Seamaster Yachting - www.seamaster.co.uk

This company refused a cash refund on a Greek yacht booked by UK residents. Seamaster claim yacht was availablein Greece even though country was CLOSED to UK residents in June. Also you may receive a UK Seamaster contract with ABTA and ATOL printed on. In our case they said the contract was actually with a Greek company. This Greek contract is not provided at time of booking, only the Seamaster contract. Their website states "We are a British company, with British values and British accountability" Think again.

Sailing Croatia was magnificent! Except the local charter company Seamaster Yachting uses is less than great. We chartered a new 50ft Hanse that came with no fans or AC so sleeping in the hot croatian climate was very very hard. We were told not to flush any paper in the toilets so the bathrooms had to have plastic bags swinging from hooks full of dirty paper - gross. Upon arrival to the yacht there were very few "toys" left to rent for the week so no snorkel gear for the kids. You board the boat at 5pm saturday night and they boat back in the marina the following Friday night for early saturday morning inspection so be prepared to lose a day off your trip which was also very very disappointing!! Fortunately we were able to talk our skipper into anchoring the last night but that mean a 0530 departure to get to the marina by 0800.

Our skipper made us turn the fridge off every night to save the battery so everything was warm in the morning. the coffee maker provided brewed 2 cups of coffee for 6 people and there was glass provided not plastic so don't have an accident!

Seamaster should really find a better local charter company.

No problem with the two guys I dealt with at Seamaster. They responded promptly and well to all my worries about my first ever charter. And they came to the rescue really well when Monarch went bust - good communication and backup. But the Dufour 375 we chartered was very disappointing. Can't fault the customer service from Kiriacoulis - they were friendly, and responded promptly and effectively to our problems. Jiannis came specially to help us park the boat in the very tight marina at Levkas at the end of our trip. But the problems shouldn't have been there. Boom hanging off the mast when we arrived - failed mast fitting & gooseneck pin. We lost half a day waiting for it to be fixed. Swimming ladder failed completely on first use, gashing the hand of a crew-member. Meant we lost another half day. The first time the boat heeled petrol leaked from the spare can into the bilge due to a faulty cap. This was VERY frightening. The log didn't work, the auto-pilot was unreliable. We fixed or managed without, rather than lose another day.

Don't charter a Dufour 375. Not Kiriacoulis or Seamaster's fault, but the boat has serious design faults. Poorly placed instruments with tiny dials. Useless swimming ladder. No grab handles or clip-on points in cockpit. Poor hot-water system - no hot water when on shore power. Giant fridge has a really heavy hinged lid like a coffin, with NO support struts or security stays - breaks the hinges if opened fully back, and kills you if it drops forward. It does sail well, though (the boat, not the fridge)..

We just returned from a 1 week 'sailing ' holiday organised by Seamaster . It was supposed to be from Athens for 7 days . In practice if all goes to plan you get 5 1/2 because there is mo guarantee of a Saturday departure and you have to return to Athens on the Friday .

In our case the glossy brochures and the experience did not tie up . The yacht broke down with a broken rudder . Seamaster , whilst initially helpful and supportive , did not entirely compemsate us for the lost holiday experience .

They do not take direct ownership of the holiday contracting local yacht companies and skippers rather than ensuring a good customer experience . We motored almost the whole way and it was supposed to be a sailing holiday !

I could go on about the shortcomings of Seamaster but enough said

Bottom line .. I would never use them again . The Greek islands were great , nice tabernas and bars to visit , swimming off the boat etc but not because of Seamaster's skill in putting a good holiday together .

Never again !

Sailed with Seamaster in May and found the whole experience to be fantastic. While the website is excellent, it was the advice and help from the team in the office that was particularly good. They gave us specific advice on the best boat for us (which turned out perfect and wasn't even the most expensive) and also where to sail. Being May the weather wasn't perfect but it suited us fine. Would recommend to anyone. Sue and Alastair.