money, money money....

While would be nice to have a few more guests for both the Summer Sailings and Winter Dining, our business keeps ticking over; the maintenance gets done, upgrades get financed, the bills get paid; all of which is good.

What we do struggle with as a micro business is providing the facilities for on line payments in whatever form the guest wishes to use. This involves an unrealistic amount of time, cost and risk. We cannot find suitable partners; our turnover and transaction numbers are tiny resulting in us paying unrealistically high commission rates; most of the systems are run by mega companies based in the USA with no UK accountability and poor customer service; web site hosts are trying to be the intermediary in the transaction taking their own cut. The last straw is the winding up of the Vyne payment system which we have used successfully for some years. The alternatives are unattractive or not linkable to our web site.

So until we have time to build a new web site on a UK based host, with on line payment through UK based banks, we are reverting to a simpler, more economical and secure system. All summer sailings bookings can be still purchased on line but we will invoice the guests by e mail for BACS (or cheque) payment. The fees are lower, the transactions more transparent and the dispute resolution easier for all parties. We will have sorted out an online payment system by August when we open bookings for next winter's Winter Dining and Summer Sailings 2026.

If you thinking of booking a last minute holiday don't forget there is a discount of 20% on all May sailings booked in April. See more on the link below

20% discount on May sailings