TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Forum activity and provisioning question

Hello all! As a regular follower of this forum, you can tell that activity is down after the hurricanes. I recognize that this is completely logical and unimportant compared to the challenges those in the islands are facing. However, I really enjoy more forum activity - especially the threads about hazing newbies! The good news is that activity seems to be picking up. One of the salty sailors with a creative brain needs to post another funny topic or question.

Regarding provisioning, we have used Riteway and some recent posts leave me wondering if we should switch to Moorings. The difference in price is not a major concern, but the quality of perishable items is important to us. We have generally been happy with Riteway. How is the quality with Moorings in comparison?

We are flying down mid-June and land in Tortola around 4:00 pm with a sleep aboard at Moorings - and hopefully an early departure the next morning since we know the boat and the islands.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Steve

Just curious, does Moorings run their own grocery wholesale or are they just going through one of the local markets? It’s seems it may all be part of the same pot. If you are concerned about the freshness/quality of the perishables you can always hop over to Riteway and buy those items direct as it is not that far from the Moorings base.

We have had zero issues with the Moorings provisioning. It eliminates virtually all the hassle in the process. In addition if you have something missing or lacking quality you can simply go to the market on the dock and have the situation remedied. The dock market is however currently still closed due to the storm. I have heard a June reopening. The front desk handles issues at the moment.
My wife will go to great lengths to save money and has found pricing comparable.
You can also use the Moorings for the heavy items and walk to Riteway to fill out your needs.

We will be back down in 2 1/2 weeks and will use Riteway again. We were down in November and and also February and Riteway was every bit their normal operating selves. Only difference after Irma is we tip the delivery guys much more than in the past just knowing what they have been and still are going through.

We have used Moorings almost exclusively for the past 22 years. I am lazy about planning meals and shopping. We cooked most of our meals on board. With very few exceptions food has been just fine, delivered to the boat for our evening starts, with cold stuff put away. There are more choices at Riteway, but overall I loved having the food there when we arrived, and the no hassle with the very few problems.

Who has sailed long enough with Moorings to remember the head of cabbage that was provided with every charter provisioning?

Does anyone know if Aragorn's box of produce is available through Moorings since Irma/Maria? That was a great way to get greens and Caribbean fruits!

We will be sailing in late May, but plan to spend more time patronizing restaurants than we usually do.

If you compare the online shopping pages between Rieway and Moorings, the contrast between the abundance of choices at both sites is huge. Charterers have very limited selection on the Moorings site. That said, we do usually use Moorings for bulky items.

I suppose part of the question is how many meals one intends to cook aboard. Our plan is to have all breakfasts and most lunches aboard. With the exception of our first night wine and charcuterie dinner (which we provision through La Baguette), we'll have all dinners ashore.

I've been working between the Riteway and Sunsail (Moorings) provisioning lists. Given our requirements, there's not much of a difference in the variety of choices. I couldn't find cucumbers or solid white tuna on Sunsail's list and Riteway has Tostito's Lime Tortilla Chips (killer!!!!!). Other than that, it comes down to whether you want to see the produce and meats before you buy. The pricing is virtually the same.

For me, the choice comes down to convenience and peace of mind. If I order the majority of items through Sunsail, they'll be on the boat when I arrive. That has significant stress relief value. For the rest, we can do a quick run to Riteway and La Baguette and we'll be done on our sleep aboard night so that we can get checked out in the morning and under way.

We provision prepackaged items and heavy items like water, soda and liquor. We always shop personally for fresh items at Riteway.

The Riteway near Moorings was WELL stocked 2 weeks ago.

TICO had the best prices on liquor!

Yet no Carib Beer listed...

Sunsail/Moorings provisioning has Carib!!

Might call or email them. On our last charter they provided items that were not on their list.

Tico is not the importer for Carib. Caribbean Cellars is and they are walking distance to the Moorings.