My wife and I have rented houseboats from several different facilities in the past and always had a great time. Those previous rentals were on lakes, so when we saw your television show on houseboating on the Gulf with Holiday Cruises, we thought this would be a similar experience. We recognized that house boating on lakes and the Gulf are very different, but thought this would be a great experience . Since we had years of house boating experience, we thought it would be challenging, but rewarding.
We rented from Holiday Cruises in Ft Myers, Fla upon recommendation of The Travel Channel. However, our experience was quite different than the one portrayed on the show. We rented our boat from Holiday Cruises with the anticipation there would be some unique differences and challenges, however, we did not anticipate the minimalist equipment on the boat and the difficult navigation requirements. Part of our first day was spent with the owner learning about the equipment (i.e toilets, battery charger, generator, etc.). We first learned that the food we purchased could not be cooled in the refrigerator because the boat did not have an inverter and you can not run the generator while cruising (I have never heard of that). This is disconcerting as we had just purchased food and drinks for four people and it was 90+ degrees outside. Because there was no inverter, the only items that worked on the boat were the bare essentials. Dave then began to state the boat did not have a regulator, so you must turn on the shore power for 2 1/2 hours every morning and evening and if you did it longer, you would burn up the battery. He then stated you must hold the generator button for 30 seconds and then the starter button for 3-4 seconds. If you held it longer it might suck salt water in the engine and as the owner mentioned with every nuance of this extremely sensitive and limited boat; "you will be liable." He then went on to show how you must slide your foot off the toilet pedal or it would dry out the seal and (you guessed it) we would be liable. This went on and on with most items on the boat making us feel we had rented a boat with extreme sensitivity, no options, outdated technology and a very finicky owner.
The lack of GPS on the boat made navigation difficult, but were able to adapt to the maps for the limited channel width of the intercoastal waterway . I had brought with me a small portable GPS which was extremely helpful in navigating. Mind you, this is an inexpensive unit ($80) with a Marine data base. We had a nice time at our first port but found the forward berth was about 3 feet tall and the toilet height that of a bar stool, so that was not a comfortable place to stay. To complicate the low ceiling and high toilet height of the forward berth, the air conditioner would not cool off the berth, so it was always hot and uncomfortable.
Despite all the complexities and concerns about the boat care we tried to have a nice time and were ready to leave the marina to return the boat and Dave called to say we could not leave due to small craft warnings. We listened to the radio and they said 15 knots. We did not feel it was an issue, but the owner said if we left and there was a problem "WE WERE LIABLE". So, he gave us the option of staying another night (at our cost), or paying for a captain to return the boat. It was our next to last day, so we hired a captain. We were told the captain would be there at twelve and to wait till he arrived. We were sure it was purely coincidental that the Captain was delivering another Boat and needed a way to return. Upon leaving the dock we felt the winds were not an issue (they were not even 15 knots) and did not know why we had to cover the extra cost of a captain. We thoroughly cleaned and scrubbed as we have always done with rental boats with no problem.
When we returned to the point of origination we discovered the owner had kept part of our deposit. He kept $150 for a toilet malfunction that we had operated properly per the instructions, and $50 for cleaning the already clean oven. All in all it was not a pleasant experience and we were all happy to return the boat . On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the pits and 5 being great, it was a 1.5 experience.