Do NOT charter Nauti Nymph

[queenbea4]

We rented from Nauti Nymph 5 years ago and hoped to repeat a great time, so we emailed ahead with a credit card and our schedule - confirming that we were coming from a cruise ship. Instead, we paid extra fare to Red Hook only to find no boat and no people and no one to answer the phone at Nauti Nymph. After wasting a precious hour on the dock, we found they had given our charter away. No apologies and no explanation. Others on the dock confirmed Nauti Nymph is UNRELIABLE. Do NOT charter Nauti Nymph.

[Morgan41Orion]

Before you go badmouthing a company on this forum, I think you should let other readers in on a few facts, such as:
1.) You were more than 3 hours late for your 8:00 am reservation.
2.) As an excuse for being late, you offered, with a smile, 'We had to go shopping first.'
3.) You left us a stateside contact number, so we couldn't contact you that morning.
3.) The docks at American Yacht Harbor is not that big, it must have been difficult for you to waste an hour walking from one end to the other.
4.) The Marina office has several contact numbers for us, it's as easy as asking directions.
5.) Lastly, Red Hook is a small community. As a rule, if a person on the dock has nothing nice to say about a particular person or establishment, he says nothing at all.
I was the Nauti Nymph employee that had to explain why we had no boat for you that morning, all I got from you was attitude. Leave it at home next time you travel.

[queenbea4]

Thanks for your reply. Now all can see what your attitude is toward a customer, which involves distorting the facts to fit your excuse for failing to provide the promised service.
1) We were not late because we made it clear we could not be there by 8 am: we specifically called weeks in advance to ask if it was possible to rent if we could not predict our arrival time. The answer was "yes" so we gave a credit card to hold the rental. We also made it clear we were prepared to pay for a full day, ie. time we were not using the boat.
2) We went directly from our ship to your dock, which can be proved by our cab driver - first in line off the ship and paid extra. There was no shopping, other than the purchase of a bottle of wine at the dock while we were waiting for you.
3b) And yes, it was difficult to waste an hour at the dock - especially when it was part of just a few hours we had to enjoy St. Thomas.
3a) We left mobile numbers because we were coming from a cruise ship - once again made extremely clear in the initial reservation.
4) We called all your contact numbers - I have phone records with roaming charges - and were finally connected with a third party desk at the Westin. Nice but no answers and no assistance in contacting someone with answers.
5) You should check your reputation in Red Hook because I did not hear "nothing at all" while I asked several people for assistance in finding you.

As far as attitude and traveling, you may live in paradise but the rest of us have to pay to get there. Yes, you got "attitude" from me because it was just another day to you but it was my vacation. Travelers have expectations about service, and this board is about letting other paying customers know what kind of service we received.

[traveler1]

Just to add fuel to any fire -my husband tried to get information from this company and he found their replies to be full of 'attitude'.
He thinks the trouble the vacationer had would not be out of line with the problems he had just in trying to communicate with them.
Vacationing can be stressful, just in flights and travel time. Having to deal with people that think the customer is a pain to be endured is not our idea of relaxing.

[Nauti Nymph A new]

Hello and Greetings from USVI. We are under new management here at Nauti Nymph power boat rentals. Could we please talk about your less than possitive remarks about Nauti Nymph so we can possibly have your comments removed from this website. These comments are not fair to us as the old management is no longer here.
Thank you

John

[Host Bonjour]

Hi John,

You've said it all by indicating that the company is under new management and to remove the earlier posts would be a dis-service to our members from knowing that a company they may have heard about is NOW changed! What better way to point out the difference, which you have successfully done. Please do remember though that our membership guidelines prohibit promotion of one's own company here on our message boards.

I will let this post stand so it is clear as to the status of your company, i.e. re-iterating that the once un-reliable company is now under new management and hopefully, travelers will take notice and write to us about their experiences with the New and Improved company!

[paulc]

Wow all I can say is that our time with Nauti Nymph and Capt. Don Yesh was the best I could have expected. You guys Rock!!!

[18thLatitude]

Nauti Nymph Rocks! Love them, love their staff.

Let's take a moment and learn from all of this...

A. Cruiseships usually don't arrive and let the people off until 8am. All charter companies understand this and will wait. (If you are concerned about time - hire a private taxi - same amount and you'll be there by 8:30 / 9. don't do the cattle taxi, and there's no reason to pay more to get off your cruise ship first. A golf pro was actually hit by a customer because their group had an 8:30 tee time and they jumped ahead of the line. No need for violence)
A1. If you are going to go shopping before a charter - call the company ahead. Sprint and ATT work here - everyone charges roaming. Nextel does not work here at all. Beware of roaming and boat phone for all companies.
B. The charter companies want your business. So they are not going to "give your boat away" to spite you. If you are 3 hours late, they should have every right to allow someone else to go out on it. Can't tell you how many people just don't show up. I feel it's almost rude for someone not to show up and not call.
C. It's not another "day" for anyone down here. We all work really hard to do what we love. People who visit down here think all people do is sit on bon bon's, drink, and watch sunsets. That's what you do when you are on vacation here. We are NOT on vacation. Believe it or not, it's not as easy as you think to live here. It's just like NY here to us but with better beaches. We work hard to make your vacation memorable. We want you to come back. We want you to be happy. It's your mindset that will make your vacation be what it will be.
D. Red Hook is SMALL. All taxi drivers drop any cruiseship / guest / anyone for charter right in front of the Marine office or Molly Malones. NN's booth is right outside the Marina office. The office is open from 7:30 to 5 Someone is always in there, and can call the owner himself to make sure you were taking care of. They rock as well.

Queenbea - I hope you are happy that your complaint was #1 in google. I was looking for NN's number when I ran across your post. I would hate for someone else to miss out on a great day with NN because of what you claimed happened.

[akla75220]

We had a great experience with Naughty Nymph on Friday, 3/14. We called at the last minute wanting to charter a boat. Captain Nate was very knowledgeable about the islands and gave us the feeling that he was there because he wanted to be, not just no make a buck. He told us some history of the islands, and even recommended a book about the Caribbean, which I need to know the author of by the way if you're reading this Nate! We had a beautiful and amazing day. Also, the boat was in good condition and clean. FYI, the sub shop across the street in the Marina Market is very slow at lunchtime, took us about 30 minutes to get 5 subs, which is pricey when you have a chartered boat waiting for you! I would recommend the Subway next door (always a fast bet) or maybe the Burrito place.

[Dan Knutson]

[quote=queenbea4;34286]reply: I have used Nauti Nyph for more than 18 years. For diving trips when I was singe and now trips with my wife and two daughters. I am not an easy customer. Nauti Nyph has provided excellent service every time even on one occasion when the motor failed. Please don't listen to lazy arrogant people who have no respect for a professional business operation. I have depended on Nauti Nymph for my numerous short, two day excursions and they have provided me with professional service always. By the way, Thanks Nauti Nyph for all the years of great service. Hope to rent another boat for this next new years too.

[explorer848]

We rented from Nauti Nymph 5 years ago and hoped to repeat a great time, so we emailed ahead with a credit card and our schedule - confirming that we were coming from a cruise ship. Instead, we paid extra fare to Red Hook only to find no boat and no people and no one to answer the phone at Nauti Nymph. After wasting a precious hour on the dock, we found they had given our charter away. No apologies and no explanation. Others on the dock confirmed Nauti Nymph is UNRELIABLE. Do NOT charter Nauti Nymph.

where it is located?

[Travelling Wilburys]

We rented Nauti Nymph on 12th June 2009, it was our 27th wedding anniversary , we had our 17 year old son and his friend with us, Captain Don was our captain and we had one of the best days of our lives, it was absolutely fantastic and thank you Don for such a fabulous day. We went to The Baths on Virgin Gorda and to White Bay, Jost Van Dyke.

[stever9240]

Hi John,

You've said it all by indicating that the company is under new management and to remove the earlier posts would be a dis-service to our members from knowing that a company they may have heard about is NOW changed! What better way to point out the difference, which you have successfully done. Please do remember though that our membership guidelines prohibit promotion of one's own company here on our message boards.

I will let this post stand so it is clear as to the status of your company, i.e. re-iterating that the once un-reliable company is now under new management and hopefully, travelers will take notice and write to us about their experiences with the New and Improved company!

FYI: this is what is listed on Nauti Nymph's about page on their website
Nauti Nymph Powerboat Rentals was established in 1984 and acquired by its present owners in January of 1988.

Not sure If the new management are the current owners or not but you should do your homework. The dates dont add up

[Host Bonjour]

Hi Stever,

It's possible that the company might still have the same ownership yet changed all of its management staff; if Nauti Nymph is part of a larger corporation, it's possible they were not managing it directly and for some time, did not know that the company had started to suffer from the lack of proper management staff. It would not be the first time a company has been brought down by its own employees if the corporate officers/owners are not on premises at all times. If complaints were coming in, unscrupulous staff might very well have hidden all of the discontent to cover themselves and perhaps continue "under-serving" the company while clearly doing a lousy job.

Another possibility? Someone may indeed have bought the company and simply not had the chance to change existing info on the company's website. I don't know that it's likely, but it's possible.

Hence, in your quote above wherein I replied to member John, there was no reason to think the news was inaccurate. We have many other threads similar to this in which members have related stories of bad experiences with a company and then later reported better news. As I stated, previous complaints are not removed but if things get better, members are as free to post good experiences as they are to post bad ones; it helps other members who can see both sides and do some research to decide if a company is indeed worth using.

We do appreciate your efforts to make a point, but unless more digging is done individually or others post positive feedback, we do not know with certainty just what or why things changed. All member posts are presumed to be made in accordance with our Terms of Service for using this forum and that implies that absent evidence proving otherwise, we presume our members post in good faith with the information they have. Your post is included in that presumption, and so it's possible both you and John are correct, absent concrete proof to the contrary.

I am sure your post will encourage folks to assure themselves prior to making any reservations with the company, as well as John's will.
Thank you