The route advertised looked great, pity we never saw it!

Below is the questionnaire I filled out after my holiday in 2009. I understand they were keen to change some of the problems, from the reviews I have read on here, that doesn't seem to be the case.



1. Have you previously sailed with us?

No



2. Please tick your flotilla route:

SHORE TO SAIL - Lefkas



1. YOUR YACHT: How would you grade the following elements of your flotilla holiday?

Cleanliness - Fair (boat was okay but nothing more. Bad for the money we paid)


Maintenance standard - Poor (toilet didn't always work, shower never worked).

Standard of equipment - Fair (engine had seen better days though - wouldn't want to rely on it in an emergency).

Flotilla route and places visited - Poor (we were forced into a half route not advertised by the brochure so the Lead Crew could attend a regatta. We ended up striking out on our own as the alternative would have been sitting in harbor for two days or taking part in a regatta that we were not informed about prior to booking)

LEAD CREW: Skipper - Fair

LEAD CREW: Engineer - Fair (not much experience, but to be fair he was only about 17).

LEAD CREW: Host/ess - Very much impressed with herself and not with anyone else. Probably make a good Big Brother contestant, didn't really make a good hostess due to her lack of compassion or understanding. Just really wanted to get to the harbor and party!

Comments?:

Fair to poor given in Cleanliness, maintenance and standard of equipment for the following reasons:

Kalamos is an older boat and thus needs a little more love to keep it going. Sadly the quick turnaround on Saturdays between customers means there is minimal cleaning and reliance on customers cleaning their boat before leaving is unreliable. In comparison we were not asked to clean our apartment when leaving after the second week of our holiday. Unsure as to why customers should be asked to clean the boat at all!


Among the problems with the general cleanliness was a strong musty smell in the fridge, an awful smell in the toilet (that also blocked far to easy - no paper used!!!!), several bits of \"Ceiling Material\" were hanging down. Curtain in front area was hanging from or two hooks. Strong smell of diesel in rear sleeping compartments wardrobe effectively making it useless to store clothes in. Sleeping there would have been impossible.


Instrumentation (depth gauge, kinda crucial really) was not functional from day one and required me to snorkle under the boat to clean it with a broom to get a functional depth gauge and speedometer. This worked for a day or so before going off line again. Engineer advised but was too busy due to large numbers of boats in the flotilla (15).


Stairs inside boat that cover the engine sprung up on day one whenever we walked down them releasing fumes into the boat. This was successfully repaired by the engineer.


These problems, combined with the fact that the water tank was not topped off before we took over the boat (required 6€ top-up after first night - shower never used!) lead us to suspect that this boat was never inspected before we took it over. In other words, there were no safety or equipment checks made to this boat!

The lack of depth gauge was particularly worrying as it would beep at us all day (even at depths) until we had to turn it off. This of course made it more dangerous to sail the boat than it should have been.


Skipper given Good for the following reasons: When he was there, ie not involved in the regatta, he was helpful, calm and knowledgeable. His assistance when mouring was sadly missed when he left us to our own devices because we did not wish to attend the party at Sivota (along with 7 other boats from our flotillla).

Engineer given fair as he was not always able to offer help other than self-help advice, possibly due to unmanageably large flotilla.


Hosty is given Poor for the following reasons: When first encountered the Hosty, she asked for my mobile number to which I responded 'let me give you my card' to which she responded in a somewhat snooty way 'or you could just read your card to me'. This troubled me for a number of reasons. Firstly I couldn't read the card to her because I couldn't find my reading glasses, but suppose I was dyslexic or suffered from adult illiteracy? Her response was both embarrassing to a paying customer and showed a lack of understanding for potential disabilities. Another example was the Punch Party (10€ paid for this) where I asked if there were non-alcoholic alternatives to which she responded that as their were no children present (which wasn't true) she had not provided this. Again a lack of understanding into the potential problems of adults and alcohol. Further training should be offered to hosties to cover these issues! On the positive side she did perform her minimum duties pointing us towards Tavernas and showers and more usefully altering us to when showers and other facilities would not be available.


2. Lead yacht name:

Christine

4. YOUR OVERALL HOLIDAY SATISFACTION:

Fair

Fair selected for the following reasons:



The main reason this holiday does not get a Good can be summed up in one word: \"Regatta\"! We were not advised at booking that this week would be regatta week and that as such our holiday would be curtailed. Instead of following the routes around the Ionian as shown in your brochure and website, we were restricted to ports around Sivota and Meganisi in order for the boats to be within range of the regatta start line on the Thursday. This meant a 6 hour motor sail from Fiskardo to the north side of Maganisi in near zero wind.


Once there we were required to pay 12€ for the privilege of queuing up at a single shower (one for male and one for female). In the rest of the holiday we paid no more than 2.5€ for a shower, often a better one! On the Thursday, while our lead boat was competing in the regatta (not sure why that was that allowed, are they working or not?), we were told to \"go somewhere else\" if we required a quieter night.


As the whole point of us booking this holiday was to have quite tranquil days and nights (as advertised in the brochure), we went our own way (along with others), unaware of course at the time what this would mean when mooring - ie no crew to help at all. The result on the first day was another boat moored in Kastos a few minutes ahead of us, and due to the lack of crew, the lady jumping to the side of the quay herself, cut up her foot requiring 3 stitches from the local GP.


We ourselves encountered mooring problems here and the next day my wife needed to go snorkel diving in order to free our anchor from another boats chain. Both these incidents and others (another boat, the Oceanis 50 got their anchor stuck on a wreck in kastos) could have been avoided if our lead boat had not been so focused on attending the regatta, or more pointedly, the after-regatta party!

In future we suggest a lead crew DOES NOT take part in the Regatta and is on hand to help all those boats that also do not want to take part (about 50% of this flotilla in our case), This does not appear to be an isolated case. On the plane home I spoke with a couple from another flotilla and they had similar problems of feeling abandoned by their lead crew due to the Regatta.


In preference we would expect in future for Sailing Holidays to advise people who book as to the possible disturbance that the Regatta can have on a weeks holiday. We feel that because of the regatta we only really saw half the Ionian and only had limited support from the lead crew. This experience left a bitter taste, we were glad to leave the sailing part and we will probably never book with Sailing Holidays again. Their focus on using staff who are very young and party focused did not suit us.


1. Are there any items of equipment we could include which would have added to the enjoyment of your yacht?

GPS of some kind to the Gibsea as navigation equipment was basic. Longer matches for the gas cooker or a gas filled cooker-lighter (cannot be brought from the UK). Depth gauge basic, needs updating or renewing to allow it to work for more than a few days without maintenance from customer (swimming under boat with broom).


2. Are there any other areas of your holiday which could have been improved upon?

See previous comments. Notify bookers of the restrictions in regatta week. Find a crew to draw a short straw and they cannot attend regatta or go to the party but must do their job instead.


3. Any additional comments/suggestions:

Still unsure as to why customers must clean the boat before leaving. We've never been on a holiday where we needed to clean the accommodation before leaving. This means if the previous occupants don't bother, the following customers get a raw deal. This also applies to broken or missing equipment and/or items. In other words, more effort required from Sailing Holidays staff to ensure boats are shipshape before new customers arrive.


4. Are there any other cruising areas that you would like to see Sailing Holidays operate?

Not applicable. The route advertised looked great, what a pity that we never got to see all of it due to the regatta. What we did see we liked and enjoyed.