We are two months out from our April charter. The first time ever in the BVI for us. 3 couples on a Lagoon 450 with a captain. BUT, now we are two couples. It just got a lot more expensive.

Thanks for all of the tips on this forum. I have been enjoying all of the posts for the past several months!!

John

Are you asking someone to fill the spot? And potentially remove the need to hire a captain? Just saying.

Are you looking to go?

Always require their share of the deposit when booking.

Lesson learned.

If a replacement can be found, then they get some/all of their money back.

You can even take it one step further.

Collect more than enough up front to cover the cost of the shared boat. The balance remaining from the deposit for the shared cost will be provided in cash as part of the checkout.

The other option is for a host to pay the cost of the boat in total and treat the boat like a family vacation house with any other visitors as "guests". Many great "guests" will cover the tabs ashore and other entertainment based on their ability to pay.

We would never sign for a boat we could not easily fund 100% ourselves. You just never know when you will have to cover all the costs from your accounts.

StormJib
Totally agree.

Others "commit" to the dream vacation and then realize additional cost of travel(Flying from Middle America), etc.

But if you don't want to be stuck with people bailing out, collect something..

My son is in college and I agreed to take him and his friends for a trip... they would just need to take care of airfare and shore food/drinks... All I asked was $100 up front... separated the pack

Me too, we arranged the trip and required everyone paid in full with no refund if cancelled by a certain date. They cancelled and lost her money, why should we pay for her cancellation. This is why you buy trip insurance.