TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands speaking of provisioning ...

Hello community ... any of you have sage advice for me ... a multi charter'er ... who had invited newbies who are not jiving with the need to plan an execute provisioning ahead of charter ? Tired the soft approach and looking for an easier, more inclusive method. Your advice ?
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Who are you chartering with?
G

Are you the captain? If so you are in charge and have the experience to guide newbies as to how things are properly done. If provisioning is a challenge imagine just how difficult picking up a mooring ball will be.

What exactly is the issue? They don't want to provision? They can't make up their mind as to what to provision?

Figure out how many dinners you need to plan on board. Split the number between the couples. Come up with simple suggestions for dinner. Grilled steak and salad, chicken, tacos, etc. If they choose not to choose then they are responsible for buying dinner out for everyone on those nights. You will provision for your choices and they can buy you dinner out for the rest.

Hope their not expecting a luxury cruise ship experience. Best to set some expectations ahead of time.

I was told once that when you charter with other couples you will either come home best of friends or.....well, you get the idea. Hopefully this will be the only major difference of opinion on what may well be a long vacation - and not in a good way!!

Try to divide up the leadership tasks. Determine who will take ownership of the meals aboard and have that person order the groceries or go to the market and cart that stuff back themselves on Tortola. Do not sweat or have anxiety over the tasks of others. If one or two WORKING TOGETHER do not want to own the galley. Then consider allowing each willing crew to take ownership of preparing and cleaning up soup to nuts one meal aboard. I also know some who never eat aboard. In any case do not fret over any of this. Many show up and do everything after they arrive at a boat or condo. Some will want to see the galley first, see and touch what they select.

If you really must worry about this. Order the heavy stuff to be delivered on your own. Order one solid meal and 24 hours of FULL provisions. Then allow someone else to self nominate the ongoing planning and below deck FUN.

If someone is great and willing to do all this planning and pre-trip obsessing wonderful! In the BVI there is really no need to do that.

The most important part of all this. Never worry about it. Never try to do it ALL yourself or control all of it yourself.

Our best trips are ones where one person takes the role of dinghy and ice captain, another one or two galley leadership, and a third primary helmsman and boat captain. A grillmaster can be a nice touch along with a king or queen of the boat hook. Each of those leaders should be a most willing volunteer.

The last general rule of group harmony. The boat never moves until everyone is ready to move on. In the BVI less is generally more and many miss the best parts of the limin in the rush to sustain some plan made on a couch 1,000's of miles away.

Are you the captain? If so you are in charge and have the experience to guide newbies as to how things are properly done. If provisioning is a challenge imagine just how difficult picking up a mooring ball will be.

That part is a two person TEAM job. One on the helm and one on standby with a boat hook to lift the line to the cleat. A third who takes consistent ownership of the dinghy and painter can be a nice touch. Disaster is the guy trying to run the galley from the helm.

Break up the tasks to willing and able volunteers with a passion for the position. If your group lacks anyone with a passion for the galley. The BVI is blessed with many placed to eat ashore À la carte! Or maybe in your case you have some great culinary skills coming aboard who will do their best work when they can see and touch what is available to work with. Again I would not worry about this one bit. I would never try to control the work of others on vacation either.

If you are planning the trip, I'd make it simple - dictate what you will be doing. I've always sent out a list or order form to those in the group to get their input on what we should get.

At the same time, I'd make sure everyone is willing to pay their share and perhaps determine how all costs will be handled up front just to avoid any other issues.

They probably want the experience of hands on shopping. This can be hit or miss depending on when you are chartering. I agree with storm jib. Heavy stuff and 24 hours worth of food. Coffee, milk, yogurt, etc. It never hurts to send guests to the store while you are finishing up last minute details. They might even volunteer to cook the food they purchased!

Our biggest argument was always over water. I did not want to have to lug gallons of water to the boat in a dinghy, captain did not want gallons and gallons tucked away all over the place.

Last two times we went we printed the order form from Bobbys, met & went over/ reviewed the form & placed a collective order. Worked well.

"It never hurts to send guests to the store" I always try to send anyone who will not actively be involved with the sailing of the boat shopping, to the pool, lunch, bar... something during the checkout.

"captain did not want gallons and gallons tucked away all over the place"

This "captain" always buys and stashes one gallon of water per person somewhere on the boat. If we ever have a boat water supply problem. Here is your gallon until this gets sorted out. Otherwise whoever takes ownership of the galley gets to decide what will get stashed where. Never try to run the galley from the helm.

Just make the meal plan and order the provisions yourself as you know what works best on the boat. I have also had issues with crew not wanting to take the time to plan prior to the trip, so we just take care of it. We know our crews and know what they like and generally keep it simple. We assign a couple one night to be in charge of cooking, we all pitch in for the clean ups.

I just ask the crew if they have any special dietary requirements, what they want for breakfast (coffee, tea, cereal, milk, etc.), and their preferred beverage (beer, coke, etc.) Then I let them know how many times we will eat off the boat and how much it is likely to cost.

I hope the OP comes back and gives us the details!

A) Determine food allergies and preferences
B) Outline meal plan:
1) Oatmeal and cereal and breakfast bars
2) Sandwiches for lunches with chips (Hotdogs one day, hamburgers another)
3) Dinner ashore X number nights.
4) Snacks and beverages
C) Based on feedback, decide exact options (i.e. Ham or turkey or both)
D) Very Detailed List of items needed for each of the above
E) List divided into "Carry", "Delivered", "Selected at store"

We took meats and some light items(spices). Ordered as much as we could for early morning delivery. Wife and another spouse went to grocery store to select produce (wanted to select based on selection) and a couple of specific items (and keep planned menu on hand so substitutions can be accommodated ) .

then be flexible

And Relax

(post from Great Harbor, JVD....last day (this trip).

Our last two trips have been with couples who don't live in the same state we do. Here's how we handled it:
Asked each couple to menu plan two dinners and two lunches.
Then I asked them to each give me a detailed grocery list of what they needed to prepare these meals.
Two couples packed the various meats, cheeses, etc. in coolers and brought them from home.
I ordered everything else on-line from Riteway and had it delivered to the boat.
When we met up on the boat the first night, we shared receipts for what we brought with us and I shared the Riteway receipt - each couple brought a check and we settled up. Split the entire costs by 3 (3 couples).
IF a couple didn't want to plan meals, I was going to plan for them.
The only bill we didn't split 3 ways was the liquor bill since we all drank different things - that was split out by specific couple.
This has worked for us really well in the past.

If they don't want to participate in provisioning planning, do it yourself. They will find other reasons to hate you during the trip. Good luck!

I have been the "provisioner" for eight people on a catamaran more than 30 adventures. I find out their likes and dislikes and try to accommodate as best as possible. However, I provision for breakfast, lunch, and alcohol and snacks for happy hour. We eat dinner our every night. It can be as a group or individuals and couples can fend for themselves. This has worked SO WELL that out of the 104 people that we have hosted (many repeats) ALL claim it to be the best, relaxing, vacation they have ever had. Never come close to a dispute, never lost a friend. And I have always used one of the local markets. Best part now is that you can pick up almost any food item along your trip at a local market.

The whole " 3 meals a day" thing can easily go MOB on charter.

Lunch is usually the one that goes first. You can recover it at 3 or 4 PM, when it becomes a hearty Happy Hour aboard. After which, you really don't NEED Dinner. Depending on where you overnight, you might decide to go ashore for music or entertainment, or you might very well be somewhere where there is none. Late night snacks aboard are not a bad thing.

This is how we do it, too. Well, we eat dinner out MOST nights. Sometimes we have lunch out so we'll have one of those planned lunches as dinner.

It is certainly not the most budget-friendly way to do it, but it seems like the easiest and breaks up the evening nicely

After thought:
Back in the 80s we had the boat "fully provisioned" by Ample Hamper. They were super but after the first three trips we found that we ate about half of the food. Then for the next 5 trips we had them "partially provision" and again found that on the last day we were stopping at Salt Island to give the few residents all our remaining food. Yes, it is worth doing your custom provisioning no matter the extra time and energy. We learned that after our first 8 cruises. And believe me things have changed SO much for the better as far as food choices. Almost everything you want is available. And provisioning stops are located all along your cruise.

Thank you all for your sage advise ... you are right ... I have to step up and take charge of the galley and assign responsibilities to one and all for the vacation. Captain can't run the galley but his wife sure can. Appreciate your advice.