Tao Jones makes a good point but I thought I'd clarify some things. I used Yacht Path and was extremely pleased with their professionalism and that of the personnel and ship's crew during the process. Yacht Path seems to be essentially a booking agent in
partnership with a
shipping company. The
shipping company is fully prepared and capable of doing the job. It's part of their business to move yachts but unlike Dockwise, they are regular cargo ships who dedicate their
deck space to the yachts and after the yachts are delivered, they go on to their final discharge
ports with their 'real' cargo.
They take responsbilitiy in the sense that you must buy
insurance for the trip separate from but in addition to your regular
insurance. Loss is handled the way all maritime cargo losses are handled but it IS different from how we are accustomed to in our car, home, and
medical type insurances.
It is an expensive 'purchase' (shipping a boat) and always unnerving when you 'drop' a ten figure check in the mail (actually a wire transfer but you get the drift). Like so many things in cruising one must allow for the unexpected and plan your margins accordingly. It's also like many things in life where 'you buy it, you own it'. There may be all kinds of unexpected reasons why we don't meet our end of the bargain but it is unreasonable to expect that the other 'man' should have to pay for our own problems. Hence you pays your
money and takes your chances. There is a significant discount for prepaying 90 and 150 days in advance that make it worthwhile. OR, you can inquire a week or to before they sail and see what the
price might be for a last minute space. Those deals can be quite nice as well and probably in today's economy, more likely that a space is available. Just roll the dice!
No connection to Yacht Path, just a highly satisfied customer.
Oh, one more thing. Having been in the maritime shipping business for many years, I understand that ships run on very loose approximations of a schedule. Some container ships are scheduled but it's rare. Port,
weather and cargo delays can change things significantly, be flexible. It cost me two weeks plus in a marina at $130/day marina
fees (for a 40'er) that I hadn't counted on due to the ship being delayed loading cargo at a previous port and having a minor breakdown on top of that. This is the biz, it's not a 2 day guaranteed on time
delivery in the world of ships.