Boat rental in Taormina · Orizzonti Nautica — Syros (2023)

Our review of Giovanni is mixed. The boat was provided and we enjoyed it. It was clean, maintained, functional, and consistent with its description. The booking process was seamless and communication was good. However, the experience on the day was sub-optimal in five areas: 1. No response to email communications on the day, despite earlier good responsiveness. 2. We had to wait 30min after the designated time for Giovanni to show up and get us on the boat, with no communication during that time and no explanation or apology. Due to a deadline at the other end, that resulted in our charter being cut short. There was no offer of rebate compensation. 3. The boat had unusually heavy steering which made it somewhat difficult to pilot. (We have driven many boats, both charter and owned). 4. Upon return, the agent who received the boat from us tried to scam us into paying for a full tank of petrol, when we had used perhaps one fifth or one sixth of a tank. The agent opened the fuel tank, peered into it and said, “that’s 40L used”. We pointed out that the take clearly had 40L written on it as its entire capacity. And only a few centimeters of depth at the top had been used. We offered to acknowledge 7-8L of use and to pay ~€15 accordingly. A considerable haggle and multiple denials ensued in broken English with an aggressive tone. Eventually, he waved us off without any charge. BUT, if we had been less observant or less confident, we might have been charged €80+. We can only assume this scam has worked with other tourists. BEWARE!! 5. Giovanni is not a private owner, but is a sales representative of a company — the result was that we had to deal with three different people during the charter experience. The guy who approached us to pilot the boat back to the dock (i.e. the same guy who tried to scam us on the fuel) did so on a boat full of “rough” people wearing board shorts and singlets (in stark contrast to the other two people we had dealt with earlier, who were much more professional). His unofficial appearance and the manner of his approach left us in doubt as he boarded our boat as to whether he was legitimate or we were going to be mugged and the boat stolen. Fortunately, he was legitimate, but it was a confusing and uncertain interchange! In summary, the experience was acceptable until the fuel scam, which made us less tolerant with hindsight in respect of all the other shortcomings noted above.

Giovanni was a pleasure to deal with. The boat was really nice….people in town were charging 300 euro per hour, and he charged 375 for the entire day. My one suggestion for Giovanni is that he suggests a parking address when you make the reservation. Otherwise, it was as good as could be expected. I would DEFINITELY rent from him again!!