." Begrudling repaired after Capt. Refused to leave dock without repair.
2. Generator not staying on: DYC: Per Chris, apparently chief mechanic, "Bypass 50 amph fuse." Result: entire electrical line (approx 6') catches fire, salon filled with smoke and fumes, repair-person flees to aft deck, passengers evacuated and placed in dinghy. Heat of burnt electrical line joins with fumes from leaky disel fuel bladder resulting in thickening of smoke. DYC: deny demand for replacement boat, deny demand to be put up in hotel at base. "(Richard)We will make adjustment in bill when you return to base." Richard does not check in later to see if everything okay after 3rd repair. Does not meet boat on return to base. Does not adjust invoice.
3. Leaky fuel bladder. Pull plates under mattress in rear starboard cabin to work on generator and discover pool of diesel fuel around poor repair of fuel intake/bladder union. DYC: "Nothing to worry about." Fuel just wiped up.
4. Front glass plate missing from microwave oven. DYC. "Nothing to worry about." Refuse to replace microwave.
5. Port winch broken. Had to manually pull mainsheet and other lines through winch, locking line frequently to rest. DYC not contacted because wanted to go at least a day or two without having to stop for repairs.
6. Anchor Windless: Broke on last day. Manually hauled in 100 feet of anchor chain and anchor.
7. Motor: During last 2 days rpms dropped without warning to nearly stall engine (fuel tanks full).
8. Swim platform: Manufactured for ladder that extends into water with handles to be inserted around ladder to climb back on board. Handles not provided. Multiple days of having to use two people to help adult swimmers on board. DYC bring to boat after request.
9. Radio: Handheld mic broken. Turned on but would not broadcast. Had to use my handheld VHF radio.
(Pics. Avail.)

My husband and I, and several of our friends, recently returned from a trip with Dream Yacht Charter.

This was my husband and I's third time sailing with DYC. We enjoyed our first two trips (in 2018 and 2019) so much that once Covid restrictions ended we couldn't wait to book another sailing trip. This time, because of all of the positive statements of how wonderful DYC was our first two experiences, we had several friends ask to join us. We were ecstatic to show our friends how wonderful DYC sailing trips were. A group of 8 of us, all firefighter/paramedics and nurses, except for myself, were looking forward to a relaxing week away escaping the stresses of work. To say we were disappointed with our trip would be an understatement.

Let me first say that the booking process, and customer support leading up to the trip was great. Upon arrival at the marina office we were greeted and the check-in process was also wonderful. The staff at the marina office were kind and helpful. However, once we actually boarded our boat things went down hill quickly.

It was unexpected, but perhaps our misunderstanding, that we would not be provided dinner that first night. The stew (Sylvie) said she would put out some appetizers since we would begin our sail in a couple of hours. After a long day of traveling, and with Saturday considered "Day 1" of our charter, we were expecting dinner, much to our disappointment.

Sunday morning, we arrived in Bequia. Per the itinerary we were supposed to stay there overnight. However, the captain (Gregory) said he wanted to make it to Mayreau for the night. We weren't asked our opinion on this, he just indicated that he would be changing the itinerary and that's where we would be going for the night. Once there, he indicated that he would be "taking his dinner ashore" and left the boat for the night, not returning until well past midnight. This is known, because some of us were sleeping outside on the back of the boat because of how hot it was in the aft cabins. We had requested the air conditioning be turned on that night, as all guests were in agreement, and per the contract it states that if all guests agreed then the air conditioning could be run outside of the regular hours. We asked the captain, told him we were all in agreement, but he said No.

Monday during the day, while in Mayreau, several of us had gone ashore. The captain again left the boat. He took a water taxi to Union Island, leaving the stew to be in control of the boat once again. At some point the anchor released and our boat was drifting and getting much to close to another boat. The stew had to take the dinghy over to another catamaran and get their captain to come on our boat to move it and reset the anchor. Then a couple of hours later a strong storm was rolling in and some guests had not returned in time for the lunch. The stew, concerned about the missing guests caught in the storm, decided she needed to take the dinghy and go look for them. She had to leave several of us on the boat alone, without any crew, during a storm, to do this, because the captain was still gone (for several hours now). This was dangerous and very concerning! This is where things really started to go bad between the two of them. That night the captain again changed our itinerary by saying we would be doing our excursion beach bbq there In Mayreau, rather than the following day in Tobago Cays. This was disappointing to my husband and I personally because we were expecting the Tobago Cays BBQ with Romeo that we had done in the past.

By this night on the boat, we were begging the captain to turn on the AC. Again, all guests were in agreement with this. He finally relented and said he would run it for a few hours. At 3 am, when he finally returned onboard, from hanging out on the island, he turned it off.

Tuesday morning, we sailed to the Tobago Cays. This is when we were told that the generator was broken, and that we would have no air conditioning, at all, and would not be able to make water. None the less the day was wonderful. However, the captain kept telling us we had to leave soon to sail back to Mayreau. No one wanted to leave. Per the itinerary we were supposed to stay in Tobago Cays all day and stay there over night as well. The captain would let us stay another hour, but then kept changing the time we had to leave. I asked the stew what the plan was for the evening. We even asked "Does Gregory have a girlfriend on the island of Mayreau or something? Why does he insist we go stay there every night?" and this is where she outwardly got very angry with the captain. He was again ashore at this time while the guests were all aboard the boat having just had lunch. The stew broke down and told us all that she was fed up with the captain deviating from the itinerary and constantly leaving the board. She told us she was going to talk with him when he got back but if things didn't get better she was going to quit. She was on the phone complaining with the company by this point.

The captain came back to the boat as we were all sitting up front, drinking, and relaxing, and having a good time. He begins to tell us the plan when the stew confronts him, in front of everyone. A huge argument breaks out IN FRONT OF ALL OF THE GUESTS. This argument lasted for at least an hour. We recorded part of this argument on a cell phone because it was so unprofessional and unbelievable that this was really happening. They were screaming at each other in front of all of the guests. At the end of the argument, the stew told us all that she quit and she was leaving. The captain starts to get ready to depart to Mayreau, despite everyone's objection they'd like to stay in Tobago Cays as outlined in the itinerary. The stew refuses to help him lift anchor. She says to us "Hold on! Because he's on his own!". He is running back and forth between the anchor and the boat controls doing everything himself while she laughs at him and taunts him and is literally playing pirate music over the boat speakers and clapping at him. This is occurring in front of all of the guests. No only is this unprofessional, but it was unsafe.

She then went into her cabin for the next several hours and we did not see her. Once in Mayreau, it's about 7:00pm, and still no sign of the stew. All guests are sitting around waiting for dinner and wondering what we should do since she told us she quit. Mind you, there's no restaurants on Mayreau we can just go to for dinner. Then the captain has the audacity to say to us "goodbye, I'm going to go take my dinner ashore". Are you kidding me?!? We say "what about OUR dinner?!?!" clearly upset. He goes and knocks on the stew's window and says something to make her finally come out and cook us dinner. Things were fully awkward at this point. The captain again abandoned his position and boat all night, and didn't return until around 3 am. Again, this was witnessed by a guest sleeping outside. This is the night the stew also basically said "F*ck it" and she said she was sleeping on the kitchen table bench. One of the guests was sleeping there, because it was so hot in the cabins and we had no AC, and she actually told him to move and said she was sleeping there! The next morning her sheets and bedding were still there as guests were starting to sit at the table for breakfast. We started to think we were on a candid camera reality tv show because of how ridiculous everything was.

And while I'm mentioning breakfast let's talk about that. Some things I would never complain about, but since we're all ready here I might as well. The provisioning was beyond disappointing. We had touted to our friends how good the food had been on our previous two charters. Certainly, every stew/chef is different, and none of us are picky eaters by any means. Breakfast every morning was nothing more than the stew laying out bread, and jam, and juice, and cold cereal. Never once was meat prepared. By day 4 we begged for eggs and she obliged and each person got 1 scrambled egg. She didn't even put forth the effort to cut up fruit for breakfast but pointed to the basket and said "help yourself". The next time we got to a marina with a grocery store we all went in and spent our money on groceries for breakfast food so that we could have something other than bread and juice. On three separate nights for dinner we had rice, and on three separate nights we had leftover beans. This is not the level or quality of food that we were used to from DYC. We ran out of red wine on day 3, and of rose wine on day 4. The only soda pop provided for the charter was coca-cola. Again, while disappointing, the food is not something I would have otherwise made a deal to complain about, but on top of all of the other problems I may as well mention it. We even "joked" that she must have bought the bare basics and pocketed the rest of the provisioning money.

Day 5 still no generator. We filled up water at a marina, in St. Vincent I believe, but were told we shouldn't be showering.

Day 6, Thursday, we arrived in St. Lucia. The captain moored and told us while he went into customs we could snorkel, then he would be back to take us ashore. He warned us about the current in the area. Once he left and we tried to snorkel that current was so strong it felt unsafe. I asked for a life jacket, as we didn't have any in our rooms (just the emergency strappy life jacket that you have to pull to inflate – no orange life preserver). Other guests found some orange life jackets in their rooms but most of them were child size, literally made for children. We had no children on board. Nor did we have enough adult size life jackets we could use for snorkeling. We were also again told we could not shower. So we all sat on the boat waiting for the captain to return to take us ashore. The captain had left at 12:30pm. We waited around until 3:40, while the stew slept in her room the whole time, seemingly unconcerned with our complaining and frustrations. This felt like a complete wasted day of our trip. We had no radio to contact the captain. We tried to call his cell phone but he must not have had international calling because the calls wouldn't go through. I finally sent an email to the company mid-charter because we were so upset. The captain took off "to go ashore" that night too.

We did not have any air conditioning the entire trip, even during the day time 8am-10pm hours as stated in the contract. Even for the 2 days before the generator broke the AC did not run during the day time. It would be on for an hour or two at a time and then shut off. When requested that it be run, upon agreement of all guests, we were told no. Then the generator broke and we really did not have any AC. The generator was never restored. We were told we could not shower other than to quickly rinse off and this was for several days. If we did shower then we were scolded. A guest with a medical condition had brought his CPAP machine but because of no generator could not use it when needed. The captain, who is supposed to be in charge of the boat and the safety of guests, left the boat regularly for hours at time! Including each night! This is a huge risk to safety, I'm sure against protocol and standards, and a liability! Not to mention the boat was getting filthy and he spent no time cleaning.

Things happen outside of your control, we can understand that. But what you can control is making this situation right. Offering just compensation to a group of hard working every day people who saved up their money to go on this expensive trip of a lifetime. Upon return to the marina office and explaining all of these concerns to the staff we were offered $200 per couple as a refund, or 400 euro per couple credit toward a future trip. This was insulting. That doesn't even cover 1 day of the over $3,200 we paid per couple for our cabin. We even provided videos and photos to the company as proof, and there were other guests that were not part of our group who also complained.

Before this trip I could have been a real life testimonial for how amazing this company was. But now I feel like it's my duty to warn others to stay as far away from Dream Yacht Charter as possible and find another company who cares about their customers' safety and satisfaction.

Should you use Dream Yacht Charter? Read this and then decide.

Our bareboat charter sailboat was advertised to have several convenient and appealing systems that would make a family's vacation safe and comfortable. However, we quickly found that some of the critically important and desirable ones were broken:
- Broken windlass (no way to anchor safely – like having no brakes in a car)
- Broken fresh-water maker (fresh-water rationing)
- Broken AC (sleepless nights from the sweltering heat)
- Incompatible propane tank valve (no way to cook our provisions - forced to dinghy in to buy expensive restaurant food)
- Bad dinghy motor (unable to leave and return to boat reliably and safely)

I heard from one of their USVI technicians that they know at least one onboard system was broken before they sent us out on our 10-day USVI vacation. Within 24 hours after leaving the marina, we discovered other broken systems. Over the next eight days I made 40 calls to their emergency mechanical hotline. On the rare occasions that a human answered (the voice mailbox was always full so no messages could be left), they repeatedly assured us that someone would be sent out immediately to repair all the issues. Finally, eight days later, they sent two technicians to fix one issue – they brought a propane tank with proper fittings so that we could now cook our provisions.

Why did they lie about fixing the issues immediately? Why didn't they respond sooner? Why didn't they fix the issues before the charter? Why didn't they swap out the boat for one that was known to be usable?

In addition to the broken items mentioned above there were other things that underscored negligence and chronically poor maintenance:
- Heavily encrusted hull bottoms (looked like it had not been cleaned in years)
- Badly damaged, unrepaired bow (potential water intrusion)
- Failure to provide prearranged extras (they have yet to provide a refund)
- Leaking windows (significant rain intrusion)
- Filthy condition of cushions (appeared not to have not been cleaned for years)
- Numerous broken snaps and Velcro (loss of cushions while underway)
- Ripped helm bimini

We were trapped on the boat in survival mode instead of joyous vacation mode with limited ability to stay at the locations we had planned to visit because the windlass was broken. It was unsafe, uncomfortable, and disappointing. It was worse than renting a camper van in the peak of summer in Florida, and finding that the brakes, AC, stove, motor, and other systems were malfunctioning or completely unusable. Wouldn't you at least expect a refund from the car rental company.

I have detailed documentation on everything that happened - lists of all calls made and numerous damning images/descriptions of all the broken and deficient systems. These have been shared with DYC and I will gladly share any of this information with anyone who is interested to see proof of these claims.

Upon returning home after the "vacation" I made numerous attempts (calls, e-mails, and certified letters) to seek restitution. After weeks of delay, they finally responded with a paltry and insulting compensation offer for ruining our vacation, and at this time they have refused to provide a refund or negotiate further to reach a fair settlement.

They cannot and have not refuted the facts stated above. They know them to be true. They just don't care or want to provide fair restitution.

This charter was not the only contentious interaction I had with them. Prior to this disastrous charter, I had two other unpleasant encounters. In the first one, they refused to honor a promise that was used to convince me not to cancel my reservation during the 2020 Covid shutdown. They promised to add two free days to the charter but never honored the promise. In the second interaction, they failed to return phone calls in a timely manner causing an important deadline to pass. Their sloth cost me a great deal of aggravation to prove, with documentation through numerous e-mails and telephone calls, that it was their fault that the deadline was missed.

My experiences with them have convinced me that they don't care about anything, except getting your money. There are better more customer focused competitors out there.

They have demonstrated that this customer's satisfaction was not a high priority for them.

https://youtu.be/MH6t4v0Rrm0

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