Anyone chartered with Cosmos? Good or bad experiences?

[QuestGirl]

Hi all,

We're looking to charter in the Caribbean (2 people, probably 31-35' monohull) over Christmas or the New Year. The cheapest company we've found so far is Cosmos (significantly cheaper than anyone else) but they have very mixed reviews on TripAdvisor etc. However, a lot of the people giving bad reviews haven't posted anything else on Trip Advisor ever, so possibly their reviews might be a bit suspect.

Has anyone got any experience with Cosmos? Are they truly a company to avoid?

Happy to spend a bit more money if it's a case of "you get what you pay for" but obviously don't want to pay over the odds if we don't have to as we're also trying to put money aside to get our own boat

Thanks

 

[steadyeddy]

Anyone chartered with Comos good or bad

I booked a coach trip with them a few years ago ,they lost the luggage it was put on the wrong coach ,we arrived in Spain and the hotel was double booked we had to make our own arrangments to get to the other hotel.IIwill never book with them again.

 

[nickf]

I booked a coach trip with them a few years ago ,they lost the luggage it was put on the wrong coach ,we arrived in Spain and the hotel was double booked we had to make our own arrangments to get to the other hotel.IIwill never book with them again.

I think there is confusion h6ere between Cosmos Yachting and Cosmos the Holiday company. Two different companies.

 

[Highndry]

Never sailed with Cosmos but if there are lots of negative, single posts on TripAdvisor I'd be wary. I'd never considered posting on TA until a very negative holiday experience in Corfu last year (not sailing related) the experience is what prompted me to make my first post and the half dozen or so I've posted since have all been positive. IMHO, people are usually first prompted to act from a negative.

 

[nickf]

There are two completely different companies. I doubt if anyone has posted anything relating to Cosmos Yachting on trip advisor
http://www.cosmosyachting.com/
and a holiday tour company
http://www.cosmos.co.uk/

Cosmos Yachting tend to act as agents for charter companies in different countries. Used them once for a charter in Croatia some 12 years ago - were fine.

 

[jrudge]

A relative of mine ownes cosmos yachting and their office is a few hundred yards up the road from me in Barnes, west London.

They have been going for a long long time with the same management team. They own a large chunk of boats as principal ( in Greece I thnk) as well as chartering others.

They have been at the London and Southampton boats shows for as long as I can remember.

So interest declared, and I have never used them ( got my own!) but they are a long established decent bunch of people.

 

[trouville66]

I have used Cosmos Yachting every year for the past 15 years and have always been very happy with them. One time we wanted to charter out of Calvi, Corsica and Cosmos recommended against it on the grounds that they did not know a reliable local charter company. We insisted and they were right; the company they put us with provided a totally unacceptable boat and service. Cosmos used to have a base with its own boats in Majorca and we were pleased with the boat and the service when we used them about 12 years ago.

 

[Shaddickp]

Hi

I've used Cosmos Yachting 4 or 5 times and they have always been excellent. I've always used them for chartering in Croatia, and they have always beat other companies prices, and even when I tried approaching operators directly in Croatia Cosmos beat the prices I was being quoted. I guess they buy bulk capacity at a discount and pass on some of the discount. Well however they do it I'm not complaining. They are very efficient, courteous and professional, and I will be using them again in the future, as I am planning of moving on to the Greek Islands so will make use of their knowledge of and ties with operators in that area rather then cold call operators myself.

Cheers

 

[grahama]

I've used Cosmos yachting 5 times over the last 7 years and have always been pleased with the service. Mostly chartered in Croatia, yes I do own my own boat in the UK but am getting fed up with getting constantly rained on, or thrown around in the Irish Sea, so charter for two weeks in the summer somewhere warmer - I've booked again this year for two weeks in July.
Last year the chartered boat was unavailable, don't know why, we were upgraded - with a different base operator from a 32ft to a 37ft at no extra cost - nice.

 

[Melody]

I sailed with a flotilla run by Cosmos Yachting in Greece about 15 years ago. Enjoyed the sailng but I would never use them again or recommend them to anyone. It's a long story but if I tell you that the first night I ended up having to do a night sail alone with a very inexperienced crew and one of the other yachts got lost and had to return to the marina, so the flotilla was 2 boats down at 9pm, meanwhile the flotilla leader had gone ashore for coffeee - you get the picture. Also repeated engine problems on the boat. It was cheap though so I guess you get what you pay for.

 

[nimrod1230]

We have just returned from the BVI chartering with Cosmos. Conch Charters supplied the boat. On arrival, after hours, we were expecting an Oceanis 40, twin wheel, huge cockpit but had been allocated an SO403, single wheel more compact cockpit. This was not acceptable and having spent the first night aboard, Conch made an executive decision to upgrade us to a 43 footer having failed to contact Cosmos on the Sunday. We lost most of Sunday while the replacement boat was prepared but it proved far more suitable. A call on the following Thursday explained that Cosmos were not prepared to pay Conch the extra money for the upgrade and unless we paid the difference we would have to return the boat! More calls to Cosmos with the full booking story and e mail trail sorted the payment and left us to get on with our holiday. Conch were exceptional going the extra mile to make sure we were happy and are to be congratulated. Make of this what you will.