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

Can anybpdy shed any light on this at all please?
£150 for a cheap pair of shoes whiha re discarded?
Clearly a different world.

I'm so glad I RTFT because your post is everything I wanted to say! With the exception that I have never owned a charter yacht, but I have been lucky enough to go on holiday on one.

That’s special sailing trainers usually that don’t mark the boat. Decks shoes are not as slim and tight on feet for serious racing

If teak is so delicate it can't be allowed to get wet, then why do they use it to make non-slip shower mats.
The Original Luxury Yacht Deck Inspired Teak Bath and Shower Mat | HomeLoft

I don’t know what kind of experience you have but first of all catamaran is a type of a yacht 😂 just two hulls as opposed to monohull

they are slightly different in how you sail them but they are not different in terms of decks getting wet, shoes rules or cleanliness and tidiness. They actually have more space than monohull yachts so less pressure about tidiness as well.

restaurant dinners for 650 euros in CROATIA are a piss take. There are plenty of other options and they should not be making reservations in the first place if guests haven’t consented (then there would be nothing to cancel). They also shouldn’t commit to expensive moorings at restaurants if that was the reason they had to dine there.

I am a day skipper and sailed both monohull yachts and catamaran yachts in the UK and in the Med specifically in Croatia too (with friends or with hired skipper).

The no shoes rule mean no regular shoes because they can mark the boat with their soles. It doesn’t mean barefoot because it’s actually not safe. Safest way is to have everyone wearing deck shoes or special sailing shoes

I’m 100% sure they are, that’s part of the business

sebagos are hardly cheap deck shoes…
nor are they discarded, I wear them the whole time at home, just they only get worn for one week on board a super yacht (I wear musto sailing shoes or boots on normal yachts), so I have several pairs at home, each that had one week on board as new shoes and now are used as normal

At the top end of boats, the kind you see on Below Deck, £150 for a pair of shoes is a fairly irrelevant cost - if you are hiring or own the boat then it is irrelevant in terms of a hire cost which is at its lowest would be in the £100,000 - £250,000 per week - and can stretch into the millions per week at the top end

if you are a guest (as I have always had the fortune to be), then it is a very low cost for what is effectively a free luxury holiday…

£150 is probably the average cost of a bottle of wine on board some boats, it is certainly less than eating out (though we mainly ate on the boat which comes with two chefs!) - a meal out for all 12 of us could easily be £1,000+ and the boat will source anything you want - if they can’t get it locally they will have it flown in.

the costs of high end yachts / boats is a cost beyond the comprehension to most, potentially costing £30m+ to buy second hand and probably £150m+ to have built for you, a super yacht costs c. 10% of its cost to run each year… everything is expensive, from the number of staff on board (13 on the one I have spent time on) to mooring costs / fuel / food / weekly tip etc. from memory - fuel, food and tip is about £5k+ per person per week and that is on top of the hire cost…

but we are starting to go off topic - the boat hired by the op is not at that level if it only has two staff, so even less reason for the owners to be fussy, but hopefully it gives some idea of the world we are discussing, even if only one end of it… withe costs being so high, owners can be very fussy about protecting their boat

Finally, common sense!

But you still do wear shoes

When it comes to cost, don't forget you're expected to tip as a guest and on a superyacht that tip can be easily in thousands. The OP is not on a superyacht. She is still expected to tip but won't - normally I'd be appalled by tip dodging, but in this case it's justified.

Goodness OP

We had a 3 night catamaran sailing trip in Croatia a couple of years ago and there was none of this, except the shoes rule (but no shouting) and they wanted us to rinse salty water off us whilst on the steps (fair enough). The skipper and host were quite grumpy though and clearly didn’t get on 😆

Recommend https://maps.app.goo.gl/FoVNCB9T9B6niEcW8?g_st=ic this restaurant in Split, on a lovely square. Hope you enjoy your last day.

Why are you SO obsessed with this shoe question? At least a dozen people on here who are familiar with this world have said it's the norm for a very good reason. Everyone who's ever been on a sailing boat knows this. Some people buy expensive deck shoes and are scrupulous about only using them brand new, others go bare foot. The OP has no problem with bare feet. So why do you? It's weird.

Plenty of people familiar with it said that deck shoes that OP had would also be absolutely fine too. OP is fine with no shoes but literally nothing justifies anal insistence of the hostess to be barefoot all the time and their rudeness. The fact of teak deck doesn’t justify it.

Enjoy your last few hours! Do not back down on the tip!!

In general, it interests me when people say oh this way is the ONLY way to do xyz or this way is the ONLY way that cyz is ever done because more often than not they are wrong. I do have a bit of a further interest because its quite an ableist pov to say that only people who are sble to go barefoot can go sailing or go on a charter .. and again evidently not true. My own personal issue is minor in that I get plantar fasciitis if I go barefoot for long periods of time or on a regular basis and the pain is immense. My abilty to balance is fine. If you own your own boat for your own use, you are free to make your own rules of course

at times…
I quite like barefoot, but we would dress up for dinner some nights…
most of the day is in and out of the water, so barefoot…

This thread is the plimsoll troll's wetdream tbf. (Careful of the decks, though).

You've had it explained how shoes can ruin a deck. Why is that so hard to understand? Do you generally not respect people's properties?

You have to be reasonably fit and able to enjoy a sailing holiday, in all sorts of respects, especially on a small catamaran. You're jumping in and out of the sea. That's not an ableist pov it's a reality.

IF you wanted to book a holiday like this (and you're just arguing for the sake of it as far as I can see because you're a plimsoll troll) I am sure you could discuss your plantar fascitis with the boat owner and agree to bring unused deck shoes as an exception. But in general, it's easier just to say no shoes.

None of this means the skipper and host should yell at the guests.

LOL

Hi what’s the charter company please? We’re just booking and want to avoid a similar experience as this doesn’t sound great! Thanks for sharing your feedback k and sorry it’s not quite the relaxing week you hoped for!

And boats! Absurd

easier for the boat owner....
I absolutely understand and always have, the point about wearing off boat shoes on a boat. My issue was and is people saying "oh its normal, people NEVER wear shoes on high end craft...if you can't be barefoot you can't go sailing" having plantar fasciitis or many other issues which mean that you can't go barefoot do not mean that the person is not fit and able and THAT is a reality too. Suggesting anything elese IS ableist. I am not sure why it would need a special discussion, surely it should be in the t's and c's that deck shoes are permitted provided that they are brand new, non marking and never worn off the boat for the duration of the holiday. As actual boat owners of teak decked boats on here have said that they wear shoes themselves and allow them for comfort and safety reasons, I am not sure what the problem is?

I have been on a boat many times and deck shoes cannot ruin a boat’s deck. What don’t YOU understand? and in fact it’s less safe to be barefoot although acceptable if there is no wind and they are motoring. If the boat is sailing and it is windy someone being barefoot is not just risk of toe stubbing but risk of them slipping and falling overboard, injuring themselves by falling if they change tack etc (more relevant for monohull but still).

I am not the person with plantar fasciitis but they could absolutely wear special deck shoes or special sailing trainers.

there has been an extreme example of super yachts but this is not a super yacht so it’s totally irrelevant

@akkakk , glimpse into an interesting world.

I am not a boat person at all, but hasnt anyone in the world come up with a waterproof varnish for a boat? And no sunscreen? People do this for a holiday?!