Sailing Holidays, www.sailingholidays.com

Sailing Holidays, www.sailingholidays.com
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52.0% of users recommend this
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Latest Reviews

“Great Flotilla Sailing Holiday”

★★★★★

written by MilesShields163 on 02/11/2016

Returned for second year with sailingholidays.com. Efficient booking, flights and transfers. Clean well maintained boats. On both occasions we have had very helpful lead boat crew (Delphi for us in 2015 and 2016) who have a light touch approach to the flotilla but make sure you are safe and supported. What sets this company apart from it's rivals is that it is a family run business and not part of a large corporate. It comes over in their staff and adds a feel good factor. We are already talking about re-booking next year.

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“Terrible”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Rileyb1987 on 21/10/2015

Previously enjoyed holidays with this company despite lax servicing and hence functionality of boats. However this year arrived to have boat filled with spilt diesel and fumes for two days, a full holding tank, that apart from meaning we could not use the toilet on board, was leaking sewage into the harbour, an engine and drive that required a full service and realignment, and leaking windows, though locked down, let rain in to soak bedding and seating. Poorly maintained vessels - including long term instrument failure - that are not fit for purpose. I will not be returning to this Mickey Mouse company and would advise everyone else to choose a different company should they wish to explore the beautiful Greek Islands and enjoy a relaxing holiday. Avoid!

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“Fun, Relaxed, Blue Seas, Cold Beer, Nice Boat, Amazing...”

★★★★★

written by barnerz on 10/01/2015

We have had two holidays with SailingHolidays.com and have booked our third, on one of their brand new 38' boats! 1 x north Ionian 1 x South Ionion and returning to the South again this year! This type of holiday suits our family to a T! The crew entertain the Children of an evening, making up water games and races etc. (Adults get involved too) of a day we are let loose with their boats and able to stop in any bay/port we want to, to enjoy lunch with nothing but fishes for company! water is so clean and refreshing, snorkelling around the boat is unbelievable! the crew organise group meals a couple of times a week, apart from that you can eat on your own if you wish but most people choose to eat with the group anyway! bars and Tavernas are never in short supply! and the crew are only to happy to join you for a beer on your boat or tavern! one thing I have learnt is nothing is too much trouble for the crew. I mentioned it was my wife's birthday and that evening a cake and champagne were supplied by the crew! we have only had minor problems with the boat and they have always been sorted by the lead crew as soon as possible! the engineer even changed our anchor winch one evening after getting one especially delivered to the next port! (ours occasionally slipped whilst pulling up the anchor) apart from that, we had a shower that drained very slowly (fixed within 20mins of reporting) one of the other boats had a problem with a holding tank, and the crew took the boat out for them whilst they enjoyed their evening meal to fix it! the crew do have to deal with horrible jobs (swimming in other peoples poo cant be nice) but I have never once seen a crew member with anything other than a genuine smile! always helpful and kind and never they stop working! would recommend their holidays to anyone! 5* all the way!

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“Please don't be misled by the bad reviews!”

★★★★★

written by ElektraAmstelaward on 02/09/2014

Best holiday ever!!! Great UK booking staff, we were offered a boat upgrade free of charge, they didn't apply the £40 charge when we had to make an alteration to our booking either. Fantastic economy flights albeit we had to fly from Manchester rather than Gatwick. We were welcomed at the airport with free bottles of water and smiles all round from the staff. Very good coach journey, we were told it would take an hour more like 30-45min. Great base at the Iris hotel in Nidri, the hotel staff couldn't have been friendlier or more welcoming. Fantastic lead crew on board Kyra 24/8/14-31/8/14, the three of them gave us all the advice, support & entertainment (especially) we could have hoped for!! Excellent beginners' flotilla set in the beautiful South Ionian - will definitely go again. Thanks - Elektra

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“Best Holiday 2013 . Two novices learning every day.”

★★★★★

written by Gandalf115 on 02/05/2014

This was the best Holiday we have ever had.We had carried out level 1 Dinghy course prior to the Holiday and could not believe how we were able to sail a Jag. This was all down to the lead crew who were laid back and very supportive.This year we have booked to do the whole Ionian can't wait.We are also doing a further Dinghy course as we have caught the Sailing bug. No hesitation in telling everyone to do it and enjoy. Richard and Catherine.

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“just about competent”

★★★☆☆

written by on 14/10/2013

I just returned from a one week Competent Crew Sailing course arranged by Sailing Holidays in the Ionian. As someone who has been intending to start sailing for a very long time and has high ambitions to achieve good sailing abilities, experience and certification, I'm happy that I did only one week Comp Crew course instead of two weeks and Day Skipper as originally intended. Unfortunately I cannot recommend this company for a sailing course in Greece as the value for money, the quality of holiday and the quality of tuition should be much better. - the boat was about 15 years old, very dated, the floorboards were squeaking and all the portholes were leaking from the heavy rain, the towels provided were also dated and ended up used to mop leakages - the crew had to negotiate daily the amount of sailing to be done to get the best out of our course and to do more sailing and practice, we had to ask way too many questions to get various information and it generally felt like we were getting only the minimum necessary amount of tuition, that we are somewhat skimming over things and certainly will not try or be introduced into any of the more advanced areas unless we book the next course. There were no additional discussions on theory when we were not sailing. - you would expect to be able to have a holiday on top of your sailing course as you’re cruising in the Ionian, but it was not the case- most times we stayed in some tiny harbours where there was nothing to see or do in the evening - At nearly 900 pounds plus flights this course was at least twice as expensive as it would’ve been in a UK based RYA training centre and there was no added value. Company booking procedure and arrangements were great and all contact with them was helpful, but the actual course/ holiday is a total rip off I am definitely taking my sailing interests for courses and flotillas elsewhere.

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“Good UK support, appalling Greek boat and support”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 08/10/2013

Booked through bareboatsailingholidays.com (a subsidary site of sailingholidays.com)_ Good service from the UK branch, quick response and easy booking. However, the story when we arrived in Greece wasn't so good. The handover of the boat was handled exceptionally badly. We arrived at 1.30pm (and were well aware that handover was not formally due until 5pm). No signposts or signs to indicate where the Kiriacoulis (the Greek partner supplying the boat) base is, it took a good half an hour of wandering around trying to find someone who knew where they were. We finally met up with one of the team, who took us through the formalities of deposit, cleaning fee, certificates and so on, who told us that the yacht was on the way and would be at the base before 5pm, or 'at the very latest, 5pm exactly' – he would call or text us when the boat arrived. Having only a few hours until this time, we decided to get some food at the local tavern and some shopping. 5pm came and we were told – “just another half hour or maybe an hour” – this pattern then continued for the next 3 hrs, being consistently told that the boat was “just around the corner”. Finally at close to 8.30pm the boat arrived and we were able to board. As a skipper with a reasonable amount of miles accumulated in varying conditions in the UK and abroad, I appreciate that conditions can slow down progress and that getting a boat back from another port is not always going to be straightforward, delays can happen through circumstances beyond control. However, my complaints are: · The conditions were constant through the day – they didn’t change. Given the boat didn’t leave Paros until gone 1pm (according to the Kiriacoulis skipper on board) there was no way it was going to be back for 5pm into a headwind and average swell. Had we been told early on that the boat would be delayed by a few hours, we would have had the option to go into Mykonos, wander around a bit and come back relaxed at a more appropriate time, instead of being fobbed off with lies every half hour. An honest approach would have been appreciated. Not sure why the boat left so late, given that handover should have been at 9am – it should have been a priority to get the boat to sea asap. · They claimed to be in communication with the skipper as he was bringing the boat back. Given that they clearly had no idea when the boat was going to arrive, I can either conclude 1) they were lying and had no idea where the boat was or 2) the skipper is massively inexperienced and has no idea of how to passage plan and make an estimated ETA based on the conditions and the ability of the boat · The level of assistance was shocking. We had to consistently ask for help, which I would have expected to be offered as a matter of course (ie allowing us to store baggage on their office boat, showing us the location of the local facilities, supermarket etc). The offer of some water or a cup of tea after we had been hanging around for a few hours after 5pm waiting for the boat would have made a massive difference to our view of the team there. All we got was a shrug of the shoulders, nothing in the way of an apology and the sense that we were being brushed off. We had arrived in clothing more appropriate to September in the UK but were offered nowhere private to change. In short, we were treated like we were an inconvenience to them. The handover and boat quality We asked for handover to be at 9.30am the following day, so we could get going with our holiday. Handover started at gone 10.30am and by the time we tackled some of the major points below it was gone 1pm before we were able to leave. To summarise, the level of equipment, maintenance and safety on the boat was shocking – even more shocking was the off-hand attitude of the Kiriacoulis team that seemed to want to skim over things and just ignore any potential problems Key safety failings · VHF radio – this took over an hour to get working. Initially, we were told it was fine but again, we had to ask specifically for it to be shown working, which they were unable to do. We asked them to do a radio check from their boat – and were then told that their VHF was not working, which is appalling in itself! We felt like we were being pressurised into just accepting it and leaving. They finally said that we could get it repaired or looked at in Paros, they had no spare parts or available hand-held VHF units – passing the responsibility on to me as skipper to leave in a force 6 with 2 metre swell without adequate safety equipment on board. I am very used to such conditions and have no qualms about sailing safely in such wind / swell – however I am not happy to compromise the safety of my crew in the way I was being asked to do without a working VHF. Eventually, after pressure from the UK as well, they found the skipper from the previous evening, who came on board and casually mentioned that the radio could be got to work by fiddling with the hand receiver unit – the controls on the main panel of the VHF (squelch and volume) did not work. They also then managed to conduct an adequate radio check. I accepted that this was working, but still far from happy - the receiver unit was held together with electrical tape, bare wires just about wrapped up with tape were holding the connection to the main unit together. We had no other option though, so proceeded with this. · Flares – the handover person had no idea where the flare box was on the boat. We eventually found a part-ripped plastic bag in a personal cabin locker with rusting flares over a year out of date. My surprise at this flagrant breach of safety was only heightened by the attitude of the team, who didn’t seem to think this a problem – we had to ask them to remove these from the boat, they didn’t offer to do this as a matter of course. Subsequent to this, as we looked around the boat, we found a more secure box with in-date flares. Salt water causes the internal aluminium casing to corrode and swell, it also makes the propellant unstable. Therefore if you pick one up it may go off of its own accord and if you are holding it, it may explode as it cannot exit the casing via the top as it may get stuck in the casing. To leave these rusting flares in a plastic bag in a cabin locker is unforgiveable, highly dangerous and potentially prosecutable. · First aid kit – all the items in the first aid kit carried expiry dates of 2008 or before. Need I say any more about how this reflects on the standards of the shore crew or Kiriacoulis in general? · Main halyard extremely frayed – whilst this was a boat with in-mast furling of the main, and therefore didn’t need the main halyard in normal day-to-day operation, this is a system that is prone to the occasional problem and jamming. An alternative method of quickly dropping the main if needed is imperative – given the state of the rope, I wouldn’t have trusted this not to jam or cause problems. · Labelling on water / diesel points – The diesel fuel cap was labelled petrol – any inexperienced boater following the labelling and putting petrol in the tank would have severely damaged the engine – compromising safety at sea. The forward water point was closed with a cap labelled “diesel” –again, any inexperienced sailor mistaking this for the fuel input would compromise the health of anyone on board, and indeed would require a full change of the tanks – flushing would not be adequate. Thankfully, we were an experienced bunch on board so did not make these mistakes. · Anchor light inoperative – We anchored several nights in bays with little light, but with fishing vessels coming in and out at all times, an anchor light is imperative. This wasn’t working from the start. Other significant failings On top of the above features, which I consider significantly affecting safety and came close to pushing me to refuse to take the boat over, we experienced the following: · Holding tank blocked from the start – blocked and venting out of the top pipe close to one of the cabin portholes from the moment we first used it, significantly affecting the occupant with the smell and requiring us to divert to Paroikia on Paros, to speak to the Kiriacoulis team there. Again, we had to get the UK team involved, we texted several Greek number that had been given to us to ask for assistance, with no reply. On arrival in Paroika, it was a couple of hours before someone turned up, shrugged their shoulders and said they would be back at 9.30am the following day. True to form, it was gone 10am when someone turned up, taking over an hour to clear the blockage and once again delaying our departure time. · Condition of the boat at handover – fridge with over 3cm of stagnant dirty water in it, worktops with grit and dirt on them, front cabin and the mattresses were completely soaked. Both heads were grubby and marked. The boat was far from clean at handover, we spent a good hour between 5 of us cleaning surfaces, trying to dry the boat and tidying up – I massively resent paying over 100 euros for a cleaning job that someone clearly spent no more than half an hour on. We left the boat in a condition significantly tidier and cleaner than it was handed over to us. · Expectation to hand back with full fuel tanks, when it wasn’t refuelled on arrival – the boat would have done over 7 hrs at sea at an average of 4 litres per hour. We filled up in Tinos and motored no more than 2 hrs to get back to base. · Water tanks not full ­– down to us to check and refill before leaving · Cabin locker – rear port-side cabin locker was missing a door. Many other locker doors were missing the buttons, making it painful to press the metal studs in to open the door · Front heads toilet seat – very loose and the thread broken, making it impossible to tighten · Charts – many of the charts were just photocopied! Again, exceptionally poor and a reflection on attitudes to safety. · Dinghy – one of the oars was broken and there was a missing nut for the lock on the rollocks, making it very hard to row ashore. Dinghy was partially deflated at handover. · Frayed lines – in addition to the frayed main halyard, two out of the three mooring warps were significantly frayed – I wouldn’t have trusted these to hold in a blow or significant swell. The in-haul for the main furler was also very frayed (see point above about in-mast furling systems jamming / main halyard!) · Rear electrical socket – the connection on the shore power socket was very poor, probably not least due to the fact that there was no cover for the socket – exposure to salt spray would have easily corroded the connections.] · Engine oil – very dark / muddy and clearly hasn’t been changed for a long, long time. · Broken gimbal on the oven / hob – virtually unusable at sea and a danger even when moored. Someone had attempted to mend it inadequately with a screw that was about to drop off and cause the whole oven unit to fall out – a huge danger if in a large sea. · Poorly repaired porthole closure – the rear cabin window hatch broke within a couple of days – it was clear that it had previously been inadequately repaired. This left the hatch partially secured, thankfully we didn’t experience much in the way of spray · Overall general condition – the general condition of the boat – the state of the hull, fraying and rusted guard wires, fenders with leaks (hence deflating on compression), poorly stowed diesel tanks, broken bucket – was very poor and reflects years of lack of maintenance. When renting an older boat, a few of these niggles are expected and accepted, but on the background of so many problems and so many of these directly affecting the safety of the crew and integrity of the boat, this is unacceptable, particularly on the background of the lackadaisical attitude of the team in Mykonos. I would book with Bareboat Sailing Holidays again, but only if they guaranteed they would not be using Kiriacoulis in Greece to provide the boat and a certain reassurance that safety issues are not overlooked.

Corfujane's Comment

Written on: 25/08/2015

Sailing Holidays are the scourge of the Ionian as well with their ramshackle boats and inexperienced sailors reeking havoc on some of the most beautiful parts of Greece.

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“Sailingholidays.com August 2013 Holiday”

★★★☆☆

written by on 28/09/2013

We spent 2 weeks with Sailingholidays.com in August in the Saronic Gulf. Very good holiday but the boats are tired and need better maintenance. Company booking procedure and arrangements were flawless and all contact with them was efficient and helpful. We booked a Benetau 361 for a family of 2 adults and 2 teenagers (14 & 16). We had checked Sunsail, Neilsen etc for price comparison but they all seemed to be about the same price. However, given the price, this is an expensive holiday albeit one, you as a family, will remember for many years. Sailing in the Saronic has better winds than the Ionian, therefore motor sailing is kept to a minimum. The 361 has furling genoa and inmast reefing which is easy to use. The passages were well planned and interesting with a variety of pleasant bays, different type of mooring ( anchoring, rafting, stern-to etc). There was no 'follow the duck syndrome' - the Lead Skipper briefed the flotilla on the destination and would be there to take your lines and guide you in once you arrived - very easy and stress-free. This allowed us to explore on our own but also enjoy a good social scene. We were concerned that the children may not enjoy it but they want to do another flotilla next year! There was a good mixture of youngsters who all mucked in and had a great time which allowed the adults some free time to do their own thing as well. Our boat engine failed twice and the windlass also broke. They were quickly fixed but, for the price of the holiday, I would expect the yacht to have been 3-5 years old, not 10 - 13 years old. Generally, great holiday but standard of the yacht made rebooking unlikely.

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“Amazing flotilla holiday in South Ionian”

★★★★★

written by Brboomer_123 on 06/08/2013

We had an amazing week with Sailing Holidays in the South Ionian Sea last week. Five of us travelled on a 36ft Beneteau yaught in good condition and although we had some sailing experience it was great to have the support of the lovely lead crew: Skipper , Engineer and Hostie. They set our route for the week and were there to help moorning up each afternoon and with any small issues that needed attention. There were 9 boats in our flotilla and we quickly got to know each other at the group meal, morning briefings and punch party. We had a lovely relaxing week with some thrilling sailing, fantastic food and beautiful scenery. I would recommend Sailing Holidays to anyone considering a sailing holiday in this part of the world.

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“Great company, poorly maintained boats”

★★☆☆☆

written by on 27/06/2013

We have sailed with Sailingholidays Ltd for 12 years and like them a lot, very relaxed, nice sailing areas, nice people to meet, the crews work really hard and they are flexible. We had been with them 12 years running, had recommended and bought friends and really supported them. They are also reasonably priced espacially out of July/August when we would not go anyway, too hot, too crowded, not enough wind. Last year we thought the state of the boats was slipping, we have just come back and its now poor. Other people had serious trouble, so they needed the crews to work on them first, this meant that people with substandard and relatively minor safetywise, but annoying stuff, did not have things fixed. Things always go wrong on boats and nothing can be perfect all the time, but this was far too sloppy. We are really disappointed and will talk to them about this, so who knows, we would like to be back with them again. The crews work really hard, but with so many maintenance problems eventually it spoils the relaxed feeling of the holiday too, as they were so stressed.

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“Poorly maintained boats”

★★☆☆☆

written by DDi69 on 25/02/2013

We have been on two holidays with this company and although we had a great time, our boat was in poor condition and extremely unreliable. My husband is the sailor and was horrified at how dangerous the boat was in August 2012. The winch jammed constantly and the lead crew were aware of the problem but were told by Management apparently that it couldnt be repaired until end of season. Also, the ignition fell apart and we had to hotwire our boat. We ordered a huge genoa which did not come in a sock as it should have done but in a bag which made it really difficult to attach in any wind. Fortunately my husband is an experienced sailor but if anyone without experience had taken this boat, it could have been disastrous, particulary considering the storms we had at the beginning of September. All in all we were disappointed considering the price we had paid and our friends went with Sunsail where the boats were in much better condition and we have heard that sailionian.com and nautilusyachting.com are reputable with great, reliable boats. I would not recommend this company, particularly if you are not an experienced sailor.

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“very disappointing bareboat charter”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 25/07/2012

In May 2012 we booked a bareboat holiday with Bareboat Sailing holidays which is a sub-company of sailing holidays. Without exaggeration I can say that it was the worst boat we have ever had. Already before the holiday we started to get a really bad feeling as there was absolutely nothing included not even a toilet role for the first evening, let alone maybe a starter pack of washing up liquid, kitchen role or pegs. When we arrived we were told that the boat has 2 holding tanks but they are not connected. However, we had specifically asked for a boat with holding tanks. After long discussions they connected the holding tank in the ensuite bathroom of the front cabin. We were very happy we had at least one holding tank but it meant for the whole holiday everybody had to go through the front cabin and disturb the couple there in order to go to the toilet, - an impossible situation! The boat itself I don't know where to start, it had numerous shortcomings and problems. Everything was tired and dirty and it seems the boat had not been maintained at all. I could now write a long list of problems we had but I think there is no need to go into great detail. Summing it up I personally would never book with them ever again and I certainly cannot recommend this company to anybody.

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

★★★☆☆

written by LarryPlane on 01/02/2012

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.

Barnerz's Response to LarryPlane's Review

Written on: 10/01/2015

You seem obsessed that your crew abandoned you for the regatta. 7 of the 15 boats did not want to enjoy the regatta, that's less than half of flotilla, so I would expect the crew to go with the majority. by the way, you missed out on some great fun in the flotilla! in our holiday, all but one boats in our flotilla joined in the regatta. it was amazing, a day of great sailing, there was never any chance of us winning, but we had great fun with the other members of our flot. the "party" afterwards was great too, they had a live band, a choice of bars and we and some other members of our flotilla all sat together and enjoyed a nice meal had a little dance to the band and enjoyed ourselves. after all that is what you are meant to do on holiday... no? You make out that you only had half a holiday, the regatta only takes one day, and you mention you went to Kastos instead, so you never missed out on anything, you went to mainland, Kefalonia. Meganissi and kastos... maybe other ports you have not mentioned?!
As to your other complaints, non alcoholic punch... ask for some, we did in the morning and got it!
I have never been charged any more than 3 euros for a shower, the 12 euros you state seems highly unlikely! and not at all SH's fault!
If asking to read your phone number out to your hostie is a reason to complain, I suspect you are a professional complainer.
It's a shame your depth sounder stopped working occasionally. If a quick swim with a broom fixed it for you, again... why complain, after all, your in Greece, the sea is warm... any excuse to go for a swim! :)
All boats are now fitted with GPS according to their website, ours certainly was, we never used it though, as it was always very easy to navigate!

so please ignore this review, to me it seems someone who is trying to find reasons to complain and be unhappy! Sailing Holidays.com have always been 5* to us, they are fun, lighthearted, sociable, relaxed sailing days! The crews will sit and have a beer with you, not serve you pretentiously labled wine, if you want to be called "sir" by your crew instead of "mate" or "Bro" I suggest this is not the company for you! the crews have always been professional when needed, fun when required but have ALWAYS been compassionate, hard working and VERY friendly!

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Larryplane's reply to Barnerz's Comment

Written on: 13/01/2015

Thank you for popping by three years after I wrote this review to complain about my being a professional complainer. Looking at some of the other reviews on here I clearly lack in my professionalism as I gave 3 stars where as 6 people gave only 1 star. One of these complaining about the boat taking on water when the bilge pumps stopped working.

Tisk Tisk Tisk.

Weren't these people wearing flip flops? Or aware that a boat taking on water lowers the waterline and as such allows the captain and crew an easier access for that refreshing evening swim, one that I had to do every evening when before I entered the harbor so I could scrub my depth sensor clean!

Still, looking at the website today, it does appear as though the boat I was using has now been retired from service, which considering it's lack of reliability is probably a good thing. So there's that!

But from reading the other reviews of people complaining about nonworking equipment (like the UHF radio) and getting just a shrug back, it does appear as though the company does still rely on very young people to act as support staff. These people do tend to want to get the work out of the way asap so they can get to the evening party, and at their age, who can blame them, but they haven't yet learnt customer handling skills, and the lack of a mentor doesn't help. So the youngsters cannot really be blamed for lacking something they have not yet be taught.

Still, as I said at the start, my review was some time ago, had it not been for this comment, I probably would have forgotten about it, although I haven't forgotten the holiday experience enough to want to use the company again.

How am I doing on my professional complaining? Do I get a gold star? And where do you think I should stick it?

Hugs and love

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“They didn't float my boat - Quite literally!”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Wavy-Dave on 13/12/2011

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this company at all, having had a terrible experience with them a couple of years ago. They seemed to offer good value, they seemed very friendly, and the boats looked lovely in the pictures ... but alas. We originally booked a Jaguar 27, and were later offered an 'upgrade', since the boat originally booked was unservicable. We (foolishly!) paid another £200 for the 'upgraded' Feeling 31, which sounded like a much nicer boat. Which it would have been, had it been in a reasonable condition. And to be fair (!), it was much 'nicer' than the Jaguars (which were awful). However ... On day two, both our batteries went flat, despite very little use (and plenty of charging time). The alternator was then found to be faulty, and had to be changed. This resulted in us losing half a day of our sailing time. Having got underway quite late in the day, we had no time to stop anywhere en-route to the next destination. But we then found ourselves forced to pause to bale out a large pool of diesel/water which was rising up into the saloon floor from the engine bilge. The electric bilge pump didn't work, and the hand pumps didn't drain the engine sump. So the only way was on hands and knees, bailing out with coffee mugs. The boat didn't appear to be sinking, so we carried on, with frequent checks. Despite the lead crew crawling all over the boat after we 'limped' into port, we had the same problem again the next day. The bilge pump handle they had given me for the 'engine sump' didn't fit (and we later found it didn't work anyway!). So we were back to bailing out again. Fortunately we did have plenty of coffee mugs! I estimated that we lost around two days of our holiday due to boat problems, plus a considerable loss of enjoyment. I don't particularly enjoy crawling around engine sumps bailing out for several hours a day myself - but if that's your idea of fun, then Sailing Holidays are the people for you. I made a formal complaint and asked for a refund equivalent to a couple of days sailing, and they basically told me to get lost. All of their boats seem to be very old and very poorly maintained. They are cheaper than some, but their boats are of very poor quality. I don't expect everything to be perfect, but I DO expect such companies to deal with problems and take complaints SERIOUSLY. They were not interested at all in compensating me for the enormous inconvenience. BEWARE THE SHARKS!!

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“We had a great holiday! We sailed a Sailing Holidays...”

★★★★★

written by on 06/01/2011

We had a great holiday! We sailed a Sailing Holidays boat doing a delivery from the North Ionian to the South and had a fabulous time. The lead crew were great bunch, the boat was in good order and the area is beautiful. It was actually the start of the season last year, and despite them having 150 yachts in the marina the service was still really personable. We're going back this year!

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“The boat we were on was not fit for purpose. The...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 28/08/2010

The boat we were on was not fit for purpose. The toilet was leaking into the bilge for 5 days out of 7 and stank to high heaven. The duvet was filthy and had to be changed. Would not recommend this company at all.


Sailingholidays's Comment

Written on: 27/01/2011

Hi there,
<br/>
<br/>We're really disappointed to see your review and apologise for the problems experienced had while on our flotilla holiday. We spend a lot of time and money on keeping our yachts to a high standard but unfortunately with 180 boats on charter week in, week out, there will sometimes be an exception.
<br/>
<br/>We contact all of our clients after their holiday to gain their feedback, hopefully you have been in touch and we have sought to 'make things right'. If you haven't been in touch, please give us a call and we'll do all we can to help you out for this year.
<br/>
<br/>Best regards,
<br/>The Sailing Holidays Team.

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“We have had two flotilla holidays with Sailing...”

★★★☆☆

written by dmailer on 22/08/2010

We have had two flotilla holidays with Sailing Holidays (2007 and 2008). Our experiences were very different. The first holiday was fantastic in every way. However the second was dissapointing (and concerning).

A flotilla holiday is made (or ruined) by the lead boat crew. On our first trip our lead boat crew was fantastic, worked well together and had a great feeling for what we, the punters, wanted. However, on the second holiday we had a much less experience lead crew who didn't really get on very well between themselves and seemed to want to run the flotilla around their convenience rather than our enjoyment.

I could live with much of that, however the unforgivable element that means I would be very cautious about recommending this company was poor yacht maintenance. Out of 12 boats we had three major engine failures. One of these was eventually rectified but caused major disruption to the entire fleet. One had to be withdrawn from the flotilla and another had to be towed back to base on the last day. I know it was the last week of the season but 25% failure does not strike me as unlucky....................

Dave

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“We have just come back from a week's south Ionian...”

★★★★★

written by on 09/07/2010

We have just come back from a week's south Ionian cruise (June 26-July 3 where we sailed a Beneteau 331 (Misios). The lead team of Nic, Bex and Sam were excellent in every way. They were always cheerful and helpful and went out of their way to make sure that our sailing experience was second to none. We cannot wait to repeat the experience. The cost was very reasonable for the content of the holiday and the fact that we needed only basic sailing skills and no qualifications was a bonus. Anyone who has basic sailing knowledge would have no trouble in handling the yachts. If in doubt about anything, then the lead team were there to help every step of the way. A thoroughly fantastic experience which I would recommend to anyone wanting to explore the Greek islands - Lesley, Dave, Kev, Nicky and Michaella.

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“Sailing Holidays deliver exactly what it says 'on the...”

★★★★★

written by R Benson on 22/01/2010

Sailing Holidays deliver exactly what it says 'on the tin' They are a great outfit very competatively priced and my wife and I cant wait for our next holiday with them later this year.
Everything is so well organised and stress free that the sailing experience is fully enjoyed.

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“We have been sailing for over a year in small boats...”

★★★★★

written by on 08/11/2009

We have been sailing for over a year in small boats and decided to book a sailing holiday,when looking around the internet we came across Sailing Holidays.com, because they required no qaulifications we booked a week on a 32 foot boat. We were upgraded to a 36 footer at no extra charge and had the best holiday ever all for less than £600 per person,the lead crew were fantastic,if you are thinking of booking with this company you will not be disappointed go for it.

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