WORST CHARTER EVER!
The essence of our trip is that we were given a boat that was not seaworthy and our treatment was unconscionable. I'm surprised that these guys are still in business.
These are the problems we encountered:
Unreliable engine. We had the boat for six days and we did not finish one day with an engine that worked.
Boat speed, wind speed, wind direction instruments inoperable. Tachometer erratic.
GPS missing.
Inoperable mechanical bilge pumps. No manual bilge pump handle.
Engine shut off switch inoperable. (Engine could only be turned off by opening the engine compartment in the main cabin and disrupting fuel flow to the injectors.)
Water pressure tank inoperable.
Masthead light and cockpit light inoperable. Many interior lights inoperable
"Down" windlass switch broken.
No emergency tiller.
Refrigerator turned on but didn't cool.
AM radio inoperable.
Very small dingy. Sufficient for two or three people in a flat calm sea, but not for a crew of six.
Mainsail badly frayed.
Jib furling mechanism tended to jam.
Here are a few more details.
When we arrived at the charter office, we were asked for a damage deposit that was much higher than we expected. Nevertheless, we signed the form and then went to see the boat. To our surprise, the boat that we were shown was not the one that we had booked and paid for. Nor was it the one that we had just signed for on the damage deposit form. That boat, we were told, was not available, so we were being upgraded. I insisted on correcting the information on the damage deposit form and then some of us did a brief check-out procedure with staff wile the rest of the crew did some provisioning.
The "upgrade" was anything but. At checkout, we noticed some of the above problems and we expressed concern. Staff were apologetic, but we were told that this was the only boat available. We had quite a bit of experience with chartering and we brought along our own navigation instruments, so we thought we would need to make the best of the circumstances.
When we cast off, we first headed for the nearby fuel depot. Normally when you charter a boat, the fuel tank is full and you must return the boat with a full tank. But our tank was empty. We were told to fill up and charge the bill to the Star Voyage account. The fuel depot refused to do that and we had to pay for the diesel ourselves. Most of our experiences with Star Voyage were like that. They told us one thing, but reality was quite another. Anyway, we sailed a short distance, found a nearby place to anchor and tried to fix some of the problems on the boat, to little avail. Later, we found out that the boat we had booked had been given to another group because their schedule was a better fit than ours. We also found out that the boat we were given had sunk in a hurricane and been refloated. That was why so many of the electrical devices didn't work.
After six days into our two week charter we had not managed to get more than a few miles from the charter base without needing to return for engine repairs. On the last day, we again sailed back to base with a dead engine and were told that the mechanic would be with us in the morning. Indeed, he arrived around 08:00 and worked on the boat until about 17:00. When he left, he told us to run the engine for three hours to charge the batteries. We did that, turned off the engine and immediately tried to restart it. No luck. We were forced to admit defeat and terminate the charter.
We never received a refund. We never received reimbursement for the fuel that we paid for and couldn't use because the engine wouldn't run. We never received an apology. We were told to contact the Paris office about our complaints. But the Paris office would not respond to our mail or fax. No one with authority was ever available to take our phone calls. I considered taking legal action, but that is virtually impossible unless you live in the Caribbean or are willing to spend a lot of time and money to travel there for legal proceedings.
I'm sure that some people have lucked out and had a good experience with this company. But while we were waiting dockside while the mechanic was working on our boat, we observed some other disturbing events. One party, that consisted of an elderly gentleman and two women, were not very experienced. Yet they were sent on their way without any kind of test sail to see if they could actually handle the boat. Another party fouled their main anchor when leaving the marina. The mechanic buoyed the anchor, disconnected it from the windless and sent them on their way with only the secondary stern anchor. We were amazed and appalled.
I've chartered quite a few times over a 30 year period and never had an experience remotely like this one. This is the absolute worst company I have ever dealt with. It is worth noting that Star Voyage used to have bases on a number of Caribbean islands. They are now down to one base, on Martinique. read more
