Blue Trend yacht charter company

Super vacation, I chartered a boat between July and August, as a skipper, I must say that I had a great time both with the people, Deborah and Paolo super welcoming, professional and very helpful at any time and with the boat that despite its age exceeded expectations by far. The people I had on board (families with children) were also enthusiastic.

GOOD: Boat was very new and generally well equipped Blue Trend was helpful in booking marinas when the personnel were difficult to contact or just being difficult (which was frequent) Check out was fast BAD: The check in was brutal and took nearly 3 hours. With some thought and a little preparation (e.g. collection of information before the check in) it could be so much quicker and easier for guests, most of whom will be tired at the end of a long journey. We had asked for an early check in (which was offered as an option) but we never heard back so a lot of unnecessary waiting around. Lots of duplicated information that had already been provided (the first 15 minutes I say while a clerk copied information from a paper form they had to another paper form), lengthy instructions about the confusing anchoring and mooring rules (much better if it was documented), where you could and couldn't go all of which had to written down. Also meant that all 6 crew had to sit around until we had finished the check in because they weren't allowed on the boat until it was. We had to carry most of our luggage and provisions the long way to the boat. Blue Trend don't appear to have their own carts or, like other charterers, electric buggy. Instruction on the boat was pretty limited with some translation problems. The charts were not much use as they were too small scale. The sailing guide provided (which was a photocopy of a book) was out of date and did not contain detailed enough information. Boat and equipment manuals were not on board A few problems with the boat: - the water maker wouldn't start, but was excellent once we got the hang of it. - the depth instrument kept failing which made anchoring and appoaching the shore very precarious. We were first told it was only because the water was too deep (which it wasn't, failed even when we were at dock). Then we were fobbed off and told just to use our GPS position and charts, which is useless. - Tender was hard to start, took many pulls - Showers didn't drain properly - outdoor fridge controls were locked out Suggested additions to boat equipment: food processor cutting knife lounge cushions for trapeze snorkelling kit washing up drying towels