Good Boat, But Terrible Operator – Be Ready for Poor Service and Constant Upselling
We’ve chartered with many operators over the years, spending well over six figures annually, and have never been treated as poorly as we were with Lagoon Nepa. While the boat itself was in good condition and we ultimately had a great trip despite the operator, the experience with their team was deeply disappointing.
The base manager was shockingly rude and demeaning during onboarding and offboarding, openly questioning our experience despite our tens of thousands of kilometers sailed and many charters worldwide. Even more disturbing was an inappropriate conversation where he casually spoke about personal topics, including prostitution, which was wildly unprofessional.
Throughout the process, we were constantly nickel and dimed for every little thing, with surprise charges and overbilling attempts that felt designed to squeeze extra money from us. Instead of treating us as valued clients (we paid nearly $60,000 for this charter), we were treated with suspicion and disrespect, and their own operational issues were unfairly blamed on us.
Bottom line: the sailing was great, the vessel was solid, but the operator made the experience stressful and unpleasant. We will never charter from Lagoon Nepa again, and anyone considering them should go in with eyes wide open and prepare for poor service and relentless upselling.