12 Knots Avis 

We have just hired a Bavaria 36’ yacht (Kathy cool) in Palma Majorca last week.
A yacht of this size should easily be able to cruise at 2400rpm under engine however we were told to not go above 1400rpm which basically makes the boat not fit for purpose as it will only 2-3knots so you can’t get anywhere if there’s light wind. We were told by Eduardo that the engine is very old.
The boat is really quite tired compared to the photos. There is no roaming fender, the fuel gauge didn’t work, the tender didn’t inflate fully. We still had a great week and good service from the company but I wouldn’t recommend this particular yacht.

On one hand, the broker fulfilled their part of the deal: we paid the agreed amount and received the agreed boat at the agreed location and time. On the other hand, I have chartered boats through brokers several times before, so I do have something to compare this experience with. To be honest, I did not notice much engagement or customer focus. Some questions remained unanswered and had to be asked repeatedly. When we sent payments, their receipt was not confirmed unless we followed up several times ourselves.

Communication also completely stopped over weekends, whereas some brokers I worked with previously responded almost any time of day and on any day of the week.

In addition, some information on the broker’s website is still outdated, even though I pointed this out. For example, the cook’s fee is still listed as €75 per day, while in reality we had to pay €100.

I was initially going to rate the experience 3/5. However, it seems that the broker’s communication with the charter company may have influenced the charter company’s decision to partially compensate us for our losses. Even though the broker is not contractually responsible for the condition of the boat, I appreciate that support, so I am giving 4/5 instead.

I booked a monohull chartered by Sunsail out of its St Lucia base for a week in October, 2025 brokered by 12Knots. Coordination with Sunsail, including ground transportation and provisioning was easy. 12 knots also changed the date a day earlier to allow a sleep aboard, which worked well with our schedule. Thanks for your help, I look forward to another trip in 2026.

We tried to book a boat. Confirmed many times via email and payed the full amount.
12 knots confirmed the booking at first.

Shortly after they cancelled the reservation for rather intransparent reasons and gave the boat to a different customer that started the booking process at least 4 days after us.

It appears they did a double booking.

We were very disappointed, since we already had our train tickets booked after 12 knots confirmation.

12 knots offered us different boats that didn't fit instead but did not discount or compensate us.

We rented catamaran in BVI with 12 Knots this March. Everything was seamless and stress-free from the moment we booked our trip until the end of it.

The boat was quite well-maintained. We had no issues with the equipment and found everything to be in working order. Helene our manager from 12 Knots was incredibly helpful, providing us with all the information we needed about the boat and the area before we set out on our journey.

Helene and other managers were always available to answer any questions we had. They also helped with sample itinerary and booking a skipper.

Overall, we had an incredible time sailing in the British Virgin Islands with the help of 12 Knots. Their attention to details, customer service, made our trip a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I would highly recommend this company to anyone looking to rent a boat in the BVI.

12knots helped me book at catamaran bareboat charter in Grenada. They booked the boat through Dream Yacht Charter (DYC) and all was fairly good up until close to the booking.

I emailed the DYC base and asked if we could stay aboard the boat the night before we departed. This email was a month in advance. (I have done this before in the BVI without problem). The base emailed back "Of course, no problem". Thus my whole 10 person group planned to stay aboard. The night before the booking I called to confirm and was told "no, we would never say yes to that. Talk to your broker."

At this point the head of the company, Grigory, became involved. He eventually came back and said that DYC charter refused to honor their email unless we paid near 2000$ for the extra day. He refused to let me speak with anyone at DYC who made the decision.

More than anything, I give them 1 star for Grigory's approach to the whole situation. Not once did he sympathize with the difficulty of our situation. He was confrontational and twisting of words. He sent emails such as "We got you an extra day." But all he had done was move the entire booking a day early so then we had to leave the boat a day early. Eventually he was yelling on the phone. And near the resolution I wanted to call to make peace with them after I just resigned myself to paying the extra $2000, asked him to call me, and he simply stopped responding.

His communication skills are terrible. He has a short temper. And as I told him, the whole experience would have been different if he had just said, "I am sorry, this is a terrible situation." Even if the outcome had been the same.

The bigger lesson here is don't use a broker! DYC made the commitment, Grigory had no control over the outcome, and DYC charter just kept routing me back to Grigory when I called to complain that THEIR employee promised the stay the night before.

Book directly with one of the charter companies. Skip the broker. And definitely don't use 12 knots. When things go bad, they have no power, no customer service, and a bad attitude.

**Grigory in his reply suggests I was potentially scamming for a free night. This gives a sense of how petty he became. When you pay $12k for a service, it hardly seems like a scam when you email a month in advance to board one night early if the boat is sitting there available anyway. Again, what was upsetting was 12knots attitude, not the miscom. I think he proves it again here. Find a company that has your back when things go south. Easy to have good reviews when all goes well.

Honest and responsible company. We used to book during Covid 1.5 years ago, and gave them hard time, because of restrictions and stuff. But they handled us like kings, rescheduling the trip according to contract. Read it carefully, so you aware of circumstances and responsibilities of both parties. But I can assure you’re in the right place, they’re professionals.

Julia & team have been outstanding. We booked 3 times with them. And recently during covid they were able to negotiate a voucher b/c the crew was not able to fly. They only work with the best charters around the world. Top communication and very simple processes. Strongly reccomended!

I was able to book through Julia with 12Knots.com very seamlessly. She was attentive in answering our questions and easing our concerns as we had never booked a catamaran cruise before. More so, there was a short notice issue when registering for our visa to the host nation in which Julia remained in constant contact to provide us the exact documentation required by that country of travel.

Great service throughout and definitely recommended.
*Note: 12 Knots was 3rd party booking for the catamaran company we sailed with. The direct catamaran company Dream Yacht Charters was also exceptional and clearly in good company with 12 Knots.

Grigory was wonderful to work with. We planned our first catamaran trip in less than 4 weeks, knowing very little. Grigory was easily accessible, and worked hard to make sure we had everything we needed. The actual trip was really a success due to our skipper, Rodge, and chef/host/cruise director, Liston. We got so lucky with the two of them! I just can't say enough, if you go to Belize, get the amazing DUO, Rodge and Liston! Being on a boat could be tight quarters with the wrong team.... I could go on and on about homemade fry-jacks and tortillas, Liston's mom homemade guava jam, knowing there would be a "cousin" at every island stop. We had the most amazing team!!!

This was our first bareboat charter and we had a lot of questions. Julia and Grigory were great at walking us through the process and connecting us with a skipper. The boat was fabulous, and Raffaele is a talented skipper. Happy to say we had a wonderful time. Already booked the next adventure thru 12 Knots.

Hi Grigory and Julia,
Thank you for your patience during the 18 months it took to arrange our trip during covid. You were so helpful and knowledgeable. Our cabin charter on the catamaran to St. Martin was just as described, if not more so. The other guests we met on board from Poland (2 couples) and Denver were great to meet and party with. The sailing and snorkeling was beyond words. The captain David and chef Denise were great. We thoroughly recommend to all readers to use 12Knots for your charter needs. We will be using you again for sure. Thanks so much for everything Grigory and Julia!

John and Andry
Orlando FL
N0V1 2021

The trip from Douro Marina in Porto was perfectly arranged from the very beggining to the very end. Assistance during preparation stage was full and all our requirements were met. The Staff and the Skipper were helpful and skilled so the trip was really enjoyable.
Greenline40 yacht is worth recommending.

Everything was perfect from start to finish. Responses to my questions were fast, clear and reliable. We were confident when we arrived at the marina that everything would go as planned. And it did. We were greeted at the hotel, driven to the marina and escorted to our sailboat. The marina was secure, clean and well maintained. The sailboat was above our expectations! The briefing was thorough. It was clear that safety was their number 1 priority, so we felt reassured. All of our requests were attended to immediately with no "additional charges". We sailed from La Paz to islands in the Sea of Cortez for a week on the beautiful well equipped Oceanis 41'. We can't wait to do it again!

I had a great experience with Grigory and 12 knots for my wife and I’s inaugural weeklong bareboat charter leaving out of La Paz, MX back in Jan 2021. We had originally booked a week charter out of Puerto Rico back in April, 2020 which was cancelled due to Covid, but 12 knots were very helpful and accommodating in retaining our credit for a year and applying it to our La Paz charter. As a novice to international boat chartering, Grigory was very helpful and thorough in his communication in answering my many questions. The contract and payment was straightforward and we received the boot we were promised via Dream Yacht Charters. Can’t ask for more!

We had a fantastic experience using 12 Knots to find the perfect long-term charter situation for our family during COVID. They were extremely fast in responding to our inquiries and patient with a million questions on our end. We worked closely with Irina and Grigory, and I highly recommend their team. ⛵️

Great company that provides great customer service and find the best deals.
I'm especially grateful to Grigory for helping us negotiate and reschedule our multi boat sailing trip that had to be postponed because of COVID-19. Great job and thank you!

Working with 12 Knots was a pleasure. We have traveled with Dream Yacht Charters twice (Grenada and Martinique).
The first time we booked direct, the second time we booked with 12 Knots. Although we did not have any problems when we booked direct with DYC, Grigory was more easily reachable and assisted us with so much more than just the actual reservation.
He was responsive and made the process easy. We would gladly work with him again when we book our next Yacht trip (we are already thinking about another location to explore for our Vacation next winter:)
Steve and Kathleen

What an amazing company. We spent weeks trying to co-ordinate a 2-3 week charter with our various kids & grandchildren. Dates kept changing, length of time on Board & multiple questions about crew & experience. Through all our emails & changes, 12 Knots was so supportive & answered us back quickly with emails & calls.
Then, unfortunately we had a serious illness in our family, and doctors said the trip was not advised. 12 Knots was amazing & without any delay- took care of the cancellation with professionalism & no hold-ups.
I can’t recommend this company enough & fingers crossed, we will be able to sail with them next year.
Thank you 12 Knots!!!

A search on the internet produced the 12 Knots operation. With apparent quality staff and experience along with the best price
on a bareboat monohull influenced me to book a boat with them. We were not disappointed.

Correspondence was timely, courteous and efficient. The few questions we had were quickly and accurately answered. Contracts and forms were simple and reasonable. unlike some other US based chartering companies.

Upon arrival in San Juan, the arranged logistics when smoothly. Transport, provisioning and checking into the boat went well
All needed was furnished. The Dufour we had reserved had been damaged the week before so we were provided a newer Beneteau 42. The boat was in excellent condition, sailed well and was adequately equipped.

The journey, centered on cruising around the two big out islands, proved a good sailing adventure. Easterly winds held a steady 15-20 knots. We sailed mostly with full reefed main and storm jibbed head sail.

We found several remote anchorages for quiet, sunset happy hours providing private swimming and beach exercising during the day. We thoroughly enjoyed a more crowed but friendly anchorage and night out at the new Dingy Dock Bar at Dewey on Culebra.

It was another memorable and great sailing journey. We are already thinking about a return. A mega thank you to 12 Knots
for excellent service and support making this happen….