This overdue review is based on my overall experience with planning my birthday with Lisa at Five…read moreStars Yacht. To summarize, I was constantly trying to work around the restrictions that Lisa failed to disclose at the time of contract. And all of this could've been avoided if it was mentioned on the very first day. I just felt blindsided every time she mentioned something new. If you run a business that hosts events, these should be listed in your contract! She was misleading, had poor communication, was unwilling to work with me, and lied. And this event is a couple $$$$. You would think that I would get better service for paying so much. Save yourself the trouble and book elsewhere!
I met Lisa in February, through Sailo.com. While I toured the yacht, Lisa explained what I could expect from booking with them. She said I could decorate the boat however I wanted. She mentioned there were tablecloths in a variety of colors to match any theme. I mentioned I wanted pink tablecloths, and she said she had some light pink shades. She showed me upstairs and said they had tablecloths for the smaller tables as well. I mentioned I would want to decorate upstairs. I asked her if I could bring food onboard, which was okay. We went over bar service, music, and set up. She mentioned the yacht was available to set up in the morning before my event time. Now everything to me sounded great, but little did I know, a lot of what she mentioned was complete BS.
I reviewed the contract in March, ready to book with her. The contract had the general cost information. I had questions about bar service, but since the company seemed very accommodating, I didn't have any other questions.
Fast forward to July, my event was set for the end of the month. I was already ordering decor. Once I started emailing her details about how I wanted to decorate, many things were not approved. There were restrictions that were not disclosed at the time of contract. For example, no balloons outside, no tape on any surface;only string or ribbon. That is a huge detail you should mention early on, especially when it was clear that I wanted to decorate. After going through multiple options, I had to search for plan b, and just rented marquee numbers, since it was freestanding decor. And even she had some hesitations about that. Then, I asked her multiple times for photos of the pink tablecloths she had mentioned. 2 weeks before the party, she told me she "couldn't find them," and only had white or neutral. Clearly she did not have a variety of tablecloths. I don't even think the pink tablecloths existed. So I told her I would like the white tablecloths for the party.
The next issue was food. I asked her if I could use sterno food warmers for one dish. She said no, and that I could only use electric. So, I asked about an electric griddle to set a tray on, and she still didn't approve it..Then, she mentioned a flameless warmer, but refused to send me a photo. She just said, "oh you'll see it online." I sent her an image of one option online, which still wasn't what she was describing, but still approved...all of the back and forth could've been avoided if she just showed me.
To make matters worse, 2 days before the event she had the audacity to ask me if I wanted to charge gratuity on my card before the event! So I told her I do not pay gratuity before a service is given.
I also asked a week in advance if I could set up starting at 10am, just 2 hours before the event time. I was told 10:30 was the earliest because the crew had to arrive at 10 and set up. On the day of the event, I showed up at 10:20 and the crew was not onboard. They showed up at 10:30 and still needed to set up. So I couldn't start decorating until 10:50, and was scrambling with the little time I had. And when I asked for the white tablecloths, they had no idea that I requested them. They didn't have any ready. They pulled out a DIRTY tablecloth that we just had to fold in half. And the captain didn't even know about any tablecloths for the smaller tables. There was clearly no communication between what I discussed with Lisa and her crew.
I asked Lisa if we can bring the smaller table from the front deck inside. She told me the table outside couldn't fold up and had to stay outside, which I later found out was a lie. We had enough space for the food, but I still wanted the table out of the way. The crew told me they could bring the table in. It just shows she was unwilling to work with me and refused to accommodate a simple request.
Once we left the dock, things seemed to settle down. The captain and the rest of the crew were great. Unfortunately, the crew service for the day didn't outweigh the stress I went through to plan the event. At the end of the party, I thanked the crew, but made it very clear to the captain that working with Lisa was extremely difficult and stressful.