SailingSelection.com, FAQ raised by people who like to make a sailing cruise.

Who are we ?

SailingSelection.com is a trading name of Trimusket B.V., a limited liability company incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands, and having its registered address at La Bonne Aventure 2, 6041 MC, Roermond, the Netherlands. 

Trimusket B.V. owns the website www.sailingselection.com 

Through the www.sailingselection.com website, Trimusket BV provides an online reservation service through which partnering sailing ship companies and other particular ship cabin providers can offer their sailing trip products and reservation services, and which the website visitors can use to make a reservation for cabin charter.

Which services do we offer ?

SailingSelection.com will lead you to find for you the finest cabin charter sailing experience and this tailor-made to your wishes. We have close contact to, knowledge and expertise about and offer the finest crewed sailing ships, cruising the seas worldwide. You can book a cabin and sail along with and get to know like-minded guests, all very enthusiastic to sail on unique, mostly classic and stylish sailing vessels from times past, and at the same time, renovated to meet the today’s comfort requirements. If you have sailed/skippered yourself for many years, but now wants to sail without doing all the hard work yourself or on your own, or if you want to get the feeling of sailing for the first time without sailing knowledge, or want to sail on a historic (mega) yacht, special catamaran or Windjammer, or if you want to sail in far away foreign waters, our formula brings together all these wishes. Start with choosing your preferred sailing area, or start with your preferred ship, or preferred season, or preferred cabin type and we will lead you to your chosen and unique sailing experience

What is “cabin charter” ?

In the recent developments with a growing demand and potential for a combination of the longer existing yacht charter concept (A) together with the traditional sailing cruises (B) concept, we focus on the combination of these 2 concepts, offering  to be able to book a cabin on a sailing ship on a particular sailing journey with professional crew, but then possibly smaller than a regular sailing cruise ship (concept B), and with the focus on real sailing (like concept A). A new concept of “cabin charter” is born.

“Cabin charter” versus “full/private charter" ?

Whereas with cabin charter, you book a cabin on a ship during a sailing trip, sharing this ship with other guests, in case of “full charter” (or private charter), you book the whole ship for a particular journey, without other guests. With both options, the ship is operated with a professional crew. Via our website portal sailingselection.com you will get a good overview for the main types of cabin charter offerings. For full charter/private charter requests ( = private charter of the entire ship), please contact us via the following contact details: info@sailingselection.com

Why book with SailingSelection.com ?

We can sum up 5 main reasons for you, why our website platform provides a lot of value:

• You can easily find your preferred sailing trip by choosing your own preferred criteria, starting with e.g. : Where do I want to go to?  Which ship type do I prefer?  How large should the ship be? 
• By only having to use this 1 user-friendly portal, you will find the needed information quickly without having to look at many different ship websites or systems, while along the way, you are getting used to the “easy-to-use” format, the more often you use it.
• We offer many different sailing trips, with many different sailing ship types, worldwide.
• You can easily compare among many other sailing trip options at a glance, so you will become more certain and satisfied in being able to make the sailing trip choice which fits best with your wishes.
• You can create a nice ''logbook" for yourself along the way, containing lots of information about your sailing trips.

Our sailing trips

What type of ships are there available for “cabin charter”?
We will be cooperating with like-minded sailing ship companies, matching our philosophy, and who have made available cabins on their ships for us to offer.

You can choose among several ship types in combination with “cabin charter”:

1. Tall ships: On these ships, mainly old ‘Windjammer’ or converted fishing or coastal cargo vessel (e.g. in the Dutch ‘brown fleet’) you can book as a trainee learning how to sail such a ship and working hard in keeping it up. Nevertheless most of these ships you need to pay for. Accommodation and food is often a kind of a youth hostel standard. But of course, being up the masts in the Antarctica e.g. on the Bark ‘Europa’ is an unforgettable challenge, if you like to learn about your limits. There is nothing on any yacht to be compared with this kind of seamanship. 
2. Mega Yachts: On these ships, authentic yacht sailing on a classically styled Mega Yacht with a flexible routing is combined with the comfort of a cruise ship. They have a full nautical and a service crew with good F&B on board. Small groups up to about 26 guests. Sailing with a bit of a cruise. A rather new concept, with growing popularity and thus very recommendable. An example is the Sailing-Classics cabin charter concept on SV Rhea, Chronos or Kairos (newly built ships in retro classics style) which combines real sailing on a Mega Yacht with the modern comfort of a cruise.
3. Classical Luxury Yachts: This category involves ships like mentioned under category 2. with the speciality that they are real classical ships ( = with nice renovations/refits along the way of course, they are being built like up to 100 years old or so), with a high level of luxury and comfort/space/service per guest on board, like the “Germania Nova”.
4. Catamarans and other crewed charter yachts: As a result of the growing awareness during the last few years that catamarans combine spacious living area with nice stable comfortable sailing characteristics, there is a growing demand for sailing on catamarans on the basis of “cabin charter” as well.
5. Gulets and other motorsailers: Finally there is a category of ships which appear in specific countries / sailing areas where the tradition of these ships is originating from. Like the Gulet Motorsailer: These are very nice trips, mostly from bay to bay, and are usually motor-sailing concepts, using both motor-power as well as sailing.

What type of sailing trips are there ?
Our sailing trips are categorised in several types and you can search on our website per category:

 1. How active? You can choose among 3 types:

• Trainee Trip: focus on work & learning
• Relax & assistance: More relaxation and work only at your choice
• Relax and comfort: More relaxation and focus on comfort and being served

 2. Weather type? You can choose among 2 types:

• Warm weather sailing
• Cold weather sailing 

3. Holiday type? You can choose among 7 types:

• Youth Sailing: sailing trips / special cabins for youngsters (<25 years mostly at reduced rates).
• Sailing & Miles: focus on sailing longer distances
• Sailing & Relax: focus on relaxation
• Sailing & Culture: sailing with extra attention for cultural environment
• Sailing & Nature: sailing with extra attention for natural environment
• Sailing & Sports: sailing with extra attention for (water)sports
• Sailing & Adventure: sailing with extra attention for adventurous activities

Special sailing trips and special cabins for youngsters under 25 years, against reduced rates
Several of our sailing ship partners offer sailing trips which are especially suitable and targeted for youngsters (under 25 years old). These are (mostly) offered at reduced rates. You can find these sailing trips by filtering under "Youth Sailing" or "Sailing & Adventure". The offered cabins with their special "youth rates" are mostly marked with the term "youth".

Where are the ships sailing ?
Our sailing ships can be found worldwide, and you can find your preferred sailing area among various sailing areas, worldwide, by using our "Area" filter.
 
Which is the best sailing trip and/or ship for me ?
By ticking the several “filters” regarding the indicated criteria according to your wishes you end up with your preferred sailing trip and/or preferred ship.
 
Can children go on a sailing trip ?
Yes, children are very welcome on particular sailing trips offered, which then are especially labelled as for “families with children”, as indicated accordingly. However, also a large amount of sailing trips are less suitable for children under 5 years (especially when not that experienced swimmers). So, on regular sailing trips the recommended age for children is higher then 5 years old. In cases when children can board at a special discounted rate, this will be indicated accordingly. 

What do you recommend for non-experienced sailors?
No sailing or nautical experience is required on our offered sailing trips, unless specified by the trip description otherwise.
 
What experience/sailing license is needed on board?
For most of the above-mentioned 5 x “cabin charter” types you do not need sailing experience or a sailing licence. Nevertheless your grade of fitness and experience is important for most forms of cabin charter. The sailing experience is very much determined by the area you are sailing in. For example, an Atlantic crossing is totally different (much more active) to a Mediterranean gulet trip in Turkey or Croatia with just sailing in a relaxed way from bay to bay close to the shore.
 

Book your sailing trip

How do I book my sailing trip ?
For making a reservation for your sailing trip, you can do this by going to the following link "register" where you first can create your account and follow the instructions further (you can also go directly to make a reservation and create your "account" (profile) at a later stage in the reservation process).
Along the reservation process we will ask you to fill in with the necessary details, like contact details etc. Once you have confirmed the reservation, we will then inform the chosen ship partner of your reservation, and after you have paid the deposit to the ship cabin provider you will receive more details for your booked sailing journey from them.
For any questions, you have along the way concerning the reservation process, you can contact us via: support@sailingselection.com

How should I pay for my sailing trip ?
You can pay via the instructed channel(s) provided by our platform and your payment should be done directly to the ship partner with whom you will make your sailing trip. To make your reservation valid, firstly a deposit (in most cases 20%) has to be paid to the ship partner. After that, you will be informed by the ship partner about when the balance payment has to be paid, usually at least 30 days before the start date of your sailing trip.

What is included in the rate ?
Along the reservation process there will be clearly indicated which services are included in the charged rate. VAT, local taxes and other charges are normally being included as mentioned, unless indicated otherwise (this being dependable on the ship / ship partner with which you will sail with). The indicated cabin rates (per person) which are based upon full cabin occupancy are accordingly marked as "shared cabin", or when available, can be booked in "single occupancy configuration" and in this case will be marked as "unshared cabin".
 
What needs done one week before travelling ?
One week before you go on board the selected ship, please check if you have received the several boarding documents from the ship partner, like boarding voucher, meeting point info, pack list etc, documents which you should have received after you have done the balance payment and at least one week before the boarding date. Should you not have received the boarding document, after having done the balance payment, please let us know, and we will take action.

Your cabin

What types of cabins are there ?
Depending on your chosen ship, there are cabins from small size with sleeping hammocks up to large cabins with large double beds, airco, large own bathroom and sitting area.

How many guests can stay in one cabin ?
Depending on your chosen cabin type, there can be space for 1 up to about 4 guests.

What types of bed/berth types are there ?
Depending on your chosen cabin type, you can opt for: single bed, double bed, bunkbed or hammock configuration.

Do I have my own bathroom ?
Depending on your chosen cabin type, you can opt for a “shared bathroom” – or “own bathroom” configuration.

What is a shared cabin ? 
When booking a cabin you can choose to share a cabin with one of your “’known” co-travelling partners, and when travelling alone you can also choose to share a cabin with an “’unknown” guest being of the same sex, also to avoid paying the extra single occupancy surcharge. In these cases, please choose a cabin marked as "shared".
For single travellers who want to choose for a "single occupancy” configuration of the cabin, you can choose amoung cabins, in this case, these being marked as "unshared".

Cooking

What cooking can be expected on board ?
Depending on the chosen sailing trip type, as described above, the cooking can vary between good basic meals up to fine dining cuisine.

Who does the cooking on board ?
You can choose your preferred way “who is doing the cooking” on board, there are 3 options: "self cooking", "assist with cooking" or "a cook is on board".

Life on board

What are the social aspects / activities on board ?
On most sailing trips, and this besides your own activities (like reading, socialising, games) you can choose among several activities on board, like helping on deck/helm, watching and learning about navigation, watersports and more. This all depending on the chosen ship partner.

What are the social aspects / activities on shore ?
Depending on the chosen ship partner, you can expect activities on shore, like excursions, beach activities (games), on-shore-cooking (BBQ) etc.

When returned from your sailing trip

How can I give feedback when returned from my sailing trip ?
We love to hear about your experiences when returned from your sailing trip. You can leave your comments on our website or via info@sailingselection.com