Southwest Florida Yachts

"If you own a boat (or thinking of buying one) THINK TWICE before using this outfit. I placed mine in charter and although it was one of the most popular boats in the fleet (even used for teaching piloting) AND their advertising said they were proud of their "history" in paying owners every month, I was never paid monthly. It seemed they built up YOUR earnings (to use them at their whim) to do work on the boat (much duplicity, much slip-shod work and I have the photos to prove it). They often never got the repairs right so had (at owner's expense) to go back repeatedly to try and fix. They refused to copy or show me THEIR bills (was there "override"?) whether it be for parts, labour, fleet insurance, etc. Best thing I did was pull my boat out@. A nightmare of an experience. (Plus they made you sign a contract giving them sole brokerage if you decided to sell.) (Answering the company owner's question about the almost decade delay): In trying to be thoughtful to my own relative who had a boat in the fleet, I didn't wish to hurt his charter business. I also didn't know when he sold his boat until recently; that's why the "delay" that the company owner twists in her customary way (see her other squirming responses to negative feedback); check out other reviews from real people, reall experiences. As far as the relative's comments, one of us takes our personal, private criticisms and keeps them private or only between those parties; the other takes his out into the public square; you know, the high road versus the low. I had the absolute right to carefully and publicly review my experiences with proof I had presented to the owner, regarding an enterprise doing business IN PUBLIC. As a former free-lance correspondent for CBS News, a broadcaster and consumer reporter, I ethically know where the line is. Unfortunately, I'm related to a person who doesn't and never has. He's known within circles as the "divider." Sound familiar? Yet he admitted later that he removed his boat before his contract had expired. Get this: he also claimed my boat was not in good shape (yet it was maintained by the company he supports)! Funny, but I was told it was the most popular boat in the fleet AND it was used MOST often by their instructor captains for navigation courses. Go figure!"

"We chartered a 40ft boat from Southwest Florida Yachts and I have to agree with all the comments about the unprofessional nature of the company. They are not a full service yacht charter company, they are a middle man linking potential charterers with private boat owners. The boats are not centrally located on their docks, they are not serviced or cleaned by them, and our observation is that they know very little about the boats they broker. They didn't even know where the key to the marina bathrooms was. It appears that on the larger boats they make their money on insurance and providing a captain, which they try and force on you. I would recommend a company that at lease maintains the boats they charter. Ours was not clean, badly dented, and questionably maintained."

"We chartered a 40-foot catamaran with Southwest Florida Yachts for a week. Unfortunately, we found them to be breathtakingly unprofessional and frustrating to deal with. Not only was the registration process a pain (all via snail mail/they kept forgetting to give us our contract), the boat was in poor condition (the entry door didn't lock because it was broken, one head reeked of urine, and the boat clearly had not been thoroughly cleaned), and Captain Chuck's orientation was a hostile smattering of questionable information, condescension, and threats. From the minute we stepped on the boat, every question we asked was twisted to make it sound like we intended to damage the boat. My husband asked whether a knife block that was precariously placed near a stairwell was secured, and he got a condescending response implying that we were going to recklessly take the boat out in bad weather. My dad tried to ask where the prop was located so that he knew whether it would hit bottom if we went into 4 ft deep areas--this was to clear up confusion, because both the SFY owner and Chuck had told us that we could get into Pelican Bay anchorage which was a max of 4 ft deep (the draft of the boat). Instead of answering the question, Chuck repeatedly threw back comments implying that my dad was intending to recklessly take the boat into water that was too shallow, reminding him that it was his (10k) safety deposit that was on the line. When my husband used the weak suction cup provided to open a storage area and the cover detached from the cup, Chuck made a comment about breaking "his" boat. He also reminded us several times that he didn't have to give us the keys to the boat if he thought we were unfit. At this point we had not even handled the boat. It was as though this company had decided that we weren't worthy of their business before they had even met us. During the test run Chuck drastically escalated the aggressive commentary to the point where we all felt like he was heckling and second-guessing our every move, and peppered us with gratuitous reminders that we were liable for any damage. In an abundance of caution due to wind (and probably stress) my dad took a couple of attempts to get back into the slip. After we were tied up Chuck informed us that he couldn't give us the keys -- but that if we hired Chuck as a captain for a few hours' training for a couple hundred dollars, then he was very confident we could take the boat because we were "really close." After reading other reviews of this company we decided this was likely to be a bad faith offer and opted to just stay in the slip and explore the area by car. We then waited well past the deadline to get the deposit back. My family has been sailing a 40 ft Moody in the Chesapeake, Intracoastal Waterway, and Atlantic for almost 30 years, and we have sailed an almost identical cat around the British Virgin Islands with no issue. We value safety tremendously, and if we were truly unsafe then so be it. It was the way that we were treated before we were deemed "unfit" that was so horrific. With that much abuse I don't know how anyone could have performed well. This company provides a poor service, and poor product. My recommendation is to avoid them at all costs."

"We have been doing bareboat charters for nearly 20 years. We have used several charter companies for both sail and power. By far the best has been SWFY because of their consistent professional approach and the quality of their fleet. On our last trip we struck a submerged object resulting in damage to both props. Their GM responded immediately, walked us through what to do and we thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the trip. The repairs were handled quickly, transparently and fairly. In the last couple of years it has become fairly obvious that there are a lot of folks who do not belong on the water. Mostly because they lack experience and/or won't put in the time or effort to learn basic boating skills. Please, if you have limited boating experience and are considering spending time on the water, use this company and do what they tell you to do. You'll eliminate a bunch of mistakes we all make when we're learning, they will be there when problems inevitably occur and will make it more fun and a lot safer for all of us on the water."

"We have been customers of Southwest Florida Yachts for about 10 years and have chartered more than a dozen times. This is a well-managed business that balances the needs of customers with the liabilities of loaning boats out that belong to other owners. That responsibility to customer safety is serious and thus behind some of the negative reviews I am seeing here where people without much experience on larger, salt-water-going boats are frustrated with needing to be checked out by a Captain, or the possible need to have a Captain for their trip. And as angry as someone might be for that, imagine how they’d feel if they damaged the boat and lost their entire $10K or $15K security deposit because they make a costly mistake. Lastly, it’s very clear in the contract that security deposits are refunded after 30 days because it takes time to have the boat dived on to check for damage or to repair others things that might have been caused by improper care. Anyway, if you are a responsible boater and want to explore the waters of this wonderful cruising area around Sanibel, Captiva, Cayo Costa island, Cabbage Key and more, Southwest Florida Yachts is a fantastic destination for you."