Charter Company Comparisons

Over the years, we have booked bareboat charters in the BVI and St Martin with the Moorings 8 times. We have had great experiences with the Moorings on the overwhelming majority of these charters. We realize we have always paid a premium for the Moorings brand, but it has almost always resulted in an excellent product. We had planned another BVI trip in the winter of 2021, but that little Covid thing interrupted our plans. Now looking to 2022, I looked at the Moorings site and found almost no availability during the month of February. Dates that are available are now almost double the rates we have paid in the past. We have researched other providers, including CYOA and Dream. We are looking at either a 40' cat for two couples or a 46ish' cat for 4 couples. I would appreciate any input from members who have chartered with both the Moorings and at least one of the other major charter companies with input as to the quality of the boats in the non-Moorings offerings and the degree of customer service and support if mechanical issues have developed while on charter. We generally have booked the newer boats in from the Moorings, so would like to focus on those who have chartered with other top tier offerings from other charter companies. Not interested in the older fleets even though we realize potential savings. Thanks in advance.

Look into TMM. Incredible boutique charter company. New and extremely well maintained boats. Full disclosure - I am an owner (lagoon 40) - I would not place my boat into charter with any other company. Have had “interesting” experiences with other companies. TMM is amazing.

Allow me to add my thoughts

Do consider Captains Compass. Brent has 42, 43, and 45 Leopards and Logoon 440.. I have owned the Leopard 42 and adding a second Leopard 45 to the fleet Brent keeps all the cats in great condition. The fact I’m adding my second cateraman to his fleet shows my trust in him. Great prices and great boats.

We've chartered in the BVI many times, with big and small outfits. They've all been fine, but we like Conch the best and are sticking with them exclusively. Not a boat owner but definitely a happy customer!

I would second the comment on TMM. But I am adding BVI Yacht Charters (where I had a boat for 2 years).
Two amazing boutique charter companies.

I'm surprised you aren't seeing availability with Moorings. Inside word is there is lots, but of course that depends on what you are looking for. If you haven't already done so, I'd recommend contacting a rep (or broker) to check for you. The online booking tool gives inaccurate info sometimes, in my experience. LMK if you need a contact at Moorings.

I would 3rd the recommendation for TMM. Great company - and yes, I have a boat in charter with them. Done the Moorings thing, and had good experiences, but TMM service taking care of their boats and clients are a whole other level. For a 40 definitely check out Moon Dance - super boat and fabulous owners! Yes, talking about MIDiver there. Good luck and have fun!

We have chartered with Dream Yacht 3 times, CYOA one time and TMM 4 times! The very best in our opinion is TMM. They have always treated us like family and so easy to work with. Their boats are well maintained. Of course, we have had breakdowns and they have always been quick to get a part or service guy to our boat to fix it.
Although I will say that DYC also stood behind their boats and offered us compensation every time something went wrong. They have moved up a notch since moving to Scrub from Hodges which was a gross marina.
Hope this helps.

Peter - so kind of you to compliment Moon Dance. We love her. You also have a great boat - Time Will Tell looked lovely when I peeked in on her last week. . TMM has beautiful boats. We are lucky owners to have them manage our “babies” with such great care.

Haven't chartered with them yet, making a visit in a couple of weeks though. But we moved our boat to Conch Charters back in April. And I can say that they are very thorough in going through the boats. I feel our boat is being taken care of very well and that should translate to a good charter experience with few issues. Everyone I've dealt with there has been great to deal with as well.

I've chartered with TMM seven times over the past 15 years and always had a terrific service experience with clean, very well maintained boats. Highly recommended. I've also chartered a few times with Catamaran Co and BVI Yacht Charters, all decent experiences but TMM is tops in my view.

Former TMM Owner: TMM is simply the best charter company in the BVI. When Ocean Song came out of charter she was in excellent condition. I’ve booked a couple dozen charter groups on my boat and other TMM boats over the past three years, literally every review was positive. Barney and crew are great.

Sam at TMM was the best -- boat briefings were laborious but fantastic.

He has moved on.

Anyone charted there since his leaving?

We saw him driving a boat out of USVI with a group this week.

Avoid Catamaran Company, at all costs. We booked a charter & paid half, after which they changed the terms of the trip but refused to refund all the payment. An unscrupulous company.