virgin islands yacht charters

[seto_beril]

Does anyone have any experience with Virgin Islands Yacht Charters out of Compass Point Marina in St Thomas? Thinking about doing a charter with them, but I've heard a few people say to only use CYOA or moorings. Just want to know if anyone has used them, or know anything about them before I commit.

[jadean42]

No specific experience with them, but I've chartered 3-4 times with CYOA and have had great experiences each time. Short 5-10 minute ride from the airport, well-maintained and younger boats, easy provisioning and staff that's always been helpful. In the past when I've compared, CYOA's pricing was always better than Moorings, and usually in line with or below VI Yachts.

[BrianInBoston]

Just a heads up, Dream Yacht Charters also shares that St Thomas Compass Point Marina Base with Virgin Island Charters. It is a convenient location, there is a grocery store you can reach by dinghy at the north end of the marina, and once out the channel you are at the eastern tip of St Thomas and over to St John in no time. I have chartered a Jeanneau 449 and a Dufour 460 there, and the docks have been extended to accommodate more catamarans, probably shifted over from the BVI due to low demand there.


BTW, CYOA has been acquired/merged with Waypoints Yacht Charters of Florida. Not sure how that has affected their pricing.

[seto_beril]

The folks over at CYOA told me there weren't any good mechanics at Compass Point and that I shouldn't trust Dream or any of the others there. I'm sure this is just FUD coming from CYOA who do have a fantastic reputation. I can't imagine any place can run a business with their boats breaking down all the time.
I'm going to be chartering a 6 year old catamaran so I'm sure it will be rough around the edges, just hoping there are no safety issues. I'll post back here afterwards. It's been hard to find reviews I can trust. Some brokerages have a handful, but they are are all 5 star, which tells me they are being filtered. I'll be adding a full review here after my trip, so that hopefully someone else can benefit.
I'm just excited to get my family on the water. This is our first charter and it is going to be a dry run for moving onto a cat full time.

[BrianInBoston]

Agreed, take the 5 star reviews with a grain of salt. I've done at least 8 charters in the Caribbean in the last 4 years, and have yet to leave the base with a 100% perfect boat. Keep a list of what you find deficient the day you arrive and over the week keep it updated for when you get back for the debrief, they will appreciate it. But in high season, it's common for a popular boat to return from a charter Saturday at 11:00 and have be cleaned and ready for another party arriving that afternoon. They do their best, but there just isn't enough time to fix much once they start doing boarding briefings so they can get home. What I have seen twice is if they have a significant issue with the boat you were going to get, they upgrade you to something similar and likely bigger if available, at least Dream did that.

Lastly, the charter bases have been dealing with the same employee retention and turnover issues seen everywhere since the start of the pandemic. Familiar faces with local and relevant experience have moved on, and the quality of the chart and boat briefings is hit or miss.

That said, you should have a fantastic time introducing the family to cat chartering. St John is a gorgeous National Park with plenty of beach walks, snorkeling and vigorous trail hiking to occupy everyone, sometimes all in the same day. Message me if you want some itinerary highlights. The sailing distances are short, so you have plenty of options.

[Jim Woodall]

If you're chartering in the USVI - CYOA is the way to go.

[seto_beril]

Figured I'd give an update just in case anyone searches for info in the future.
The cat was in decent shape. The rest of their fleet was much newer and in way better shape than the cat we were on. The main was torn and our checkout captain told us we could only use the main with 3 reefs, which doesn't help much in the 12-15 kn winds we had all week. I was rather disappointed because I wanted to actually sail with the family, not just motor everywhere. When I spoke to someone at VIYC about what they would be willing to do for us, they just shrugged said "Well you still had fun, right?" So I guess you do get what you pay for, but if it hadn't been for the useless main we would have had a stellar trip.

[bstreep]

I agree, there's no such thing as a perfect charter boat. In 17 charters (we have our 18th booked), we've never had a worse boat, or worse charter experience than we did from Dream Yacht. Less than 1 year old boat, as well. Horrible, horrible experience.



In the USVI, CYOA is the way to go. In the BVI, try BVI Yacht Charters.

[mochifanta]

Just completed a Dream Yacht charter out of Warwick, RI with no issues, Lagoon 380. It was in good working order, but worn in some areas, like sail bag and Jib.

I have a charter booked DYC for end of December in USVI out of Compass Point. I hope it goes well. Been reading a lot of posts that this base station is having issues due to BVI being previously closed with COVID and other staffing issues.

Fingers Crossed.