We handpick our vessels and have wonderful working relationships with all the vessel owners and organisations involved, we work alongside them to promote exciting voyages and to create schedules that provide the best experiences for you onboard. You can trust that our fleet has been carefully selected by us so you can book with confidence.
In 1996 Classic Sailing founders Adam and Debbie discovered that there was plenty of provision for young people to to sail on tall ships, but virtually no opportunities for those over 25. We knew we were not the only ones over 25 that yearned for romantic adventures at sea. For over twenty years we have encouraged the ship owners to open their voyages to all ages. Under the Classic Sailing ‘umbrella’ we now have a fleet of sail training ships exploring the world with adult crews.
Encouraged by the demand for voyages for adults of all ages we are proud to have helped;
Classic Sailing is not resting on our laurels: We are still on a mission to make sailing with ‘blocks and tackles’ as mainstream as possible as a holiday choice. We work with customers, boat owners and skippers to continually raise standards of sailing trips and adventure experiences.
For this task we need your help to spread the word about the fun and the thrills you have enjoyed, and tell us where we can do better.
Pilot Cutter ‘Eve of St Mawes’ was the charter boat that launched our business. Her voyages were popular and almost always full. We would be lying if we didn’t say she was our favourite. Now ‘Eve’ has retired from service, our sales team have no such bias, and plenty of worthy replacements for your floating holiday base.
Classic sailing has selected the fleet on merit and all are independently owned. We can give you an un-biased and expert view of what vessel or voyage might best suit your holiday goals. With lots of voyages to show you, there is no pressure from us to push you onto an unsuitable voyage through lack of choice. It is in our own interest to get it right for you, that way you can join the many that come back again and again.
When you book a voyage through Classic Sailing your booking contract is directly with the Boat Operator under their terms and conditions. There are links to them in our booking form, and you can use the Terms and Conditions Link on the bottom of every page of our website.
The advantage of booking with us is Classic Sailing staff can be your customer champion if you experience anything below the fleets usual high standards of customer care.
Before you book with us, you can be sure that….
We handpick our vessels and have wonderful working relationships with all the vessel owners and organisations involved, we work alongside them to promote exciting voyages and to create schedules that provide the best experiences for you onboard. You can trust that our fleet has been carefully selected by us so you can book with confidence.
All our office sales staff are also experienced skippers and sailing instructors. We are in regular contact the full time skippers of the vessels we work with and know when to ring them for unusual requests we can’t answer.
We only work with traditionally rigged sailing vessels that share our ethos for hands on participation, welcome all levels of ability, seek out adventure afloat and revel in exploring ashore.
Wildlife and environmental awareness and education have always been very important to Classic Sailing. All the ships we work with take care with recycling and disposing of rubbish and conform to international pollution laws. Many of the skippers are very knowledgeable about marine ecosystems and the wildlife you might see. On ocean voyages you may get involved in oceanographic or climate research. Some employ professional wildlife guides to give lectures and lead tours.
We work with vessels that are pioneering green initiatives from electric engines to cargo deliveries under sail.
Classic Sailing have had an environmental policy since 1997. Classic Sailing Eco Policy
We only select vessels that employ staff that have a good empathy with novice crews and like working with people. Many skippers and mates come from a sail training or personal development coaching background so they are great encouragers.
All the vessels we work with have an excellent record for providing safe adventures. They are inspected annually and licensed for commercial charter under authorities like the UK Maritime Coastguard Agency or other countries national equivalents. This includes regulations for staffing levels, safety equipment, emergency procedures and environmental protection.
We know what makes a ship safe and still exciting to sail. Classic Sailing have been vessel operators and skippers for 20 years ourselves and run Classic Sailing as a RYA Recognised Training Centre with an impeccable safety record. The staff at Classic Sailing carefully vet the new ships we take on. We have the experience to understand what makes a safe ship, how to guest crews should be managed, and have experience of writing safe operating procedures.
Our vessel descriptions are predominantly based on personal experience of each vessels sailing style out on the water, and continuing feedback from customers. We try and go sailing as often as we can to keep in touch with crews and customers.
The full time staff in Classic Sailing office have sailed enough nautical miles to circumnavigate the world six times (2019) but there are still plenty of places we have yet to explore…..
Where we are promoting a sailing ground that is unknown to us, we won’t make sweeping generalisations about itineraries, dolphins and polar bears. We will research it properly by asking the ship operators about their plans in detail.
If ship’s crew are being pioneers themselves, we double check the realism of their programmes by checking charts and pilot books and help each other describe the voyage in a straightforward way.
You can ask us anything. We have been selling sailing holidays for over 20 years and have safely sent over 10,700 people sailing since 1997. Where we can’t answer your questions or requests immediately, we can research it for you, or ask the skipper of the vessel. We know when skippers are in phone range or port, so leave your query with us. +44 (0) 01326 53 1234 or Contact Us
It is important to understand that when you book a voyage your booking agreement is with the vessel operator and not Classic Sailing.
There is a link to the Terms and Conditions at the foot of every page and in the online application form. Classic Sailing always asks you to read and agree to the ship operators full Terms and Conditions before completing your online booking form
All the Vessels have third party liability insurance
The main reason we insist that you have travel insurance to protect you from the following possibilities: That you have to cancel or leave early, so you can recoup some or all or your voyage fees or travel. If you are injured or ill on a voyage then in most ports we can access free medical treatment via reciprocal agreements between nations. You still have to get there so covering taxis, or getting back to the ship or home could be costly. Also you do need to protect your belongings if you are bringing expensive cameras, electronic devices or clothing.
We currently have a link on Classic Sailing website to a specialist yachting and tall ships travel insurer. You do not have to buy their travel insurance products, but you do need to take out adequate travel insurance for your voyage. You may already have an annual travel insurance that would cover your trip but please check the policy for the points below.
The reason why we profile a specific travel insurance company is because they have some additional extras that you might not find in all active holiday travel insurances. They are not the only sailing orientated travel insurance offering this.
If you choose your own, we recommend you look for the following specialist extras:
Make sure it covers sailing as an activity, and more specifically cruising on the sea and sailing as an adventurous activity where you will be active crew.
When selecting the correct geographical countries some travel insurances only cover up to the territorial limits with can be 3 or 12 miles offshore only. Our chosen insurer expects you to be offshore as part of a sailing holiday.
If your insurance is not as good as we ask we cannot be held responsible for the parts that would have been covered by a good sailing – tall ship travel insurance.
Before you travel we promise….
On every voyage we promote you will find a web page on your joining port and your departure port. We try and keep these up to date, explaining different rendezvous points for different ship if more than one is using the port for a crew change. If there is a big event on in the port like a tall ships race we will warn you. Some ports are holiday destinations in their own right so we may feature a few local highlights. As a minimum it should have how to get there by road, train or air and airport transport links. Sometimes we recommend places to stay.
We aim to give you an efficient, friendly and knowledgeable service and have over 20 years of experience of helping guests with their holiday planning. If you are struggling to find affordable transport or flights to a joining port we can often help you. If many are having the same problem we can flag it up with the ships operator to find a collective solution.
After your holiday we promise to….
We do our best to make it easy for you to feel you can comment, whether you do it via our feedback surveys sent out after your voyage, reviews on our social media or ringing us..
Whether it’s a “thanks and see you next time”, or a more complicated issue to resolve, we take your feedback seriously.
If you have any complaint about your voyage or vessel, safety issues or suggestions Classic Sailing will let you know we are dealing with it and when to expect an answer.
If you prefer to remain anonymous then we don’t mind being the middleman, if it means we can stop something happening again or improve.
After discussion with the ships operators or crew, We will report back to you on any changes or improvements. If it is a really serious complaint and no satisfactory answer is provided, we can suspend or cancel working with a ship.
We will pass on all positive feedback to the ships operators too. Everyone needs to feed loved.
Whilst we don’t employ the ship’s crew, where we can, we try to let individual crew know directly when they have done well through texts or social media.
If you have a complaint about our website, voyage descriptions or booking process then we can deal with that directly. We promise to correct mistakes quickly, find out what went wrong and make improvements to stop it happening again.
If you need to cancel a booking, we promise…..
If you have rung us to cancel, you will need to then confirm in writing (email is fine) that you are cancelling, and why you are cancelling, so we can help you fully.
A more crucial reason why you need to inform us in writing is to meet the ships operators cancellation and refund terms.
If the ship’s operator is forced to cancel a voyage due to extreme weather conditions, transport strikes, force Majeure or a mechanical or equipment breakdown that makes it unsafe or impractical to run the voyage, then we will work with them to create a package of alternative voyages to offer you.
Either Classic Sailing or the ship’s operator will inform you in writing why the voyage was cancelled and what options you have.