We were a party of five experienced sailors who chartered a lovely boat from Altersail in the first week in October this year. The owner, Nikos Vitsaxakis was extremly helpful in guiding us. The boat was in first class condition and we had a great...More

  This was the most memorable yacht charter holiday ever! We travelled with our family of 5 adults and our 6 year old grandaughter. Nikkos was the most professional captain and he was so much more - a true gentleman. He also bought Eva with him,...More

  My daughter and i visited Crete last week and decided to do this half day yacht experience to an island called Dia.Well what a fantastic time we had.The crew Nikos and Nancy truly wonderful and made the sailing experience a special memory to remember. If you want do to a yacht trip use these people. Thank you.

  A couple of the best trips I've ever had traveling. I sailed with Nikos on two different occasions. Great captain, who makes sure you're safe, but also makes sure you see things and gives you opportunities to swim relax or whatever. We did a little...More

  Had the best boat trip today with George (Gorge?) and Nancy. Such nice and friendly, easygoing people, they are a treasure by themselves. They sailed us to Dia for half a day. For lunch they serve a really good meal (not the usual, but actually very tastfull cooking), Nancy is a great chef! If you're lucky, George lets you steer for a while and if you like you can help a bit with the sailing. And a special thank you to Thomas (from Austria), who picked us up at the hotel. We met some really great people today and had a wonderful experience. (@Thomas, did you get your phone working again?) More

  We did not have a good experience with Altersail. 1. We booked a sailing day through the Altersail's website and paid a deposit through PayPal. 2. The day before the sailing day the people who owned the villa we were staying in said the weather was unusually stormy. We checked with Altersail (the professional sailors) to ensure that they would proceed given that they weather was stormy/ windy/ raining. We saw this as a safety matter. 3. In the morning of the intended sailing, the weather was still quite stormy. While we were preparing to leave and meet them in Heraklion they called and emailed saying we should postpone the trip. We spoke on the phone. I said that we could not postpone due to the fact that we were leaving the area and had no more time. This is the exact content of their email to me: "We would suggest that we postpone our sailing day due to a general unstable weather. Kindly ask you to consider sailing together on ...” * I am not a sailor. When a professional sailor tells you we should "postpone our sailing day due to general unstable weather” that means you should not sail! This was the their guidance as professional sailors - not to sail. Crucially, again we saw this as a safety matter. Think about how this appears - the professional says "there is general unstable weather" and "we suggest we... We did not have a good experience with Altersail.

1. We booked a sailing day through the Altersail's website and paid a deposit through PayPal.

2. The day before the sailing day the people who owned the villa we were staying in said the weather was unusually stormy. We checked with Altersail (the professional sailors) to ensure that they would proceed given that they weather was stormy/ windy/ raining. We saw this as a safety matter.

3. In the morning of the intended sailing, the weather was still quite stormy. While we were preparing to leave and meet them in Heraklion they called and emailed saying we should postpone the trip. We spoke on the phone. I said that we could not postpone due to the fact that we were leaving the area and had no more time. This is the exact content of their email to me:

"We would suggest that we postpone our sailing day due to a general unstable weather. Kindly ask you to consider sailing together on ...”

* I am not a sailor. When a professional sailor tells you we should "postpone our sailing day due to general unstable weather” that means you should not sail! This was the their guidance as professional sailors - not to sail. Crucially, again we saw this as a safety matter. Think about how this appears - the professional says "there is general unstable weather" and "we suggest we postpone".

* I mentioned to them that my wife felt better about not sailing in the unstable weather that the merchant described in their email to me. The merchant agreed! They suggested that we postpone. (They brought this up again later, as if we insisted to "cancel" for this reason.)

* When we spoke on the phone the merchant said he would issue a refund. He mentioned nothing about losing our deposit, or a partial refund. I was closely paying attention to ensure we were refunded during this call.

4. I emailed the merchant three times over the course of the week after this looking for the offered refund. They only responded after one week, after I sent an email saying that I would escalate to PayPal and post poor online reviews.

5. In Altersail's response they NOW said that; according to their Cancellation Policy we are not entitled to a refund, but that they would offer a 50% refund. I was shocked. They said we should postpone our trip due to unstable weather. Not being a sailor, I took their safe guidance to not sail on this day. They said nothing at all about us losing our deposit. On the contrary, they offered a refund on the phone. This was absolutely ignored when it came down to it.

I have taken sailing trips on every family holiday for years. I imagine their actual sailing experience was lovely, but my experience as a client here has been very, very poor. I have never taken advantage of a single merchant and I feel now like I am being taken advantage of. I am extremely disappointed.

We had a second family with us. They agreed that this was absolutely bad behaviour on behalf of this merchant. Also, I don't believe I have ever posted a bad review of any vendor at any site - so perhaps this will lend some weight to the sincerity of my issues here.

In the end, I took their offered 50% deposit to be done with it. I thought it was still however appropriate to share this poor experience so other people might be wary of the possibilities here.

Best,
Chris More

  We are just back from the boat excursion from Heraklion to a nearby island called Dia. It was one of the most enjoyable and relaxing experiences in my life. There were nine of us including three boys 5 to 12. The boys just loved it....More

  enjoyed the sailing. Thanks for the good tips from the places where we could go We have visited them all and finised the day with eating rabbit

  We were at a Full Day Sailingtrip with Captain Jannis yesterday. We enjoyed this Day totaly. The Crew of the Boat „Barbarossa“ was an excellent Team and gave us some Information about the Island Dia and about Crete. We sail to a bay at Dia Island and we swim in a crystal clear Ocean. Then we had a Lunch cooked by the Crew. Regional Food, it was awesome and it tastes really good. After the lunch we ship to an other bay and there we can swim again. After 2 Hours in this Bay we sail back to Heraklion. It was a very special day for us and we will come Back again. Many Thanks to the Crew from the Barbarossa! Special Greets from Cologne Germany!! More

  I cannot say enough great things about Nikos and his team at Altersail. I booked a trip to Dia island for 11 people. We chartered 2 sailing boats and had an exceptional experience from start to finish. I hired Altersail after extensively researching every yacht...More

  Absolutely wonderful day! Nika and his crew-mate (whose name I have forgotten, sorry!) were both lovely, the food was great and the boat was very comfortable. Extremely relaxing and interesting trip, I can't recommend it enough!

  Two girl friends and I did an afternoon sail to Dia island on our last day in Crete. We didn’t know what to expect but from the moment we got on the boat it had exceeded anything we could have imagined. Nikos and Emma were incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and passionate about what they do and it showed. From mythological stories to letting us know about technical sailing aspects - Nikos was always happy to answer any questions and then some!
And the actually trip itself - I still don’t know how to describe it. The journey to Dia and back was beautiful, the water a deep blue until we dropped anchor to swim - where it was then crystal clear and calm. My friends and I even swam to the island shore and back before we were served our delicious dinner (with wine!) on the front of the ship in the warm evening sun.

There was absolutely nothing I would change, everything was perfect. Thank you Nikos & Emma for such a memorable experience - it was the highlight of my trip.

-Dia