Charter Capt Brings girlfriends daughter on trip

[Lowco]

In the middle of our 7 day crewed charter the captain (60 plus years old) comes to us and asks if his girlfriend (20 something year old) who is also the hostess could bring her 6 year old daughter onboard for the rest of the trip.

The charter was a top dollar crewed boat for the area. It had a crew of 4 (Capt, 1st mate, cook and hostess). It was billed as a luxury charter and priced accordingly.

When he asked us to bring the 6 year old on board we felt it would have been very awkward to tell him no and that it was inappropriate for him to ask but we agreed. We did not share any of our concerns at the time but simply said yes to his request.

The next day he tells us that he is taking the boat for 2 hours to pickup the girl. He said we could go with him or we could hang out on one of the uninhabited islands and wait for him to return. We went to the island. It ended up taking him 4 hours instead of 2 hours and it rained for the last hour or so we were on the island. He could have paid a local boat to take the hostess to pickup the girl but he took the big boat.

The other issue was that once the 6 year old was on board the hostess was not serving us like she was on the first part of the trip.

We did not make a big deal of any of this while on board but now the captain is upset we did not tip him. He is giving lots of excuses why he had to bring the child and why he left us for 4 hours on the beach. To me this was completely unprofessional and inappropriate. We are tipping the cook and 1st mate who had no control over what the captain did but I do not think the captain and hostess deserve a tip.

Thoughts?

[boatpoker]

Not an extra nickle for the Captain, the hostess or ... the kid ... and charge them for babysitting and the kids food.

PS. Send a copy of your post to the charter company.

[massnspace]

When you said “yes” to this situation you gave it all away.

No-one else can be to blame…

[Lowco]

Originally Posted by massnspace

When you said “yes” to this situation you gave it all away.

No-one else can be to blame…

To be clear, the only thing we said yes to was allowing the child on board. We were told about the pickup after. We were not told or expecting less service from the hostess.

Like I said, we felt it would be very awkward to tell him no. I saw it as unprofessional and inappropriate for him to even ask.

[Lowco]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

PS. Send a copy of your post to the charter company.

Here is what we sent when the Captain said they were “ bitter” because we did not tip him:

Our dissatisfaction had nothing to do with the weather. Overall the charter was lovely. However we found the following very unprofessional for the luxury charter that we purchased:
1. We were put in an impossible situation when asked if your girlfriend could bring her daughter with us. If we had said no it would have made it uncomfortable between us. We felt we had to say yes. It was inappropriate and unprofessional for you to ask this.
2. You took 1/2 a day from us when you went to go get your girlfriend’s daughter. You said it would be 2 hours and it was 4 hours. We were left out in the rain for part of this time. Do we get a refund for this 1/2 day? Why did you not send your girlfriend on a locals boat to get her daughter? It seems that this was all at our expense and to save you money.
3. Once the daughter was on board your girlfriend was busy attending to her daughter and she spent much less time as hostess. We had a different experience with your girlfriend before and after her daughter arrived.

We understand wanting to bring the little girl to join you for Christmas, however you should not work on the holidays if that is what you want.

We are happy to send a tip but we want individual Venmo / PayPal / Apple Pay accounts so that we can divide the tip as we want amongst the crew.

Respectively,

[FutureRTW]

If it was me, I too would have likely said yes as well. But at that point, you have to deal with the unexpected consequences of adding a 6 year old to the environment. The hostess deserves a tip and the captain may or may not deserve a tip. I would probably tip them something, but less than I had originally planned.

In the end, it would be up to my wife anyways. She's better at reading those types of situations.

Just curious, where were you and what size boat?

[Lowco]

We never had an issue with the presence of the little girl

It was the captain asking the question in the first place. It was the 1/2 day they took to go get her and the change in the hostess service that came after the girl was onboard

[KJM]

I find it inconsiderate.

As a "professional", The Captain should have considered the ramifications of this before asking.

Sounds like he was thinking with his dick.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Lowco

Here is what we sent when the Captain said they were “ bitter” because we did not tip him:

Forget the captain, send it to his employer, the charter company.

[Sdpaddler50]

You sound like a reasonable guy and I probably would have said yes as well for the kids sake, even though I wouldn’t appreciate being put in that position. Typical with so many people, give them an inch and they will take a mile. No Tip for the Skipper.

[davil]

I like this “Captain guy”

60 some years old, a 20 some girlfriend, he lives the “paying guests” stranded on an island to run some errands, said “paying guests” get rained on!!

On return his girlfriend no longer able to provide the contracted services for what he is fully responsible as “Captain” of said "charter was a top dollar crewed boat”

Don't understand the whining

[Iron E]

I'm on the fence.
On the one hand, people should expect excellence when paying for luxury. By not tipping, you could be giving a valuable lesson to the captain.

On the other hand, not knowing where this took place, the economics, the culture, costs and what you folks can afford makes me think that a tip wouldn't be too much to ask.

One thing is for sure. In the future, when you're all sitting around, having drinks, and reminiscing, You will be laughing about that one time your 60 year old Captain left you on an island in the rain to pick up his 20 year old girlfriend's daughter... and the story will get better every time you tell it.

Luxury or not, sometimes travel is about collecting stories as much as it's about collecting comfort...

/my2cents

[PippaB]

Captain should have sent hostess home to be with child for holidays. Whether she got paid for the time off up to him.

Then captain should have gotten a replacement hostess. If none available then captain and first mate have to step up and pull hostess duties in addition to boat duties.

That's pretty much how it would go on a "professional" charter (BTDT).

[Knotical]

The moment her kid came on board the GF went from being a hostess to being a mother - nothing wrong with it, just that a mother should not expect to get paid.

The captain prioritized his personal life over the his guests’ comfort which is totally unprofessional - I agree with not tipping him.

Nothing wrong with the OP’s approach..

[CrispyCringle]

I think the OPs response to the captain is perfect. The captain should never have asked the question in the first place. Just asking puts the customer in a bad spot. Yes, or no knowone is happy either way.

The only thing I can think of that could have been said in the beginning when the question was asked is maybe something like "Yes, but I dont like it, and you put me in an awkward position by asking." But the end result is the same- The customer has a reduced experience, or the crew is resentful. No good, and its all on the Capt.