In this time of fees for just about everything it is frustrating to calculate the "REAL" cost of any transaction from banking, airlines and chartering. We were charting with The Moorings out of St. Martin in May. Our friend booked the charter and as we settled up on payments with him we also paid The Moorings for the mandatory trip insurance ($99 each) and $150 for a night at Captain Oliver’s.
As it turned out my wife's mother became ill was hospitalized, then to hospice and she passed away the afternoon we were to have sailed out of St. Martin. Needless to say we had to back out of the charter but our friends continued on without us.
I called The Moorings to cancel the Captain Oliver's hotel room over 3 weeks prior to the reservation only to discover the hotel reservation was just like the charter fees, no cancelation this late. The customer service rep was curt and business like but when she understood the reason she suggested I contact the trip insurance firm, I had totally forgotten about this.
So I contacted them. Our reason for canceling was totally within the insurance guidelines. I explained that I did NOT want any portion of the charter refunded as the other couple was going to honor the contract; it was in his name anyway. So I submitted a claim for Captain Oliver’s and airline tickets.
After about a month I received a letter, definitely written by attorneys and a check for $150, the night at Captain Oliver’s. Seems you have to put all your eggs in the Moorings basket. I happen to live in a small Florida market but with good American Airlines connections via Miami to the Caribbean. Since I was able to book at a substantially lower rate on American out of my own town than I’d get with The Moorings they explained that the insurance was only good on items paid for through The Moorings. Gotta read the fine print I suppose. $198 paid for insurance that paid off with $150 or a net loss of $48.
I don’t feel so good about this especially since I was forced to buy their insurance. The Moorings boats may be newer but I’m back to Barecat on my next charter. There is no bogus $50 a day insurance “fee”, you put down a cash security deposit and, if you don’t break anything, you get it back really fast. No daily fuel charge, like car rentals you get a full tank and bring it back full. And the rate is much lower allowing for a longer charter for the same cash.
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