Yacht charter in Marina · Lagoon — 450 (2014)

We had a great Time with nice Captain and Cook ! Everything Was as expected ! Thank you !!!

After reading the past comments, it seems that since Maggie (who was the skipper of the boat for many years and with whom I booked the boat a year ago) the standards have drastically dropped. The main issues are communication and the people who have replaced Maggie, because I don’t have any complaint about the boat (amazing and perfect for a group of 8 people) and its cleanliness. Let’s start with communication: since Maggie left, you’d have to ask things three or four times, to expect a (partial when lucky) answer two or three days later. We had a plan in mind and I have relentlessly asked to speak to the skipper to agree the plan and the itinerary before. First answer: I will email you the itinerary right away – they never did so I ask again, second answer: I will speak to the skipper and he’ll get back to us with his ideas – he never did so I ask again, third answer: it’s better if you agree the itinerary with the skipper on site. Apparently the skipper was busy sailing and couldn’t get back to us. When the skipper was with us, I can tell you he had tons of free time as most of the time he’d be sleeping or on his phone. So we arrive on site to find out that we can’t do this and we can’t do that, we had to book places in advance and blablabla – thank you very much for screwing up our plans. We managed at least to make it to Hvar on the Saturday. First day, Friday, we arrive to find that the boat wasn’t ready. So we had to wait an hour and an half. Not too much of an issue. Not having an itinerary, and having to make one on the spot, and having to agree with the skipper on when to go, we ended up wasting the whole day sailing under bad weather. So Friday was basically completely wasted. In general during the trip we stopped in some random nice places along the road, but nothing truly special. Maggie gave us a very accurate list of truly special places. So, you can imagine our disappointment. They asked me if I needed a cab, I said yes, so they said they’d get back to me with a price and confirmation: of course they didn’t. So I arrive in Split thinking there was no taxy waiting for me there. By pure chance, while going out to find a taxi, I bumped into a taxi driver holding a piece of paper saying “Catamaran”, who spoke no English and did not even have my name! Now, if you have guests arriving at 8 am in Split on a certain day you would be available on the phone in case anything we might need or at least give me the number of the skipper. Of course they didn’t do either. We tried to contact them, no answer, until hours later when we were already on the boat. Not very serious. The skipper, Pavle, is a nice kid – but you can tell he has very little experience with hosting guests. We nicknamed him “we have a problem Pavle” as that was his answer at 90% of our requests. Also, in a “luxury” vacation you expect much more from a skipper. We had to ask him to smile sometimes, as every question was met with an eyeroll. You could tell he had no experience and wanted to do the bear minimum. Saturday night he offered to help us with a taxi from the restaurant to Carpe Diem. Obviously the taxi he found in the evening disappeared. We were hoping he’d move the boat towards carpe diem and then use the tender to bring us to the club. Forget about it: “we have a problem!” – of course you do. So we had to walk from the restaurant across the island (there are no roads, so we had to cut through woods). I sent him a message saying we might be lost, hoping he’d say: come back and I’ll find a solution. His solution was: just follow the music…. 7000 euro for 3 days, your guests are lost in the middle of the woods on a island and your answer is: JUST FOLLOW THE MUSIC? How unprofessional is this? ON A LUXURY VACATION? On Sunday we were enjoying the last day when he decided, without consulting us, that we had to set sail and go to Split. We noticed and asked what he was doing, and he said: “we have to leave now otherwise we wouldn’t find place for the boat” (when we got there we found plenty of space, and most importantly ask your guests first!). – we stopped him and asked to call to reserve a place (if we agreed on an itinerary we could have done this well in advance – and nevertheless this should have been anyway organized by this company), and he said they wouldn’t keep us a place unless we tipped the guy there about 100 euro. After spending 7000 euro for a boat, obviously we didn’t care about the 100 euro extra – we just wanted 1) to be consulted 2) to enjoy our last day without having to waste the afternoon sailing. That was on top of the 300 euro we had to pay to use the Split Marina. Also none of those costs were shared before the trip. Something you’d expect from a serious company. But then again – thanks to them, we had no itinerary. The Hostess Sandra, at least, was very nice and accommodating; her food was ok, she was also at her first experience. But do not expect a luxury service from your hosts. A three star hotel maybe. Overall nice boat, terrible communication and even worst organization, totally not worth the money. If they want to keep asking this sort of money they need to go back to the standards that Maggie was offering. Not recommended.

Our charter with Maggie was fantastic. It ended up being just one couple after some friends were unable to come last minute which provided us extra space in the bedroom areas. Beds and rooms were comfortable and I would advise packing smart so you can pull out your clothing for your trip and then store your bags. Breakfast and lunches were delicious. Maggie was a great hostess. I am a bit particular about my drinks and brought on my own liquor for cocktails - Maggie asked that I show her how I make them. She then prepared them for me the rest of the trip which was great! Sailing around the Croatian islands was the trip of a lifetime.

We had an amazing trip on the Grey Goose. Maggie was a fantastic and accommodating host and we loved exploring the islands of Croatia. Food and wine were delicious. It was unfortunate that the air con in one cabin didn’t work but completely understandable as a busy charter season and a last minute disembarkation change by the previous guests precluded it being fixed before we joined her. But it certainly did not detract from an incredible holiday. Thank you Maggie!

Incredible Experience!! I recommend everyone to sail with Maggie and Stephen! They are the best hosts, the boat is impecable, everything is perfect! We really had a great time and hope to be back with them in the near future! Thanks Maggiee! Thankss Stephen! 100%