Dear Sir, Madam,
I have a major compliant about the “Afternoon Dolphin Sail” (left at 4:00 PM) we took on the Pride on Wednesday, June 12, 2013.
We were a party of six (6) staying at the Courtyard Marriott – Historical District. We made our reservations through the concierge at the Courtyard on Tuesday, June 11, 2013.. The concierge called your company to make the reservation. The person on the phone for Schooner-Pride said a credit card number was necessary to hold the reservation. My wife got on the phone and supplied a credit card number. The Schooner–Pride person informed my wife that the reservation was non-cancellable and non-refundable if we failed to appear for the cruise. After the call was completed, the concierge recommended that we arrive at the departure point, Aquarium wharf, by 3:30 PM in order to get good seats.
The next day we left in order to arrive at the wharf by 3:30. I arrived at the wharf ahead of the rest of our party. When I arrived at 3:30, the wharf was deserted. The schooner was there, but there was no evidence of any persons or other activity on the schooner. Alarmed that we might be at the wrong place, and mindful of the admonition that our reservation was non-refundable, I hollered at the schooner and otherwise made noise, thinking that persons may be below deck. I received no response. After 5 minutes or so a person showed up. I do not know his name but he was wearing a blue shirt. I asked him about the yacht and our reservation. He confirmed that the yacht was the Pride and asked if we had tickets. I said no, that our reservation had been made by telephone from our hotel. He said we had to have tickets to board the Pride. We discussed this a bit, but the person insisted we needed tickets. I asked where I had to go to get tickets. I was told I had to go to the ticket office that was several piers away. I took off to find the ticket office, somewhat unsure of where it was because we were tourists on our first trip to Charleston.
I will mention at this point that the day was unusually hot; the temperature was near 100. Running around trying to find a ticket office was not fun. I finally heard my wife calling me; she had come looking for me. It seems that Pride staff had arrived and we were booked for the 4:00 sail. I later learned that the person giving me advice was a photographer, who obviously had no knowledge of the Pride’s booking process and never should have been giving advice to prospective passengers. I suggest that you take steps to insure that similar persons are advised not to give advice to passengers about boarding protocol.
However, my major complaint concerns the sail itself. The sail was advertised as a two (2) hour sail around Charleston harbor. I was somewhat surprised when we boarded to note that there was no cover available anywhere on the yacht for shade from the sun. As I mentioned, the day was unusually hot. There was also little wind that day. In any case we started our sail. We went to the bridge and then proceeded to Fort Sumter. Although, the sails were all raised, because there was little wind most of the time we were under motor. As we began to get close to the end point of the cruise, the skipper turned off the engine. The result is that we sat in the water, the sails barely fluttering because there was no wind. I have considerable sailing experience myself. We were sitting on the water in 100 degree heat, with no breeze, and no respite from the sun. I asked myself, what is going on? Why doesn’t the skipper at least turn on the engine to create a cooling breeze? After a while (we sat in the water under the hot sun for over 20 minutes), I finally figured it out. The sail was advertised as a two (2) hour sail and if we had continued we would have reached the dock in less than two hours. I looked at my watch in order to time our arrival. After about 20 minutes or more, the skipper turned on the engines and we proceeded to the dock. We touched the dock at exactly 6:00 PM.
I consider the skipper’s behavior to be extremely unprofessional. I can only conclude that the skipper was more concerned with using the engine (and the resulting fuel cost) than the comfort of his passengers. It is not clear to me why the yacht could not have been under engine, which would have provided a cooling breeze, even if it meant sailing past the dock and returning. I am positive the skipper was aware that his passengers were sweltering under the sun, but he obviously did not care. Perhaps this is Schooner-Pride’s normal course when a cruise threatens to end early.
I will send a copy of this e-mail to the concierge at the Courtyard with a recommendation that they not book future guests on the Schooner-Pride.
Bill Kraft
[email protected]