TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Heyo- Any recent Dream Yacht Charterers Wish to Share insights?

Family of 3 considering Dream Yacht Charters in June 2023….If anyone has some thoughts good or bad I’d be grateful. Love the idea of being at Scrub and close EIS…grocery situation sucks, but not a deal breaker.

They are it looks like planning to move the operation back to Hodges Creek. You might check on planned move date.

Book with TMM and cast your worries aside! They have very well maintained boats and their service is top level. Riteway grocery is about 200 feet or less from their base operations.

www.sailtmm.com

Highly suggest that you read all the reviews on Facebook. There is even a group dedicated to the not so glowing reviews. Stick with one of the boutique charter ops that care about their customers and boats.

I've chartered previously with DYC at four different locations, and they all went fairly smooth. Others report they have had poor experiences with this company. My impression was the DYC staff (or lack thereof) seems to be rather transient or inexperienced, although everyone gave their best attempt at being helpful. My experience with DYC at Scrub was just okay, it wasn't bad, nor wonderful. Our crew stayed two days at Scrub before boarding our boat, which was fantastic. Yes, it is very close to the airport, and yes, provisioning is a bit of a hassle. In addition, the previous poster is correct there are rumors they are moving their location from Scrub, but these seem to be only rumors. I haven't seen anything official. Bottomline, would I book with DYC again. I suppose 'perhaps', depending on the location, my due diligence, and other options available at the time. There are many good charter companies in BVI, and all boats have issues from time-to-time, as well as the charter companies themselves. I've found what works best for me is being very proactive when approaching my charter date, hoping to avoid any unpleasant unexpected surprises upon arrival. These things have a tendency to not go exactly as planned, no matter who the charter company might be. That said, being flexible and knowing options for 'plan B' ahead of time has always made our charters enjoyable. Just my two cents, nothing more.

Research DYC experiences on FB... As noted above, there is a group with name, followed by "sucks"... But many other comments about satisfaction (or dissatisfaction.... or worse) with the big guys.

TMM consistently get great reviews(I was so happy with them and now I am owner of 2nd boat in TMM fleet).

Several other boutique companies get great reviews as well. Do your research NOW.

Agree with above comments. We have enjoyed probably 15 BVI charters with multiple companies. We once got a deal on Dream and used them. Just not the same experience as TMM, BVI Yacht charters, Horizon or the local smaller companies. I’ve found personal service and relationships matter. I feel like I’m visiting family when seeing them in the BVI or even at the Annapolis boat show.

Recently DYC has dealt with two things that hurt their reputation. First was Covid, and DYC's decision to stop paying their "guaranteed" contracts. That caused a lot of angst and requests to move boats out of the BVI.

Then much of DYC's fleet was seized in port by Customs, ruining many vacations. Moorings faced the same problem, which they attributed to various factors, including staff reductions during Covid.

Most of the smaller, family-run operations were in full compliance with Customs by the date required.

We just returned last week from a very good charter experience with Dream Yacht on a newer Lagoon 46. No issues and friendly helpful staff. Scrub is a nice place to start and return to. However, they did tell us they will be moving to Hodges Creek sooner than later. One annoying thing about Scrub was that they told us to refill fuel in SpanishTown the morning that you return. So we stayed at Cooper our last night and arrived at VGYH to refill at 8 am, then back to Scrub. We had 2 prior more challenging experiences with older boats at other Dream Yacht bases (during Covid). Both boats had engine issues and both were in rough physical shape with lots of other smaller issues (gauges didnt' work, pump toilets with broken seals, missing cushions and curtains, watermaker that didn't work - bunch of little items that added up). From those experiences, we are usually picky about the boat we choose - although no guarantee you will get the boat you reserve.

We've used DYC (and three others) over the last ten years. Personally, we like DYC best (only used them since they moved to Scrub). That's not to say we wouldn't reuse any of the others we have used in the past or use someone we haven't in the future.

IMHO the chartering in BVI is like a mid-level cruise line. Some experiences are great, some good and some not great at all. Like a mid-level cruise line, the traffic through the boats is going to put wear and tear on them. Sometimes, because things break, when you're out on a 1-2 year old boat you'll have a problem. Sometimes, because the maintenance people just completed a great service, a 4-5 year old boat has zero problems. Our expectations in the BVIs, even on "new" boats, is to have at least one problem (and at least two with the dingy).

On DYC we haven't had anything major and they have already responded quickly.

Hi, I have been a BVI charter cat owner and charterer since 1998. I prefer renting over owning. I have chartered with: Dream Yachts; TMM; Moorings; SunSail; CatCo; and BVI Yacht Charters.
No doubt Moorings has it down to an art. Always an excellent experience. I have had negative experiences at one of the companies which I won't name. It wasn't Dream Yachts.
As far as Dream Yachts- I am a repeat customer. Have chartered with them about10 times since 2014.
When Irma hit in 2017, we were scheduled down to BVis. Dream Yachts switched us to Martinique at no charge.
I would say the Hodges Creek Marina is a big step down from Moorings. Scrub Island, on the other hand, is really nice. We also chartered (twice during covid) out of the USVI marina on the eastern side of St Thomas. That operation was the least user friendly, but there was a good grocer in walking distance.
We had a breakdown near Christmas Cove USVI during charter October 2020. The tech folks were there within three hours to change an impeller.
As a renter, I have had good experiences with DYC. Boats are decent or better; customer service is the same. It is not a top- drawer experience like Moorings, but it gets the job done. I find the pricing to be usually 10-20% lower for DYC than Moorings.
Hope tis helps.
JAM
Annapolis, Md

I'll add my experience to this thread. We have chartered with DYC, TMM, Horizon, Sail Caribe and Voyage - most of them multiple times. I have found that Dream has been fine for the most part with our biggest disappointment being when we chartered a Lagoon 52 from their fleet but was switched to a (much less roomy) Saba 50 when we arrived due to "mechanical issues" with the Lagoon. However, we saw the Lagoon 52 we were supposed to be on just a couple days later so it must not have been too serious. I think they may have double booked the boat or maybe one of the other L52s had issues and they had to shift things around. Regardless, it was a bit frustrating as we had a pretty large group with us and would have appreciated the space on the Lagoon. We also had fuel filter issues on the starboard engine on that boat when motoring in rough water when returning from St. Thomas, but they met us in Sopers Hole and replaced the filters for both engines.

We have had problems with a couple of the other companies that we chartered and haven't always received as prompt service as DYC. That said, stuff happens and I can't think of one charter we've been on that didn't have at least one minor thing pop up. I consider a bit of troubleshooting to just be part of chartering.

I do love that DYC is based out of Scrub and it is disappointing that they will be moving. The proximity to the airport (no taxi required), the nice marina setting of Scrub, and being able to use Scrub's facilities at both the start and end of the charter was a major reason for using them on our last trip. I would consider using them again depending on boat and price availability, but I do like some of the other companies as well. FWIW, we are chartering with Horizon this April and we are chartering with DYC out of Antigua this June.

Good luck on your decision!

We used them in St. Thomas last summer. We didn't have any issues with them. They were clearly though ignoring some more basic maintenance issues since it was the end of the season. We were missing the stack pack for the sail for example and the main door into the boat wouldn't stay closed or open without a piece of wood in place. Otherwise all the systems worked well, boat was also well equipped with genset, water maker and even a washer/dryer unit. All worked well too!

It is too bad in the BVI they are moving from Scrub tough, that certainly seems like it would be a huge selling point. Their base in St Thomas was fine but there was nothing to do for the few hours we had to sit and wait.

I'm a long-time skipper in the BVIs, chartering from perhaps 6 different companies over the years. The only one we ever had major problems with was contracting "owners time" on a 54' cat based in DYC (the "Malcoha"). Too many major problems to mention, but due to extremely poor basic maintenance of the boat, we required many service calls by DYC staff (who did a good job responding to us) and we lost 3 full days of sailing during a nine day cruise, plus daily aggravations. The agent for Owners Time in FL, plus the boat owner in NYC, has refused to compensate us for the ruined trip, and are hoping we will just go away. Beware.

We used DYC out of St Thomas last November, had a Lagoon 450S owners version, boat was nice and the staff was good and helpful.

This thread died out back in 2022, but just wondering if anyone has had any recent charters with DYC out of Hodges Creek?

I recently returned from a charter with DYC. Their people are really sweet, but stretched too thin. They were professional and fair. They didn't have enough staff to efficiently brief us and get us out on the water. I wish they could duplicate 3-4 of their key people. I miss having them based at Scrub Island. Hodges Creek is noisy and raw. As far as I know there are no restaurants within walking or dinghy distance, so you're looking at more time and money spent on taxis.

The critical parts of the boat were all working, but there were issues that just need TLC that they don't seem to have the staff for. They've typically been a good value proposition and we're family cruisers, so I will use them again assuming there is a decent savings over the competition.

For what it's worth... for the first time we met many Filipino folks scattered throughout the BVI. I think they're filling a customer service vacuum and I take it as a good thing.

I have chartered with Sunsail (multiple), BVIYC (multiple), Dream (once - most recent - Hodges Creek), Captains Compass (three times - 1x fat hog, 2x old one)) since Irmaria.

A few benefits of DYC. Price. Charters any day (ie, will do Tuesday to Tuesday for example), Easy from EIS with two big grocery stores on the way, Not the best base, but not the worst I have used either.

A few negatives - we also had a service call, resulted in different boat (big upgrade) which was nice, but we only had 3. Other than that, they were pretty great.

I will use them again. But when I do I use Samboat to book it. You get the discount still, but have a 3rd party to do the dirty work for you if something goes wrong.

I am a business meeting in Vegas.

Should I make reservations at a hotel with 50% chance of non-functioning toilet with the assurance they may upgrade me to another room to save a few bucks? Or should I pay slightly more for hotel that has a good reputation for clean and comfortable rooms?

So why risk it in BVI: Go with the top 5 companies in BVI who routinely have great reviews of well maintained boats and good customer service at fair rates!

Good timing to revise this topic as I am currently struggling with this at the moment. I have used DYC twice once in Grenade up to the Grenadines back in 2019 and once in April 2022 in BVIs out of Scrub. I had no issues with both of the cats I used but both were brand new FPs. The monohull that I am looking to chart could either be over 6 years old or 3-6 years old. I am now a little bit more concerned. And I agree! Scrub island base was a serious advantage for them, I am now less inclined to charter with them as Hodges Creek did not look as inviting!

will need to give this serious thought!