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• S/Y Sophia

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Comments from clients who sailed with us in 2011

Francesca,

Thanks for the follow up. As first time charterers in Greece we were extremely pleased with all aspects of our sailing. The boat was perfect for our needs (except they should have full queen sheets and blankets on the berth , not a bunch of twin sheets). Tasos boat was very accommodating. Spiros was a great captain and he had put together an itinerary that was appropriate for our time and weather conditions. Your office was extremely helpful in setting it all up and was extremely responsive with info and follow up to our rookie questions. Thank you. All in all our first time trip to Greece was memorable and rewarding . We will fill out your form in the next week or so and send some pictures as we are only now getting to edit it all down.

Thanks again
Bob

We all had a great time and would definitely do it again!
Nancy

Bob and Nancy H (USA) and friends chartered catamaran Sofia VI. Lagoon 420 (2008) from Athens in April 2011with skipper Spiros Kaminaris. Please see their photos here.

Dear Francesca

Thank you. I still have to write it all up anyway.

No one could help the weather.  It’s one of those things you take as it happens.  Our experience of Greek Sails was superb.  Andreas and his team couldn’t have been more helpful, and although we didn’t get out much, what we did do was very useful.  The yacht was well equipped, well prepared, very clean, and everything worked.  On every charter there are one or two minor things that need attention, and Andreas was both quick and efficient in dealing with these (morse control replacement, log paddle wheel).  Because of the unseasonal weather, we needed more blankets and these were quickly provided.  Although we weren’t on a flotilla, the lead boat crew was equally supportive, particularly to my wife who was less experienced.  Andreas knew the area well, and recommended easy moorings for us as we were short-handed.  And he was always there to take our lines when we returned.

And Poros was delightful!  A real community, where individuals were treated with respect and where there was not a trace of reserve against ‘incomers’, which can happen in some places.

I would (and am going to when I get around to writing my article for Sailers) recommend Odyssey and Andreas unreservedly.  And I will probably be back at some point.

With every good wish,

Richard T.
Editor
www.sailers.co.uk

Richard chartered a Sun Odyssey 29.2 from Poros in April 2011. Andreas is part of the flotilla team that operates there.

Francesca,

Thanks for your e-mail and for providing the great service during our trip. I will say that it was quite an adventure and there were many cold and wet days where we didn't really think we were having the vaction depicted in the brochure, but no one can control the weather. All in all we had a great time and I would (and have) recommended your company to numerous people. Thomas did a great job trying to ensure that 6 different people with 6 different ideas of what the vacation should be all had a great time. He was friendly and flexible and made the trip a success.

We would love to "redo" this vacation (during the warmer months) but we really enjoyed the adventure and the group. Hopefully we will get better weather next time.

Thanks again

Mike

MIke booked a berth / cabin on a cabin cruise sailing yacht from Mykonos to Santorini in April.

The yacht is in excellent condition and is well equiped. Yanis, the owner, was very helpful. We will definitely come back to the area ans would like to charter this boat again.

All tick boxes: reception, condition, inventory, engine, sails, base, area = excellent.

S. Gottesman, from Israel, chartered s/y My Way, Bavaria 47, from Thessaloniki in April 2011

Lead crew have a special personality which supports this type of activity fully. We found them exceptionally friendly,helpfull, supporting, empathetic and above all had the knowledge and experience to support the diverse group which we were part of. You have the formula right, please do not change.

All tick boxes: reception, condition, inventory, engine, sails, base, area = excellent.

Stuart charterd a Sun Odyssey 32, on flotilla, from Poros in May 2011

Hi Maria,

I think my message to you last week bounced so I am writing to you again to thank you for all your help with our holiday.

We had a great time and the boat, and service at the base, was very good.
We had a problem with the GPS and the speed log but managed to navigate our way around the islands using traditional navigational methods which was good fun.

Thank you again for all your assistance.

Regards,

Geoff

Geoff P chartered 'Kalos Manolis', a Sun Odyssey 35 from Athens, in May 2011.

Dear Captain Thomas,

Thank you for a dream vacation.
Our family loved sailing around the Cyclades with you.
The itinerary was very flexible and fun.
The islands are beautiful.
Any future sailing we do in Greece we will be sure to call you.
Thanks again for all your recommendations and a great adventure.

Tameria Wheeler

Alamo, California, USA

Captain Thomas,

Thank you for a once in a lifetime experience sailing around the Cyclades.
Your wealth of knowledge made our adventures that much more fun.
I appreciate the time you took to teach me the basics of sailing and then giving me the chance to be behind the wheel was WILD!
And of course the night cap on a pirate ship was one of a kind...
Hope to come back again on another excursion...

Jennifer Wheeler

Old Saybrook, Connecticut, USA

Captain Thomas,

Thank you for the wonderful voyage, it was a dream come true.
Your insight and knowledge of the islands and Greece was inspiring and helpful.
Good luck in your future sails.

Thanks,
Ashley Wheeler

Concord, Mass. USA

Dear Captain Thomas,

I really enjoyed sailing around Greece.
It was super fun.

Thank you,
Erica Wheeler (aged 12)
California USA

Dear Captain Thomas,

Thank you for the wonderful voyage around Greece.

Sincerely,
Harrison (Wheeler, aged 10).

PS. Included are two drawings from Harrison of “Crazy Penguin”!
The notes of the ages in parentheses are mine.

Wheeler party- sailed with 'Idylle 1 - Beneteau 15.50, with Captain Thomas, 13 – 20/06/2011, Syros to Santorini

Everything was great, the boat, the equipment and the skipper perfect, the route was improved and the skipper made the correct recommndations. Thanks for the good service and the attruction that we received.
Javier and Valeria

All tick boxes: reception, condition, inventory, engine, sails, base, area = excellent.

Javier and Valeria chartered an Oceanis 40, "Nany" from Athens in June 2011

Marco is a fine and professional host and sailer. He added immesurably to our experience!
B.R. Steve

All tick boxes: reception, condition, inventory, engine, sails, base, area = excellent.

Steve chartered Atlantic 55, ALBA IV, from Syros, in July 2011

Francesca,

We had a wonderful week in the Argolic Gulf. The transfer from airport to Poros worked smoothly. The weather was perfect as was the boat, except that there was only a holding tank for the after head - it slightly takes away the point of having two heads if you can only use one of them in harbour! We found Greece much cheaper than Turkey, where we had been in May on a friend's boat, and the food much more varied and delicious, especially the tomatoes. Oh, the tomatoes! There were also only one small mooring fee all week, though we paid for water if we took it; contrasted to Turkey where there is usually a harbour due of some sort - not much - but there is often water and electricity on the quay.
However this is not a problem, just an observation.

Andreas whom I expect you know, came as our lead skipper, and brought his wife and 2 small children. His wife and the two children were delightful, but as the children had to be got up and fed it meant that starts were a bit later than we were used to, and then the hops were usually 18 to 25 miles, which after a late start meant there was not much time for a lunch stop; and as Anouk was looking after children she didn't have time to network with us, help and advise on shopping, restaurants, and perhaps even expeditions inland. I am not sure if the long hops were because there are not many suitable harbours in the Argolic Gulf: I can understand why Andreas didn't want to go into Idhra (see Rod Heikell's Pilot), but I wasn't sure why we didn't go into Spetsai.

Anyway, we are not remotely dissatisfied, we had a great time and met some lovely people, which is one of the reasons we prefer flotillas to bare-boating; the other is help in finding a berth, manoeuvring into it and having someone ashore to take the lines, and in this respect I have to say Andreas was the best I have come across. And Anouk excelled herself when they gave us a meal ashore on the beach; wonderful food!

Richard Young

Richard chartered 'an Oceanis 40 from Poros on flotilla, in July 2011

Dear Francesca,

Yes, we did fill out the feedback form. Essentially, we absolutely LOVED our trip and Nikos and Helene were amazing. It was a bit crowded with 8 people but Nikos handled that so well by making sure we were dockside each evening so everyone could come and go easily. We did go to Mykonos as we requested, and I am glad we did, but it was probably our least favorite island. Syros was really one of my favorites. I could have spent a week there. We loved that he took us to Delos as well. It is the island with the ruins. So very fascinating. If we had a smaller group, I think it would have been wonderful so anchor on some isolated island and spend the night there but that is just not possible with a group our size.

The only comment I made to Nikos is that I feel the hostess is really a necessity…especially with a group the size we were. I personally feel that the cost of 150 Euro would have been too high for us, but he should just build the price into the cost much like the captains costs were in the cost as well. My hesitation was that with 8 people already, 1 more would not make sense but now I can’t imagine our trip without her. Helene was an absolute pleasure to have on board.

I will say, we had some of our people express reservation when they were coming over because of the problems in Athens but that was not an issue at all in the islands. I would be happy to speak to anyone who has a concern for you. Nikos said that there were some cancellations because of it and that is really a shame in your high season. It probably made it more enjoyable for us as I think it did reduce some of the crowds and we never had any issues getting into any restaurant we wanted to go to. We even went to Nikos’ Mothers restaurant in Syros…SOOOO enjoyable! Thank you for everything Francesca. It was the trip of a lifetime. Now I want to see more!! J I will send you pictures separately.

Barbara
Barbara and her friends chartered Ariana, Omega 56, from Santorini to Syros, in July 2011
Please see their photos here...

Hello Francesca,

Myself and my family, we wanted to thank you very much for the nice holidays we had on Sophia ! We appreciated very much Sophia in general and also about some little details you never get with a standard bareboat. We loved the sailing area, especially Alonissos area. A very special thanks to Panagiotis for his warm welcome and hand-over of the boat : definitely not usual !!! See you, Thierry

Thierry chartered a s/y Sun Odyssey 33, "Sophia", from Skiathos - Volos, in July 2011

Hi Francesca, thanks a lot for your mail and apologies for the late reply. I havent filled in any feedback forms since we took the boat from Skiathos and not from your base in Volos. In general our sailing experience was very positive. Everything was very good at the reception. - The boat was delivered on time and in a very good state (clean, filled with water,gas and any other standard required supplies. - Check-in was thourough and at the same time fast and Antonis was very helpful and ready to answer any questions I especially appreciated the fact that he brought the boat to Volos and we could also start the check-in earlier than the usual time.

As far as Odyssey sailing is concerned, I can say I had a very pleasant experience dealing with you and I congratulate you for your professionalism. I will definately consider your company for the future and will not hesitate to suggest it to other people as well. Some ideas for improvement: - Better pictures for all your boats in your website. Its is important for the customers to understand the capacity and internal arrangment of the boat and decide the size of the boat that bests fits their needs. - It would be nice if you had some cooperation with some people in the port of Skiathos, who could help your customers refil water, find mooring etc.. We had a really hard time finding water when we returned to Skiathos the last night as it seamed many water outlets were privately managed by companies, and they were not willing to provide us with water!! So thanks again, best regards and hopefully we will be in conctact again next summer or even beforehand for the next sailing excursion!

Panos

Panos chartered with his friends a s/y Ocean Star 495, Ocean Blue, from Skiathos in July 2011

Dear Francesca,

We are now back from our vacation on IRIS. The boat was great and the crew was fantastic and highly professional. It has been a pleasure working with you – and we will surely want to cooperate in the future

Best regards, Lukasz

Jan Lukasz chartered a m/y "Iris" from Mykonos, in August 2011

Very friendly staff.

All tick boxes: reception, condition, inventory, engine, sails, base, area = excellent.

Jovan chartered a Bavaria 36, "Assante", from Volos, in August 2011

Panos and Francesca, a great two weeks, "Sophia" is a very well ahd the sails are a agreat addition. We had a supurb time.

All tick boxes: reception, condition, inventory, engine, sails, base, area = excellent.

John chartered a Sun Odyssey 33, "Sophia", from Volos in August 2011

Hello Francesca!

thanks for your email, sorry for this late reply, maybe you have already seen our feedback.

In any case, our personal feedback is that the trip was great, boat was a fantastic old lady in wonderful shape, we had a perfect on time reception at the base, and - above all - a superb skipper, who was at the same time expert and reliable, open to discuss the trip and the options, gave us a lot of good suggestions and was also a funny friend. We really had a good time.

Please thank Alexis again on our behalf.
Regarding the places before and after, Kala Nera and Agios Ioannis, they were both nice and we enjoyed ourselves, though we all prefered the sailing days.

See a couple of photos we took on boat, I will send more when I receive the ones of my friends. Thanks for mentioning discounts, we love Greece and we love sailing trips, so maybe we will be in touch again next year!

All the best wishes, Francesca, thanks again for all your kind help

Paola

Alexis was great skipper, so kind, funny, expert and reliable.

All tick boxes: reception, condition, inventory, engine, sails, base, area = excellent.

Paola chartered a Dufour 45C, "El Nino", from Volos, in August 2011 with skipper Alexis Toumboulidis

Dear Francesca,

Unfortunately holidays are over. With respect to the cruise, it was a very pleasant experience. We enjoyed a lot sailing from one island to another and visiting them. The ship was ok although I have no previous experience and I have nothing to compare with. Junior, the skipper, was a very nice person and we felt secure in his hands. The first day, the sailing was a bit long because of the wind and some people became sick and for the same reason we coould not reach Amorgos but I think there is not too much you can do about it. To sum up, a very nice experience. I will do it again. Bye

Pablo booked a berth / cabin on a cabin cruise sailing yacht from Mykonos to Santorini in August 2011

Hi Francesca,

Just wanted to thank you for organising everything for us. We had a great holiday. Much appriciated.

Best regards, Grahame

Grahame and Justine chartered a s/y Bavaria 37 cruiser, from Lefkas in August 2011

Hi Francesca,

I’m not sure that we filled in a feedback form but certainly we talked a lot with Andreas and Anouk. It was a fantastically well run charter/flotilla. The best bit was the sailing support – we were lucky maybe that A&A were serving as lead boat and their company made the holiday special. The boat was in good working order but would have benefited from more comforts e.g. more than two teaspoons and half a dozen non-matching glasses, some cockpit cushions maybe and a cockpit table. I think Anouk intends upgrading these things. The itinerary was fine, the schedule fine. It was good having adults running the whole thing rather than the usual student types that you get with Sun**** et al. We are hoping to come back next year – to do our certificates then maybe stay on for a few weeks, some with a flotilla, some on our own. Price will determine what we can do. We’ll be back in touch. We were 100% satisfied and will keep you a well guarded secret. Only joking! Ian

Ian chartered a Sun Odyssey 32i from Poros in August 2011. Andreas is part of the flotilla team that operates there.

Hi Francesca,

I do not recall filling out an end of trip questionaire nor do I appear to have a template on any of your previous emails. Therefore I will address the main items that you have included below
 
1. Boat, the boat was fine and we were happy with it
2. Reception on arrival, reception was good and we were so delighted to be in Poros that it would have taken something absolutley catostrophic to make our experience anything other than positve
3. Lead crew, Roger and Marilla we interested and friendly
4. Itinerary, the strong winds and peoples sailing ability determined the itinerary, such is life
5. Support, not sure what you mean by support
6. Daily routine, I think that each boat pretty much observed their own routine
 
Finally we really enjoyed our sailing holiday and fully intend to do it again. Thank you for everything and and we will be in touch in due course.

regards,
Martin
 
Martin chartered a Sun Odyssey 36.2, "Elli Lampeti" from Poros on flotilla, in August 2011

Francesca,

The team of Lefteris and Apostollo did a very good job and were quite accommodating to us.  We were able to discuss with them the check out and they helped us coordinate schedules and the trip to the grocery.  They were even kind enough to let us relax a bit on their “office boat”, where we could store our bags, so they would not be left on the dock unattended.

We were able to show concerns and maintenance needs to both Lefteris and Apostollo upon our return FRI evening.  We took care of all clean up and fuel as well as water on that evening as well.  We must have just missed Lefteris on SAT a.m., but had chatted with Apostollo again that morning.

The boat size and accommodations were quite nice.  Things worked well and we had no major issues during the charter.  I am hopeful that we can look forward to yet another Greek adventure soon!

As always, you and your team are incredibly helpful.  We got to the airport on SUN with no problems at all.

Cheers, AJ

AJ, chartered a Bavaria 36 " Anhtiope" from Athens in September 2011
Please see their photos here

Dear Francesca,

thank you for your e-mail. We had a wonderful time sailing a yacht in the Greek islands!

Pretty much everything meet our expectations. We had a nice welcome in the marina, the crew explained everything about the boat and we had no problems with operating it. The weather was fabulous and Greek food very nice! :)

I would definitely love to do a trip like that again. Maybe even next year :) Thank you.

Wojciech

Wojciech chartered a Beneteau 343" Ariadne" from Athens in September 2011

 We had and amazing trip!
Jeff

Jeff A. (repeat client) chartered a motor yacht in Croatia in August - September, 2011

We have had a great time. We gave the feedbackform at the base but here are the answers to your questions:

• Boat = fine condition. The bimini is very small on a 29.2 but there was a possibility to make a ‘tent’.
• Reception = was perfect! Also the charter from the airport + the hydrofoil were great
• Lead crew: we had the new crew but they did great; they tried to meet our requests as much as possible
• Support: the little this on the boat that broke down were made perfect the minute we told them
• Daily routine: the first week (south) were the distances too far. The second week (north),it was better. We loved the environment/nature. We liked that there were days with groupmeals and days you could decide for yourself what to do for dinner.
• Suggestions: Tupperware on the boat for some food items, cushions for outside on the benches

I hope this short feedback helps you to get an impression of our experience.

Kind regards,
Tatjana

Tatjana chartered a Sun Odyssey 29,2 from Poros on flotilla, in September 2011

Thomas was a gracious and most patient host. He responded well to our needs and was most helpfull with information and answers to all questions. The complimentary champagne was greatly appreciated. A great sailing lesson.

Regards,
Ernie

Ernie chartered Idylle 1, a Beneteau 15.50 from Syros to Paros in September 2011