Platten Sailing Yacht Charter Cuba

We did a 10-day bareboat sailing trip from Cienfuegos to Cayo Largo, Canal del Rosario and back and enjoyed it very much! We had a great catamaran which was very comfortable, spacious and reliable. Omar, the base manager is very helpful in handover and preparations. We had to postpone our trip a couple of times (due to Covid etc) and it was arranged with no issues. The information on the website of Platten Sailing is essential to study prior to the trip and gives a lot of great tips, local know-hows and great locations. Pleased with the service. The area around Cayo Largo is amazing, untouched nature paradise for all kinds of fish, birds and animals.

We sailed on Lagoon 440 in March 2022. Catamaran looked just like we expected from an yacht from 2007 remembering it is Cuba where simple things are not simple. Contact with the basemanager was OK.

Really nice and helpful people! Best boats in Cuba and the best nature in the region!

Wir waren auf dem Katamaran, Victoria, Baujahr 2007, im November 2023, elf Tage unterwegs. Das Boot war gut gewartet, der Motor, die Segel und die Ankerwinch in hervorragendem Zustand. Kleinere Probleme, wie Türgriffe etc. wurden direkt behoben. Wir bekamen eine kompetente und sehr nette Einweisung durch den Basisleiter Omar. Die vorherige Information von Plattensailing über Cuba war außergewöhnlich detailliert und sollte dringend vorher gelesen werden.
Besonders: Nachtsegelverbot. Bestelliste der Lebensmittel ist eine Wunschliste, da einige Lebensmittel nicht vorrätig sind. Cubacel SIM-Karte ist empfehlenswert. Kombination des Segeln mit Aventura-Unterkünften und Cubyke Tour in Havanna ist super.
Fazit: Toller Segeltörn, danke Omar und Plattensailing, gerne wieder!!

Wir waren Anfang bis MItte Februar 2020 auf dem Katamaran "Marisol" 10 Tage lang zu den Cayos südwestlich von Cienfuegos unterwegs. Super Erlebnis und einfach alles nur Spitzenklasse. Wir waren mit 6 Personen auf dem Boot, das eigentlich 8 Personen fasst (+ Skipper). Da das Boot sehr neu war, gab es keinerlei Probleme. Alles tip top, die Technik hat einwandfrei funktioniert und der Skipper war einfach fantastisch. Rundherum ein Erlebnis, das uns lange in bester Erinnerung im Gedächtnis bleiben wird. Auch die Landschaft, Klarheit des Wasseres, Schnorchelreviere und Ausflüge mit Dinghi auf die Inseln waren spitzenmäßig. Einziger kleiner Kritikpunkt war, daß die Bettlaken zewar frisch gewaschen waren, aber einige Flecken aufwiesen. Diese sollten mal gegen neue Bettlaken getauscht werden und dann auch gleichzeitig als Spannbettlaken ausgeführt werden, da diese ständig verrutschten. Aber das ist Kritik auf sehr hohem Niveau. Und nochmals, alles super gut und bestens mit einem Skipper, der dem super Segel-Erlebnis nochmals einige Sterne obendrauf gesetzt hat! Gerne wieder !

Wir waren im Zeitraum Dezember 2023 bis Januar 2024 mit wechselnden Crews auf einer Lagoon421 von Platten Sailing im Canarreos Archipel unterwegs.
Die Yacht war technisch in einem sehr guten Zustand. Der Support seitens Plattensailing war Tipp Topp.
Wir werden sicher in ein paar Jahren wieder nach Cuba zurück kehren und wieder bei Plattensailing chartern.

Super expérience. Accueil et organisation parfaite. Nous étions sur le Estrella qui date de 2015. Tout fonctionnait parfaitement même si le bateau commence à être un peu "fatigué".
Un grand merci a Pollo notre skipper qui était top.
Je n'aurais qu'une remarque à faire sur l'état des draps et des serviettes fournies qui étaient particulièrement usées et tachées... il faudrait penser à les changer
Merci encore. Nous reviendrons avec plaisir

2 Wochen auf einer Lagoon 440 ;)) es war wunderbar und alles lief perfekt. Der Service vor Ort war sehr schnell und zuverlässig. Omar hat uns hervorragend bedient und auch nach der Reise mit Taxis, Quartier und anderem sehr unterstützt. Vielen vielen dank
Carola

Just returned from an extremely enjoyable 10 days aboard lagoon Victoria. Some issues of course , easily remedied.
Engines ran faultlessly when needed 6 knots at 1500rpm.
Instruments all worked except boat speed . Our own gps plotter gave us that anyway.
Sails reefed ok .
Second day in decent blow and following seas a Chinese jibe resulted in broken boom which was replaced and under way in less than 24 hrs . 👌 Bloody impressive. Thanks guys !
Anchor winch controls needed fixing , which, with excellent tool kit and a genuine sticking plaster was a piece of cake .
Omar and his crew were the epitome of professionalism. Ever helpful , polite and quick to respond.
Will certainly use again .
G.

Un lindo lugar para los turistas extranjeros.
Los cubanos no tenemos derecho a esos lugares náuticos

very damaged boats, bad maintenance, a real scam, near pirates attitude.. broken motors, broken mainsail, etc etc .. want to put your life in risk ? Go with platten! First nightmare like that in more of 20 charters over the world

THE WORST NAUTICAL EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE WITH THIS COMPANY!!
We rented a 42 foot catamaran to navigate the keys of southern Cuba for a week and it has been the worst nautical experience I have ever had. The first night of sailing we ran out of batteries in less than two hours due to being in poor condition. The starboard engine was no more than 4 and a half knots and overheated having to frequently replace water and oil. The automatic bilge pump in the chamber of this motor was disconnected and flooded. The dinghy's winch broke on the second day of sailing and we had to carry it sailing the rest of the trip. The fuel gauge did not work. The Genoa's starboard hatch leapt through the air on the second day under sail. The upper cloth of the mainsail broke on the fourth day of sailing, as it was generally in poor condition and was very well repaired. A complete ship disaster. But worst of all has been the response of the shipowner who has not only not been interested in us or wanted to know the details of the journey, but has refused to return the 3,000 euros of deposit that we deposit with the entire rental , another 3,200 euros. They had no claim book. We were not allowed to make any complaints. They have kept our deposit and we are responsible for everything. A complete scam.

AVOID PLATEN SAILING AT ALL COST

I am a licensed offshore yachtmaster with more than 10 years of experience and more than 20 charters around the world with a clean safety expedient. I chartered the boat Domino - Lavezzi 40 with a crew of 6 experienced sailors (also licensed skippers) with Platten Sailing in Cienfuegos (Cuba) in January 2020.

The boat presented all types of issues, serious defficiencies and clear evidences of poor maintenance.
Between them:

- Engine flooding due to a double issue: Broken water pipe by lack of maintenance and bilge pump with power cables disconnected, that we needed to solve after waiting for lots of smoke to disipate from the engine. Plastic pipes showed evidence of clear fatigue and never having been replaced for maintenance.

- Repeated overheating and stop of the engines. Needing to wait for cool down, add water and oil for the engines to restart. This happened multiple times during the trip.

- It was not possible to navigate by motor over 2000 rpm, with maximum speeds of 3.5 - 4 knots. When they said cruising speed should be 6-7 knots at 2500 rpm. With big sailing distances in Cuba, this made us spend all day in the sea and still needing to arrive to ports we dont know at night.

- Diesel gauge malfunctioning. Indicating at all moments that the boat has diesel.

- Dinghy crane mast broken during sailing, in a point that showed clearly previous problems and sloppy repairs. This forced us to sail with the dinghy towed in the water what caused that dinghy ropes could get into the propellers.

- Broken Main Sail and Broken Genoa Sail traveller. This last one nearly hit a crew member in the head when abruptly was shot out of the rail.

- Batteries level alarm indicating below 11V several times during the trip while motor sailing.

- Corroded anchor mechanism. It stopped working in the middle of some manoeuvres, what was quite risky. We needed to cut the cables and short circuit them to operate the anchor.

- Engines, sails and dinghy crane showed clear evidences of previous repairs, so repeated incidences over time.

All these issues ended putting our lives at risk after we suffered an accident when the engines stopped in the middle of a narrow channel near Cienfuegos and dinghy ropes got into the propeller when we were able to re-ignite the engines. Unfortunately, the depth in that point was too deep for the anchor to keep the boat, what made the boat ending against the rocks. We needed to be rescued after the status of the boat made us suffer this unfortunate accident.

If anyone is doubting if contracting Platten Sailing for their holidays, do not hesitate to contact me and I will be happy to provide more details, photos, videos, etc. before your dream sailing holidays become a real nightmare.

I made the mistake to assume that a German company would be synonimous of Quality and reliability. Don't do this mistake yourself if you are reading this.

I saw yesterday they are now trying to sell the boat Domino Lavezzi 40, even before we chartered since the video was recorded in Dec 2019. I hope some of the potential buyers can read this message before they make such a big mistake.

Best Regards,
Juan Sabaté

Wir haben dort im Oktober/November 2017 einen Cat Bahia 46 gemietet, welcher sehr schlecht gewartet war. BEIDE MOTOREN sind kaputt gegangen und die Basis hat uns keinerlei Hilfe bieten wollen oder können. Auch die restliche Elektronik ist ständig ausgefallen. Einfach gefährlich. Unbedingt einen anderen Vercharterer wählen. Das dies eine Basis ist , die aus Deutschland geführt wird , ist kein Qualitätsmerkmal. Auch der Besitzer aus Deutschland hat nicht reagiert als er über das defekte Schiff informiert wurde. Wir waren gezwungen das nicht mehr funktionstüchtige Schiff 80 Seemeilen übers offene Meer allein unter Segeln gegen einen Sturm zurück nach Cienfuegos zu bringen.