Expectations for Equipment Status on Motorboat Charter
 

For the second year in a row I have chartered a 3-day family vacation
as a combined instructional charter and cruise, i.e. I go on vacation
with my family while a captain helps me with the boat.

Last year I did this in a 42 foot trawler; this year it is a 54 foot
Bluewater.

For the second year in a row air conditioning has been inop on the boat
and the rental school seems to think this is a typical occurrence in
the boating world and something a renter should just take in stride.

Perhaps I need to recalibrate my expectations. Or perhaps the school
does. I do not know which.

If a boat is advertised as "luxury accommodations" and is taken on a
3-day instruction/charter cruise costing several thousand dollars, is
lack of A/C an expected occurrence and non-issue?

In article .com,
wrote:

For the second year in a row I have chartered a 3-day family vacation
as a combined instructional charter and cruise, i.e. I go on vacation
with my family while a captain helps me with the boat.

Last year I did this in a 42 foot trawler; this year it is a 54 foot
Bluewater.

For the second year in a row air conditioning has been inop on the boat
and the rental school seems to think this is a typical occurrence in
the boating world and something a renter should just take in stride.

Perhaps I need to recalibrate my expectations. Or perhaps the school
does. I do not know which.

If a boat is advertised as "luxury accommodations" and is taken on a
3-day instruction/charter cruise costing several thousand dollars, is
lack of A/C an expected occurrence and non-issue?

Lack of an A/C for me is a respiratory health issue. Having it
non-functional for three days in the Caribbean would be no fun and
instead of relaxing -- it might be damaging to my health.

I would make sure boats came with AC before I chartered them. If the A/C
did not work, I would expect an immediate repair, boat replacement or
major bill adjustment. Especially on luxury accommodations.

The alternative is to post as many messages about the company, naming
names to magazines, internet sites, newsgroups etc. to make sure other
potential customers know this company thinks non-functioning equipment
is an expected occurence.

(Now if it didn't work on Lake Champlain, OTOH, . . . )

But maybe that is just me.

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?

"JR Gilbreath" wrote in message
...
wrote:
For the second year in a row I have chartered a 3-day family vacation
as a combined instructional charter and cruise, i.e. I go on vacation
with my family while a captain helps me with the boat.

Last year I did this in a 42 foot trawler; this year it is a 54 foot
Bluewater.

For the second year in a row air conditioning has been inop on the boat
and the rental school seems to think this is a typical occurrence in
the boating world and something a renter should just take in stride.

Perhaps I need to recalibrate my expectations. Or perhaps the school
does. I do not know which.

If a boat is advertised as "luxury accommodations" and is taken on a
3-day instruction/charter cruise costing several thousand dollars, is
lack of A/C an expected occurrence and non-issue?

For what it is worth, my opinion is that if it cost several thousand
dollars everything should work. If part of the equipment doesn't work,
part of your money shouldn't either.
JR

Definitely. I've had the rare occasion when something like that wasn't
working on a Moorings boat. They either fixed it, moved us to another boat
(happened once), or took some money off.