TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Dream yacht by the cabin charter report

We chartered a cabin 8/4/18-8/11/18 on a 62 ft Lagoon through Dream Yacht out of Hodges Creek Marina. We normally island hop and are land based but this time since several of our "go to" places to stay were out of commission, (especially Ivan's), and the ferry schedule isn't back to "normal", we booked a cabin with 9 complete strangers! What a blast!
The cat was roomy and had plenty of sun and shade. Separate shower in our head! We all ate together, fantastic meals, snacks and a smoothie or cocktail of the day prepared by our French chef extraordinaire. We could spend time together or find some quiet place to read or nap.
We had 2 captains due to illness, I appreciate the decision of the first captain not to head to Anegada when he wasn't feeling well so captain #2 joined us at the Indians and briefed the vessel's systems with #1.
The website had a set itinerary but I appreciated that we had some say in our days. Usually 2 snorkels and 1 beach bar.
Day 2 we hit Caves, Willy T, (lone jumper here), anchored in Great Harbor, Peter I,
Day 3 to Indians, Nigel's at Smuggler's (great guy), White Bay, JVD after the crowds thinned. Anchored White Bay... we were the big guy there.
Day 4 we needed H20 in Great Harbor so we got to spread a little $ along the walk. Bought "The Irma Diaries" book at A & B, their story is one chapter. Chilling read, especially coming up on the anniversary. Off to Little Jost to snorkel, B Line, then the "rearranged" Sandy Spit. Anchored at Cane Garden Bay where I was able to use the paddleboard before heading into Myett's for a drink. I ordered plantains and peas and rice for a local treat to share with our new partners. The Sahara dust provided a surreal sunset, appearing as a grey moonset.
Day 5 was a nice sail North, at first I thought we were heading to Anegada but captain #2 wanted to treat us (and test out Ava Isabella's sailing ability). Off to The Dogs for my first "Jellyfish Highway"... moons, not box, but a bit unsettling. We anchored in Long Bay, VG for a beautiful sunset and sunrise before heading North.
Day 6 to Anegada, had reserved a car with Mr. Wheatley (wifi on boat worked great!). We took off alone to pick up cinnamon rolls at Pam's and give our condolences for the loss of Vernon Soares... what a interesting piece of history lost! Flamingos were closer than usual but telephoto lens was on the boat. Spent most of the day at Cow Wreck, Belle was working alone and we would've manned the bar to help but it was slow. Did a re-creation photo of President Obama's internet photo there with my husband standing in.. Ms. Belle got a kick out of that! Stopped by Flash of Beauty for a cold drink...Ting has a new cousin, Lime. We're big fans but couldn't find one again. Hit Happy Hour at Neptune's, sunset out west, then the gang met at Potter's for dinner off the boat. My choice would've been Wonky Dog but I didn't want to rock the boat. First really clear day ended with the Milky Way and a few Perseids!
Day 7 back to VG for a couple snorkel spots, including the Baths. Wonderful to be there in low season later in the day. Moored at Cooper, enjoyed the rum bar at sunset on my 59th birthday.
Day 8 we were back to get some folks off to the 9:30 ferry for a STT flight. Said our goodbyes to a fabulous group, we hit the passenger and crew lottery.
That said, we both highly recommend booking a cabin with Dream Yacht Charters. It was a wonderful way to return to the places I love, battered and forever changed but coming back from the unimaginable.

Nice to see this review! We are seriously considering this for our first trip in the Abacos next summer...might be nice to get the lay of the land in a new location without being responsible for someone else’s boat.

...the one thing I find curious is their time limit on the A/C — only running it 8am to 10pm??? One would think it would be 10pm to 8am since that’s when you’re trying to sleep - some of the newer cats aren’t all that great on cabin ventilation....

We did a few Cabin only charters when we were running a boat and they all worked well, the caveat is everyone exchanged emails prior to coming down. People that are willing to book them are generally VERY flexible people that can go with the flow.

Wow, great review and I have been looking for a way to bring my adult kids and their + 1's down in an affordable way. This may just fit the bill!!

I found that curious, too. Obviously a typo since we had AC all night as needed.

Enjoyed your review! What an adventure - 9 strangers! Good for you! Sounds awesome.

Beachcomber thanks for your review!

Do you have pictures to post? Did you fill out a preferences questionairre? Did you have email contact with other guests prior to arrival?

Thanks

Karen

Dream Yacht Charters A/C s running it from 8 AM to 10 PM.
Not everyone likes air conditioning overnight, so Dream has a rule that everyone signs a form stating they want A/C overnight to run it. If one cabin does not run it it does not get run.
Kerry

I wonder how many times they have someone that doesn't want it overnight? I imagine most would want it? Guess a charter by cabin would be better suited to a boat where you have individual cabin A/C control.

If one cabin doesn’t want AC they just have to close the air vent.

Or turn off the room thermostat

Have since heard that it is a fexible “rule”....

It was not addressed for us, no vote. They had the cabin too cold for us the night we arrived. I went without AC or the thermostat was arms reach to lower it, I'd rather have it quiet.

Sunnykm, I don’t know how to post pictures, most are sunrise/sunset. I wouldn’t post any of our shipmates because of privacy but there was lots of laughter! We knew nothing about them beforehand, no questionnaire or e-mails. I was expecting 6 couples but we had only one other couple, a single gentleman, an adult father/son, a teen son/ father, a teen daughter/father. The 2 kids were delightful and have more stamps on their passport than I ever will! Mine are all BVI except for Dominica. Crew and guests represented Texas, South Carolina, Colorado, Brazil, Austria, South Africa, France and St. Martin! The world felt small for a week!

Sounds interesting for areas that we have not chartered before. When we charter a boat, we always get cases of water and beer. Also, we bring quite a bit of liquor on the boat. How are things like that handled?

They provided water, some soda in the cooler/fridge. Dinner included white/red wine and sparkling or flat water. You can provision prior to the trip for beer, alcohol, etc. A provisioning list for any extras is included in the paperwork pdf prior to the trip.

We did this this summer... highly reccomend! Here's my report on Trip Advisor (Hope this works!).
We found that the AC was a non issue- our captain turned it off sometime between 10 or 11 everynight. I was actually really worried about it- but it was no problem at all.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUse...land_Tortola_British_Virgin_Islands.html

Yes...this is precisely why we find this option intriguing for the Abacos — we can relax and enjoy the experience of somewhere new without the responsibility — get the lay of the land so to speak and hopefully bring our own boat for a month in 2020.