Cruise Ship Bookings

Yes, we can now offer cruise ship bookings worldwide. We joined the Expedia group and can not only offer cruise ship booking services but also pass on Expedia's incredible savings to our customers.

Bare Boat Search Engine (continued)

Yes, we are very excited about our new site http://www.bareboat-sailing.com with it's search engine for bareboats. It has been my feeling for some time that bareboats have become almost a commodity and that, as such, they are susceptible to being treated similarly to airline ticket booking. (as in Expedia, Travelocity, et al.) I mean no disparagement since I am an avid sailor and bare-boater myself. For some years we have had search engines that look for the availability of "fully crewed" yachts but up to now the bareboat market, which is much larger than the fully crewed market, has eluded us.

The idea is that a bare-boater can go to our bareboat site, click on the search engine button, fill in the basic stuff like, date, duration, number of cabins, location, and even model - and bingo he will get a list of boats that meet the criteria. Eventually we will have a system where he can place a hold on the boat or can actually book with a credit card. This last feature will be coming in a month or two.

We currently have about 1800 bareboats on the search engine in different locations worldwide. We are currently in very positive conversations with the Moorings, Moorings Power, Footloose and Sunsail to have their internal search engine on our site as well. This will give us an additional 1500 or more boats accessible from our website.

In the meantime I've started generating some buzz around this new site and frankly I'm glad about the favorable responses to my www.Tripatini.com profile and comment. I appreciate your interest and if anyone out there needs more information, I'm here to help.

This new site complements our other existing fully-crewed yacht charter sites: www.boatbvi.com ; www.boatmiami.com ; www.luxuryachtvacation.com and www.caribbeanyachtvacations.com

PRESS RELEASE - New Bareboat Website

American Yacht is proud to announce it's brand new bare-boat sailing website. This site has on-line booking capability for chartered bareboat sailing yachts. Please click on this link: www.bareboat-sailing.com to check outthe technology and the navigation. We're open to any suggestions for improvement

Charter Brokers Revisited

WHY USE A CHARTER BROKER?

Maybe it's the recession and the primal urge to get a better deal, but yes, we're back to this discussion again. Reason being that customers calling in to the office ask us more frequently: "are you the owner of the boat?" When the answer is "no, we don't own any boats, we're brokers...." I sense serious disappointment at the other end of the line almost as if we let the guy down in some way, like proposing to cheat him out of some hard earned cash, like we suddenly morphed into a middleman carpet merchant, or perhaps "gee, if we'd only called the right people we'd be getting a better deal" kind of thought process.

I guess I'm writing this blog to assuage my feelings of guilt almost as if I got guilty by phone osmosis. Anyway, enough of this sentimental garbage. Here are some real good reasons to use a broker: number one, try calling 4000 boats by yourself. (then do a comparative price/value analysis on an Excel spreadsheet...!! How do we assign points to the crew...??) Hmm, perhaps not - better call a broker.

No, seriously, we do perform an added value function in the industry but certainly from my perspective, this added value is, very simply, knowledge. The career track of most good brokers takes them through the ranks of chefs, mates, stewards, captains, and owner-operators of charter vessels. sometimes also through the ranks of the yacht management companies, clearing houses, yacht sales brokerages, and then finally they break out of the mold, start their own business and become charter and/or sales brokers. Then, and this is important, they travel around the world looking for the best boats and the best locations so they can share all of this with their customers; wow, this is valuable stuff. Here's my premise: this accumulated knowledge can only benefit you when you take your annual yachting vacation.

The broker can advise you where to go, choose the best boats and the best crews for you, tell you what the weather will be like and the probability of winds and sea states; where and when the special deals are going, what's the best time of year, what you should wear and how to save money on airline fares.

Here's the best part: it doesn't cost anything - this vast depository of knowledge is free for our clients to take advantage of. Using the analogy of mortgage brokers, realtors, and sales brokers, the sellers, in this case the boats themselves, pay us a fee to sell and market their products while they do what they're doing best - actually running the boats and looking after customers 24/7.

I guess I don't feel guilty anymore.

New Caribbean Charter Web-Site

We'd love to have all of you yachting enthusiasts out there to know about our brand new Caribbean web-site www.caribbean-yachts-vacations.com . I'm pretty biased but frankly I think it's very modern and informative and provides a level of detail about chartering a yacht in the different Caribbean islands that is not readily found on other sites. We have over 1000 different charter vessels that can be accessed directly off the site, an ideal place to start your holiday or vacation.

Summer Charter News

Summer 2008

Head for the Med: September is the best month for Late- Summer Mediterranean Charters...

There are still some excellent yachts left for the summer, June, July and August are the PEAK months but the best kept secret is that September is the best MED MONTH - especially for Turkey. This is the best time for that Mediterranean cruise that you never took and we do still have some super new vessels left. Check out Greece and the Islands, Corfu, Mikonos, Santorini. Many of the Caribbean yachts high-tail it out of their Winter cruising grounds and "head for the Med" in Summer. Please check this site for your ultimate luxurious yachting experience. We have a wide selection of family sized, Super and Mega Yachts for your Mediterranean getaway. Cruise the Greek Islands, Croatia, Turkey, the French and Italian Riviera's, Spain or the Balearic islands. Give us a call or contact us so we can send you a selection of hard copy or e-brochures. We have some excellent new itineraries and guides on this site for the first timer.

Book the BVI now for your 2008 summer getaway charter now for the off-season - budget rates available. Don't get left on the beach...!!

Book early and get the best boats now. Many of our premium quality crewed sailing and motor yachts are being snapped up. Please remember that the US is going through pretty encouraging economic circumstances and people are spending more money on their leisure activities. We'd love to put you on a beautiful yacht in Florida, the Bahamas, the Caribbean or the Med during the winter months. January February, March bookings are going like hot-cakes. We still have boats left..... Click here to send us an email.

Crewed Yacht Search Engine

We are pleased to announce a new Crewed Yacht Search Engine on all websites: use these engines to find the right charter boat in the right place at the right time. There is also a "new style" engine on this site: look under "charter-inquiry" or "Yacht Availability". If you put your dates, number of guests, price range and start location in the engine, it will provide you with a list of possible yachts that are available. It will only show those yachts that are available on your specific dates and that fit your criteria. You can use it for Florida, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, the Mediterranean and the Eastern and Western Caribbean, and other locations around the world.

Genoa show coming up now in May

Good news for the Mediterranean charter yacht shows. There will be good broker attendance, lot of sparkling new yachts and crews, excellent food. What more can we say? Low dollar taking a toll on US Broker attendance tho.

The Balearic Islands: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera,

Highly recommended and famous for hosting European VIP's and celebrities. These islands have it all: secluded getaways and sparkling night life. We have a major selection of yachts to explore these fascinating locations.

Poros Greece 2007 Charter Yacht Show

The Hellenic Charter Brokers Association had its annual brokerage show, or “Symposium” as they call it, in Poros, Greece in May. Delightful setting I may add – Poros is a winner because it’s away from, the hustle and bustle of Athens (Piraeus) and is a beautiful little place that has some great food and great hotels. We stayed at the 7 Brothers Hotel which is in the village center and within walking distance to the show - reasonably priced and very clean. The other two major hotels are the Image and the Syrene that are outside the downtown area but may brokers prefer them since they are more luxurious. I use the word “downtown” carefully since Poros is really a quaint little village.

People tell me that the broker attendance at the show was down from last year, probably due to fewer American brokers being there. The airfares and hotels and transportation in Euros make things very expensive. Furthermore, the pricing of Greek charters reflects the current Dollar – Euro imbalance and makes them pretty pricey. The value of the Euro is really making it difficult for Americans to travel and charter yachts in the Mediterranean.

Certainly this year’s show emphasized motor yachts over sailing yachts. There was a huge selection of Mega Yachts, most of them built and owned by wealthy Greek businessmen for their own use and who charter them when not being used. There was also quite an array of medium sized Ferretti’s between 75’ and 90’ – these seem to be the favorites at around E20 to E30K a week.

Greek (generally European) designed motor yachts seem to reflect closer family and friends relationships since most are designed to accommodate 10 to 12 guests and some up to 14 and 16 guests..!! This is virtually unheard of in the US and Caribbean. This may be due to USCG regulations but I don’t know why that would affect the Caribbean??

The Greek ferry system simply amazed us, every island is connected by an incredible network of ferries, most of which originate in Piraeus, just West of Athens. The ferries are relatively inexpensive and pretty much run on time in good weather. We took the hydro-foil ferry from Piraeus to Poros and the darn thing travels at about 40 kts, cutting a 2 ½ hour ride down to one hour.

How to get to Poros: Take the ferry (Hellenic Seaways) from Piraeus to Poros. The same ferry takes passengers onwards to Spetses and Hydra so you can also visit these islands easily from Poros. For the record, these islands and generally the waters of the Saronic Gulf are much more protected than the Cyclades (Mykonos, Santorini). If the weather forecast looks iffy, stick to Aegina, Poros, Hydra, Spetses, and the Corinthian Canal and Gulf.

We got “sidetracked” to the island of Rodos (Rhodes), in Greece so as to take the ferry from Rodos to Marmaris in Turkey for the Marmaris brokerage show. This is easier than flying to Turkey, if you need to get to Marmaris which is kind of in the middle between the airports of Bodrum and Delaman in Turkey and you have to fly through Istanbul to take a local Turkish flight. Rodos is a trip – full of British, German and Russian tourists. Nice historical sites like the fortress and the “old city” that the Knights of St. John built in the 7th century and many other archeological treasures. Well worth the trip there, even if you are just passing through.

Marmaris Turkey 2007 Charter Show

Just got back from the Turkish charter yacht show and I have to say that I was really amazed at the warm welcome and very special service I received from everyone in this delightful country. Although Marmaris is a resort town, full of Brits, Germans and especially very rich Russians, the locals are remarkably “un-contaminated”. So far.

In our little yachting world, Turkey’s Aegean coast remains the poor cousin of the classic Med destinations - certainly in the minds of our American clients. Worries about Islamic countries, political unrest, terrorism, etc. cloud our vision of the realities of this great yachting destination. Friendly people who genuinely love foreigners and don’t really care where you’re from - delightful weather, pristine blue waters, forested mountains that reach right down to the ocean and very reasonable prices are certainly reason enough to rethink your travel plans and plan your charter in this country.

Turkey’s Aegean Coast pretty much starts in the city of Bodrum which is the furthest North of the yachting grounds, then it extends down to Gokova with it’s unspoiled forests, marvelous ruins and archeological treasures, then further South to Marmaris which is your classical resort town with great hotels and restaurants, and continues on down to Gocek, in the Fethiye Bay with it’s large bareboat population and where many of the crewed yachts are based.

Charters are generally organized from Saturday to Saturday and the best sailing, as all sailors know, is with the wind behind you. So in summer, with the prevailing wind from the North, charters that start in Bodrum and end in Marmaris or Gocek are encouraged. It's also possible to cross over from Turkey to the Greek Dodecanese islands and jump back into Turkish waters again although there are ports fees every time you switch.

Turkey is also home to that very unique Turkish sailing ship the Gulet. (Spanish speakers please note the origin of the word “Goleta” or small sailing ship). These beautiful wooden vessels are still being built today and come in two basic flavors: the very large variety that can accommodate up to 16 or 18 guests and the smaller ones that generally carry 8 to 10 passengers. The master cabin is generally aft and large, the identical, generally spacious, guest cabins with en-suite heads run port and starboard off a long fore and aft corridor. The crews are Turkish but most are English-speaking, the service is excellent and the food delightful. We had several at the show – one had been launched only a few weeks ago and had that amazing smell of new wood. Built in Bodrum, she can accommodate up to 16 guests.

There is also an excellent and exciting assortment of motor yachts including some very new ones all of which can accommodate from 10 to 12 guests, however, the price of fuel being what it is especially in Europe, motor yacht itineraries need to be carefully planned to maximize fuel economy.

For the budget-minded, there is also an assortment of owner operated and generally smaller crewed monohull sailing vessels and a couple of crewed cats that operate either out of Gocek or Marmaris that can accommodate from 4 to 8 guests.

Bareboats are also available in all three major locations whether these be from the larger international companies or from smaller local companies, they all look pretty good. Bavaria seems to be the marque of preference here.

How to get to Turkey? Several options: fly into Istanbul and then take a local flight into either Bodrum or Gocek. (Delaman) Fly into Athens and take a local flight (Aegean Airlines) to the island of Rhodes and then take the ferry over to Marmaris. This is a favorite with charter brokers going to the Marmaris show.