Client Charter Reviews

What our clients say after their charter experiences 

Rating: 5 / 5
The Lagoon 46 was the best catamaran we have chartered. There was plenty of deck and seating space and all the bedrooms/ensuites were a good size.

Preveza was a great starting point and we enjoyed travelling south to Ithaki and north to Paxi. Kalamos was a highlight we tied up to a pier next to a taverna for the night and it was a lovely spot.

We had very good service from Robert and Sue at Yachting Holidays and dealing with an NZ company gave us peace of mind. The service from Fyly in Greece was also excellent. We really appreciated being able to board the boat early and our skipper was also very friendly and easy to get along with.

Our skipper Adrian Dimitru was keen to get away on Saturday afternoon so we headed south and got a day ahead which was great. .he cruise was excellent and Adrian got us to some of his favourite spots so we were very lucky.

Ithaki not to be missed.
Destination: Greece
Yacht: Lagoon 46
Craig, New Zealand, October, 2023
Rating: 5 / 5
There was a good range of islands to visit, from busy to quiet and the Thai food was always amazing. There was usually a good morning breeze that kicked in fairly early and then seemed to drop off in the afternoon.

Our favourite destination was Ko Tao as the water was so incredibly clear. The national park was also good: not clear water but the night time phosphorescence made up for that. We loved finding the hong inside the northern most island in the national park too.

The Lagoon 400 S2 was an incredible boat! Easily the best choice for a family with kids. Comfortably slept all 9 of us and was very easy to manouvre. We'd definitely like to use her again in the future.

Great communication, good organisation. All went very smoothly. Incredible holiday, sailing amongst the islands surrounding Koh Samui, all organised by the team from Sail Connections. I highly recommend them!
Destination: Koh Samui, Thailand
Yacht: Lagoon 400
Nicholas, Australia, August, 2023
Rating: 5 / 5
The boat was excellent. We were the 2nd charters so it was effectively new. The Jeauneau 41 is a great boat for3 couples in a family. Easy to handle, enough performance to get where you want to each day, good facilities, good size cockpit etc.

SK Yachting were excellent at checkin and checkout. Friendly service, helpful and knowledgable. The checkout process on our arrival back was a well oiled machine. We sailed to the West of the base in Marmaris and the coast and villages were not as good as a previous charter out of Gocek. Perhaps if we had gone east it would have been better.

Destination: Turkey
Bruce, Australia, July, 2023
Rating: 5 / 5
The boat was in good condition and everything worked.

I have done 21 bare boat holidays all over the world and rate Montenegro the best destination we have been to.

Service was very good. Very impressed with the provisioning. Our list, and what was not on the list, was questioned - demonstrating they had given thought to what we ordered.

I would have liked a bit more info re the marinas prior to the trip.

Although English was a bit of an issue every WhatsApp we sent with a query during our trip was answered promptly - the best support we have had.
Destination: Montenegro
Yacht: Lagoon 46
Giam, Australia, June, 2023
Rating: 5 / 5
The Saba 50 was an excellent choice. Extremely comfortable and spacious, equipped with everything we needed.

Our skipper Hugo and his lovely wife, added considerably to our enjoyment of the charter. The only discomfort for me was the foam cushions. Everything else was great.

We loved the snorkeling, fishing. Swam with reef sharks, rays and fish everywhere. Highlight was the coral garden in Raiatea and of course Bora Bora with its magnificent waters.

Your service and the advice given by Sue and Robert was excellent as that given by Tahiti Yacht Charters and our great crew.
Yacht: Saba 50
Sydney, Australia, June, 2023
Rating: 5 / 5
A very commodious boat, especially since there were only 3 of us. Easily short-handed. We didn't do a lot of sailing (either too little or too much wind during our charter) and what we did was under jib alone where we were able to maintain a solid 7 knots. The systems all worked, though at times the freezer was too warm and the refrigerator too cold. The fold down swim platform is a very cool feature of this design.

Nara Inlet and Butterfly Bay were beautiful, and the cave paintings at Nara were fascinating. Border Island was going to be a lunch stop, but we liked it enough to stay overnight. Border had the best snorkeling of the trip, even with stinger suits and poor visibility, although the overnight anchorage got a little rolly in the wee hours. Our last stop was Sawmill Bay with a nice hike on shore, though no swimming due to recent shark attacks.

The service staff were great, and provided everything we needed, and nothing we didn't. The twice daily VHF check-ins were cheerful and informative. Our travel schedule required us to arrive too late for a same-day briefing so we had our first night in the marina. It would have been nice if the provisioning service could have loaded the boat before our arrival, instead of making us wait until the following day, but that is our only very minor complaint.
Destination: Whitsunday Islands
Tom, USA, March, 2023
Rating: 5 / 5
Was fun to visit five islands but checking in/out of customs each time and the distance we needed to cover (~220 NM) made for little down time.

The wind blew hard all week and we sailed for more than 5 hours each day (and one 9 hour day). Our allocated skipper was great. The mega yachts in St Barts were fun to ogle and the French culture in St Martin and Guadeloupe was great to experience.

(Sail Connections was) easy to deal with over email and responsive to initial inquiries. Got us a good deal on the boat! Bit of a black hole in comms after payment made and before charter voucher received, which was a bit unnerving, but this all happened over the Christmas holidays, so understandable!
Destination:
Yacht: Dufour 520
Karl, USA, February, 2023
Rating: 5 / 5
The Lucia was great. we had a lot of fun and she did not let us down. There is one big complaint though and it is how hard the tender is to pull up on the Davits. I was able to do it but it was extremely heavy and if there was older or less fit people on board they would have had a terrible time.

Bora Bora and Huahine were amazing. On second thoughts everywhere was amazing.
Yacht: Lucia 40
Daniel, Australia, January, 2023
Rating: 4 / 5
The design and layout of the boat suited us as a group of 4 very well.

Weather was perfect although not much wind for sailing but that suited us fine. The whole Whitsunday area is a great cruising ground.
Your service was very good especially all the changes that were made over several years due to Covid. I would definitely use you again.
Destination: Whitsunday Islands
Ralph, New Zealand, September, 2022
Rating: 5 / 5
The boat was amazing. We did have an issue with the water maker which couldn't be fixed on the run, but DYC happily reimbursed us for water that we had to buy and in addition compensated us more than fairly for the inconvenience.

The scuba diving and snorkelling was amazing. Being able to pull up the boat wherever you want on these amazing sites was also fantastic.
The boat sailed like a dream and we made great time on all our inter-island passages (it helped that the wind was on our side too!)

Your service was in line with the rest of the holiday. Trouble free, professional and a pleasure to deal with.
Yacht: Lagoon 52
Dean, Australia, January, 2020
I just wanted to say a big thank you to you for your services since we booked our Tahiti charter. In particular Robert I really appreciated the time you took to talk with me on the phone to offer advice just before we left. Also your swift assistance with our torn UV sail strip was greatly appreciated. The charter went very well aside from the minor technical issues we encountered. The water was incredible and the weather was fantastic. Anon, New Zealand, November, 2019
Rating: 5 / 5
Dear Sue, we would like to thank you and Robert for all the work you put in to make our charter run so smoothly from your end. We absolutely loved the Greek Islands, they were everything we had ever imagined.
Destination: Greece
Jill and Pip, New Zealand , October, 2019
Rating: 5 / 5
The Wave was wonderful! We had 3 couples and the skipper so we each had a berth. We cooked several meals in the kitchen and kept a fresh mint and basil plant in the the window! Our skipper and my husband are both sailors so we sailed the boat as much as the wind and time would allow and very much enjoyed that. Of course the black water issue is not great, but we managed.

All the islands along the coast of Croatia are worth checking out. We had 2 weeks to explore the beautiful towns and coves and recommend hitting the towns during the day to sightsee and pick up supplies then find a quiet cove to anchor for the night. Split was very crowded and might have been better visited in the fall after the cruise ships taper off.

Sail Connections' service was really great! We felt guided through the process, of which we knew nothing about before. We were met in Slano by Cristina, who was so good to help us. Our skipper was excellent even tho we had a bit of a language barrier, He was careful, fun, and joined us on all of our excursions and was willing to explore and find places he had never been.
Destination: Croatia
Yacht: Astréa 42
Joyce, USA, August, 2019
Rating: 4 / 5
The boat was very good, in good condition, very clean and tidy and well equiped. Only one small problem, we had a lot of rain and the only table that would seat 8 was outside so having dinner inside meant that someone had to stand.

Difficult to pick one place above the rest. We were a little disappointed at the Isle of Pines that the locals have the place sown up. But we enjoyed the whole trip. Navigation was not as difficult as i was led to believe. The water maker on the boat made a huge difference and because there were eight of us we had a party every night.
Destination: New Caledonia
Yacht: Bali 4.5
Lionel, New Zealand, August, 2019
Good breezes that provided just the right level of challenge. Not super crowded - no troubles berthing / mooring / eating / etc. Fairly chilled - at least compared to Croatia. Patmos was very good.
Destination: Greece
John, Australia, August, 2019
We had a great time in the Aeolian Islands, and I highly recommend them as a destination. The beauty is that the islands each have a different character and are close to each other. The longest ‘passage’ is about 10 miles, and some are a lot shorter. Two of the largest islands, Vulcano and Lipari, are only 800m apart, but very different! The marinas are well located and were reasonably priced (€70-100 per night) and at Panarea there are only moorings but for €70 you also get a 24/7 water taxi service which was perfect. We found mid / late July to be superb.
Destination: Italy
David, New Zealand, August, 2019
Had a great time. The wind was terrific - good fun, but nothing too hairy - exactly what we were looking for to take it up a notch or two from Croatia last year. And the Dodecanese were really good - nice ports, not too crowded (esp compared to Croatia) - just felt a bit more out of the way. DYC were fine - a little bit more on the 'smell of an oily rag' end of things compared to the very efficient German-run scene at Trogir, but it all worked and no real issues. Excellent recommendation Robert - boat and destination - you nailed it!

Destination: Greece
John, Australia, July, 2019
Sue!!!!

I can't believe we're a few days from departure! It was a priviledge to work with you. Buying an Italian charter through a broker in NZ with a crew through a UK broker could easily be worrying when you are in Canada. Your presence made me feel reassured all along the way. Thank you so much.
(An unexpected error occurred: #180560) Eric, Canada, July, 2019
Rating: 5 / 5
We sailed for two weeks in the Leeward Islands of French Polynesia in late May, 2019. The Dream Yacht Charter team was fantastic. Our boat, the 52' sloop ARZ, was a delight, very much up to the job of carrying our crew of 8 from island to island. Every minute of the trip was life-changingly dynamic, charged with beauty in land, sea, and people. We experienced the deepest peace combined with the greatest excitement, including a passage from Bora Bora in the midst of a suddenly appearing, un-forecast gale with 2-3 meter breaking wind waves slamming against directly opposing 2 meter swells. The boat performed beautifully in these challenging conditions.

Really, we couldn't imagine a more wonderful trip and greatly appreciate Sail Connections as our agent, who smoothed our way and was instrumental in our choice of charterer and vessel, and Dream Yacht Charter, who made it happen. Had taken an earlier cruise in Tahiti and had experienced some problems with the charter service. Robert talked to me in detail about those issues and reassured me that Dream Yacht Charters was excellent, and that he and the Sail Connections team would back us up and do all they could to smooth over any difficulties. Without this, I doubt if we would have taken the cruise. Both teams, Sail Connections and Dream Yacht Charters, were meticulous in making serious promises and keeping them. Ten out of ten.
Yacht: Dufour 520
Paul, New Zealand, July, 2019
Yacht was brilliant, 10 years old but everything worked brilliantly. Biggest we have ever hired and loved it. Esp water maker.
Got it up to 14 knots! Both you and DC were so good to work with. Definitely coming back.
Destination: New Caledonia
Yacht: Catana 55
Lou, New Zealand, July, 2019
Rating: 4 / 5
The boat was well maintained with everything in good working order. Sail systems are easy to use, especially with the electric winch and the Catana sailed beautifully. Personally I do not like the steering stations at the stern of each hull as visibility to the opposite side is poor. But I knew that before we booked. The GPS is located inside the saloon which makes navigating more difficult compared to having a map alongside the steering. Overall a very comfortable sailing boat for 2 families.

Vanilla tour of Tahaa was amazing with Noah. Bora Bora is beautiful, though of course very touristy. Managed to swin with many reef sharks, eagle rays and a manta. Taputapuatea is worth the effort to visit being the centre of Polynesian migrations.

Your service was great. Quick responses to most questions and patience during the many changes.
Yacht: Catana 41
Craig, New Zealand, July, 2019
Robert, I wanted to follow up and let you know we very much enjoyed our charter in Corsica. Thank you for arranging the charter, and answering my questions about the charter in Corsica. Corsica was a new experience for us and there were many unknowns. It was helpful to have you available to answer those questions. We would choose to use you as a broker again.
Destination: Corsica
Holly, USA, July, 2019
Rating: 5 / 5
The southern lagoon of New Caledonia is absolutely beautiful. We didn't get to the Isle of Pines but the overnight anchorages in the lagoon made up for it. We also spent a couple of days in the Bay of Prony in some very pretty anchorages. The wind was constant from the SE which provided champagne sailing for us. We only caught one decent sized fish but we let it go.
Destination: New Caledonia
Yacht: Bali 4.5
Bruce, Australia, November, 2018
Rating: 5 / 5
"The water in Bora Bora was amazing. We found the Bali 4.5 to be an excellent boat for cruising the lagoons around Bora Bora, Taha'a and Raiatea."
Yacht: Bali 4.5
Glenn, Australia, November, 2018
Rating: 5 / 5
We found the boat to be nicely designed and very comfortable. The sails were near new and a treat to sail with. The highlight destination was Capri where because of unsettled weather we stayed in the marina. We found a brilliant restaurant in Ana-Capri and enjoyed strolling the narrow streets. San Michelle villa was delightful. Service was 10/10. Mario at the marina went out of his way to help us with ideas advice and making sure we wanted for nothing.
Destination: Italy
Yacht: Dufour 412
Peter, New Zealand, October, 2018
Sail Connections service was as always excellent. (An unexpected error occurred: #180561) Darren, Hong Kong, September, 2018
Rating: 5 / 5
We had a Lagoon 52 for our sail out of Grimaud, France. The boat met our needs and expectations and was in excellent condition. Not a great sailing vessel but very comfortable and enjoyed by our non-sailing wives. The charter company was good. Our skipper and hostess were fantastic and highly recommend for sailing in the area. Very knowledgeable and accommodating.

Enjoyed the French Riviera, it was a 10. Went to St. Tropez, Cannes, Monaco, Antibes and took side trips inland to Eze and St Paul de Vence to name a couple.

Your service was excellent and everything was terrific. Thanks for all your help in insuring a memorable vacation.
Destination: South of France
Yacht: Lagoon 52
Dave, USA, September, 2018
Rating: 5 / 5
A truly memorable experience, thank you both for all your help and guidance in getting us there! (An unexpected error occurred: #180562) Tony, Australia, August, 2018
Rating: 5 / 5
Practically new boat, so was in great shape. We liked the design, equipage, etc. Everything was as advertised and cannot think of anything serious to complain about. Quite comfortable. We would go back to the Leeward Islands of Tahiti in a speedy minute. Spectacular scenery, not at all crowded, felt private in all our anchorages. Nice, friendly people.
Yacht: Lucia 40
Robert, USA, July, 2018
Rating: 5 / 5
The cat performed well with everything working as expected. The only issue was batteries not lasting a night and having to run an engine both in the morning and again in the late afternoon when sailing and not motoring. Sails were easy enough to hoist and the electronics worked well.

Lipari was a great spot to stop with a nice town to explore. But the nicest island I found was Panarea. Less tourists with very friendly locals.
Destination: Italy
Yacht: Lagoon 400
James, Australia, July, 2018
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