Getting ready for a late May trip. Normally I have used Bobby's to deliver to the boat however their price list is from 2011. Took a look at Riteway and then noticed the Moorings now offers a by the item provisioning service and they even put the items on the boat before you arrive. Prices are competitive with Riteway. Has anyone tried it?
George

I've used it for my charters from the Moorings on St. Martin. In the past, I used it to supplement the standard provisioning package from the Moorings but for my upcoming trip, I'm doing everything a la cart. The selection is somewhat limited in some areas - for example, I can't get tortilla chips of all things - but overall, the prices are very competitive and I'm happy with the service.

use it every trip for the heavier items, water, beer, mixers, etc and we buy fresh items at market and also carry down meats, chicken, seafood ( Costco ) in polar bear cooler. they have been great and the online ordering system works well.

We used it last couple trips and it worked out very well. It's what we'll be using next trip too.

We used them this past March - it was a disaster - but they did say it was one of the busiest weeks of the year. And even with all of these problems I would probably use them again next time but be even more persistant when asking where our stuff was.

We got there Saturday afternoon and were supposed to have our order ready. Even after talking to them several times that night (they kept saying ours was on the way!) we didn't get our food until Sunday morning and even that wasn't until after I went back to the front desk twice Sunday morning. There were others around us having the same problem, but we also saw boats getting their orders filled and the people weren't even there yet.

Once the food did come the order had lots of problems. We got our regular local water but none of the Poland Springs water. We never got our coke, ginger ale, tonic water or ginger beer. Didn't get any eggs. Two things we got (I think maple syrup and potato chips?) were there but brand/flavor substitutions but I hear that is common everywhere.

When I mentioned there were no eggs and we didn't want the chips (nobody liked the flavor) he said no problem - I could exchange them at the store. I had to go back to their store and explain to the lady what happened - she basically gave me credit for what I wanted to return and just trusted me on the eggs.

The frustrating thing is that half of the stuff they didn't send was in the store such as the Poland Springs and the drinks. Even more frustrating was having no water on board the first night when we had 6 kids with us. (no beer or liquor either because Ticos also never showed!) We had to go to the bar and the bartender sold us 12 bottled waters so that helped.

I hadn't heard about many problems with Moorings provisioning before this. I know it was a busy week, but you would think they would have known it was going to be busy by looking at how many boats/provisioning orders they had and planned ahead.

Self provisioned for upcoming trip using Bobby's, Carib Cellars, etc.
Saved over the Sunsail and Moorings rate .

We have used Moorings provisioning a lot during the last 20 years, and yes, last March was simply insane! our provisions arrived at midnight on our "evening start".

That being said, we have been pretty satisfied with their service. Every once in a while something is missing, or has been substituted, but I see this happens with all provisioning services. We too are using a la carte for our upcoming trip. Looking forward to see how it will work out.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with GeorgeC1 – I’ve been reading them with interest.

It’s great to hear that overall you’ve had good experiences. But I want to apologize to Momx3 and trueblue for the service you received in March. It is a busy time for us, but we know that we can do better.

We’re reviewing our processes with our suppliers now and looking at how we can make them more efficient to give you a better experience.

Momx3, I’m glad that you would be willing to give us another chance. You shouldn’t need to be more persistent with us though, and I’ll be working to make sure that next time you don’t have to be.

If anyone would like to discuss this with me further, please do get in touch via private message. I’d love to hear any thoughts or feedback you have for us.

Kind regards,

Rod Johnson
(Provisioning and Beverages Manager, The Moorings)

Thanks Rod. It's great for you to reply here. I am looking at our options for June and I agree with an earlier poster about some simple items (such as tortilla chips) missing from the online order system. Is there work being done to address this?

Thanks

I used Moorings for provisioning in May of last year and the prices were at or below the alternatives AND they went above and beyond our expectations and had everything we needed PLUS they made sure all of our adult beverages were in the cooler on the boat and very cold for our first night sleep aboard (which made for a nice evening welcome after a long flight from Texas to EIS.

My wife said the same on prices. She thought the Moorings prices matched Riteway or were better. Hard to know about Bobbies since their price list is from 2011 and you pay the current price but don't really know until delivery.
G

Hi jboothe. What destination are you chartering from in June? We are constantly looking at ways to improve our online provisioning store and input from valued customers like you will help us do this.

We will be back in the BVI with Sunsail in June. I will put together a list of items from our group that we thought were common enough to be part of the Moorings/Sunsail provisioning and send it to you. Overall I thought your prices were competitive. A little higher on a few things and little lower on others but overall very similar.

I appreciate you taking the time. Thanks