Liveaboard Couples and Guests

[peter.bomberg]

Hi to all liveaboard couples (by that I mean a couple that primarily stays on the Catamaran and has guests), my question is how many guests do you normally have at once (ofcourse family reunions are different! but normally when you sail you would be just the 2 of you, so when you have guests onboard is it normally 1-2 more people or 2-4 more, and normally for how long?

This question leads to the number of cabins needed, if the normal load is 3-4 people then 2 cabins is fine.

[JusDreaming]

it normally ends up having 2-4 people/guests on board, for dinner or "Sundowners". Sometimes more but you ask for an average. Any more than that and it qualifies as a party

[colemj]

For us, it is mostly 2 people (generally another couple) for 7-10 days a couple times each year. More people, longer visits or more frequency and we feel we are running a guest house and not living our cruising life together. On the other hand, we meet lots of boats that have almost constant guests and truly enjoy it. Of course, we also watch them regularly bash their brains out fighting weather to be at the next pickup/dropoff point. I don't think they enjoy that part...

Mark

[JusDreaming]

ditto what Mark said about visiting guests, as a rule we let guests pick the date or place but NEVER BOTH. THis avoids the race to pick up or delivery to airports.

[MarkJ]

We have a max of 2 guests in a contained cruising area that we have already made a trouist plan for.

Max stay is 5 days.

We sugest the guests us us as a stepping off point for a vacation in the area we are in. We are NOT the whole vacation!

We won't do a passge with guests etc.

We are very inexperienced at it.

For example: We will be in Bali in a few months. We will offer the spare cabin to some friends. They fly into Bali and we pick them up from a resort so they can bring heaps of suitcases but leave them there. Check out of resort and onto Sea Life. Do a lap of Bali (etc). Dump them back to recheck into resort 5 days later.

Having friends on a boat is meant to be making them better friends.... not busting the whole relationship!


Mark

[peter.bomberg]

Thanks guys, I like the general feedback, I am thinking that this means I can look at a 2 cabin setup (converting 1 into storage and one into my dive space. I am planning this way in advance and who knows it may never happen but the idea gives me pleasure so who knows (as I often say its the voyage and not the destination).

I have never planned on letting the guests pick the place or time, my thought was rater to say we are here on this date (or date range) and first come first served (up to a max of 2 weeks and max of 2 or 4 people) but then I am a rude and blunt person and to be honest if they want they can charter a Cat if they are coming to see us then that should work, but yes I can see having more visitors in Bali than in France (even though the food is better in France!)

Peter

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by peter.bomberg

. . . I can see having more visitors in Bali than in France (even though the food is better in France!)

Peter

France is the world's favorite travel destination, attracting more visitors than any other country.

TaoJones

[peter.bomberg]

I am Swedish so I can believe that as I travel with my stomach first (food, then we shall see, ohh yes diving and then culture and so on.

[drew.ward]

Originally Posted by TaoJones

France is the world's favorite travel destination, attracting more visitors than any other country.

TaoJones

Is it really? I would have thought it would have been the US.

When I lived in Germany often times the Germans would ask why I never went home to America during the summer break (6 week national vacation time). I would have to explain to them that because half of Germany was on their way to the US at the same time that airfares were far outside my reach. At the same time though, with half of Europe gone, it was a great time to play tourist on the Continent and not have to deal with crowds.

[drew.ward]

Here's something I've wondered:

When you do have guests on board, do you offer them the best stateroom (usually probably your own)?

I've often thought of this when sizing up boats. Namely as I'm only 5'9" tall I can fit in most places easier than many people I know. So say if my 6'3" father were to come sail for a week I would definitely insist he take the larger bunk.

The other thought simply being that it's nice to spoil your guests sometimes.

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by drew.ward

Is it [France] really [the world's favorite destination country]? I would have thought it would have been the US.

It isn't even close, Drew. See: World Tourism rankings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia And when you consider that the Wikipedia table refers to 2007, there's a very good chance that China has already displaced the US for third position, as the US economy and abrasive anti-terrorism façade yanks the welcome mat from under the feet of foreign visitors, while China continues to expand economically and open up politically.

TaoJones

[Bash]

Originally Posted by drew.ward

When you do have guests on board, do you offer them the best stateroom (usually probably your own)?

We have three sleeping cabins. The first is called the "Owner's Stateroom," the second is called the "Guest Cabin," and the third is called the "Cave."

Our guests seem to enjoy the fact that we haven't asked them to sleep in the cave. At that point, sleeping in the Owner's Stateroom is never an issue.

++++++++

The brochure claims that our boat sleeps eight. However, when people ask how many the boat sleeps we reply, "Two, comfortably, but we've been able to squeeze in a couple extras for a few days if the guests are low maintenance."

[Knowazark]

The best answer I ever heard to the question "How many does your boat sleep?" was - "As few as possible".

Many cruising yachts have berths for 6, 7 or 8 people, but honestly, who wants to share such a small space with that many other people ... and who wants to cook for them all? It might be OK for a couple of days, but beyond that, it starts to get a bit cramped.

[dana-tenacity]

Guests are like fish - after three days they start to smell.

[zeehag]

my 41 formosa is said to sleep 6-8, but really only sleeps as many as i wish aboard--me,my kat, and maybe a bf...if i permit it....lol.....
i have over as few as i wish--preferably never near evening time, unless the guests have their own boat on which to sleep, and a way to get there.....
parties are ok---i donot care how many arrive--as long as they bring their own--food, booze, etc....and take the trash with them...lol.....