Reputation of TMM Charters in BVI

[dwessner]

Would anyone care to offer words of wisdom about chartering through TMM Yacht Charters in the BVI? We are considering a weeklong cruise next July and are curious about TMM, as we have prior good experience with Moorings but before they were sold/aligned with Sunsail).

[Spear06]

There will always be people who have issues with any charter company. Key is to look across the average. Bad stuff happens to good companies.

Generally TMM BVI has a good reputation. (Other TMM base in the Caribbean had issues).

If you are looking in the BVI you can also check out BVI Yacht Charters. They have a strong reputation and they just opened a base in St Thomas USVI as well.


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[capnmatt]

It's been a few years but we have done two or three charters with TMM. All of them went very well and we would have no problems charting from them again in the future. All of the boats we have chartered through TMM have been well kept and any (minor) issues we had while on charter were dealt with quickly. As with most charter companies, it can get hot and stuffy at their base. If you are doing a sleepaboard the night before it would be preferable to have at least dockside A/C.

We also like Horizon at Nanny Cay. Very nice base and you still get the personalized attention that you get from TMM. I've heard good things about BVI Yacht Charters as well but have never chartered from them.

[jtsailjt]

They aren't horrible but they wouldn't be my first choice either. Of course their prices reflect that so I guess it comes down to you get what you pay for. In the BVI's I've chartered with Sunsail twice, Moorings twice, and TMM once and TMM was definitely a step below either the Moorings or Sunsail. The TMM cat I chartered was obviously older and the depth instrument was so cloudy it was very hard to read and when I pointed it out at the beginning of the charter, instead of changing it out, they said they'd mention it to the owner of that particular boat and try to get him to replace it. No huge deal because it's deep almost everywhere in the BVI's, but still, I don't think either Sunsail or Moorings would allow one of their boats out to charter with a barely readable depth instrument. Then, when returning the boat at the end of the charter, they assigned me to the furthest slip in (closest to their office) but as I was proceeding through the narrow channel leading to their base, the oil low pressure alarm suddenly started sounding on one of the engines. Since my experience docking the boat consisted of just one time to get water up at Saba, I didn't feel confident that I could proceed all the way in to the end, turn 90 degrees, and dock it in the furthest slip with another cat beside it with just one engine, and there also wasn't room/time to immediately anchor in their narrow channel, so I just continued in the channel and docked it at the first completely open slip I came to so I could get the engine shut down ASAP before any serious damage to it occurred. From the alarm first sounding to being tied up and shutting the engine off wasn't more than about a minute. They seemed quite irate that I had ignored their slip assignment and even after I explained why, didn't seem to think that even an engine alarm going off was a valid reason to do so. If it were my own boat, I'd want the engine shut down ASAP until I could verify the cause of the alarm, and would have handled it the same way, so I was surprised that they didn't appreciate that I'd handled it the way that I did. But they didn't own the boat I chartered so apparently have different priorities, such as certain boats MUST go in certain slips, no exceptions, even if it means possible engine damage.