Is this level of strictness normal on a private catamaran charter?

[Itsgettinghotinere]

We’re currently on a private catamaran charter in Croatia. For the most part, the week has been great, the Islands are beautiful and it’s been wonderful to see so many different places.

That said, I’m not sure if our experience of our skipper and hostess is usual or not…

We planned a sailing holiday as we wanted to do an activity holiday with our teens. I’ve sailed and grew up with small pleasure boats. We made this clear when we booked via the charter company and specifically listed it on our preference list. The preference list also stipulates that learning to sail is one of the possible options. We have not been allowed near the helm let alone sail! To be fair, the wind has been minimal so we’ve been under engine all week but yesterday would have been perfect but no, we are not allowed.

We are also not allowed to:

1. wear shoes on the boat. We know this however our hostess constantly shouts “shoes, shoes, shoes” at us as soon as we walk on to the sugar scoops! Every time. Without fail.
2. Sit on any outside seating while wet from swimming. When swimming we have to stay at the front of the cat until we dry off. I’m referring to the all weather outside seating. It’s making it very difficult as we’re not allowed to get any water while we swim as were might drip on the teak.
3. We are not allowed to drip anything anywhere: my husband was washing his hands in our cabin but the cabin door was open. While drying his hands some water dripped on the floor and our host saw and immediately came into our cabin and dried up the 3 spots.
4. We are told to eat over our plates. Our teens are 14 and 13 so it’s not as though food is dropping everywhere. My son was told to eat his watermelon over the plate as our host didn’t want to spend her time cleaning after him. We are not allowed to leave any crumbs on the table and look out if any accidentally end up on a cushion (out door cushion).
5. One evening my husband had a glass of red wine and it came with a warning not to spill any.
6. They have made restaurant bookings ahead for us which is fine for the most part but one was very expensive- (€650) and we only had two drinks each. The next evening was the same so we said we’d like to move our booking to a different restaurant and was told that it would make things awkward for them, they wouldn’t honour future bookings maybe and we ended up eating there.

There are other instances like this. The obsession with everything being clean all the time. We are very clean, tidy and respectful people. We just feel like we’re intruding on their boat.

While I’ve typed this I’ve been told we can only apply sunscreen off the boat, nowhere on the boat as apparently the front is full of sunscreen! I make us all stand on the front and apply sun cream. We don’t use sprays and I’m very careful about applying it. But it’s not enough and now we can’t use sunscreen unless we’re in the harbour or on land! In fact, our packing list said sun cream would be provided as they understandably want to use creams that won’t damage the boat. We arrived to find none so I suspect they prefer guests don’t use anything.

We’re walking on eggshells and just don’t feel welcome. Is this normal behaviour? I’d like to hear from those who had chartered before. Thank you

Yes - Sail Croatia do this too (I am not on commission!) but I did think it might be an easier relationship with 30 or so guests and more crew. They still do the swim stops and it is much cheaper. With the private charter you can decide how long you want to stay somewhere and have more influence of where you go but we took advice from the crew for the itinerary anyway.

I am sorry that you are having such a miserable time of it. You want to be able to relax on holiday, not feel that everything is being monitored. How disappointing for you. It’s also a real challenge when you know you’ve got grounds for complaint but are so dependent on and have to be in such close proximity to those you want to complain about.
I think I would say something to your crew. And then contact the company you organised everything through to explain the situation. The fact that you have sailing gloves with you shows how vast the disconnect is between what you expected and what is happening.
You don’t mention this but have you had or are you having any input into the itinerary? Even when I did flotilla holidays the crew would explain the options to us for the next 48 hours - for example, was our priority to have a good day’s sailing or did we want to stop at a quiet cove for a swim? At the beginning of the week we’d scope out our plan and they might explain things like yes, we could go to X place but, to guarantee a spot in the harbour, we’d need to be moored up by 1pm so were we happy with that and, if not, what the other options were. Then things would change depending on the wind conditions and so forth.
The sun cream thing is mad. If they had to, they could just have a towel on the floor and ask you to stand on that or something. It’s also really odd that they are were supposed to provide suncream and haven’t. Well, I say odd but presumably the crew have been given a budget to cover food & drinks on board, suncream and things and are just trying to pocket as much as possible rather than spend it on you

But its up to the crew to make sure that the guests are comfortable and its on them to make sure that the relationship is not awkward. They are the ones being paid to give the customer a holiday experience.

The charter company can't be Northrop and Johnson ??

Our rule is deck shoes (and that just means suitable shoes with clean soles, absolutely no heels or black rubber soles) on deck, shoes off down below.

I haven't read all the replies, but we did a weeklong private Turkish Gulet charter with our 3 kids and my parents and it was absolutely nothing like that. The staff couldn't do enough for us and were lovely to the kids, including setting them up for waterskiing/inner tubing. It was incredibly relaxed. In your shoes, I'd definitely complain.

Adding that we were mostly shoes off on the boat, but no one was hectoring about it.

Ah I misunderstood, I thought there were other families currently on board. Poor OP though, it's shit when you've have a hard year, want a nice relaxing break and get anything but.

This sounds like my worst nightmare! Come to us in the Cotswolds, if you get a chance for another break. Hook Cottage, Chipping Campden. I’ve not put a link as I’m not sure if it’s allowed. Happy for you to pm me.

No shoes immediately on boarding - normal

All the weird tidy things make me think they are sub letting the boat

We chartered a boat in Turkey for a week. It was actually the same boat we went on for a day trip, we got his contact details and went back with more of our family so similar circumstances the host was also the owner of the boat. We certainly didnt have any of the rules you mention, they seem a bit extreme. We ate on the boat (food was amazing) so didnt have the restaurant issue. However, they were very inflexible about where we could stop and took us to some very random places, which wasn't great, but on the boat they were very welcoming and hospitable.

Ok but the thread isn’t about whay kind of holiday do you fancy. The op did want a private charter to do as they please and have the boat to themselves other than the staff.

OP, my husband and I are polite and calm sorts. We get on with people and don’t make a huge fuss. But I know that during this trip, one of us would finally decide that we’ve had enough. We would then assert ourselves and be very clear as to our expectations for the remainder of the holiday. I would not put up with this. You have paid a fortune I’m sure for this and it’s simply not right.

You are so lovely, and actually just down the road from us!

Whoever made the comment about ‘Below Deck’ I can assure you we are not in a yacht anywhere near the luxury of those. Geeky but I love big yacht spotting and then looking them up on Marine Traffic to see where it’s from, it’s course and how much it cost. Don’t get me wrong, our catamaran is perfect- plenty of cabin space - but we’re not anywhere near Captain Kerry or Captain Sandy territory!

Sounds like a nightmare! Can you finish up early OP and book a different holiday to recover from your holiday?

that is more like what i thought.

but do you mean bare feet only?

again was that bare feet only or deck shoes?

We once stayed in a luxury villa in Sicily booked through a company. On arrival it was the owner who showed us around. We have stayed in many great quality Italian villas but have never had a ‘welcome’ like it.

Arriving after a long day of travelling we were given a half hour lesson on recycling, instructions about where to point the shower, instructions on limiting our shower usage, and another half hour on all the things we were forbidden to do in the kitchen including turning the induction hob on fully. We were warned repeatedly about electricity usage despite the fact that it was charged extra at an exorbitant rate (genuinely price gouging) and having being terrified into barely using any aircon all week we were charged a huge extra electricity bill at the end which was actually for the pool filtration so none of it was discretionary.

As if that want bad enough half way through the holiday we were accused of stealing a bath mat!

I feel so bad for you. Thank god our host wasn’t cohabiting with us or I might have murdered her.

Needless to say my honest but entirely polite review never made it to the Villa website.

Yes but tell them NOW, not just via a review. They need to know that their preciousness is not good for business. They need to lighten up. Or stop hiring the boat out.

You don’t think not being able to use any of the facilities on even a basic level without being watched over like children is unreasonable - to the point where they’re wiping up small drips as you’re eating and you’re not allowed to sit on the all weather seating without someone coming out to wipe it off. Christ.

We had deck shoes as that was what we did when I was growing up (sailing), but we were mostly barefoot, as I recall.

I'll bet they don't have any repeat clients. I'm sure you paid a lot for this trip. It sounds like it could have been heavenly. I'm sorry it has turned out to be so stressful.

OP make sure that you leave a review on Trustpilot or Google. If you leave an honest review on the holiday company website I get the impression it will be squashed.

I was about to ask the same thing. Deck shoes are appropriate as other footwear will cause damage. The rest sounds horrendous.

Stop worrying and be blunt. They can’t make it any worse. They’ve ruined this holiday for you. Tell them! Tell them they’re being incredibly inhospitable.