Nsscharter Anmeldelser 21

We recently chartered a sailboat from NSS for what was supposed to be a relaxing week-long sailing trip around the island of Antigua - instead it turned into a nightmare of equipment failures, poor customer service, and unauthorized charges. Of principal importance, the boat’s fresh water maker was completely nonfunctional, which NSS acknowledged but refused to compensate us for. This meant no showers, no cooking with fresh water, and no dishwashing – essentials for any multi-day charter. Instead of enjoying our vacation, we were forced to ration what little water we had and constantly detour from our planned itinerary to hunt for marinas or docks where we could fill the tanks using hoses. We wasted hours each day chasing water sources, paying out of pocket for the fills (which added up quickly), and dealing with the hassle of maneuvering the boat into crowded spots just to get basic necessities. Our dream sailing adventure became a frustrating scavenger hunt, cutting short our time at the beautiful anchorages and beaches Antigua has to offer.

The nonfunctional fresh water maker didn’t just inconvenience us—it forced a level of water rationing that turned our vacation into a survival exercise. With no onboard system to produce potable water, we started each day calculating every drop: a quick sponge bath instead of a shower, leaving us feeling sticky and salty from the ocean air and swims. Cooking became a minimalist affair; we boiled pasta in seawater to save fresh water, but that meant bland, overly salted meals that no one enjoyed, and forget about fresh coffee or tea without skimping elsewhere. Dishwashing? We resorted to wiping plates with paper towels or rinsing in the sea, which left everything gritty and unhygienic, raising concerns about food safety on a boat where space and resources are already limited. Hygiene suffered the most—brushing teeth with a sip, skipping shaves, and dealing with the constant discomfort of not feeling clean, which amplified the heat and humidity of island sailing. For a group including kids and elderly family members, this was especially tough; dehydration risks loomed as we limited drinks to essentials, and the psychological toll of constant worry about running out mid-ocean added unnecessary stress to what should have been carefree days. All this while NSS offered no real solution or refund, leaving us to bear the brunt of their negligence.

To make matters worse, the installed VHF radio – a critical piece of safety equipment – was also dead on arrival. We couldn’t even get underway safely until we contacted NSS, who eventually provided a handheld radio as a makeshift solution. We had to rely on that portable unit for the entire charter, which added unnecessary stress during navigation and potential emergencies.

Despite reporting these issues (which were clearly pre-existing problems with their boat), NSS couldn’t be bothered to send a technician because he was “engaged with bigger emergencies.” That’s their excuse for not fixing a major system failure on a vessel they’re renting out? And then, without our permission, they charged our credit card for repairs to other damages we had reported but hadn’t caused – talk about shady practices! When we disputed it, their response was argumentative and unhelpful.

Overall, NSS showed zero accountability or care for customer safety and satisfaction. The broker who connected us with NSS attempted to cause NSS to make the situation right, but ultimately was unsuccessful. Instead, he split his commission with us to take some of the sting out; he vowed never to deal with NSS again.

In the end, we paid NSS top dollar for a defective boat and got nothing but excuses and extra bills in return. Avoid this company at all costs – there are plenty of reputable charter services out there that actually maintain their fleet and value their clients.

Read all of these reviews and you will see common themes with our experience; if we had done so up front, we would never have dealt with NSS.

Otimo servizio,
Professionali e collaborativi.
Abbiamo noleggiato 32 barche per una settimana per un evento aziendale.
OTTIMA COLLABORAZIONE,
consigliato

Bravi!! E' stato un vero piacere collaborare con NSS per la realizzazione di un evento velico sportivo con più di 250 partecipanti da tutta Europa.
Ottimo servizio sia a terra che in mare. Staff disponibile e sorridente (può sembrare scontato, ma non lo è!) ,soprattutto flessibili nel gestire le richieste degli skipper.
Barche in ottimo stato!

Devo dire un ottima realtà nel mondo del charter, abbiamo affittato un lagoon 42, che seppure con qualche anno di charter sulle spalle e’ stato manutenuto ottimamente.
Il servizio del booking ci è parso ottimo ed ha risposto alle nostre innumerevoli domande.
la base di Cala dei Sardi con il suo prato all’inglese ed i giochi in acqua per i più piccoli e’ un posto dove rilassarsi in attesa della consegna della barca, presente anche un piccolo ristorante con prezzi nella media ma con prodotti di qualità, unica pecca apertura per la colazione troppo tardi, le 8 AM.
Abbiamo avuto una piccola avaria alla prima uscita, ma prontamente riparata dai ragazzi della manutenzione intervenuti con gommoni di assistenza.
Ho dato il massimo nella recensione perché vedere un così grande impegno in un ambito non sempre facile va premiato
Buon vento Nss a presto

I usually don’t write reviews, but my experience with NSS Charter was disappointing enough that I feel it’s important to share.

During our trip we lost a turnbuckle, which of course needed to be replaced. However, NSS charged €100 for a part that can easily be bought online for under €20 and installed within minutes. The lack of transparency and the disproportionate pricing left a very negative impression.

Communication was another major issue. The staff spoke very little English, which made resolving even simple matters unnecessarily difficult. For example, we had agreed on a later arrival in the marina due to strong winds. Despite this prior arrangement, NSS still tried to charge us another €100 as a penalty for arriving at 18:30. Only after a long phone call with management was the issue finally resolved.

Overall, it felt like the company was looking for opportunities to charge extra fees at every step, which made us feel more like a nuisance than valued customers. Comparing this experience with other charter providers we’ve used – where the service was professional, fair, and customer-oriented – NSS Charter stands out in a very negative way.

Based on my experience, I would not book with NSS Charter again.

If I could give less than a one star I would.

Unprofessional, chaotic, bad communications, basic boat, average maintenance.

Cheeky pricks charged us 600 euro for daring to out toilet paper in the bowl .. no warnings, nothing in the briefing, no signage… clearly a deliberate ploy to rake the clients …

Do not rent with these people … bloody awful

Very disorganized & chaotic once you’ve arrived & booked with this company.

The day before they said that our skipper was ill & provided us with a new skipper.

We arrived to the marina & 100s of people were waiting. Boat nor skipper were available or ready.

NSS Charter Only care about making money. Once you have paid your fee, they do not care about you or your safety. All these reviews about NSS Charter ignoring the customer are 100% correct!! Do NOT do a charter with them. NSS Charter does not select the appropriate Captain with the right sailing or area expertise. We sailed from Salerno, Italy and it became clear our Captain, selected by NSS Charter for us, was not only a grumpy and arrogant person, he also did not have experience with the catamaran, and he was not familiar with the Amalfi Coast. We raised our concern as we were worried about our own safety as well as the potential of the captain to damage the boat, as we had a few close calls. NSS don't care as you pay a HEFTY deposit in case of damages, even if THEY select the captain for you.
Further to this, we had water issues on the boat, adding unnecessary stress for us, and NSS refused to address any concerns until AFTER our charter ended (as per their ridiculous terms and conditions.). We have been asking to meet with NSS to discuss this issue, but have been ignored by both the base manager, Salvatore and the booking agent Gianluca. We have contacted both Salvatore and Gianluca repeatedly with no response. I would not recommend this company- they do not value their customers, and they do not assist when things are not going well. Do not book with NSS Charter!

r charter experience (August 23–30, 2025) on Maui 55

We rented the catamaran Maui 55 for one week with a full-service package (all meals, cleaning, and provisioning included). Unfortunately, this turned out to be the worst vacation experience we have ever had.

From the second day, the crew — Captain Jorge and his assistant Nicole (who is also his partner) — behaved in a completely unprofessional and unacceptable manner. They repeatedly shouted at our children, creating a very stressful atmosphere. At one point, Nicole even physically hit my husband, which shocked and horrified us all. We have video evidence of this incident.

When we immediately contacted the NSS manager, Simone, we were told: “We are sorry, but we cannot help you, please write to the head office.” No further support was offered, and the crew continued their behavior for the rest of the trip. To our knowledge, they are still employed and working with other clients, which is deeply concerning.

There were also serious issues with provisioning. The crew made the grocery purchases themselves, spending €1,400. However, when we asked for receipts, they only provided an invoice, not original receipts from the store. On reviewing the provisions, we noticed that many items were missing. When we raised this with Simone, he dismissed our concerns, suggesting that perhaps we simply did not remember what we had consumed. This response felt highly unprofessional and unacceptable.

Overall, this was a shocking and extremely disappointing experience. The lack of accountability and unwillingness of NSS to address such serious misconduct left us feeling completely let down. We sincerely hope this review helps others make informed decisions before booking.

AVOID!

We chartered a boat for one week having paid in excess of euro12k for the privilege only to find they delivered it with just over 50% fuel in one tank. They then attempted to charge us a penalty payment for fuel surcharge when we handed the boat back (despite us having fully filled up both tanks).

They then pretended it was a faulty sensor / airlock etc... lots of excuses. Bottomline... chargeback actioned on credit card.

Photographic evidence of fuel tank level / Payment made for fuel was submitted.

Worst customer service experience. Avoid!

Siamo partiti in 6 amici su un catamarano 46. La barca bella, skipper e hostess super carini, e il paesaggio stupendo però abbiamo trovato molto scortese la ragazza al check-in, Ilenia, per niente disponibile. Non sono in generale chiari sulle informazioni di imbarco, sul tema di lenzuola e mansioni della hostess, ci siamo imbarcati tardi, c’era qualche problema con l’aria condizionata e alcune luci non funzionavano, insomma se avessero un po’ più cura in generale l’esperienza guadagnerebbe molti punti.

NSS Tuscany base in Marina Cala di Medici: The boat Oceanis 46.1 (2-years old) was in a very good shape and well equipped also with tools and safety equipment. Good introduction during early check-in. The boat was easy to sail also at 6bft wind.
Check-out was done with 5 persons at once. This felt scary at first, but very efficient and done after 10 min without any findings. Also the office staff of NSS in the tuscany base was very friendly and helpful (thanks Azzurro).

Fraudsters !
Firstly we selected a catamaran that was only a year old to avoid maintenance issues . Despite the cat only being a year old we has endless battery / electric and water issues whilst on our weeks charter.
It deeply affected the quality of our stay, not to mention the crazy hostess who screamed at me in Spanish for noise my family made on my son’s 18th birthday. They are unable to provide itemised receipts for our Large APA allowance. In 15 years of chartering this was one terrible experience. Avoid this company like the plague !

Warnung: Die Boote von NSS Charter sind in einem erbärmlichen Zustand und schlecht gewartet, den Kunden werden im Nachhinein Schäden verrechnet und aus der Kaution einbehalten. Dabei werden manipulierte Evidenzen (Bilder, Videos ohne nachvollziehbares Aufnahmedatum) vorgelegt, unter einem Vorwand wird der Check-out nur mit Vorbehalt abgenommen und der Taucher erst nach der Abreise aufgeboten, sodass der Kunde vor vollendete Tatsachen gestellt wird. Dass die Boote ekelhaft dreckig sind und genauso wie die Sanitäranlagen nur mangelhaft gereinigt werden passt dabei in das Gesamtbild. Abgerundet wird dies durch einen katastrophalen Check-in, mehr als zwei Stunden Wartezeit nur das man mal die Papiere im Büro bekommt sind normal. Fazit: Hier wird der Kunde mit Vorsatz betrogenen, wer einen qualitativ guten Service sucht und einen entspannten Urlaub verbringen möchte, sucht sich einen anderen Partner.

Services as they promised on Experience in Sardinia.

My wife and I are experienced sailors and own our own boat in UK.
Picture the scene - we chartered a lovely Beneteau 46.1 that was 5yrs old in order to take 2 Costa Rican friends along the Amalfi coast for their first ever week on a sailing boat. They are in their 60's so we knew we would be doing all the work, which was no problem.
The boat was generally in good condition, but the twin Chart plotters did not work. Not an issue since I had Navionics on a tablet with me. A bigger issue was the broken swim ladder. It had clearly been semi-repaired before, but was dangerous to use. Significantly more important and major safety issue was the fact that the mainsail had clearly not been checked or serviced by the staff (maybe not ever!). With an electric winch, the mainsail went up, but it would not come down. The mast track could have done with a squirt of silicon, but in my view the real issue was the sheave at the top of the mast. I am guessing it was broken. Using ALL OF MY STRENGTH I could juuuuust about get the main sail down, providing conditions were calm/flat. (I am not old, 6'2", weigh 85kg and I am sports playing fit) My wife had no chance at all and in the light of the sudden storms that were occurring in the Med, this was a major concern for us. I now know why we were not shown the sails during handover at the beginning of our charter. It was not merely that there was breeze at the time.
I emailed the charter company and explained the problem, also explaining that in a sudden storm I would want to be able to drop the main. This was mid week, so the staff are not busy in the way they are on changeover day. Surely they could have sent someone in a car to deal with a major safety issue? Instead my worry about the mainsail was effectively ignored.
One of our guests could not close a frw'd hatch in their cabin (again due to lack of maintenance). The plastic "bottle screw" mechanism was stuck and a piece broke when trying to close the hatch in a rain storm. Being charged to replace the part was expected, but € 250 was not! The part was about €70 new from a Beneteau dealer.
Their apathy towards our safety complaint is the reason I will never use this company again.

Très déçu du service. Nous avons loué un catamaran. Au fil des échanges par mail, il nous recommandent à plusieurs reprises d'arriver à midi pour prendre le bateau dès qu'il est prêt. Nous arrivons à 11h. Il est 18h. Le bateau n'est toujours pas prêt. Notre nourriture est restée dehors en plein soleil toute la journée et ils ont accepté du bout des lèvres à 17h à force de relance qu'on dépose la nourriture dans les réfrigérateurs du bateau non nettoyé. Nous avons perdu notre journée à attendre alors qu'on aurait pû prendre du plaisir à visiter olbia.... Si nsscharter lit ce post.... vous devriez appliquer le principe du premier arrivé premier servi ou savoir donner un estimation plus proche ... que ces 7 heures d'attente. Nous sommes très mécontent. Le délai de 18h max ne sera pas respecté, mais même respecté, nous sommes vraisemblablement face à une organisation defaillante.

La fin de l'histoire:
À 18h37, nous nous rendons au guichet car nous avons été informé que le bateau est prêt.
Ils nous demandent d'aller au bateau et d'attendre une personne pour le checkin.
Sans polémiquer, nous demandons combien de temps il faut encore attendre car nous attendons déjà... depuis 7h30.
Ils nous répondent cette phrase lunaire en anglais:
It's like this, go to the boat and wait.

Les lecteurs apprécieront.

English Translation:

Very disappointed with the service.
We rented a catamaran.
Throughout the email exchanges, they repeatedly recommended that we arrive at noon to take the boat as soon as it's ready.
We arrived at 11 a.m. It is now 6 p.m. The boat is still not ready.
Our food was left outside in the full sun all day, and after persistent requests, they reluctantly agreed to let us store the food in the uncleaned boat refrigerators at 5:00pm
We lost our day waiting when we could have been enjoying visiting Olbia...
If NSS Charter reads this post... you should apply the principle of first come, first served or be able to provide a more accurate estimate... than these 7 hours of waiting.

We are very dissatisfied.
The deadline of 6 p.m. will not be met, but even if it were, we are clearly facing a failing organization.

The end of the story: At 6:37 PM, we go to the desk because we were informed that the boat is ready. They tell us to go to the boat and wait for someone to check us in. Without arguing, we ask how much longer we have to wait because we've already been waiting... for 7:30 hours. They respond with this surreal phrase in English: 'It's like this, go to the boat and wait.'

Readers will appreciate.

I've been sailing for more than 10 years and never had so many problems with other renting companies.
The tender gas level was close to 0 and the additional gas can was also empty.
Furthermore a closet was broken before our departure but they nevertheless charged us for it.
People on the marina will say "no worry everything is fine" and then charge indecent amounts of money for reparations we disputed but nevertheless, they went ahead and took hundreds of euros.
It's purely a scam. They now that, as foreigners, we can do much. Avoid at all cost.

Liebe Segelfreunde, wir möchten unsere Erfahrungen mit der NSS Charter Company teilen. Wir haben den frühen Check-in für 300 € gebucht. Als wir um 15:00 Uhr auf das Schiff durften, fehlte die Sprayhood. Auf Nachfrage wurde uns mitgeteilt, dass es zur Reparatur beim Segelmacher sei. Gleichzeitig fragten wir nach den fehlenden Handtüchern. Trotz mehrfacher Nachfrage erhielten wir die Sprühhaube und die Handtücher erst gegen 18:00 Uhr. Ähnliche Erfahrungen hatten auch andere Gäste auf benachbarten Schiffen mit frühem Check-in gemacht. Daher können wir die zusätzlichen Kosten für den frühen Check-in nicht empfehlen.
Bei der Übergabe des Schiffes lag keine Inventarliste vor, weder in Papier- noch in digitaler Form. Ein NSS-Mitarbeiter kam an Bord und bat uns, die Mängelfreiheit durch eine digitale Signatur auf seinem Telefon zu bestätigen. Wir haben höflich darum gebeten, die Liste vor der Unterzeichnung einzusehen. Allerdings wurde uns mitgeteilt, dass dies weder üblich noch technisch möglich sei. Schließlich wurde uns mitgeteilt, dass das Schiff ohne unsere Unterschrift nicht in See stechen würde. Dennoch wirkte das Schiff in Ordnung und wurde ordnungsgemäß gereinigt. Um Probleme bei der Rückkehr zu vermeiden, haben wir zahlreiche Fotos gemacht und diese mit Zeitstempeln in eine Cloud hochgeladen. Zusätzlich haben wir das Schiff vorsichtshalber beim Schnorcheln von unten inspiziert. Abgesehen von normaler altersbedingter Abnutzung wurden keine Schäden festgestellt.
Bei der Rückgabe des Schiffes erfolgte keine formelle Übergabe mit Protokoll. Auf Nachfrage wurde uns mitgeteilt, dass alles in Ordnung sei. Wir verlangten ein schriftliches Protokoll zur Bestätigung der Mängelfreiheit und der Freigabe der 4.000 € Kaution auf meiner Kreditkarte. Der Mitarbeiter von NSS Charter in der Marina Cala dei Sardi erklärte uns höflich, dass dies aus technischen Gründen am Freitagabend nicht möglich sei. In den folgenden Tagen erhielten wir keine E-Mails oder weitere Informationen von NSS Charter mit Sitz in Cala dei Sardi. Erst auf der Kreditkartenabrechnung haben wir festgestellt, dass NSS Charter 1.100 € einbehalten hat. Auf Nachfrage wurde uns mitgeteilt, dass das Ruder beschädigt sei. Wir können versichern, dass wir keine Grundberührung hatten und beim Schnorcheln keine Schäden am Ruderblatt festgestellt wurden. Wir haben über viele Jahre hinweg bei etwa 25 bis 30 verschiedenen Charterunternehmen gemietet.
Aufgrund der ausschließlich negativen Bewertungen zu NSS Charter waren wir etwas besorgt und haben daher eine umfangreiche Fotodokumentation angefertigt, was wir noch nie zuvor gemacht hatten. Dennoch fühlten wir uns von NSS Charter betrogen. Auch wenn NSS Charter mit seinen konkurrenzfähigen Angeboten in der Marina Cala dei Sardi attraktiv erscheint, erweist es sich in der Endabrechnung als teuer. Vor dem unprofessionellen Verhalten können wir nur warnen. Leider spiegeln die negativen Online-Bewertungen unsere eigenen Erfahrungen wider.

Renting a boat from NSS was an amazing experience; observing their super competence, organization, assistance: a "HUGE THUMB" is not enough - no words to describe their professionalism. Kisses to you guys and see you again soon!!! Special greetings to Leo and thanks again for owing the welding machine!