Langkawi Cruise yacht charter company

I was traveling with this boat from 9-23.2.2025, 12knots.com had nothing to do with the booking and the charter, this is exclusively an evaluation of the condition of the catamaran IZAN at the time of the above mentioned charter: - I had complained about the electric toilet when I took over because the function was not regular. I am the owner and have been using the same electric toilet on my boat for 8 years and know how it should work. After the 1st use, the water could no longer be pumped out. 2 times technicians and the base manager tried to fix this, after the first time it didn't work at all, after the 2nd time for only a few hours. The two times we used it, we had to scoop out the contents of the toilet ourselves afterwards. We had no toilet for 2 weeks. Terrible. We tried to pump out the water every day, but the level didn't decrease. On the last day of the trip, it just so happened that the water could be pumped out with the pump-out button, which is why the base manager claimed that everything would have been fine after the second repair anyway. Photos and videos by the author - The dinghy is a safety risk. I also complained about the dinghy when I took it over, as it was already missing some air on one side. There was no spare dinghy available, we had to accept the existing one. We had to inflate it before each use and carry a bellows in the boat at all times. You couldn't row with it either, as the cap on the dinghy was missing on one side and the oar wouldn't hold. It was unthinkable if you needed it quickly in an emergency. Photos by the author - The dinghy engine was difficult to start - The main could hardly be hoisted directly on the mast even by 2 men, the mast sliders were so heavy. The locking mechanism of the electric winch handle, which was to be provided for this purpose, broke during the training demonstration. A second electric crank was not available. The base manager said that it would work anyway, but during the first attempt, other internal parts came loose, which meant that the crank was finally unusable and the stiff mainsail could hardly be operated. Photos by the author - The Tridata sensor was not installed, it was lying unused in the belly of the ship. As a result, there was no indication of the speed through the water, and therefore no indication of the true wind, which was not good news for a sailor. Photos by the author - The autopilot and the depth were occasionally lost, so we had to search for and reconnect the sources in the network. Photos by the author - The fuel gauge for the two diesel tanks is misleading, it usually showed an empty tank right from the start. Photos by the author - The rev counter of the starboard engine did not work and was at zero, photos by the author On this boat, the problems are only fixed when there is no other way. Hardly usable as a sailing boat. The dinghy a safety risk, the toilet a disaster. It was by far the worst charter experience my wife and I have had in 30 years. This is the first time I've written a review about a boat, but I think this information will be helpful to other prospective charterers. The base manager was extremely nice and helpful and even flew in to fix the toilet, but unfortunately it only worked for a few hours. He said that the boat was of a high standard, but what use are a generator, air conditioning and Starlink internet in the daily routine if the toilet is not usable. What we were left with was a lot of wasted time through long conversations, annoyance and persistent attempts to fix the problems. When asked for a refund, he ended up saying that he had a video of damage to the boat, that we had probably brushed against coral heads and that I had been too close to the reefs. I can counter this assertion and his "photo evidence" with details from my logbook, including the tide level: at that time we had a still water tide of 2 meters (!) above chart zero, where the coral heads don't even stick out of the water at low tide. And the visibility was wonderful, you could read the depth of the water thanks to the shades of color. 2 days before returning, I had dived around the boat and apart from algae and a very dirty underwater hull, I didn't notice any scratches, I can rule out any contact with the bottom or coral, none of us noticed anything. There was no claim from the charter company, we got our deposit back. The cost of the fuel was waived, a negligible gesture considering the inconvenience we had suffered. This ship can be a problem for charterers, we were hit hard, no toilet for 2 weeks! As a boat neighbor had told me at the end of the charter, this boat is permanently in use for day trip charters, hardly ever for bareboat week charters, which could explain why the maintenance and condition of the boat were/are suboptimal. A brief word about the area: I had started from Langkawi to southern Thailand, and you lose 3 days for the outward and return journey and for clearing in and out. Langkawi has murky water due to its muddy bottom, but this changes from the first Thai island onwards, where the water is crystal clear. I will explore Thailand again, but starting from Phuket, as there is no loss of time for clearing in and you sail in clear water straight away Klaus G, Graz, Austria