Eyes Wide Open
I was talking this morning here at the Genoa boat show with Katie Macpherson, a charter broker I know from Fort Lauderdale-based International Yacht Collection. We were discussing the boats we’ve liked the best on the docks so far. I mentioned one motoryacht in particular that I thought had a lot of potential.
She told me that she, too, liked the same motoryacht–but that she was concerned about the level of service that anyone booking a vacation through her might receive. I asked her why, as I found the crew knowledgeable and experienced. She answered that her concerns were not about the crew. They were about the motoryacht itself.
The guest cabins, in particular, caught Katie’s eye because she didn’t see any stowage areas for service or cleaning items. Nor did she see any direct access to crew quarters, which exists on other yachts this size so that crew can sneak in and out unnoticed to clean your cabin while you’re swimming or dining elsewhere onboard.
Katie asked the stewardesses on this particular yacht how they can change linens, refresh wet towels and replenish empty shampoo bottles and the like without these yacht design features. The stewardesses told her they simply walk through the same corridors and stairways as the guests, sometimes meeting them in the middle of doing housekeeping duties with arms full of dirty laundry.
That’s not the kind of thing people want to have happen when they’re paying six figures for a bigtime motoryacht vacation, and it’s the kind of thing reputable charter brokers like Katie look for when they attend boat shows like this one.
Brokers who keep their eyes wide open and look beyond the beatiful interiors see a heck of a lot of things that help to make your vacation the best that it can be. Which is why, as always, I recommend that you work with reputable brokers in the first place. You need to see more than the pretty pictures in the brochure when deciding which yacht will truly be the best for you.