Dream Yacht Charter

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, 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 repaird - we were upgraded to a Bali 5.4 at no cost. The Bali came from the New Prov base, with a few minor issues at inspection - like all charter boats do - and the Abaco base took care of everything that morning. Chain counter was inop - we just counted like olde tyme. 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, no scratches or sunfade on any displays. Autopilot worked like a champ. Zero scratches on the magnetic compass. Dived the boat on a few snorkel outings - very little growth underneath, rudder and skegs all in top shape. A few torn handles on the dinghy - again, 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. 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 sail plan for the week 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, 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, 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.

Just had a disastrous engagement with Dream Yacht Charters. The boat was not acceptable having maintenance and safety issues. Given all the similar experiences of baiting (their sails and marketing … really good) and switching (their delivery … beyond bad) is there a class action lawsuit in the works … that we can join rather then their attempt to buy our silence?