Sailways Reviews 51

TLDR: They threatened to sue us.

I would never book again even if they had the only boat available in whole Greece. This was by far the worst experience of any service I have ever used.

We booked a boat ("Leandros") for four days in July (24-27) by a friend of a friend, so we did not look at other companies. Our trip was what someone could call "eventful", to say the least.
Besides a toiled that was clogged since the first day, we had almost no power during our whole trip. The generator did not work and at the ports, we only got power for a couple of hours. So, no AC, no fridges, no charging of our devices for most of the time. This was also a major issue for one member of our group since he needs a device to sleep properly, and we had therefore asked in advance if we would have any issues with power to which they replied that there wouldn't be a problem.
After telling our skipper about the fridge, he opened some bags of ice into our fridge without asking us, which ruined a lot of our food since it got wet.
In addition, towels and sheets were dirty.
On top of all that, our skippers were apparently not experienced since they crashed the boat 3 times in 4 days. While we did not bear the cost for the crashes, they caused a lot of stressful moments at every port we moored at. All the people at the marinas were looking at us. One time our skipper tried to park at a reserved space from a sailing company and the people from the sailing company explained to our skipper that the place was reserved. He ignored them and continued to tie the boat. After half an hour and a lot of commotion, our skipper was told by phone that he was wrong and that we needed to leave. When we tried to leave, our anchor caught another chain from another boat. This caused a further delay of 3 hours until we were able to free our anchor and park nearby.
Another issue was that our skipper had scheduled a hospital visit on the second day of our trip and another skipper would come to take his place. However, for this reason we had to stay in the area of Aigina, and were forced to change our plans. This, of course, is not the skippers fault, but the company's, that put him and us in that position.
Furthermore, another issue that caused us some stress was that the boat handover to the second skipper was done in a hurry, lasting only 3 minutes. It turned out that the second skipper had not driven a boat that big before and that he only had experience in sport sailing.

But regardless of all the issues above, we had a good time overall. Now, here comes the best part. We complained during our trip to the company and we were told to wait to find a solution. When we delivered the boat no company representative was there for us to talk to. So we left and were still in contact with them to get some kind of refund or at the least some apology. But nothing came out of it while we continued to wait for over a month. Then one group member posted a negative review regarding our experience and the company responded immediately and told us to remove the review and they will contact us soon. After no response again, other members of our group also posted their reviews. Then THEY THREATENED TO SUE US for painting a negative picture of the company. This is the most absurd experience I have ever had with a company. Not only that, they even replied to another review stating that we were not passengers of the boat.

Well the other negative reviews have pretty much covered all the topics that I could possibly mention. The boat that we received was poorly maintained, had one nonfunctional cabin toilet that soon after we left the port clogged, the onboard fridges were purely cosmetic, the charging ports were non functional both when we were sailing and when the boat was using the generator, the AC when on the generator was whizzing air at best, the provided towels and sheets were visibly dirty having stains on them, the skipper (that was provided by the company) was highly unprofessional, caused 2 crashes while mooring and so many more things… We did not enjoy our sailing trip due to the shortcomings of the provided service… I cannot imagine how the company got any positive reviews offering the kind of experience and service that we received.

Edit1: The company replied to our review claiming that we were not actual customers; unless there is a company with the exact same name and exact same boat, we rented the boat Oceanis 50 Family (Leandros) (boat can be found on the company website under the 5 Cabins Monohull Yachts) for 4 days, starting on Sunday 24th of July heading out of the Alimos Marina Pier 2 and returning on Wednesday 27th to the same spot. Our itinerary was Alimos-Aigina-Poros on the first day, Poros-Aigina on the second, Aigina-Ydra on the third and Ydra-Alimos on the last day. There is also plenty of video footage of all those days.

our holiday was taken care of in every respect, both in the welcome and in the planning of the navigation. The captain of the catamaran Janes, avoiding the bad weather on arrival, has perfectly planned our tour, making every moment enjoyable and facilitating the needs of the Crew. The hostess service offered by Emily with her Greek and international cuisine is also excellent. the overall judgment is excellent and the boat comfortable and clean. to recommend and to be redone

Sailways team was very helpful and organized everything perfectly. Τhe yacht was well maintained and, anything we needed, they responded quickly and immediately and the skipper was very nice and kind. We will definitely come again.

My family and I decided to sail for the first time.It was a very nice experience and our skipper was amazing, at first our plan was to visit the Cyclades but our skipper advised us because of the weather conditions it would be best to go to the saronic.We really enjoyed our trip and our children were really excited since they saw dolphins for the first time.The service was very nice and friendly and would recommend them for sure.

We really enjoyed our trip, mainly thanks to the professional and. Friendly skipper and the new boat that we ordered. Sailway did a good job even though that we waited too long to get the boat.

Extremely unserious company, the boat we finally got was in such a bad condition. Doesn't seem like Sailways maintain their boats at all. Never book anything with this company they ruined our vacation..

It all began with that the small dingey engine was broken, which lead us having to wait half a day to even get out of the harbour in Athens. When we finally left the port, it took about 1 hour before the engine of the big boat stopped working.
Our skipper thought that we should sail to the nearest port and wait for mechanics, which we did. It took 3 days before he appeared, which means we were stranded outside Poros for 3 days without being able to get into the port, our only possibility was via the dingey).

After he finally fixed the boat we could finally leave Poros. It didn't take long until we noticed diesel leaking throughout the boat's hull, so all compartments were full with fuel. Witch means that we have lived for 2 weeks in a terrible smell of diesel. I have pictures to prove it (I have pictures and video proof of every other problem as well)

It wasn't long before the generator stopped working either. The biggest reason why we choose this boat was because of the generator and Ac. But of course we were out of generator and electricity for 1,5 weeks. Apparently when the generator caused the diesel leak when it was powered on. But at this point it didn't even start anymore...

The 12 volt battery did not charge when we were driving the boat (with the engine), so we had to sail very early in to ports that had shore power, otherwise we would not have been able to start the engine the next day. (one time we needed to borrow a start booster from a neighbor boat)
We could never be laying in a port without shore power.

After 4-5 day we needed to fill up 300 liters of diesel ( 750 euro). The company said that the boats are always filled up when you get them. Our skipper noticed that
the fuel gauge where low when we did the check in, but they told him that the gauge were broken...

Boat problems:
Small engine problems (for the dingey )
Big engine problems (3 days)
Generator out of function for 1,5weeks
Diesel leak (smells diesel in the whole boat)
12 battery discharged ( Had to ask a boat beside us for start cables and use their battery)
We needed to fill up 300liters of diesel day 5 ( The tanks wasn’t even close to full when we got the boat)
AC do not work in front cabins

When we were about to check out I tried to bring up all the problems we have had with during our stay on the boat, they refused to compensate us for anything. Our entire vacation is ruined because of the Sailways.
Avoid this company by all costs!!

Very helpful staff. Adequate service and pricing. Small deficiencies and they tried solving everything very fast.

Is there zero star or minus? That would be more appropriate.

Boats at terrible condition.
When we experienced problem they provided zero help and started shouting that is our fault

At checkout they accused us that we damaged the boat and charged our deposit

Rude and unfriendly approach.. i wonder how they get clients with this approach..

Aa and be cautious cause every bad review will be followed by 3-4 good but fake reviews, cause they manipulate reviews…

Never again..

At check-in they make you sign a waiver saying “you have received the boat in great condition” even though their entire fleet is horribly maintained. If you don’t sign: you don’t get the boat and they’ll keep your money. We rented a boat called “Arwen”, nice boat but close to falling apart due to poor maintainance.

During our trip the mainsail tore. When we called the company for their “24 hour technical support” they weren’t of much help so we went looking for a sailmaker ourselfs. The sailmaker told us that it had torn before and that it had not been repaired properly, causing it to rip again.

Later in our trip, when we reeled in the headsail, the line drum broke off. Again their “24 hour technical support” wasn’t of much help, because when I called base manager Eriko, he preferred shouting at me instead of engaging in civil conversation. So of course, we went looking for a marine store to get replacement parts ourselfs. When installing the new part I noticed that the broken part hadn’t been installed properly. I emailed the manufacturer and they comfirmed this.

We spent several days in harbor and €320,- on maintaining their boat. Money which we had liked to have back. Yet the company wouldn’t have any of it, referring back to the waiver we signed. When we wanted to talk to them to come to a settlement, they made us wait for hours and again preferred shouting at us. So we agreed to continue the conversation by email.

A week later the company sent us an email in which they charged us another €1400 for not delivering the boat in time, which is completely made up as we docked and disembarked exactly when they told us to. I think they charged us this additional €1400 to justify taking our entire security deposit. However it is based on a lie and I’m pretty certain it’s fraud.

At the end of the day, we did not enjoy our holiday to the fullest because we were forced to stay in harbor to do maintaince on the boat. When we asked to be compensated for this the company reacted by taking our entire security deposit.

Avoid at all cost.

!!! Watch out !!!
Don't rent your boat at this firm!
The boats are really badly maintained en the people are not willing to cooperate. The company is willing to put you tru hell just to earn a few more bucks.

Our boat had some failures, they were blaming it on us, even tho it was obvious that it was due to bad maintenance.

A good rental company would try to help when stuff breaks, we had no such help.

Especially watch out for a guy named erico, he wil put you tru hell and blame you for doing the damage. The last thing he will do is try to help. Do not aspect any help form this guy. Really unfriendly and a real downer in your vacation.

We had a great vacation, but we were really troubled by the bad maintenance, communication and service of this company.

Please go to another firm, and have a better vacation.

It was clear to us and other professionals that this boad was badly maintained. Some of these things could have lead to very dangerous situations

These people are a discraces to the sailing rental world.

Exceptional service from the planning stages with Lori to the sailing with our captain, Fiori. Mystique in great condition. And the trip was one of a lifetime. We’ll be back next year.

This summer vacation is over and we couldn't overlook the time to have spent in Greece. The quality time we had with our families on the yacht is mostly owed to Sailways Team.

Thank you for a safe, joyful and amazing time on the Hellenic seas!

Hoping that we'll come back for Sea Adventure part 2
Deena.

Amazing company, amazing team, amazing experience!

I had alot of fun i reccomend it very much.

My first ever charter as a skipper was with Sailways. The company was very kind and professional. I had a lot of questions and a couple of small troubles during my journey, and company members answered each time and helped with everything.

First time sailing with Sailways in the Saronic Gulf.
this is a very friendly and professional charter compagny. The check-in went realy good ! we got a proposition to join a fleet of 10 boats so they could assure the service to us during the week. This shows that the this compagny is puting the customer first ! the boat was perfect and well maintained. no faulty equipepement, no surprises.
During the trip the office stays at your disposal for whatever you need.
The check out went also realy good in a trustfull atmosphere. so a realy great experience to sail with this compagny !

Hello, Sailways Team is super-responsive, very kind and helpful. All my questions were promptly answered, team was helpful, clear, and fair. When I experienced problems they were helping. See you next year!

Only had the charter for one day with the wonderful Veronica . What a lovely young woman with a great knowledge of sailing and made us feel very safe and looked after. Not imposing in anyway and listened to what we hoped for to celebrate my nieces birthday. Can't wait to return for a week next time, Thanks Veronica we will be back !

Another week of non-stop fun with sailways. Highly recommend