boat hire in Rodney Bay · Beneteau — Oceanis 440 (1995)

What an adventure! Here's our take on our trip. We're happy to have had a wonderful trip and stay in Saint Lucia on a sailboat (monohull)... It didn't go at all as planned! We were scheduled to meet at 9:00 a.m. at the Fuel Dock in Le Marin (Martinique)... The sailboat finally arrived, but at 11:00 a.m.... We had to clear the customs clearance instead of the skipper... we lost almost an hour... great! And yet they had all the necessary documents to do it!! Enigma We finally set sail... let's set sail, but no! We made the 4-hour journey under engine and autopilot (the skipper didn't touch the helm the entire crossing)... Arriving in Saint Lucia, our skipper asked us to clear customs ourselves! Isn't that the skipper's job? We cleared the customs clearance again and paid $60. Okay! and €33 at the port because we arrived late…. Brilliant! And we couldn't go through immigration because they were closed…. We'll have to do it the next day. Our night: We are three couples, so we booked three cabins…. We only got two, and one couple slept in the saloon. Which wasn't included in the charter contract!! The next day, our skipper refused to handle immigration alone! So, we went with him: What a disaster…. We spent three hours from the time the offices opened…. Immigration asked us to fill out forms online, with connection problems, language problems, and lack of humanity, all for a stamp and a job the skipper was supposed to do! The result: $20 to pay to a customs official to do the job for us! Mr. Alessandro, you could have done what was necessary! No? We lost a good day when we should have enjoyed some sightseeing in Saint Lucia, but now we know La Marina well!! We did meet Alessandro…. He gave some of his time in the morning at immigration… We told him it wasn't professional of him… That the price for the 3-day service wasn't consistent with what we were experiencing!! Well, the rest of the stay went better (half day + evening at the jazz festival) and a departure at 10:00 a.m. instead of 6:00 a.m.!! We left, sailing again under engine and autopilot to Le Marin. Well, the weather wasn't exactly great! The trip was long and difficult… We endured our troubles, but what could we do or say!! Arriving at the port of Le Marin, we were asked to pay for the diesel! The joke is, we explain that fuel and skipper were included in the price... I call Alessandro back, he tells me he hasn't really read the contract... Fine! I told him to read it and or check with Click&Boat! He tells me, you're still giving me a good rating because I helped you a little!! Well, it was the least I could do, and if everything had been done properly with an independent and professional skipper (we'll see), we would have given a more than decent rating... But this time, no!!! It won't be possible... We've rarely, if ever, given comments like that... But this time, we were at the height of the worst organization imaginable! It's unfortunate, all we needed was a dose of punctuality, a real skipper who did his job (paperwork and navigation)! Everything would have gone smoothly with the certainty of having a better comment! It's silly, isn't it!!