Yacht Explorer Reviews 3

We recently chartered a brand-new sailing yacht through MK Yachtexplorer, and unfortunately the experience was far below expectations.
The boat was poorly prepared from the start. We even had to ask for basic items like clothes hangers. The check-in and technical briefing were rushed and very superficial, and the staff member clearly did not know the boat well.
On the first day, the depth sounder failed completely. Several attempts were made to fix it, and afterwards we suddenly had no charts on the plotter and no autopilot. Only the autopilot was repaired; we had to spend the entire week without a functioning chartplotter.
Later in the trip, we also lost electrical power because the deep-discharge protection system had not been set correctly. It shut down already at 13.2 volts, leaving us without electricity on board.
At check-out, we were then accused of having performed a chart update. We never did that, we had never even heard that this would be “not allowed,” and nobody ever mentioned such a rule before. This explanation came only from the base staff, claiming that this was the reason for the missing charts. To make things worse, the plotter did not even contain an original manufacturer SD card, but a Sandisk copy. Blaming the customer for their own incorrect setup is unacceptable.
Overall, this felt like pure rip-off. Never again.

very rude and unprofessional staff.Potentially found on damaged wear and tear equipmant as well.

AVOID THIS CHARTER COMPANY

DUE TO THEIR PREDATORY CHARTER POLICY, THIS COMPANY WILL HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE FOR REPAIRS FOR DAMAGE THAT YOU DID NOT CAUSE.

I was on a week-long flotilla charter with an American Sailing Association affiliated school with trained supervising skippers. When we returned the boat, MK Yacht Explorer charged us for a broken bracket and car on the self-tacking jib system (1,000+ Euros), as well as for replacement bow thruster propellers (500+ Euros w/ diver fees) that we used only in a normal manner. You should avoid this company unless you want to risk being left holding the bag for expensive repairs for damage you did not cause.

Since the weather was not particularly good during our rental period we didn't actually sail much, and what sailing we did do was almost entirely mild. Upon examination, we saw what looked like epoxy or filler repairs previously made on the deck around the retaining bolts of the bracket, indicating that the bracket had a history of damage. Perhaps the repair was done badly, maybe they didn't replace the shock-absorbing rubber bumper on the bracket soon enough, who knows? But we did not subject the tacking system to any abuse. Even if one did experience some strong wind, how does a charter company rationalize charging a customer for a jib system that can't handle tacking? That's absurd.

Because the damage manifested itself while we happened to be renting the boat, MK Yacht Explorer is charging us for the repairs. There is no proof that MKYE can provide that shows we abused the equipment. The same for the bow thrusters. We only used the thrusters briefly during docking. How would one abuse a bow thruster even if one wanted to? Despite trying to reason with them, MKYE's sole rationale is ""It broke during your rental, so you have to pay.""

These are the kinds of things that are considered "Cost of Doing Business" - natural expenses that occur in the conduct of a business operation. Things wear out or break in the course of normal use that a specific customer is not responsible for. That's standard business. The jib tacking system may have broken as a result of accumulated wear, a bad repair job, or poor maintenance - we can't say exactly why. But a single customer should not be held responsible for the entire history of the normal wear and tear of gear, which charging them for its repair is equivalent to.

Let me draw an analogy to an exercise bike in a health club. Many people will use a certain bike. Sometimes it will be used by hard-core bikers stressing the equipment hard. Every use, whether forceful or mild, will cause some amount of wear. One day, a petite newbie decides to give the bike a try, using only a light setting on the tension controls. But that little bit of additional wear and tear happens to be just the amount of accumulated wear that causes the tension mechanism to break. Is it fair to say to this lady "Hey, you broke it and you have to pay for it" since the bike reached a critical point of failure when she happened to be using it? Of course not.

This charter company is burdening normal costs of doing business onto customers. They are doing so by equating synchronicity with causality. They are not the same, and it is an abuse of customers to do so. That's a predatory business practice and it's not acceptable.

Unless you want to play Russian Roulette with expensive boat repair charges, you should avoid this company for your boat charter.