boat hire in Ibiza · Nuva — M6 (2023)

Everything went well

Our experience with this rental company took an unexpected turn: once the payment had been made, the rental company imposed its navigation zone restrictions, without providing us with a clear translation (in English, for example). As non-Spanish speakers, the language barrier prevented us from grasping the implications of this condition, which created considerable confusion and cost us 300 euros, which the rental company pocketed in cash (and tax-free) without giving us any choice or benefit of the doubt, while ruining our family outing.The rental company didn't show up at the port, and it was another person (who arrived late) who took care of the briefing, in Spanish. He recommended several anchorages, but never mentioned that exceeding a certain sailing limit (defined by the rental company) would result in a 300 euro penalty! Following his advice, we headed for the recommended spots. However, as the weather turned stormy, we looked for a more sheltered anchorage, exceeding the navigation limit defined by the rental company, without knowing it since we hadn't grasped this information, which was not explained to us verbally. We then received numerous calls and text messages from 3 different people, insistent and pressing, who were apparently tracking our GPS position to the nearest metre.These calls, in Spanish only, were authoritarian and aggressive, ordering us to return immediately as if we'd committed a serious offence. Not speaking Spanish very well, we finally understood, under pressure, that we had to turn back, without knowing why. Back at the harbor, with no mooring line on board and the wind making the maneuver very tricky, we had to wait at least another 20 minutes for the intermediary to arrive and do the check-out. Despite our efforts to explain our good faith and lack of understanding, the rental company refused any discussion, deducting the 300 euros in cash from our 500 euro deposit, with no real possibility of negotiation. To be robbed of such a sum for a restriction that was not explained verbally, and written on a contract in Spanish, left us deeply frustrated. What's more, renting a boat in Ibiza while being restricted to a sailing area with no clear warning in English, for example, seemed to us to be highly abusive and intentional.

Bad communication, doesn't speak English, and attempted scam on the way back. Asks us to stop for 5 minutes every 30 minutes on the way back for, supposedly, engine wear (verdict, 30 minutes of delay billed), if this had been said from the start, we would not have had this bad surprise. Told us to fill up in Formentera (Except that, pump closed every Friday at 2:00 p.m., result -> risk of breaking down on the way back, so we make a detour to Ibiza to fill up which was the closest to Formentera, and we get yelled at because we left the "zone" and that he is going to charge us an extra €200... we were not aware that there was a zone either! In short, 2 hours of stress on this return following the bad communications and harassment of the rental company by message even threatening us to lose our license, while we are just doing our best to avoid the worst.