After reading about poor service from Moorings and Trade Wind Yachts, can any offer current advice on good quality bareboat charters?

Would especially appreciate reviews on Sunsail, North/South, TMM and Horizion. Thanks.

I don't know about other companies but I can honestly say we've had great service with Moorings in the BVI (getting ready for the 4th) and have never encountered any of the service problems mentioned by others. The yachts have always been immaculate, all the bells and whistles, etc... The employees that walked us through the boats and have checked us back in have always been friendly and helpful. Provisioning has been accurate and generous. Cab drivers have always been waiting at the ferry dock to meet us, etc... Our deposit was returned promptly. Our last 47' cat was almost brand new, problem free, and easy to handle (we'd sailed monohulls previously). I think overall their satisfaction rate among their customers is pretty high (which is why we chose them in the first place). No company can deliver 100% all of the time to everyone but overall I think they do a very good job. Wanted to give you the other side of the story.

try Catamaraco I just placed my Lagoon 410 with them and was greatly impressed with their operation.

I haved sailed with almost all of the companies. Sunsail had really clean nice boats. TMM was very good. I recommend you first select the boat you want and then go with whoever has it. The smaller companies tend to have better 'owners' type layouts with fewer but larger beths. We always go with larger berths and have use the salon berth rather than have a lot of small berths. Center cockpit Hunter 46 (TMM) is great for two couples (and a few kids) and also has air conditioning. If you pick a large company - I think Sunsail has cleaner boats and is a little more responsive than Moorings.

Have fun...

Horizon are great - I have charetred now 3 times with them Excellent boats (Bavaria) and great friendly service with attention to detail.

Great smal company large enough to be good quality small enough to give the personal touch

I'm buying a Bavaria 42 2005 with them right now as I rate their quality of care for my purchase.
Call Courtney, Henry or Steve at Horizon

just got back from Horizon (Leopard 45) in Antigua. Horizon was great - excellent cusomter service. Best yet. Sunsail has also been very good. Really nice sailing around the island.

We just got back from the BVI's and we can't say enough good things about the Catamaran Company. Great boats and a very knowledgable staff.

Both the Moorings and Sunsail were great, but I'd give the slight nod to the Moorings. Boats were a bit better equpped, and staff were very helpful.

I totally agree with those who recommend Horizon, TMM, and Sunsail. For many years I was a loyal Moorings customer at many of their bases. My early experiences with their operation in Tortola were great. Unfortunately the Moorings is no longer the company they used to be. Their service has dropped to the bottom of the barrel. They suffer from growing too large and not being able (or willing) to manage their business. They have uninformed/misleading planners, ill-equipped facilities, untrained staff, and an overall lack of concern after they collect your money. Their local people seem to mean well but have no management. They try, but don't deliver.

I've used Moorings and TMM and had numerous mechanical issues with both. On a 1999 Moorings 464 I lost a throttle cable and found gooseneck pulled away from the mast. On 2001 TMM 473 the DC powered fridge was searing hot when we picked up boat and didn't cool off for 3 days despite throwing ice in it. Then every time we turned on fresh water pumps the bilge pump would run...and couldn't get 2 of 3 tanks to work. We suspected a leak, but they said they never found one. Our next trip we''ll try Sunsail

We just returned from our second Moorings BVI charter last week. We have used two other companies in the BVI and I can honestly put Moorings head & shoulders above the others. Customer service & the boats are excellent. We'll use Moorings again somewhere, probably Baja.

I Chartered with Sunsail in Feb 2005 they were great and the base was well equiped and enjoyable - our biggest problem the FREE taxi took longer than expected to return with fresh produce provisioning.

I was also looking at moorings so that i could build up a reputation and get more discounts down the line on furure charters, but Sunsail worked with me on the cost of the boat were as moorings would just say that's the price.

The only down side is the distance from the ferry dock from soper hole to sunbsail's marina leave an hour and half unless you get a private taxi.
good luck!

I the last two years, I have chartered twice from the Moorings, twice from Sunsail, and once from TMM. I would put the Moorings at the top, with better equipped and maintained boats, both multihull and mono. I think a lot depends on the individual base. The TMM folks are very friendly and helpful, but the Athena 37' cat I chartered in St. Vincent in May 2005 had lots of minor discrepancies and was showing her age.

just came back from our 3rd trip with SUNSAIL vacation from HELL!
Not all the equipment listed were on board for example no chart plotter,engine oozing oil, winches not working, fridge triping...boat in very bad shape. No manager on sunday to try to solve our problems. Marina's bathroom were in same condition than the boat, lucky if you can find one working properly.