Dream Yacht Charters

Bryan left a very good review about DYC. I'll hit some other items.

Pros:
Price
Availability
Scub Island base is part of a resort/marina (very pretty)
Ferry is free and close to the airport

Cons:
Preventative maintenance
Phone communication (use email or WhatsApp)
Scrub Island Market is very poorly stocked

As Bryan mentioned, you have to be very careful that you look over every specification of the boat. We had a FP 47 Saona with Gen, AC, and a Watermaker... With all of that investment, you'd expect some other options... Don't assume. It had pump toilets and no chart plotter/GPS at the helm.

My other struggle with DYC is that they have changed my boats at the last minute, nearly every time. We rented a Nautitech 46 Fly (owner's version) but the week of the charter, changed to the FP 47 (4 cabin + bunk room). They were willing to swap to a Lagoon 42 (newer) or let us out of the contract, but we weren't thrilled with those options.

DYC does a pretty laissez-faire attitude about everything. This is good and bad. You really have to push for what you want.

On the flip side, that laissez-faire style means you do what you want and checking in the boat is very quick!

My strong recommendation with DYC is to get a boat 0 to 1 years old. Anything older is going to have issues (in my experience).

Ours was 4 years old and it showed a ton of wear. Many dings, cracks, and scrapes. Inside and out. Our Generator wasn't working the first night. We did all of the troubleshooting and realized it was likely the impeller. Sadly, it required tools and a replacement, which we didn't have. We also didn't want to break anything.

DYC met us the next day at Cane Garden Bay and replaced the impeller. I'll post a picture of the original. I feel like this is a part that preventative maintenance would catch before it's broken. Props to DYC for sending some people out.

If you want to contact DYC base, use email or WhatsApp. They are incredibly difficult to get via phone. I asked for a call back and they called me. Everyone was super nice.

Bringing the boat back was fine. They had us dock the boat and conditions were fine. No problem there.

The Scrub Island marina is part of a resort so it's beautiful. Probably the prettiest base we've left from. We ate at Donovan's Reef and it was slow but very good. Great views!

The ferry to and from Scrub Island is free, runs every hour, and picks up on Tortola right next to the airport. We had luggage so we took a 2 minute cab ride. It's probably 2/3 of a mile or so if you walk. There's a little bar, restaurant, and market at the ferry dock so waiting is kind of nice actually.

DYC suggested using the Scrub Island Market but we found the prices and availability were not what we wanted. We used Rite Way, all online, and they brought everything to the boat on time. They actually loaded it all before we got there.

Overall, DYC has more boats and bases than anyone so it's pretty hard to not consider them. If you go with them, be meticulous with your research, voice your opinions, and push for what you want. If you go with an older boat... You're really rolling the dice.

Thanks to Amanda, Tika, Carlton for all of their help before, during, and after the charter. They are very nice people and they were very helpful.

Short Version -

DYC (DYC Charter) is huge and has a lot of yachts. They don't however have tight quality control processes around those yachts. Your DYC charter agent (if you use DYC's people) only half care about you, so it's on you to make you're clear about what you want, they're not looking out for you whatsoever. Be careful to not confuse DYC with the base. You're chartering from DYC and there's a disconnect between them and the actual base. Once you're on the yacht you're in the care of the base. Be nice to the base.

Long Version –

Our charter process began with the advice to use a private charter agent. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find a private charter agent that would work with us in time, so we had to go with DYC which had the boat we wanted and the timeframe we wanted. My guess is, a private charter agent that was reliable would be worth their weight in gold. I’m still looking for that for my future endeavors.

The DYC charter agent was very communicative when I needed them. Asking them for extras or asking questions about the specific yacht pretty much went nowhere. You pay and you get what you pay for essentially. They’re not going do extra things to accommodate you. Of the DYC packages, we had them remove the initial greeting package where they include a bottle of rum and some toilet paper we didn’t feel like we needed that. We did have them add fishing gear and a paddleboard. When we arrived they said they didn’t have any paddle boards at the base so we didn’t end up with that. The based shared they had fishing poles but absolutely no tackle so that was a no go. There isn’t very much communication between DYC and the base it appears. The base isn’t looking hard at the contract. They’re going to hand you the boat you rented (if all goes a planned) and let you go.

Orientation to the boat was very thorough by the base. Of course, we learned you have to be assertive and ask the questions that you want to know as well. We boarded the boat the night before the orientation and turned on every switch to try to understand what everything did before the orientation.

This was my first time using DYC. The information on their site good or bad seems to be very accurate. If the boat doesn’t say it has a certain amenity, it doesn’t have it. I made the mistake of assuming that every boat would have for example a chart plotter at the helm. The Fontaine Pajot Lucia 40’ we chartered did not state there was a chart plotter at the helm and the pictures (albeit) hard to see, did not seem to indicate there was one. Guess what, there wasn’t one. Something to be aware of as you were looking through their descriptions. They’re actually super accurate. Again, if it isn’t there, it isn’t there. If it doesn’t say it has a water maker, it doesn’t have one. The boat we chartered was the boat we received. DYC contract said that they would dive on the boat and ensure everything was ok. That didn’t happen. We ended up leaving the dock with a little bit of crab pot line around one of the props (we didn’t know that until we hit another crab pot) and had to remove it.
Condition of the boat

When we arrived it was obvious the boat that we chartered was the boat that we were receiving. The boat was only two years old but it looked like it was 10 years old. The finish was faded, the bottom had barnacles growing and was a little beat up. Other than that, it was the exact boat we chartered. The base let us know that they were extremely short on staff and it was hard keeping up with all of the maintenance items. We believed them. A little empathy, it was apparent they were trying to be kind and accommodating. Certainly, wasn’t a time to be confrontational.

Two days into our charter, we ran out of propane. That was a bit frustrating. We only had one Propane tank and no spare. Our original itinerary was to be off the grid for seven days. We adjusted the itinerary and fortunately, we weren’t off the grid, that would’ve been extremely hard if we couldn’t cook. We contacted the base and they drove 30 miles to meet us with two new propane tanks. That was very kind of them, and their staff was extremely helpful. We picked up the two propane tanks and looked forward to getting them installed. The first one wouldn’t seal because it was missing a piece of its O-ring. We could hear it leaking and used a little soapy water around the coupler. It made bubbles, so it was a no-go. It was not useable. The second one sealed fine and fortunately we were able to make coffee.

As far as sailing, sails, sheets and lines everything was in decent working order. Autopilot worked perfectly, (although we had to navigate using the chart plotter in the salon). A bit on this… If you don’t have a chart plotter by your helm in the boat you’re chartering. Bring an iPad or at minimum an iPhone with Navionics Boating. Keep it plugged in at the helm you will thank me later. A word on the iPad. It must be a cellular enabled iPad. It of course does not have to have a cellular plan, but cellular enabled iPads have a GPS. Wi-Fi iPads do not have a GPS and won’t work for navigation.

Notes on wrap up items for the base:
1. Leak in rear starboard cabin hatch.
2. Large stove burner does not work. The knob is stuck in the down position and won’t turn.
3. Forward cabin hatch is missing a nut and washer on the extender.
4. The nut and washer on the aft sugar scoop cabin window came off and are laying on the salon table.
5. The barbecue grill was extremely filthy and was unusable.
6. The mooring light does not work.
7. Ships clock needs a new battery.

When we notified DYC of the issues they of course were willing to refund the missing paddleboard and fishing gear. They responded with a sympathetic response around the issues but of course made no effort for restitution. We didn’t ask for restitution either.

Final thoughts

Overall I would say our experience with DYC was positive and the base was positive. We just needed to learn to navigate how they worked. We also needed to have reasonable expectations. I would absolutely charter with dream yet again and of course would be better armed to understand their process. Next time, I’m going to take a very good hard look at the amenities of the yacht I’m looking to charter. That is the biggest lever you have to ensure you get the exact boat you want.

Dream Yacht seemed more flexible and less cookie cutter than the Moorings felt. With the Moorings, it felt like you were on a Moorings boat (not an individual's boat), and with Dream Yacht it seemed much more like you were on an individual's boat in their fleet. The base in Greece was not the most fancy, but I am not sure that was their fault. The bases in St. Lucia and Grenada were very nice. The staff that I interacted with was all polite and helpful. I'd use them again for sure.