Samboat Reviews 

Terrible customer support and zero accountability. Last July, my friend booked a boat trip through SamBoat in La Spezia, Italy. The captain canceled the day before, rescheduled, and then canceled a second time right on the morning of the trip.

To make matters worse, despite having purchased cancellation insurance, SamBoat refused to issue a refund. They claimed the money had already been transferred to the captain and washed their hands of the situation, repeatedly passing the blame instead of taking responsibility for bookings made on their platform. Even with undeniable evidence and the captain caught in multiple lies, their customer service was completely unhelpful and incompetent.

My friend ultimately had to bypass their support entirely and file a chargeback through his bank, which thankfully reviewed the evidence and refunded the money in full.

If you book through SamBoat, be aware that they do not protect the consumer when things go wrong, and their "insurance" offers no real peace of mind. I hope this company rethinks how they treat their customers.

booked a boat trip in Crete with SamBoat hiring the skipper Giannis on the motor cruiser Princess 385 for the 6th September 2026.

On the 3rd September 2026 SamBoat emailed me to tell me that Giannis had to cancel the trip due to a problem with the engine that could not be fixed prior to our trip.

On the 4th September SamBoat confirmed a partial refund and that they would withhold €186 in accordance with their booking conditions as a credit voucher that I could use within 12 months – now remember, I have not cancelled this booking.

After much back and forth with SamBoat refusing to refund me in full, I only received my full refund when I consulted legal counsel and quoted to SamBoat the following French legislation (as they told me they are a French company)
“Because the company cancelled due to a mechanical breakdown, keeping your money is strictly illegal under French law. Under Article 1218 and Article 1229 of the French Civil Code (Code civil), a breakdown is an internal operational failure of the business—not a customer fault or an act of God (force majeure). Since they cannot deliver the service you paid for, the contract is void, and you are entitled to a full cash refund”.

This coupled with a threat to pursue legal action to claim my full refund, all counsel costs, damages for mental stress and lost holiday time made them finally see sense.

If you are or have been refused a refund for a trip booked through SamBoat and cancelled by SamBoat or the boat owner themselves please pursue this as what they are doing in my view is illegal and even if these conditions are written into the contract, in my view, you cannot under European law make a contract that does not comply with the relevant laws.

Please do this even if your claim is retrospective as I do not believe they should be allowed to get away with this sort of trading.

Alternatively if this still does not work and you paid by credit card, contact your card issuer and report “a transaction for which goods were not received”. In all likelihood, the card company will refund the missing money and pursue SamBoat not only for the missing money but also apply penalties to SamBoat for administration expenses etc – a taste of their own medicine perhaps?

And above all, do not trust your money with this type of company.

I have used Samboat for may years, and they have generally been very good. This time there was a problem at check in when the wrong crew list had been sent to the charter company. This required Samboat to create a new crew list and send it to the charter company (which in fairness they did very quickly). Not what we wanted after a long journey to get there, and hours of delay in Athens airport! I will still use Samboat in the future, but one star knocked off for this one slip up.

Easy to use App. Great choice of boats. Worked well for me.

I rented a boat through Samboat in Corsica, the renal was cancelled by the owner because of a technical issue shortly before. Samboat charged mI rented a boat through Samboat in Corsica, the renal was cancelled by the owner because of a technical issue shortly before. Samboat charged me 114Euros though.e 114Euros though.

Ruined plans and zero support from SamBoat.
I was supposed to be on this boat trip in July 2026, but the captain completely flaked on us twice, canceling right on the morning of the trip. To add insult to injury, SamBoat refused to help my friend (who booked and paid for the trip) get our money back despite us paying for cancellation insurance.
Instead of stepping in to help, their customer service passed the buck and blamed the captain, taking zero accountability for transactions made through their own platform. My friend had to fight them through a bank chargeback just to get the money returned. SamBoat is a total letdown—do yourself a favor and book through a different service.

SamBoat takes your money, offers zero protection, and blames the captains.
My family booked a boat day through SamBoat for July 2026, complete with cancellation insurance. The captain cancelled twice, with the second cancellation happening the very morning we were supposed to go. Very annoying situation when you are on holidays ready to enjoy a long term planned trip.
When my son requested a refund, SamBoat claimed their hands were tied because the money had already been paid out, completely ignoring their own terms and conditions and our insurance coverage. They refused to help or take any accountability, forcing my son to go through another annoying situation, the gruelling process of filing a bank chargeback. Thanks to the evidence gathered, the bank rightfully ruled in our favor and returned the money.
SamBoat’s customer support is completely useless when conflicts arise. Do not rely on them to have your back.

Do not trust SamBoat with your special events or money.
Our captain canceled our trip twice—including the morning of—ruining a major milestone event we had planned. Even though we bought their cancellation insurance, SamBoat refused to help us get our money back, claiming the funds were already sent to the captain and refusing to take any ownership.
Their customer service was utterly incompetent and defensive. It wasn't until my partner opened a formal chargeback with our bank—armed with clear evidence—that we finally got a full refund. SamBoat takes zero responsibility when things go sideways. Save yourself the headache and book elsewhere.

HORRIBLE experience with this company.

In July 2026 we were supposed to go on a boat trip with one of the captains from their site. The boat trip was supposed to be for a special announcement. The captain canceled the day before and then rescheduled. No problem. Then the morning of he canceled again. He never changed the dates on the website. This time the money was sent to the captain because of the website.

I had even bought insurance for cancellations and such. When I reached out to the website to get my money back they said they could only help to try and contact the captain but that was all they could do on their part. That the money was already sent. The company where never helpful and kept passing the blame on to the captain and not taking any accountability for it. I kept been patient and while the captain was constantly lying and they kept saying they could do nothing, I had to start a CHARGEBACK from my bank. I had all of the evidence to prove the company needed to repay me and they needed to handle their own side with the captain. They are the responsible one and don’t let them tell you otherwise. I filed for a chargeback with my bank and I got my full refund, the company acted like a couple of incompetent customer service. Do not trust this company they do not have your best wishes in mind. They will not take any responsibility for any damages incurred even if it’s clearly stated in their own terms and conditions.

When a bank does a charge back to a company, the company needs to go through a huge uphill battle to defend their side. But it can tarnish or terminate the future accounts with this merchant. I had all the clear evidence that I should have been reimbursed from the beginning but they negated this fact, thankfully the bank could see the clear picture.

I hope Samboat learns a lesson and has felt the heavy penalty of not siding with their customers when there is clear evidence

Samboat cancelled on us 2.5 weeks before we were supposed to board their boat. We are flying from atlanta GA to Naples, Italy for this trip, and now we have nothing planned. This is so unprofessional and we will never consider using them again. And, they have not helped us find a replacement boat, at all. They have been indifferent and unhelpful. Do not use them!

The worst experience in over 30 years of chartering yachts.

I booked a yacht through SamBoat for £9300. The listing clearly stated the yacht had a generator – the main reason I chose it, as I wanted air conditioning at anchor during the heat of August.

Upon arrival, I discovered the generator was fitted but disconnected and non-functional. This was not a minor issue – it fundamentally changed the charter.

That was just the start of the problems:

· Delayed boarding by 3.5 hours – the yacht arrived late and was not adequately cleaned.
· Unsafe swim platform – the raising/lowering mechanism was broken. The securing line failed to lock it in place. The very heavy platform is an accident waiting to happen.
· Unsanitary toilets – holding tanks failed in two of the three toilets. Excrement returned to the bowls when in port. Unhygienic and disgusting.
· Missing equipment – no cockpit cushions, no paper chart for the cruising area. (unsafe), no dustpan/brush, no tea towels, no oven tray. Only one blunt chopping knife for food preparation.
· Broken items – fridge hinges broken, two hatches broken. We lost a days sailing getting the hinges fixed and hatches made seaworthy.
· Inadequate anchor markers – no decode provided; anchoring was guesswork.
· Poor arrival information – no proper address; had to phone the agent from a taxi at my own cost.

When I complained, SamBoat sent a generic "sorry you are having a bad day" email. They then claimed they were "strictly an intermediary" and refused to take responsibility.

They offered me a voucher – not cash – worth €2,175, valid for 3 years. I rejected this. A voucher is not compensation; it forces you to re-book with a company that has already failed you.

I requested a cash refund of €3,500 as a fair settlement. They refused and told me it was "up to the owner" – but they refuse to provide the owner's contact details. Samboat are now ignoring my emails entirely.

If you book through SamBoat, you are on your own. They take your money, take no responsibility for what is actually delivered, and if something goes wrong, they will hide behind their "intermediary" defence and leave you to fight with an owner you cannot contact.

I am now pursuing a chargeback via my bank.

Do not trust this company.

PS. On the 4th September 2026, they offered me: “The maximum compensation they are prepared to offer is €2,500, to be paid directly to you by bank transfer.”

Needless to say this money has not been paid to my bank account.

I have sent at least four emails chasing this promised money. All those emails have been ignored.

Easy to find what I was looking for.

Very Professional, perfect

The website has been easy to navigate. The team are very responsive on the phone when I have had any queries. The range of boats rentals, in France particularly, has meant there has been a lot of choice and the prices are extremely reasonable.

Really tricky cancellation policy make sure you read it before you pay for anything my ride got cancelled due to the weather conditions even though the weather was balmy 36 degrees also they ended up refunding the half with voucher so lost some money for a service that I couldn’t use.

We had a deeply disappointing experience with SamBoat over a boat charter booking for 10 outings across the summer season. Only the very first outing actually took place, and it was compromised by serious problems with the skipper provided, whose conduct raised real safety concerns during the outing rather than simply falling short of expectations on comfort or service.

Following this first outing, we requested to discuss a resolution. The owner refused any refund at all — not just for the problematic first outing, but for all nine remaining outings that were never carried out. At one point, the owner also indicated a willingness to cancel the booking directly with us, outside the SamBoat platform, in order to avoid paying SamBoat's commission — behaviour we found opportunistic and, frankly, scammy. We declined this, and in hindsight this was the right call, since it meant we retained the protection of SamBoat's dispute process rather than being left with an informal, unenforceable arrangement.

The dispute resolution itself took considerable time and back-and-forth. SamBoat's initial review of the case understated the number of outings in the booking (nine instead of the actual ten agreed in writing with the owner, including a tenth outing with a date to be confirmed later), which we had to correct by submitting screenshots and correspondence as supporting evidence. SamBoat ultimately ruled that the outings that never took place would be refunded, while payment for the single outing that did occur — despite the skipper issues — was released to the owner, on the reasoning that the owner had kept the boat blocked off and attempted some remediation on the day.

What frustrated us most, however, was SamBoat's handling of the €950 service fee. Rather than exercising any discretion in light of the owner's conduct, SamBoat applied its cancellation terms rigidly to the officially registered booking dates on the platform (9–22 August), which did not reflect the actual arrangement, and refunded only 50% of the service fee (€475) under its "moderate" cancellation policy. So while we understand SamBoat's role as a neutral intermediary, in practice this meant that a scammy owner's behaviour was effectively shielded by a mechanical application of the T&Cs, and we were left absorbing part of the cost of a dispute that was not of our making.

The process required far more documentation, follow-up, and patience than it should have, and the initial assessment of the facts was inaccurate until we intervened. We'd strongly encourage anyone booking through this platform to keep thorough written records of every detail of the agreement, including any verbal or informal changes, since these can become central to a dispute later on.

Sam boat is a great website to book boat tours for Croatia on. We specifically did the Pakleni islands in Hvar, and found it was a reasonable price for a full day with a skipper.

I’ve had a great experience working with SamBoat. The platform is professional, reliable, and makes the entire yacht charter booking process smooth and efficient. Their team is responsive, supportive, and always available when assistance is needed. As a yacht charter professional, I truly appreciate the opportunities SamBoat provides to connect with clients and partners worldwide. I look forward to continuing to work with them and arranging many more successful charters. Highly recommended!

Everything was easy & secured: from browsing the site for the boat selection to payment & enabling communication with the boat owner.

Very good service