I must say, I am completely baffled on how Boat Charter Destin has such a high rating as our family vacation experience was a complete disappointment and a waste of our hard earned money. I am not one to post negative reviews, however this experience warrants it. I will add that I e-mailed the charter in an effort to address our experience and they have opted to not respond so I am happy to share our negative experience publicly. Funny how they respond quickly when you are booking a trip, but fail to respond if there is an issue to be addressed post trip. Our trip was scheduled to depart at 7am, however the boat was not prepared for departure and we did not get under way until 7:52am. Our Captain (Jeff) did not have the boat fueled, he did not have ice, nor bait ready for our trip. While "fueling" the boat, he managed to fill the fresh water tank reservoir with gasoline, requiring the marina to subsequently pump the gasoline out before we could depart. Obviously this did not instill confidence as to the captains boating capabilities or familiarity with the boat. Since we opted to place our personal possessions into the china toilet cabinet, all of our personal belongings ended up reeking of fuel vapors. After preparing the boat for our "fishing" trip, Jeff had to make yet an additional detour to obtain ice and bait for the trip. I will add he only obtained 20 bait fish for the entire trip. Knowing the complexity of the ocean and the likelihood that one will go through a lot of bait while trying to catch fish, why would you only get 20 baitfish and then put several of the baitfish on the hook in whole instead of preparing cut bait??? Being an avid fisherman, it is important to match bait size to hook size. If the fish are stealing the bait, put smaller pieces of the bait on the circle hooks so they can't just rip it off and they have to actually take the bait....or switch to J hooks. Now that we have finally spent an hour and a half of our morning anxiously awaiting for Jeff to have the boat ready for the fishing trip, we finally get under way. After getting to our first fishing spot, Jeff informed us we would be using three rods for our four person fishing trip until he got us on some fish.....which never happened. Since the captain invested in cheap fishing gear, there was an issue with one of the reels while attempting to land a fish and we only "fished" with three rods for the remainder of the trip. Should have been more prepared for this I would think. Without exaggeration, we literally had our lines wet and in the water for less than 30 minutes for the entire five hour "fishing" trip. In full disclosure, there were dolphins following the boat and made fishing a bit more difficult. Jeff would put us on a spot and we would drop our lines a couple times and we would again move to a new location which could take an extensive amount of time. We literally fished 4 spots the entire trip and I am not exaggerating when I say we only had our lines in the water for 30 minutes total. This is unacceptable! I hope anyone who takes the time to read our review will not have the same negative experience we did. Since we reside in Texas, we based our decision to use this charter after reading the posted reviews. We now realize our experience did not mimic that of others. You would think the charter would want to address our experience, but it seems they got their money and they are moving on to the next. I wish future customers the best! read more

Great day on the water w Capt. Lance! The water was rough but it did not matter. Lance found the fish, was a patient teacher and made sure we had a great day! Do not hesitate to book your trip, you will not regret it! read more

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Ive debated on writing this as im not someone who harps on someone's business, but its bothered me since we went on this charter. I should have known right off that even as I called to book and ask a couple of questions about this particular charter the person who answered the phone acted as if he hated his life and his emphasis on the entire thing was "dry". If I was trying to promote my business and get customers I would definitely have a better attitude. The man told me it would be a captain and someone else to help the Capitan. So day of after booking the almost $900 charter for supposedly 5 hour fishing trip the big day came for our party of 5 ( me to snap pics of the other 4 fishing, so 4 fishers) we came a few minutes early and excited. 2 of the people in our group had never been and we had been the year prior and had a blast with a different charter so we were excited for them for their first fishing trip. We met the Capitan and he appeared to be friendly and all seemed well. We all got on the boat and realized it was only the Capitan and no one else to help him. He informed us he had to get bait and ice. After taking the boat to get the ice and bait he made us load the ice into the dirty bin mixed with food and soda. We loaded the ice from the large container and waited several minutes for the captain to return with the bait, to which he bought a very small box with very few bait. We finally got back going toward fishing which took over an HOUR to get too! He said we were going to troll for a little bit which consisted of 45 minutes....we thought he was trolling for bait.....he was trolling for our fish which were extremely small and im not sure they were legally keepable. He starting looking for other fish for us to finally catch with poles. Excitedly we were beyond ready! Thinking this may turn into a better situation then what was happening. He finally found some fish on the fish finder after driving /sailing (whatever its called ) the boat. He then started to cut up the few pieces of bait he had for the ones fishing. He then told them to start baiting their lines. The captain did help my 16 year old daughter bait some. The Capitan the whole time had a crap attitude the entire time as is was the day before the last day of him being with this boat. So in all of our opinion he didn't give 2 craps about the time or money we spent doing this charter. He made it very clear he was done with it and ready to be on the bigger boat. We fished for maybe 40 min....maybe 50 that was it. He tossed the bait over the side and said that was it. All he did was smoke the entire time and complain. We ended up catching only very few fish and very small fish. We were very very unhappy with this service ! We felt like we were robbed from the experience we wanted. We definitely were not expecting to catch sharks or giant fish, but we wanted a good time and I wish we had saved the money and done something else. I definitely could have spent $900 on something else besides a 5 hour boat ride. The captain complained about everything, we mentioned we loved dolphins and he said " he'd kill them all if he could " another statement was we were fascinated about sharks..... making small talk asking him did he see them much and he sharply responded " I don't see everyones fascination with damn sharks". After we cleaned up the poles and he sprayed off his boat some with water we all sat back down dissatisfied and disappointed with the entire thing. It took us right at an hour to get back to the docks. We all stood there silent ....he said he was going to clean our fish....we really wondered how he was gonna get any meat off the minos we caught. He stood there and cleaned the best he could in silence leaving skin and bones on the fish. He didn't even display the fish on the little spikes ....which I guesss is a good thing considering they were the smallest fish we ever caught. Ive caught bigger blue gill in our little KY pond then what we did on that ocean. He stood there expecting a tip and I thought he was out of his mind. We left him no tip and threw out the meat at our hotels trash dumpster as there is nothing we can do with that. Before we got back to the condo Boat Charter Destin was already calling because they didn't charge the card and they wanted their money ....... again it was the same " I hate my life guy that was on the phone" wanting their money. Be glad my dad is honorable because had it been my debit card.....u would have only had the $200 deposit and that was still too much!!!! Maybe since that guy has left the experience may be better but ours was garbage. There are many other instances and examples of how bad this trip was but I've already wrote enough. Again im not trying to be the bad guy but we were definitely robbed of our experience along with $900........so beware!!! p.s. Sunday May 8, 2022 was our fishing trip in case Boat Charter Destin wants to call and clear anything up read more

Boat Charter Destin is a must if you're visiting the area! Very friendly and knowledgeable captain. We were catching fish at every spot we stopped! The boat was absolutely beautiful as well! Highly recommend using these guys for any fishing or crab island trip in Destin! read more

So we did NOT get a chance to go out fishing. My review is based on customer service which I feel lacks In business. I sent a message and received a quick response. I should have contacted them when we arrived since he was booked till Monday. Even though we had a long stay I waited until Our last few days to reach out. I can see why he was busy he texted me his address and info and to me that was so amazing. We will be back in the spring and you can bet I'm booking before we board that plane so we can go out!!! read more

My family and I had the best time on this charter! Captain Lance was awesome with my kids! He helped all of us get acclimated with the poles, casting the line, and reeling our haul in! We caught lots of fish, and captain lance even cleaned and fillet the fish for us! The price was extremely reasonable and when we make the trip back to Destin we'll be booking with him again! read more

Boat Charter Destin - Boat Charters Near Me - Destin, Florida

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Had an awesome time on Capt. Lance's boat! As soon as we left the bay for some red snapper fishing, he took us to his "spot". Started pulling them in like crazy as soon as we took our positions. His knowledge of the area paired with his simple yet helpful instruction proved imperative for my super fun experience as I am a novice when it comes to deep sea fishing. If a Destin vacation becomes a yearly thing for me and my buddies, so will a charter with these guys - A+. read more

Captain Lance was great and we had a great time. Caught limit on snapper. Great day. Would highly recommend this charter company.