BVI Charter Research

[Palarran]

I agree, making allegations like this without providing details and, more importantly, proof, is BS. First and foremost, why did she start taking on water 3 days into your trip and the cause be so bad neither you or they could stop the leak? This should be an easy answer.

[jonchimpo]

I have the whole story written elsewhere on the web. To make this short. Motor mounts rusted/broke causing the prop shaft to break the diaphragm. Old yellow dingy rope embedded on the prop shaft that already had new growth over it. Water coming in through the prop shaft seal. No other damage . We took a long hard sail that day. Probably did the seal in for good. Luckily we were close to land when we noticed the water in our cabins.

We stayed in a hotel at the Bitter End. TMM said we could get the rest of our stuff off the Shauna Raye in the morning. When we woke up, our yacht and all our stuff on it were gone. We were kinda scared at that point.

***Regardless of who is at fault. Why did TMM abandon us on this island, take our luggage with them, and cancel our charter for the rest of the days but keep our money? That is the real amazing part. I never expected that.***

Obviously Palarran knows something about what happened on this charter. He seems to know details that I've never written. Must be affiliated with TMM. We will be in touch.

[YOGAO]

Like most charter companies, TMM works really hard to ensure that their guests have a good time. However, it doesn't always work out. What the charter company thinks is a reasonable solution, may not match with your expectation. It is important to remember that TMM is a second-tier charter company, which means their boats have already spent at least 5 yrs in charter. The boat you get will have some miles and wear and tear on it. Their resources are considerably less than Moorings, Sunsail, or other first-tier companies.

An example of TMM might be a cat charter we had in December 2005 in Saint Vincent. A partial list of problems.

• Starboard engine wouldn't start
• Batteries wouldn't charge - the foul smell of battery acid permeated the two aft berths
• Powered windlass worked sometimes - "UP" & "Down" buttons reversed
• Traveler was barely functional, lines and blocks needed replacement
• Dinghy chocks broken - dinghy with engine had to be towed in some pretty boisterous seas
• Towels were clean, but looked like they came from Goodwill. Had to request enough towels for everyone to have two for a one week trip.

Despite everything, we still had a great time, in part because we had to use our own resources to solve some problems. TMM gave us a partial refund at the end of the trip.

Fair Winds,
Mike

[speedoo]

Originally Posted by jonchimpo

I have the whole story written elsewhere on the web. To make this short. Motor mounts rusted/broke causing the prop shaft to break the diaphragm. Old yellow dingy rope embedded on the prop shaft that already had new growth over it. Water coming in through the prop shaft seal. No other damage . We took a long hard sail that day. Probably did the seal in for good. Luckily we were close to land when we noticed the water in our cabins.

We stayed in a hotel at the Bitter End. TMM said we could get the rest of our stuff off the Shauna Raye in the morning. When we woke up, our yacht and all our stuff on it were gone. We were kinda scared at that point.

***Regardless of who is at fault. Why did TMM abandon us on this island, take our luggage with them, and cancel our charter for the rest of the days but keep our money? That is the real amazing part. I never expected that.***

Obviously Palarran knows something about what happened on this charter. He seems to know details that I've never written. Must be affiliated with TMM. We will be in touch.

Yes, the part about abandoning you without your luggage is disturbing assuming you have stated it accurately. What has TMM said to you about why they did that? And I am very interested in knowing how this gets resolved. But a few other questions if you don't mind:

1. How do you know about the dinghy line on the shaft? Did you dive and see it? Do you have a photo?

2. I'm surprised you were able to investigate and diagnose the problem given the circumstances. I would have been anxious to deal with the water in the boat and ensure the safety of those aboard.

[Palarran]

What details are the ones I know that are not posted here? Read your post and them mine.

I have chartered with TMM and would have them maintain my boat if it was in the BVI's. I like Pro-Valor also.

[bstreep]

Not sure it makes sense to get into a charter company bashing thread... However, TMM and Sunsail are the 2 that we would never charter with again. Sunsail, because they changed the date on our charter without bothering to tell us (uh-oh) and TMM because of a mountain of problems we had in Belize - and their "we don't care" attitude about the problems.

We LOVE BVI Yacht Charters. And the Moorings will always be near/at the top of our list. We've done a dozen or so charters, by the way.

[jonchimpo]

In reply to speedoo:

Good questions.

I actually dove the boat to look for the leak while it was taking on water but couldn't find anything obvious. We located our yacht in a dry dock back on Tortola. We needed to get our stuff and mostly my dad needed to find his coumadin (a medicine) asap. So we climbed up and grabbed what we could find. That is where we investigated further since the yacht was now out of the water. Multiple people in our party took many pictures at that point. My uncle is compiling them. Actually, one of the workers at the dry dock pointed out the dingy line on the prop shaft to me. We would probably have missed it otherwise.

My uncle was the skipper of our yacht and takes 1-2 trips to the virgin islands a year. I have never sailed before or been to the BVI. I do have a long history with motorboats though. And no, I am not affiliated with any rival company. I am just writing my experience here. Last my uncle told me, he was supposed to speak via phone with the president/ceo of TMM. But, there was no answer when my uncle called at the appointment time. Guess we take the next step.

[busyengineer]

I've heard great things about BVI Yacht Charters and TMM charter - avoid Ed Hamilton & CO though.

[sailingisfun]

HI, We've used Moorings in the past. The yacht was great with the small exception that one water tank overflowed. Moorings themselves sent us to only the most expensive restaurants on the island even though we said we wanted a light meal.

Has any chartered with The Captains Compass? We're planning two weeks on a Cat in Feb 2014. Only four of us but we want four cabins. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

happy sailing

[maytrix]

You might want to try starting a new topic - this one was last posted in Nov 2010.