Dream Yachts nightmare: In Sept 2024, I headed a flotilla of 12 bareboats chartered from Dream Yachts in Trogir, Croatia, and every boat had significant issues, either mechanical or horrible odors from improperly maintained holding tanks and bilges and leaking gas tanks, or both. With over 70 boats leaving and returning every Saturday, and only 7 techs to maintain them (yep, 7, this came from one of them while he was trying to fix something on my boat) and turn them around in about 7 hours, they send the boats back out with everything deferred except what might keep it in port. Clearly DYC does not care if your trip sucks because their boats suck. The sliding door rollers on my cat were gone, requiring both hands, significant effort, and grinding metal (further damaging the boat) simply to slide it open. The main halyard was so old and stiff, the mainsail required somebody up the mast to free it once we got it up because it would not come back down. Every boat in our flotilla had a list of problems that I presented to DYC in an effort to let them know what we encountered and to see if they wanted to try to make it right. They offered low value vouchers for future charter discounts to skippers who would never think about using them again, which were obviously useless to the crews onboard, and in some cases, refused to acknowledge the issues reported, suggesting our most experienced skipper, instructor and professional sailor didn't know what he was talking about. Regional sales mgr Chuck Porter promised an "investigation", which amounted to a phone call to the base. Nobody traveled to the site to check on their atrocious boats, and after many attempts to get a cogent and appropriate response to our concerns from somebody in the company that could talk intelligently about it, he terminated communications with me and directed staff to block my emails and not take calls from me, accusing me of yelling at his people as his reasoning for that, reminiscent of grade school tactics you're supposed to grow out of.. And now the latest: My company continued to book charters with DYC intermittently for individual clients (never again for a flotilla) who wanted to use them, and we recently booked a charter with them for one of our staff members who paid his deposit on a charter 10 months away, and then 2 weeks ago and 12 days after the deadline for refund, passed away from a sudden heart attack. We reached out to DYC to cancel the charter, explained the situation and under the circumstances, politely asked them for the money to be returned to the grieving family (none of whom are sailors). Instead of giving the situation any serious consideration and adjusting policy for a very good reason, they contend that the deceased should have taken out trip insurance. Which may be true, but who thinks they might die before the charter?? Instead of considering the grief and hardship the family is experiencing, they hide behind the contract to ensure they milk every last penny from them. I mean, it's not like the largest charter company on the planet doesn't have the financial ability to make an exception where one should be made. But nope, the CEO and founder, Loic Bonnet, who used to work for Moorings, the highest rated company in the industry for service and quality, and should know better, obviously supports the company's disgusting stance on this. Why didn't I post about the nightmare in Croatia last year before now? Because they threatened to quit working with us (was fine with me, but the boss didn't want to compromise our service) and void any vouchers they issued to our skippers if I said anything negative about it!! In fact, the sheet you have to sign to get the fairly worthless voucher includes the verbiage "The charter client also agrees not to post or make public any defamatory reviews of their experience with Dream Yacht Group". In other words, don't tell anybody how crappy we are or we won't give you the voucher. Unbelievable, and the latest scummy action by the company shows us that Loic Bonnet and Charles Porter are nothing more than greedy hucksters running the worst charter company in the industry, exploiting the sailing public. Bottom line? Dream Yacht Charters (now Dream Yachts Worldwide) is just another 3rd rate company concerned only with revenue at the expense of any semblance of quality or care for their customers. Charter with them at your own risk, and do not expect the boats to match the marketing.. read more

The crew of Captain and Chef/steward get a 5 star review. For the following reasons, they get a 1 - problem with bathrooms made all cabins smell like feces and urine. Some cabins even had back up of feces and urine, ughhh. Took 5 days to fix. 7 of 7 batteries were dead. That means generator had to run 24/7. For the forward cabins, that means sleeping with a train underneath all night long. Some cabins never had hot water, the others had intermittent. We're talking only 4 cabins. The main sail broke after first use. Jib sail broke after second use. So basically we had sails for 2 of about 20 cruises. There is more but you get the point. read more

Dream Yachts was my worst boating nightmare! As a novice sailor, I was really excited to join some friends on a sailing trip in the BVI's. Dream Yachts ruined that experience. First, within hours after getting our final payment, they switched the boat on us and then charged us $1500 extra for a different boat that ended up being a dangerous and unusable vessel. Within one hour of our first sail, the block on the rail of the front sail tore loose; whipping a 5lb piece of metal hurling and swinging through the air all over the front of the boat - thankfully it didn't kill one of us. That essentially turned the boat into a motorboat, because we couldn't sail for the rest of the trip. As if that wasn't enough, we had a dysfunctional head, the fridges kept breaking and we lost tons of our provisions due to spoilage (and they misdiagnosed the issue and then took almost a week before replacing batteries, which should have been simple). We tried to work with them while there (they didn't come to do repairs as arranged so we wasted days waiting, and they wouldn't even reimburse us for the groceries that we had to replace). Since the trip we have tried many times to raise our concerns with Dream, and the customer service has been abysmal... they won't even return our calls. Do not charter with Dream Yachts! BEWARE! read more

Dram Yacht Charters Bahamas Overall the boat is worn out and poorly maintained Main Sail is defective. The main sail failed immediately after leaving the marina unable to sail for 3 days After an initial repair, the following 3 days the main sail is only partially functional as a batten is still missing The reefing line was missing Water is dripping from a crack in the hatch above the bed There was strong diesel smell in the cabin for 2 days, then bad smell is coming from leaking toilet The cockpit sole is kept together with worn out tape Generator is exceedingly noisy and is causing strong vibrations on the bed Batteries don't hold the charge sounding the alarm early morning and requiring to run the generator during the night or early in the morning (5 am, 6 am) which is a breach of contract Fishing gear is clunky Lifeline gate is left occasionally open under way Captain is keeping an attitude and never apologized for missing the boat equipment and gear verification before departure resulting in mainsail failure Lack of food options , snacks, desserts are sketchy, food inconsistent in quality and quantity with ups and downs Sorry for paying a hefty price for substandard service and failing equipment Dream Yacht Charters is to be avoided for any future trips read more

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Unreliable boat company. Generator broke down since the second day. The skippered boat trip did not follow the proposed itinerary because of the generator failure. No replacement plans at all from the company.. Our sailing trip became a trip staying in marinas only. No chance for anchorage. AC and water maker did not work.In the middle of the trip, we were taken to Split which was not the proposed itenary. Our whole group has launched the complaint to the revelant tourisam board in Croatia. Since we are still on board, we will esculate this further if nothing has come into agreement before we disembark. read more

DONT. PLEASE DONT GIVE THIS AWFUL COMPANY ANY OF YOUR TIME OR MONEY. THEY WILL RUIN YOUR VACATION. It is evident that Dream Yacht Charters had no intention to fulfill its obligation to our reservation or booking contract from the beginning. Even if you are not a sailor the list below gives you a sense of their "double dipping" gaining monies from our booking and clearly booking the vessel to another party the minute we could not take any more lies or failed repairs. We left the unseaworthy boat and they quickly prepared it for a new client. Just about the most abhorent unsafe practice. No refund, No acknowledgement of their responsibility, no maintenance records. Anchor & Windlass * Windlass broke on 2 occasions rending the boat inoperable and leaving crew in exposed unsafe conditions, without the ability to raise or lower the anchor manually. * Anchoring - a 5:1 scope ratio is generally considered the minimum standard for anchoring; we were advised to put down a 3:1 scope and when doing so the boat dragged at night despite a good set on the sandy bottom requiring crew to attempt to sail back to safe moorage during the night. For the Indian ocean a 7:1 scope may be more appropriate. At best Dream Yacht Charters provided a 3.8:1 scope ratio for the anchor yet telling us to only use 45m which is 2.8 scope without any markings. Main sail * No reef points on luffed main sail, making it impossible to reef the main as there is no reef 1 tack or reef 2 tack point thus there is no way to secure the foot of the sail while reefed. * Reef points exist on the leech, however they are only lines through the reef points back to the winch which risks tearing of the main sail when downward pressure is applied, as usually a vessel of this size has a block system for reefing on the main sail. * Defective main sail halyard unable to winch to the top due to underpowered winch size and inappropriate line sizes. * Unable to sheet in Jib for proper sailing angle as lines slip through winch, due to inappropriate sized winch and lines. Genoa Main Sheet winch blew apart port side under sail Dingy * Dingy under inflated and had leak in hull, outboard motor would not stay on for more than 2 mins, no oars provided - crew had to swim 0.5km to shore dragging dingy and then waited 6 hours for rescue. * All crew members were injured during the swim with crew suffering from deeply embedded sea urchin spines that required medical attention and caused inability to walk easily for 1 week. Additional Issues * Refused to provide us with a tank key, despite us asking several times * Freezer did not work * Watermaker has not been serviced, it is "operational" but water quality is poor and monitoring dials not working - crew were unable to drink water from Watermaker without violent nausea * Swim step ladder was unsafe - it was attached to rotted wood on Transom which gave way under any strain * Auto pilot will not helm by wind angle read more

Purchased a boat through them. Has been one of the worst overall experiences dealing with their high level of incompetence. Helen Keller had better communication skills than their after-sales team. read more

No change Dream Yacht Charter, the COMPANY, simply don't care about your experience. YOU have paid in advance tens of thousands of dollars and you are STUCK with a local franchiser who may or may NOT fulfill your agreement. You show up at the marina hot and tired from travel dragging your luggage and your sorry sucker ass fingers crossed that the boat you contracted for is even there or in any condition to sail. INTERCOURSE these people and their way of conducting business. You have been WARNED. read more

Terrible customer service. I chartered a 44' power cat, signed all the paperwork, paid, booked my flight, then was told that they learned that the boat wasn't even available. Apparently they hadn't even checked... So I was stuck with two non-refundable airline ticket. I asked them to reimburse me for the cost of the tickets and was told they weren't willing to do that. In my business, if we make an error, we make the customer whole. Wouldn't consider using them again. read more

Jan 2025: Bareboat Charter on a 2022 Bali 40. Note: I'm a multiple bareboat charter customer w DYC. This was the worst experience to date: Overall: Office Staff is 4/5 - super nice and very helpful. Tech Staff (Maintain Boats, Briefings, Check out, Docking etc...) 1/5 and that's being generous. Base Management 1/5: they are focused on taking care of owner's boats, customer experience or the quality of service. Our Experience: 1. Welcome Briefing never happened, boarded our boat with no shore power working, 9% battery power, fridge and freezer w all of our provisions for a week was not working (due to inverter issue when on shore power), shore power would not charge the batteries, had to run the engines (not generator) until midnight to get them charged to last the night so we could run out fridge/freezer and save out food...and when I called the Tech Line for help, he never called me back! That was night one! Boat was poorly maintained, cushions without tie downs, holding tanks venting into the cabins vs outside, salon AC not working, Generator leaking fuel into bilge, broken WindEx so you had no wind instruments, starboard engine stays in gear when in neutral, etc.... All of this was the condition the boat in when we boarded and they addressed nothing prior to departure. Returned the boat after the week and went over all of these issues with the Tech Staff at check out and I heard them speaking afterwords that the boat was going back out later that afternoon which means all the maintenance issues I had at the start will NOT be addressed prior to the boat going back out! They also did not seem to care at all about my feedback on any of the issues with the boat. In Summary: As someone who is looking for a management company to purchase a boat and put into the charter fleet - I will NO LONGER CONSIDER DYC based on this experience 2. BVI Base has Zero focus or concerns about your Customer Experience and making your charter a great one, they just care about ringing the cash register by turning the boats over within 6 hours every week. 3. BVI Base Location: Nothing around the base, you have to take a $12/pp each way cab ride to get a drink, lunch, shop, etc...while you wait to board your boat. 4. Tech Support: poor communication when you have serious issues, e.g. we woke up one morning after running the Gen and AC all night and had 5 inches of diesel fuel in the starboard engine compartment bilge...called them at 8:30 am (from the Bitter End Mooring Field) and they said they would have someone there in 90 mins....no one showed up until 6:10pm and they left (while we were at dinner at Saba Rock) and the Gen was still leaking fuel (less than before but still dripping into the bilge). Called Tech Line, Tech said he'd call his guys (who were on their way back to base) and call me back....he never called me back. 5. When returning, they ask you to stop at the fuel dock and they will help you refuel and then they will pilot the boat back into their docks. We sat at the Fuel Dock for 2.5 hours waiting for them to come to our boat and bring us back to the dock. Never chartering with DYC again in the BVI's (which should be their flag ship base!). Corporate needs to jump on this and get new management into Hodge's Creek ASAP!! read more

We chartered twice, directly through DYC in Raiatea French Polynesia. The first charter was 5 years ago and the current one was two weeks ago. Both were amazing. The polynesian staff are considerate, skilled, and excellent and the customer service officer Olivier is amazing. You can sail where you want on the high pacific between the Leeward Islands and they will help you. Olivier enthusiastically confirms your daily plans. If something goes wrong not too far from home a speedboat will rescue you. The boat was what we expected. These boats are extremely complicated nowadays so issues will arise, but we were completely satisfied overall. We need to remember that bareboating means a bare boat. I brought some extra line that was invaluable. Next time I would bring a few extra shackles, because they can shake loose in a squall. read more

I have chartered sailboats at least 15 times. Hands down the worst experience ever, Thank goodness Montenegro was AWESOME. To begin our debacle, we chartered the Cat for 10 days. Had signed contract for months. They emailed later and said we couldn't have the boat for 10 days, but only 7. Tried to argue about signed contract, they basically said tough and too bad and if we continued, they would cancel charter entirely. Then we arrived already disappointed. There was literally NO chart briefing. First time ever on a charter. In fact we sent them an entire itinerary seeking their advice prior to arriving, they said that couldn't(wouldn't comment, seriously?) The list of issues; 1 They asked our shoe size for fins when we chartered. They had 3 sets of fins/mask/snorkels on boat, random sizes. That's it. Many had their own they could have brought. 2 The Port side bathrooms had water on floor. They couldn't care less. Later they explained to us that to drain water from floor, turn on faucet to start floor pumps. Any easy fix that they didnt bother to tell us when we were concerned 3 The salon table was broken, we discovered this on our first day as we tried to convert it to a bed and it fell apart. This was the ONLY time they helped us. They actually sent someone to fix. Two bathroom door handles fell off every time u went to open door. They fixed one when they came out, not the other. 4 We rented internet(extra charge) We asked if it worked in sailing area, said they had no idea) we tried it for 35 Euro anyway. Worked for one day. When we pulled into a harbor and plugged into shore power after about 36 hours, it never worked the rest of trip and we had NO outlets for for days so couldn't use anyway. When asked how to fix the outlets, they hadn't a clue. When we returned to base, they found a fuse had "popped" A fuse box that was hidden and they never told us about during boat introduction. Seems to me someone from base should have been able to tell us about this issue and how to fix while we were on the move. We had to share a few USB ports to charges our phones so we could take photos. They refused to refund the 35 Euros for hotspot which we obviously couldn't use without outlets and it hadn't worked before that. :( 5 The stern of the boat floor was filthy!!!! 6 The dinghy gas can was a joke. It had NO air hole so trying to fill dinghy was quite difficult without spillage. Every other dinghy I'ver ever had was supplied with a 2.5 gallon gas tank so one could easily see when needed more. His motor had about a 2 quart gas(generous estimate) tank hidden under engine cover so had to check it every day and try to fill with a ridiculous gas can 7 We woke up one morning to 65 knot winds and pouring rain sideways and lightening. The base did not warn us of impending storm and heard nothing on the radio. We went to look for foul weather gear, Yup, U guessed it NONE. First boat EVER without two sets. During the storm, three moorings in the cove where we were staying in dragged boats 100 M. One boat decided to disconnect from the dragging mooring at our bough and as he cut across our bough, he clipped our boat. This caused the mooring line(from mooring) to snap. We spent the next 2-3 hours motoring into the wind until we could find another mooring to try. After storm passed, one of the taxis came out to us to see how we were. We reported what happened. A few hours later, the taxi was taking photos of our bow. We asked him why. He told us Dream yacht charters wanted photos. So they knew our plight and it appears their only concern was the boat. The NEVER contacted us to warn us of storm OR to check on our safety after!!!!!!!! Even the captain of the boat that hit us returned to check on us after he left that bay!!!! Luckily( and rightfully) they concluded we had no fault as the mooring line(from mooring broke) and another boat hit us. There was more, but I hope u get the point! Date of experience: June 2024 read more

Covid delayed this crewed booking from Scrub Island in the British Virgin Islands for three years, finally completing it this year. Dream Yachts downgraded us from a Lagoon 620 to a 58' boat, which all things considered, was disappointing but OK. Boarding is supposed to take place at 6:00 pm on the Saturday the booking begins. We had to sit dockside, watching the boat being cleaned out, provisions brought aboard, and by the time we were allowed to board at 8:00 pm, the provisions still were not stowed. Dinner? Late. Based on the boat not being ready for us, we assume it had come in from the previous week's charter. The weather was raining. After leaving Scrub Island, we all learned the toilets weren't working properly. The toilet in our cabin had a gasket leak at the base which allowed sewage to drain over the floor and into the shower for the entire trip. We were given towels to soak it up, but since there was too much,we ended up with sewage soaked towels wrapped around the toilet base with the stench of sewage the entire week. How could this happen to all of us if the boat had just returned from charter? Why would we have been given such an unacceptable boat? Sailing? Forget it. The chartered captain of the boat discovered the mainsail wasn't safe to use. Finally, on the Friday before we left Saturday, he patched it up enough we could sail for the last few hours back to Virgin Gorda. Seven days, maybe three hours of sailing. We were so glad the electric generator worked, otherwise it was impossible to sleep without air conditioning as there were no fans in the cabins. We really liked the captain and chef. But because there were so many things wrong with the boat, the captain worked all hours of the night trying to fix things. One night we had to listen to a power drill noise that sounded like it was almost in our cabin, in the middle of the night for quite some time. It appeared that Dream Yachts sends you out on a boat with major problems and lets the captain try to fix them. The paying clients have no choice but to live with those problems. I don't know about other charter companies, and they may all have similar policies, but when you arrive at Scrub Island, you're required to pay in cash, an additional $550 each couple. I'll bet a lot of our $3,300 total cashbox payments went to trying to fix the boat. Can you imagine an airline requiring a cashbox payment to fix a broken plane? We all agreed that's the last Dream Yacht Charter we'd sign on for. read more

4 stars for DYC overall, and 5 for staff and crew Was a guest a few months ago on a Bali 5.4. Upon arrival at the marina I was greeted by friendly and helpful staff, and the boat was clean, well provisioned, and in good working order throughout our trip. We felt supremely confident in Captain Johnny's expert sailing skills and knowledge of the local waters; he was sincerely interested in making our week long experience a great one and took us to amazing places such as Buck Island before crowds arrived so we had the place to ourselves; we did a thrilling crossing to St. Croix; and went to many other stunning coves and beaches for swimming, snorkeling, hiking, and beach bars. While there may be room for operational improvement with the company, the local team working out of Crown Point works hard to deliver a positive and professional experience and gives it their all. read more

Dream Yacht Charter - Boat Charters Near Me

DYC bareboat in Abacos. April..May 2023. S/V Yepa (on loan out of New Prov). This was my second time chartering with DYC in the Abacos - once before Dorian and the Rona and and once after - and I simply can't say enough good about the experience. The pre-sales team was great in getting us a boat and a plan that fit our trip, the post-sales team followed up on things, and the charter base in Abaco treated us like nothing short of family! We initially reserved a Lagoon 52; two days before boarding, we were notified that a sail drive on the 52 needed to be repaired - we were upgraded to a Bali 5.4 at no cost. The Bali came from the New Prov base, overnight. A few minor issues at inspection - like all charter boats do - the Abaco base took care of everything that morning. They were willing to fix a New Prov boat to make an Abacos customer happy. We thought that was cool of them. The problems: Chain counter was inop (we just counted like olde tyme sailors). Bow thrusters were inop (first time I've seen bow thrusters on a cat --- why???). High Pressure pump on an A/C needing to be reset was the worst of it. Sailbag had the average charter-boat wear and tear, zero actual issues there. Watermaker worked fine for the week. Generator worked fine for the week. Fridge worked fine for the week. Icemaker worked fine for the week. A/C worked fine for the week (HP reset was before leaving the dock). Toilets, shower, sinks, stove, winches, lines, standing and running rigging, engines, etc, all in top shape. Two full propane tanks. Barbeque tools. SQUEAKY CLEAN barbeque (should be - it was propane). Bilges dry, through-hulls clean, circuit breaker fine, lights fine. Transom shower fine. Swim ladder fine. Hatches and ports and windows and doors all fine. Chart plotters up to date. Autopilot worked like a champ. No scratches or sunfade on any instruments. Zero scratches on the magnetic compass. Dived the boat on a few snorkel outings - very little growth underneath, rudder and skegs all in good shape (fantastic shape considering a charter boat!). A few torn handles on the dinghy - average wear and tear on a charter boat. We used the dinghy several times most days (had enough crew to require 2 trips on most outings), no problem at all. Dingy motor was tuned well. The supports on the dinghy platform was not sized for the dinghy - a very minor thing, no inconvenience at all. Kitchen was well-appointed. My brother is a chef, he brought his own tools, the second day he put his tools back in his bag. The charter base manager was great - we ran through our float plan and he suggested a few things that made the trip better. The charter base customer care manager was also great - checked to see if there was anything we needed to make our trip more comfortable or enjoyable, made sure we had answers to any questions. We hired a day skipper for 1 day, to help us learn the specific boat; I would not do the day skipper again. He was a contractor but I still put that on DYC because they hired him. I also put that on me - crew and I should have invested the time in walking the boat and dry-running certain operations instead of relying on someone else. We had a few challenges the first few days, as you do with new boats, and the base was always responsive and helpful. One of our crew got sunstroke towards the end of the trip, so we asked if we could come in early and stay on the dock. When we pulled in, DYC met us and asked if anyone needed medical attention - they had already called clinics to verify that someone was available should we need it. We did cause damage to the boat (sorry, owner!) - we notified the base when it happened, and reminded them of the damage when we pulled in. They went over everything with us, and we came to a very amicable agreement. I've got friends who are charter brokers; I've got friends who have discounts with charter companies; it might be different in other bases - for sure I've seen some posts here that would steer me clear of DYC in certain spots - but for the Abacos I simply can't think of any reason why I would not charter with DYC. Similar experience in 2018 on a Lagoon 42 in the Abacos with DYC. Watermaker, generator, sails, rigging, cushions, galley, cabins, heads, electronics, dinghy, etc, all in great shape. I've seen some great reviews for DYC out of the USVI and I've seen some terrible reviews for DYC out of the BVIs. The maintenance of the boats really should be a global standard for an organization, but it will differ amongst charter bases. Also consider that a lot of charter fleets weren't maintained to standard during The Rona - we waited until 2023 for a few reasons, one of which was to give the charter companies a year'ish to bring the boats back up to standard. read more

Nightmare trip by Dream Yacht Charter USA Let me preface this by saying I am in the hospitality industry & have NEVER written an online negative review because I believe in industry karma & to work with clients behind the scenes to avoid hurting business. I tried & gave them so many chances but dream yacht charter failed miserably ruining a very expensive vacation we planned approx half a year in advance. We booked the charter of a catamaran with them in February for a July trip around the Spanish islands. I booked charters before & understand what goes into the planning. We were advised that with Spanish law, we could only have 12 people on board including guests and crew. We were 10 in our party (2 families consisting of 4 adults and 6 kids ranging 6 to 14 years old). Usually we would book a skipper, cook, and host. The host in the past was responsible for light meals of breakfast and lunch, snacks and drinks, helping the skipper l, & most importantly tidying up the boat and keeping our quarters clean and organized. Because we felt the cleaning was paramount to fancy meals on board in a foodie country like Spain, we opted for the host vs the cook. Not sure what happens on other boats but on a catamaran we are always told we cannot flush toilet paper in the toilets so you have to wipe your poo & throw it out in a small trash next to the toilet & the staff removes it daily when cleaning. I made this crystal clear to DYC that cleanliness for us was most important over cooking. The catamaran had 6 bedrooms & 2 small front rooms for the crew. Our party needed all 6 bedrooms based on ages and gender of kids. With the advanced notice, we asked for crew info & itinerary suggestions. DYC said we cannot have crew info until closer to the departure & itinerary would be discussed with skipper. A while passed and now a few weeks until the trip & balance paid in full. $30k USD for 2 families for a week charter including meals and crew. Fuel and marina charges separate. I once again asked for crew info. Still no crew and now a new sales person involved named Celine. We needed to wait until a week before for the crew. We were then supplied resumes of a captain and host. We were thrown a curveball stating the staff would need one of the bedrooms- this was impossible with the boat configuration so DYC stated they will use the two small quarters at the front but need to share a bathroom with us - which was fine. The main issue we were unaware of until we arrived was the staff quarters had no AC. We tried to reach out to skipper for itinerary planning but no answer. When we arrived to the marina, no one was there to help us with our luggages like previous trips. DYC had no real check in process which left us confused. We also saw that the boat was not in the best shape with dirt, weathered furnishings, ceiling tiles dropping down, smaller accommodations than previous same boats, etc. but I looked past this & the lack of service upon arrival. We met the captain and host. We went over the rules & safety guidelines & were off. But this then become uncomfortable- the skipper asked for one of the bedrooms with bunk beds to share with the host. We stated and showed why it wasn't possible & we were told DYC told them they would have a bedroom because there was no AC in the front staff quarters. Right away we were put in a terrible position upon the start of the trip. We kept things as is but the staff were obviously annoyed right away. The first evening the staff was smoking on board & we made them stop. The host was overheard yelling numerous times at the skipper. She was upset she was supposed to clean up after us and we also asked for hand and shower soap as there was none unlike other chartered trips we had. I was later told by DYC agent that soap was our responsibility to bring which was ridiculous as this was always something supplied (like toilet paper!). The next day the staff was noticeably upset due to bad sleep with no AC. We felt bad so both sets of parents decided to have our 6 and 9 year olds sleep in between us the next night to give up the bunk bed quarter. $30k USD to sleep with grown kids sandwiched in between us in queen beds. Great holiday! Because DYC never got the skipper info to us, we had no itinerary and even worse we had no ability to book marina spots for our boat so we were stuck every night in the middle of the sea & only way to get on shore was for skipper to take us on the dingy and pick us up. This was super inconvenient and we were made to feel bad each time we wanted to go out. Read the rest: https://m.facebook.com/groups/dreamyachtchartersuck/permalink/1126779991244629/ read more

My wife and I have chartered a few times and booked with a couple of different charter companies. This year we decided to go to St. Martin and booked with Dream Yacht for a trip from June 14th-21st, 2023. The booking went fine and the customer service representatives I dealt with were helpful and pleasant. I did receive an e-mail on May 25th that they had changed our boat, but the new boat was substantially the same as the old boat so I was not worried about that. We were scheduled to leave on a Wednesday. The Friday before, we found out my brother has cancer. They scheduled a medicine port to be installed early Monday morning and by Monday evening, we found that his cancer has spread, is not curable and will be terminal. Tuesday we picked up our 5 year old black lab from the vet as he was having an issue with his paw. We found out that he has cancer as well and the prognosis was not good. My wife and I could not imagine leaving our 12 and 15 year old daughters or the rest of our family during such a trying time. We canceled our vacation with Dream Yacht Charters by phone and I explained to the agent I had been working with the reasons behind the cancellation. My family had other concerns on our minds, of course, but the high cost of this vacation was also of concern for us. On June 21st, 2023, I sent an e-mail to the agent I had been working with at Dream Yacht Charters. I was requesting the vacation be re-booked for the same boat and dates next year so nobody is out anything. I reasoned that the boat owner would not be upset as that boat had only been booked for a couple of weeks before that cancellation and we could re-book that boat and the owner would still get paid. The company would not be out money as they would keep my payments. My wife and I would still get to enjoy the vacation that we already paid for. I did not get a reply. I waited what I thought was a reasonable amount of time and then sent another e-mail on July 17th, 2023 reiterating my first letter and expressing my disappointment that I had not heard back. I did not get a reply to that letter either. It is now August 16th, 2023 and I never heard back from Dream Yacht Charters. My family went through (and continue to go through) a very difficult time. Dream Yacht could have made a decision that cost them nothing and helped out their customer. They could have been sympathetic and accommodating. They could have developed a long-term customer. They did not do those things, instead they kept the money and ignored me because they already got their money. A company with those ethics is not a company I want to do business with. read more

Sent us out on a mostly broken boat and did not care at all. We pulled out from the dock to find that almost nothing worked. No fridge, no generator, no outlets, nothing that we paid extra money to have. The boat Skippy Cat (the Fountaine Pajot Elba 45) was the worst boat I have ever been on and they had no idea how a thing on it worked. Brand new boat (been in the water for less than a month and a half) and yet it was almost entirely useless. And of course, they could not care one bit because they had already been paid. They completely breached their contracts for everything they were supposed to have and before you know it you've already signed away any liabilities they may have for making sure anything works. Not one single person there cares because they're all making their money regardless of how awful they are. One woman there (Virginia I'm talking to you) will stand there and patronizing you while blowing smoke in your face when in reality she doesn't know a single thing. We asked her where to take the garbage off the boat to throw it away and she couldn't even tell us where their garbage area was. One of the guys working the dock told us and she acted like he was below her for even knowing. This heinous woman was also yelling (in the most disrespectful way possible) at this woman who was just doing her job of cleaning the boats that had just come back into the marina. That lady cleaning had much more restraint than I do because just from watching her speak to that woman like that I was about ready to chew her a new one and send her into the water. I have never met a ruder, more entitled, flaming garbage pile of a human and I sincerely wish her the worst. There is no excuse for talking to another person the way she feels she has the right to. We went to Antiqua and if you see this before going you are much better off going anywhere else and so much better off never dealing with the people at DYC. read more

Do no eve n THINK about spending a dime with this company! We booked a cruise over a year ago and we were the first to book for this particular itinerary/week. 2 more cabins were booked after us but we were notified that the group was broken up; two couples on a smaller vessel and we were alone on a smaller vessel. They said that we would have a private cruise if no one else signed up. Then 11DAYS before, they changed and cancelled on us! We were left to scramble to figure out an alternative and there were none. So now we are on land NOT having the all inclusive vacation we'd planned on for over a year AND incurring more expenses to get out on to the water for some of the days, provisioning our own meals etc. They said that the decision was made my authority in Europe that was impossible to reach and the decision was final. JUST DON'T DO IT. DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE PRICE. read more

It should be called Nightmare Yacht Charters. We had to curtail our 14 day charter in the USVI because of boat and dingy motor problems. Our first problem was "bait and switch". We had chartered a virtually new Dufour 46 "Premier Class" but received a email notice that we had been switched to a Sun Odyssey 51.9. It turned out that the larger boat was a "comfort" class, a euphemism for a tired, trashed boat. The head sump didn't work, so we were reduced to two showers instead of three. The dodger and bimini were in taters and the see- through sections were opaque. When we asked for a price adjustment, they said that receiving a larger boat compensated for its poor condition! The first time we raised the main, two sail slugs came off the mast. One was a broken bat car, the other a broken plastic slide. (Had they raised the main after the previous charter ended, this would have been discovered.) Also the dingy motor wouldn't start. We lost a day by the time they reached us to jury rig the slides (more on this below) and replace the dingy and motor. The motor had an internal as well as external gas tank, which they failed to tell us. The external tank didn't work, despite squeezing the bulb until my hands ached. We ran out of gas in Charlotte Amalie bay and paddled to the closest dingy dock, which was used by the Coast Guard. The Coastie had no better luck with the motor but did take the cover off and poured gas from the external tank into the internal one. The motor started. DYC came out the next day and "Jacoby" started the motor. Everything is OK, he said. Let's motor a bit I said. Three minutes later, the motor died. He said he would bring me a different model motor at 10:00 a.m. the next day. He arrived after noon. One half day lost. With five days of our charter remaining, we left for Culebra and tried to raise the main. Four of the sail slides came off the mast! We managed to lower the sail in strong winds, lash it to the boom and return to our anchorage on Water Island. We called DYC and they said they had an "emergency" and couldn't reach us right away. So we motored back to the base at Compass Point Marina. The base manager Lisa said the retaining screw in the mast that prevents the sail slides from leaving the mast track was missing. The last person to touch that screw was "Dominic" from DYC when he jury rigged the first slide failure. By this time we had lost all confidence in the boat and DYC and were afraid of going to Culebra (24nm). We terminated the charter, changed our flights (at great cost and time) and flew home. I can't say this too strongly: CHARTER A BOAT FROM DYC AT YOUR OWN RISK. You will see from other posts and Yelp that our experience wasn't unique. Why did we use them? That is another story not relevant on this thread. read more

Just returned from a great trip to the USVI's and rented a 350 Dufore for 2 people. The staff we interacted with was great and the folks on the dock were wonderful. Check in and out was a breeze and the boat was in fine shape. Debriefing is always important as to not let issues with the boat get passed forward. Bianka, Anniesha, and Arnold in the office were very helpful and professional. We will use them again. read more

We had an exception time and Benita, Kizia and Alex made for an easy check-in and checkout. Transactions with Dream Yacht Charter were no problom and they came out to us in the harbor and brought her back into the dock. The boat was clean but not as well kept as it could be. The overall presentation from the outset might have been more polished. We wish holding tank vent filters were installed - the head smells at times were horrific. read more

Let me be very clear, I read all the reviews before I used them and was terrified that our trip would be a disaster. I can't speak for Dream Yacht in any place other than Nassau (Palm Cay Marina) in the Bahamas but at this location, they were spot on. We did not have a single issue, the staff was friendly and accommodating. We were told 48 hours before our trip that the boat we had reserved was having mechanical issues and they were giving us another boat. I, being a planner, was very concerned, especially after reading all the reviews. However, the boat they gave us was a nice upgrade, had everything we had wanted on the original boat and more. They answered all my questions, did a great briefing, made sure we had everything we needed and were wonderful with the check out. Every person we dealt with at this marina from Cream Yacht was just wonderful! Alex deserves a special mention as he arranged for everything and put up with all my questions! Thank you Alex! You all have an amazing team! Keep up the great work! read more

I promised my family dream vacation and instead we got a broken boat, 6 days on a floating toilet smelling of sewage; the first 2 days spent in the marina standing on the dock watching the boat being repaired. I contracted for a boat, specific in the contract you must sign with these un-ethical people and it simply wasn't delivered. Instead, we walked up to an old chartered-out MESS, surprised the boat was still afloat (big bash in the starboard bow, did it leak? No one seemed interested. Not sea-worthy? No one inspected, no one seemed to care). So much other things to worry about! Headsail in tatters, exposed wiring (on a 220v boat!!), port motor not running (!), moldy mattresses, port 2+ cabin water-logged, backed-up sewage from the waste tanks spilling out the waste vent, no refrigerator, no contracted gen-set, no A/C. All not compensated by the "Dream Yacht" non-existent "customer service" and their placating "one day voucher credit" on another Dream Yacht vacation! (They must believe their customers are crazy?) Once you sucker-up and sign the contract they have your MONEY, and you are now betting that money that you won't be SCREWED by these people waiting for them to deliver on their contractual promise. Good Luck. You might, randomly, get lucky, and get a boat that is newer and not a chartered-out and broken POS but good luck with that, don't count on it. Picture yourself standing in the hot sun at the marina with no place to stay, no provisions, no communication with them about the broken boat you've contracted, and you'll get the idea. They LITERALLY DON'T CARE. And don't think that your credit card will protect you, tried contesting the contracted charge for non-delivery and was denied because "the merchant is not liable for "the quality' of the rendered service." Can you believe it? I was SCREWED by DYC. Un service client horrible et une expérience horrible. read more

Chartered in Tahiti in April, the boat was poorly maintained and we spent hours in the bilge fixing water pressure, steering and water maker problems. Truly the boat was unsafe and we almost returned the 2nd day when the steering failed. The roof was damaged and leaked in the rain, the mainsail wouldn't fully raise and was covered in mold. Galley was ill stocked without even a toaster which in the ad said it did have. The port side head didn't work, fuel line to dinghy had no clamp and kept falling off spilling fuel, low battery alarm Stbd side constantly sounding off, Stbd helm seat broken, propane tank ran out 2nd day which we replaced for $38 and no compensation, had to turn off the tank after each use. The beds had a single old sheet and towels were old... the boat smelled of mold and was only 10 years old. With all the issues we had to work on daily you'd think DreamYacht would have made some kind of compensation, but nothing, not even an apology! We used Conch Charters in the BVI;'s a year prior and they were excellent and the boat was amazing so do your shopping and read reviews! read more

Overall very disappointed with the condition of the boat from the moment we saw the Dufour 412 we chartered from DYC October 30th-November 6, 2021 (Walk on the Moon). First impression, a very tired, worn vessel. Last impression, DYC in St. Thomas is run like a MASH unit doing only what's necessary to send the vessel back out on charter. What was wrong ranged from down right dangerous, to inconvenient and everything in between. Here's a list of what we experienced: 1. DANGEROUS - the main sheet (line) was thread bare down to the inner core, that line was ready to snap. ( I did learn this was changed upon return of boat although they commented that it wasn't viewed as dangerous!!??) 2. Ran out of water - 50 gallons for 3 people lasted 3 days and we conserved, second 50 gallons lasted not even 24 hours. That boat has a leak. 3. Battery alarm went off each night. In order to avoid that we need to leave the engine running while we were trying to relax on the boat, revving the engine to 1200RPM. The battery wouldn't hold a charge otherwise. My husband was up out of bed dealing with an alarm in the middle of the night on vacation. The base said that was normal and I should run the engine for 4 hours every day! That boat had batteries that wouldn't hold a charge and they are holding on as long as possible. 4. As mentioned above, numerous rips, tears to canvas as well as dings, scrapes to gelcoat. The canvas was dirty and the ability to fold back the canvas to see up did not hang properly. So for those in our party 6 feet tall the canvas was on his head. They said this is normal for a 3 year old boat, just nuts. The dirt needs cleaning and canvas needs patching, that boat is neglected. 5. No operative coffee maker - French press leaked grinds, plastic drip cone was cracked. Made coffee one cup at a time with cup in the sink holding the drip cone. They wrote off the French press as working, I guess everyone loves sludge for coffee. 6. No glasses to make cocktails. There wasn't one glass on that boat that would hold ice cubes. We brought the liquor, mixes and boat ice with a reasonable assumption we would be able to have a drink. Only way to have that happen was to use the coffee cup I used that morning for coffee, just awful. The response, plenty of glassware, sure for shots in juice glasses but that doesn't work for cocktails with cubes. 7. Outside cabin top lighting - only the port side worked. Starboard side was out. We used a candle outside to see our food and drink on the outdoor table. No response 8. No cockpit cushions! I do not consider West Marine throwables cockpit cushions! There were some additional store bought patio cushions that were a mismatch of texture, color and comfort. All were bad and uncomfortable. They responded that the boat had cushions, in other words, buyer beware. 9. Utensils - odd mismatch 10. Cooler - Rubbermaid - had wheels and a handle that would not retract. Ironic that we were specifically told to not bring luggage with wheels but the cooler provided had them??! And the cooler leaked. They responded that that was all they had. 11. Bow bedroom mattress had mold and stains. Yuck. They responded that is normal in the Caribbean?! As you can see this boat not only didn't provide a luxury Dream Yacht experience it detracted from the vacation overall. I provided this feedback to the base upon check out and haven't heard from them. If I didn't write to info@dreamyachtcharter I would have heard nothing. Our boat was "Walk on the Moon". They offered money (credit) towards a future yacht charter. Please share this review with others that may be considering a yacht charter out of St. Thomas and go with another firm. read more

I would give them a "0" if it were an option! Our bareboat sailing group has been on several charters over the past several years and have always had a great experience. This was our first time to use Dream Yacht Charter and I can guarantee that we will NOT be using the company again for any of our future excursions and I highly caution anyone looking into DYC Belize to reconsider. I could write an extremely long review (this one is just long!), but I will focus on 2 main concerns I had with DYC-Belize for your consideration, which are 1) boat maintenance, and 2) poor customer service. Let me begin by saying that as boating/sailing people, our group of 8 is not naive to the fact that things will go wrong with a boat and we have had our issues with other boats in the past. However, we have never lost confidence in a charter company and felt that we needed to abandon the charter. I cannot say the same of DYC-Belize, as our co-captains noticed some safety issues with our boat from the debrief (i.e., no wind direction indicator, issues with the battery voltage meters, and no chase boat to assist us in the case of any issues) and the issues only continued once we embarked. Despite these early concerns, we are an experienced crew and we were prepared to take the boat out only to have 2 more issues the next morning before we could even get to our first destination (i.e.,the port side engine quit running as we were pulling away from the dock- which had to be replaced; battery charge warning lights on the engines during the first hour of our trip- which ended up being the alternator). After motoring back to the dock for another hour, and having had 2 major issues with our boat, our crew determined that it would be unsafe for us to stay on the DYC boat at this point. Unfortunately, DYC has decided not to refund us for any part of our failed trip despite the fact that there were some major issues with their boat and any sane person would be concerned about going out on a boat after the issues we experienced. As if the boat and safety issues were not enough to railroad our sailing vacation, the treatment we received from the 2 men working for DYC-Belize was revolting. A sailing trip is not a cheap vacation by any means and we are 8 mature-aged working professionals (business owners, PhDs, and senior managers), but we were treated with extreme insolence from the moment we exited our taxi. We were chastised for the amount of alcohol we purchased (the same amount we have gotten on all previous charters) and the base manager went as far as gossiping to another customer about our alcohol order (one of our co-captains came up on the conversation). Not one of us was inebriated when we arrived at the dock, slept on the boat that evening, left the dock the next morning, or returned to the dock when we had the engine issues. We gave the base manager absolutely no reason to question our alcohol intake or ability to responsibly take the boat on a charter. Furthermore, the DYC did not have water on the provisioning list (the irony) and we had to figure out a way to get enough drinking water for a 6-day sail for 8 people. Then, before leaving the next morning, we realized that they had not fulfilled our entire provisioning order, as we were missing ALL of our fruits and vegetables (we cook almost all meals on the boat- these were key components to most of our meals). Needless to say, this trip started out very stressful and unpleasant. Luckily, we were able to salvage the vacation by booking with another charter company in the same area and although we lost some days on the boat, we stayed at 2 very accommodating resorts in Placencia. Other than the DYC crew and the damage to our pocketbooks, our experience in Belize and with the Belizean people was amazing. read more

Honestly in shock I have to write this review but they are avoiding me bc they owe me a refund for the boats/ experience. Please stay away from them- they don't uphold their word and offer awful services. We needed so many repairs for our week trip in the USVI and they barely fulfilled that and now they refuse to compete my refunds. read more

Wow. Where do I start? We've been chartering for a few years now in different locations throughout the Caribbean, but this is our first experience with Dream Yacht. I began planning this trip more than a year in advance of setting sail. Sailing in Belize can be challenging, and in the interest of maximizing our time there and ensuring crew safety, I read everything I could get my hands on including thoroughly reviewing Rauscher. But from the moment we walked into the DYC base in Placencia, our trip began to turn into a nightmare. The base manager, George, immediately began chastising me and my crew about the amount of alcohol we provisioned for our charter...using DYC's mandatory provisioning process no less. Let me be clear that I provided our provisioning order 2 weeks in advance of actually arriving with copy to George. Not only did he have nothing to say about our order then, but he actually didn't even respond when I followed up a week later to make sure he received it and asked if they had any questions or if there would be any shortages. That was just the beginning, because come to find out, after having inventoried the provisions they provided us, DYC completely failed to provide ANY of the fresh fruits and vegetables we ordered despite our having paid for them. Once we brought this to George's attention, it took them almost 2 hours to procure the items and bring them to us so we could actually leave the dock. Fast forward to the boat debrief when my co-captain and I learned that (1) the wind direction indicator and battery voltage meters weren't working and (2) DYC didn't have a chase boat, so if we had a problem during the charter, they likely wouldn't be able to get to us soon, if they could get to us at all. Every charterer has experienced some problems but to send us out with KNOWN ISSUES seemed a little worrisome if not completely unprofessional. Still anxious to leave however and finally provisioned, we untethered only to find the port side engine no longer running and no longer turning over at all. With one engine functional, we managed to make our way back to the dock only to have to wait ANOTHER hour as George replaced a set of contactors which were preventing the engine from starting. Now FINALLY heading out and after having motored 9 miles toward our first destination, we began receiving battery charge warning lights on both engines. I called back to the base to speak with George. He wanted us to return to the base. We did only to find that the port side alternator had ALSO failed. Two major mechanical failures in the first 2 hours of the charter and not a single sail yet lifted! The WORST part was that George was blaming the failure on us. He said I told him I was running the engines at 3000rpm (COMPLETELY untrue since I actually told him we had been running between 2000 & 2200rpm). If this scares you reading this, it should. But it gets worse. At this point, we had lost any confidence we might've had with DYC and began seeking another charter company. Luckily, one was located right next door and we determined they would be able to put us into a comparably sized boat with the loss of only two days. Disappointing, yes, but I could no longer trust my safety or the safety of my crew with this boat OR this base manager. So we made the difficult decision to pack up and leave. Upon reporting to George that we would be leaving the boat and seeking a refund, my co-captain found him talking to another charter group STILL complaining about our alcohol order. In the face of all of the problems we had just had, the lack of professionalism he displayed at that moment was unlike any I had EVER experienced. If reading this, I implore you to avoid this charter company at all costs. As a final word of warning, we still have yet to receive a refund of any kind. Belize is a beautiful place to visit, but USE DYC AT YOUR OWN RISK!! read more

Stay away from this company. We used them in Tahati and had poor service and the boat needed multiple repairs during our trip. We gave them a second chance in St. Thomas. Almost all of the staff was great but our boat should never have been allowed to leave the dock. We had to call for service approximately every other day, our boom came loose, the bilge pump stopped multiple times and was replaced, our holding tank needed a good cleaning- you could smell the boat (think sewage/potty) before you got to it on the dinghy, the dinghy broke down multiple times and we returned to base to get a new one b/c they wouldn't come to us and the list of problems with this boat is too long to continue. The guy who did our chart briefing told us our generator was our life raft and when we pointed out he was wrong on a lot of stuff he was telling us he got upset and walked off the boat. This was our 9th charter, needless to say we will never use this company again. read more