Delivery to the med completed

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martin

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Just thought I would post my experiences of our delivery on here so that others have the info and can maybe avoid issues when trying to plan.

Long story short.. We decided to ship Elle to the med. It was not a disaster but it did not go well'

Sumary - ship was late arriving, so Elle languished in a marina on south coast, all packed and ready, for 3 week. Loading company was rubbish, very little communication from them unless prompted and pushed. Load was delayed again once ship arrived due to weather..Ship finally left and then diverted on route to med into previously unmentioned port... No one seems to know why !!! Ship finally arrived at our unload on Saturday morning but unload was delayed, as port didn't operate on weekends, until Monday! This forced us to stay in hotel for 2 extra days instead of starting our cruise. We later found out from the chief office on board that this was not the case, the shipping company preferred to delay our unload rather than pay extra rates for weekend work by stevedores ...

So not a disaster... Many issues were unavoidable ...weather for example...but not a good service experience really... Won't name names as just posted to share experience
 
Cargo ships sadly just follow the money and run to only vague schedules.

If there is a stop en route that makes money they just divert or arrive late.

when we shipped ours down in fairness both boats.co.uk and the two shipping companies ( two options only used one ) did make this very clear.

Seven seas use the deck of a bulk steel carrier to ship boats and assume others do likewise so they don't own the ships.

Three weeks is not good so sympathies. Where in the med are you ?
 
Shipping is a pain and always has been. Generally the communication is poor and it gets worse when they have your money.

I once had to sit in Southampton for a month waiting for a ship. Was told ship underway, when I checked AIS it was in in a dry dock! Stayed there for 5 days.

Just two weeks ago waiting for a ship it was diverted into Antwerp for additional loading. Eventually arrived Gibraltar. It then took two days to load two yachts. Two load masters one of which was as useful as a chocolate teapot. Eventually the second loadmasters had to take over. Our delay was two days so not so bad. I think during the wait to be loaded we were called twice despite being on standby to go alongside ship. Very frustrating.

Ship now en-route to Singapore only updates via info we get from Marinetraffic. I think it's going to be three days late but of course I have to book flights to get there as per schedule given..

Shipping I hate it..
 
Hi Mike,

We unloaded and had a few jobs to do before setting off so stayed a night in Palma Mallorca, blew the dinghy up and basically unpacked everything, then set off the next day.
We went down to Ibiza and stayed at San Antonio. Great Marina but we were not impressed with the town so do only stayed one night. Next morning we refuelled and then went to Valencia.
We loved this place so stayed two nights there. On the Friday we did the last leg to St Carles and arrived just in time for the start of season party.
Definitely made the right choice as Michelle said she relaxed the minute we arrived ;-)
Met loads of very nice people, the Marina seems to be very well run, so we think we have a great summer ahead...Happy Days!
Look forward to seeing you when you get back ...
 
Congrats Martin on making the move. I'm heading back to the Med myself in a couple of days, albeit by truck. All a bit more predictable (usually...).
 
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