Sunsail: US - Clearwater, Florida

Jeffrey H.

7 Day Charter from BVI. Not the Sunsail it was years ago. Prearranged taxi and hotel but neither knew we were coming. Boat not assigned or available even 1 minute early: boarded at 6 pm. Boat then not ready. We lost 1/2 day of charter awaiting fuel, cushions, boathook, etc etc. Many of the items promised in the documentation NOT PROVIDED AT ALL. No snorkel gear, no cellphone for emergency calls to base, etc., etc. None of the flashlights worked, the winch handle was incompatible with the winches so it didn't work. Checkout worthless. The online "chart briefing" even more worthless. Upon return, no debrief person ever showed up. No apparent supervision at all. Look elsewhere next time.

Greg R.

We booked our charter more than nine months in advance, but when we arrived, we were told there had been a problem and our boat was not available. The manager drove us to a smaller boat, without suggesting there would be any compensation for the change. She claimed our boat was delayed because of weather.

By chance, we were back in port early because of missing equipment, when the boat we originally chartered, pulled into port. We struck up a conversation with the charter group and found out they originally scheduled the smaller boat they tried to put us in, but they had been upgraded to our boat. They left the day before we arrived, meaning our boat would have been available.

Management has not been helpful or responsive regarding the issue. We’ve had good charters in the past, but this experience will cause us to never use the Moorings/Sunsail again

We communicated with St. Lucia management a few days before arriving and they never mentioned a potential boat issue. They tried to casually move us into the smaller boat and would have quickly disappeared had we not protested. The “bait and switch”, plus the lack of transparency and honesty, are very concerning. We wrote the senior manager who oversees customer service, but never received a response. This leads me to believe this was done purposely, and now they just want to distance themselves from the issue. Our review of weather doesn’t indicate any issues which would have prevented a boat from being delivered on time.

suggesting

Thomas H.

CHARTERERS BEWARE! of chartering from Sunsail - they have a 6pm check in policy which means you can not leave the dock on the day you board the boat. I've never seen this in 30 years of chartering. You will pay for a 7 day charter and receive 6 days of sailing.

Jacqueline G.

I think I would have enjoyed the trip a lot more if two couples had not bailed on us. Sunsail would not refund nor credit towards another excursion, so we went ahead with the trip.

However, the boat was hot and there was no AC. Our sailboat has AC, so this was a bit like camping for us. Tiny fans in the cabins, which helped a tiny bit.
The zodiac was stored over the cabin windows in the cabins where we slept. The captain was irritated when I asked him if he could lift it when we were ready for bed so that we could open the windows. My husband jumped to it to help him raise the zodiac since he wanted it up as well. After that, my husband took care of it every night.
We had a 48 foot sailboat for six people plus the captain. If everyone had come, it would have been very cramped and nowhere to go on deck except sitting upright side by side in the cockpit. I recommend a catamaran or motor yacht for groups of six and more.
We only sailed for about a half hour twice. There was very little wind, but it often seemed that our captain just wanted to get to certain destinations for his own reasons, such as picking up something he had left in a town or going to a particular restaurant.
Our captain only cooked for us three times. All very tasty meals and he included local items. We did tell him several times that we could have lunch or dinner on the boat and use up all the food we bought. But, no! especially no suggestions coming from a woman (more on that later - we are crazy b's according to our captain). He really liked to eat out, especially at the best restaurants. We should have been more assertive. I did say one night that I wanted to have a casual meal and he seemed irritated, but we had a great meal at a MUCH less expensive restaurant. He ate and drank extremely well with us. We went to one tiny town for the night it turns out just because he wanted to eat at a particular restaurant, which was good but nothing special.
My husband and I would have liked to have had more meals alone and said so. Oh no, our captain was going along to the best restaurant in town every time! and ordering quite freely. He either dominated the conversation or, to our relief, immersed himself in his cell phone.
The captain mentioned his girlfriend lived on Ishcia and spoke about her often, so we offered that we could take her with us to dinner in Ischia. That turned into her spending the night with us, cruising with us the next day, and another dinner. When we were anchored out waiting to come back to Procida the cuddling and kissing went on for so long that I became uncomfortable and went to my cabin.
Why not say something? I had made several comments and requests on various topics which were met with looks and I was snapped at on one occasion. I was on vacation and really wanted to relax and not manage people. My husband was irritated as well and had to set our captain straight a few times.
Our captain was quite sexist and I am not sensitive at all to sexist remarks. I got tired of hearing the remarks and complaints about women. I also did not need to hear about his divorce at length on at least 5 occasions. Attempts to change the direction of conversation were ignored. At the end of the trip, the captain thanked my husband profusely, just my husband and right in front of me while I paid the check at the restaurant. I laughed out loud!

On the positive side, our captain made reservations for us at great restaurants, advised us on local cuisine and wine, found unique places for us to visit and was a good cook.

I learned a lot of lessons but not sure I would plan another vacation with Sunsail.

Tim S.

After reading the other review, we are saddened. A bareboat charter is what we’re looking for, too. Don’t need untrustworthy people.

Doug R.

Amanda C.