Caribbean Charter recommendations?

[Red Stripe]

Anyone have any experience with a crewed charter in the Caribbean in the 50 – 80’ range? I’ve checked out a lot of sites (Boat US included) and am now looking for some real world knowledge/recommendations.

Thanks!

 

[aquadancer]

We chartered a crewed 55' cat "Braveheart" in the BVI in spring 06. I am still in touch with Captain Jerry and would be happy to provide intro. It was a boatload of fun, although I would prefer a bareboat (Admiral said no way to a bareboat - too stressful). Excellent crew, great food & booze, plenty of water toys, including a 60 h.p. dinghy for watersports. 55' cat had plenty of room for 4 adults, 3 kids, and crew of 3.

Last April we chartered a crewed 64' pilothouse out of the Exumas. Had few days of bad weather which limited the fun, but I would still recommend cruising the Exumas - great cruising grounds and not as crowded as the BVI. The vessel was a late 90's vintage Horizon motoryacht. 3 staterooms plus crew - OK rooom for 2 couples, 2 kids, and crew of 2.

Note that powerboat charters charge for actual fuel cost on top of quoted charter fee. Sail charters are typically do not charge for fuel, even if they end up motoring most of the trip.

Let me know what specific info you want and I will gladly share my experiences. Spring charters are a great solution to the winter blues we all develop up here in the NE.

 

[Sea Gull]

We have done mostly bareboat charters of monohull sailboats with Moorings out of Tortola. They are a class act and can provide captain and crew. The largest one we chartered from them was 50'. I'm not sur ethey go much bigger. We also did a crewed charter out of St. Martin on an 80' sailing catamaran. We were a group of 16 adults with 3 crew. That was through a chartering company, Yachtstore.com.

 

[Red Stripe]

Thanks for the info so far... I'm definitely looking to do a crewed power charter, not sail. Thought about doing the bareboat as well but want to leave the cooking and navigation to someone else to maximize the relaxation factor. Looked at Moorings - good to hear they are a class act. I thought about doing one of their power cats, which look interesting - but I can't imagine how comfortable the sleeping accommodations are (anyone know?). I’ll check out yachtstore. It seems that all of the brokers list the same boats, so if anyone has experience with a specific boat/crew I would love to hear your feedback. The end of April just wasn’t coming fast enough!

 

[aquadancer]

Moorings is a good company but their power charters (old Nauticblue) are definitely geared toward a bareboat. They have a crew option, but you don't know what "friendly" captain will show up on your boat.

Quality of your crew will make or break your charter. Good charter broker can match your cruising party to the right crew and boat. Give Jenny Trotter at www.meridianyachts.com a call. She's knows her stuff, particularly if you're thinking of the BVI.

As far as sleeping accomodations in a catamaran - our 55' cat had 4 reasonbly comfortable queens in the sponsoons but they were not walk-arounds. I had the same concern and actually checked out a couple of cats at the Annapolis show before we booked the charter.

 

[estebanj]

I did a Power Cat 52 with Virgin Traders. Very happy with them. I think the comfort factor will depend on how many people. If it's just a couple, I think 50-80 with crew will be overkill. You can do 40-50 and be very comfortable.

Esteban