Jollyparrot Reviews

STAY AWAY I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THIS TO ANY SAILING ENTHUSIAST I did my day skipper course with them and I was shocked to see how poor the quality the course is for 1 5K that I spent on it This company is only interested in money But not actually giving you anything for it Let me give you my true and real experience When I arrived to Gibraltar on the Sunday I rang to put my bags in their storage room Which was mixed with all the engine parts I have not met any member of the school just the lady on the phone and been told the meeting point would be 4pm at the lounge bar and people would be around at that time I was there by 4pm no one came I waited until surprisingly 9 30pm Which I met a few of the course students by asking each other Are you here for the course Nobody knew what was happening So we introduced ourselves to each other It is very annoying that no one had come to even say hello to us At 9 30pm a man working at the bar wore a jolly parrot T-shirt so we knew he worked for them There was no introduction or welcome as you would expect Because this course is all about the fun but we all started with a question of Am I in the right boat There was 5 of us in the small Jolly Parrot boat including the skipper The boat only had 4 cabins So I was already unlucky and ended up sleeping on the dirty sofa bed for 1 week There is no curtain for the windows so I ended up waking every day early The food provided was just okay I can t give any trophies for it You will get 1 old towel and 1 set of bedding for the whole week If you can get one and you have got to ask for a sleeping bag The wetsuits are very old and dated it also smelled But I would give a big thumbs to Alister who deserves a much better school than this jolly parrot I enjoyed learning from him even though losing many hours of sleep on that boat After a week of doing competent crew we moved onto a slightly bigger boat Guess what I end up sleeping on the sofa again because the cabins were taken by the others quickly THE THEORY of the course had started I have already told the admin on emails and over the phone that I am not a native English speaker so I might need a little extra help on the theory to which she confirmed I would get BUT I DIDN T GET ANY HELP Plus they will take your chart away from you so they can use it again Because I paid for that chart and they took it away The teacher on the theory test class was overcrowded and was the worst part of this course We had a lady and some elderly man The teacher had very bad manners using language such as cursing and an aggressive manner such as using the F-word all the time I felt embarrassed because there was a lady sitting behind me and the older gentleman The teacher was drunk every single night and you would see how his face was tired and puffy in the morning while he was teaching us He even wore the same t-shirt and shorts throughout the days he was teaching theory I failed on 2 parts of the course because of the lack of my reading capability and received no help like promised Sadly I had been informed he will teach us practical stay with him in the same boat for the next 5 days Again he would use bad language like saying the f-word at the boat and he snored very loud at night Guess what He s drunk every single night again I couldn t cope with this so I asked to be moved out the first day to a smaller boat and he told me he will speak with Clive I moved to the old boat with a much better mannered instructor who had much more knowledge in how to teach people I think he is too high class for Jolly Parrots quality I was back to the sofa bed again But at least this time with a much better environment At the end I failed the course in 2 categories Because I was very passionate to become a skipper and this tall man wouldn t be a big enough stone in my way to stop me he couldn t stop my determination I searched for help to start another school straight away the next day The money was no problem so I had to pay for an extra course and I was very lucky to find a very high class school in Marbella Spain I was given accommodation and nice towels and a privet cabin straight away at the boat which was very new I believe it was the newest school boat in the whole of Gibraltar and Spain He even gave out school t-shirts to match the rest of the team Very professional I will go back to do my coastal skipper with him in a few months He took a lot of time and patience to teach me navigation and passages But Jolly Parrot didn t give me any extra help And now I ve passed my day skipper course and I am seeking to buy my own dreamboat My advice to anyone looking to become a skipper do a lot of homework before wasting your money with Jolly Parrots All these words above are true and my sole experience with this Jolly Parrots I have all the images of the boats and the quality of the service I will share my review on YouTube as well

Week from HellMy partner and I booked sailing course with Jolly Parrot after I read the positive reviews this is not our experience and I believe the negative reviews don t make it into the system On arrival I contracted nasty cold which left me coughing with high temperature and headache for the whole week the briefing on arrival was that is your cabin the food shopping in carrier bags and the instructor will see you tomorrow We stayed in Crazy Parrot our cabin lights didn t work we couldn t close our cabin door without fighting with seat behind it There was 5 of us 2 guys and a woman who completed her course 2 weeks before she was bossy rude new it all and VERY friendly with the instructor The instructor very knowledgeable and experience when he is not too busy on his phone I didn t like his method of teaching The food very basic but it was not a problem as we were buying food when we moored in Marinas Crazy Parrot is Racing boat according to the instructor it has 15 sheets to deal with the main sail requires at least 3 people to raise it and all 5 of us to take it down very big sail and I found it complicated as a beginner to remember the order of raising it and lower it The first day the plotter refused to work we tried to practice anchorage but the anchor wouldn t work the anchor chain stuck the crew has to repair it so we can practice anchorage the day after some charts worn night sailing was very challenging no light on compus we couldn t see our bearing we were using mobile phone light No torches on board in my opinion that boat not for beginners and requires maintenance and repairs I am experienced dinghy sailor and very competitive I sailed for many years I was looking forward for my Day skipper course but sadly for me my cold was worthen not sleeping well I was not concentrating on little details and I was getting grief from the lady who knew it all under the nose of the instructor I didn t do well so I failed The truth is when I returned back to England My confidant was very low I am not native English and have strong accent and some people think it s weakness I took my time before I wrote this review to reflect on my experience I was offered to return and take the course again for free but I will not return to Gibraltar I read other reviews I am sure there is good instructors there may be I booked the wrong week in the wrong boat with the wrong instructor

I booked a mile builder with Jolly Parrot paying over 1300 for the week My intention was to see if longer crossings appealed to me The first leg of the journeys from Gibraltar to Al Hoceima in Morocco was due to take 28 Hours and leave on the 11th September 2023 - after arriving in Al Hoceima a pretty basic African semi-resort I said to the Skipper that after the next leg back to Adra in Spain I would leave the boat - I said this type of sailing isn t for me He said it happens a lot and understood The next morning he spoke to the director of the Jolly Parrot Sailing - who wanted to speak to me They said I can t leave the boat - as he will charge me They also said because this was a commercial charter - then the crew needed to be at a minimum of 5 including me - and they could not legally sail with less They also said I was not being a team player and my action would mean that the others on the boat would not be able to get their qualifications I was a little surprised at his aggressive attitude and lack of compassion and did say - I cannot be kept on a boat against my will so after the leg to Adra I probably would leave the boat I had already changed my flight from Gibraltar to Malaga in preparation for this At this point jolly parrot said Get off the boat now I complied and was left stuck in the middle of Morocco with little idea how to get back to Spain There are a number of issue here 1 If I was less resourceful than I am or more vulnerable - then JP could have caused a serious issue Imaging someone who didn t speak some French no English spoken 2 If it was illegal for the commercial charter to leave without me - why did it As soon as I have been expelled 3 This was an absolutely disgraceful act by the director of Jolly Parrot simply because my leaving the boat in 30 hours time would cause him a logistical headache this could easily have been resolved in the boat returned to Gibraltar but instead to make life difficult for me he told me to leave I have subsequently spoken to a number of professional yachtmasters regarding Jolly Parrot and their opinions were not positive I did pass on my experences to the RYA with the intention that they could make sure this type of marooning would not happen again They said as this was not an RYA sanctioned course they were powerless to act One thing I would say the equipment left a lot to be desired the boat was dirty the state of the cabin area was rough whilst being entirely seaworthy you would expect something a little more current than this Lastly the owner JP lied on a number of ocasions when asked to detail what had happened I am just happy to put this behind me Look elsewhere

I enjoyed my time with the rest of the crew but the experience overall was not great The boat was small and had too many crew members for our course which made it difficult for us to all get enough time to learn different procedures and some things I never had the chance to do Our instructor was lovely if not a bit random but tbh I would very much enjoy sailing with him again The owners of Jolly Parrot however were wierd They creeped me out and didn t make me feel welcome to join them for a drink which seemed to be all they did Furthermore one of the other members of my crew came back later saying the owner had propositioned her for sex I m pretty sure there was some miscommunication as her english wasn t perfect but either way she said he was very handsy and freaked her out We did not get a chance to go all the places we wanted to as we had to come back a day early for a photoshoot for the company which was unorganised and mainly had us sailing around in circles trying to work out what was going on They claimed to be flexible with dietary requirements and then when i told them I was a vegan said that they couldn t accommodate something like that and didn t offer me a refund on food budget to go and by my own food They then purchased me normal veggie food such as quiche and cheese which wouldn t want to eat They did also buy me extra salad which was nice and make a good veggie Bean Chilli for the night sailing voyage In summary a week sailing in a nice place is never going to be awful so there was a lot of nice parts but overall the experience was not great and I d go with someone else

Jolly Parrot is highly unprofessional With my skipper making sexist and misogynistic jokes as well as being altogether unpleasant after speaking with the owner Clive this doesn t surprise me that the culture at the company is unprofessional The training was poor at the best of times And the boats were it terrible shape and in need of repair At one point the owner rafted his boat next to ours while he took his family out for the day resulting in the masts of our boats smashing together with debris raining down I got food poisoning from my skipper Ian who had symptoms of food poisoning when he got on our boat

I recently attended a sailing course with Jolly Parrot Sailing and had an extremely disappointing experience Despite severe weather warnings the course proceeded in dangerously stormy conditions which significantly limited our time on the water and the quality of instruction As a beginner I felt it was highly irresponsible to be put in such unsafe conditions and the course structure did not accommodate the challenging weather Moreover the instructor s behavior was completely unprofessional Not only were there frequent inappropriate sexist remarks made in front of me but the teaching style was aggressive and belittling which severely impacted my confidence The lack of proper guidance especially in such harsh conditions left me feeling unprepared and unsupported To make matters worse the company did not handle other issues well such as towing another boat which further reduced our already limited practical sailing time I ultimately left the course early due to the accumulation of these negative experiences and the ongoing unsafe weather conditions I expected a lot more from this course especially considering the significant time and money invested Unfortunately I cannot recommend Jolly Parrot Sailing based on my experience

I can only follow up with the comment made in June 2023 Jolly Parrot is highly unprofessional With my skipper making sexist and misogynistic jokes as well as being altogether unpleasant after speaking with the owner Clive this doesn t surprise me that the culture at the company is unprofessional The training was poor at the best of times It is disgusting how I was treated and for any women out there DO NOT BOOK THIS COURSE at jolly parrot Sexist behaviour was not taken seriously and rather responded with I can understand that in a bygone age this may have been meant and taken as a compliment it is not acceptable now however innocently the comment was intended a quote directly from Clive which is absolutely unacceptable for me Admitting that comments have been made not apologised and simply downplayed it so women now have to STILL accept this behaviour due to sexist owners- just disgusting

I just spent 5 days doing a competent crew course with Ian and to be honest I had a great time Josh also joined us on various nights out when all the boats were in the same place and he also made our trip with his hilarious stories I consider myself very lucky to have had a really nice couple of guys on our boat to share the week with along with friendly people on the other yachts We had a big 46ft yacht called Silent Years and we each had our own cabin which I know is probably not the norm because they tell you that on their website Also we saw loads of Dolphins Pilot whales and visited some great restaurants and pubs in Gibraltar Spain and Spanish Morocco Ian and Josh showed us places you d never find on your own and opened our eyes to what sailing in the Med is really like We all learnt a lot from Ian and we all grew as a crew getting more confident by the day Conditions went from flat calm to force 8 gales to perfect sailing which for us was a great learning curve Ian dealt with everything as did the other instructors and that s a real credit to them because teaching novices isn t easy Thanks again John

Jolly Parrot instructor Ian is top-notch We swapped to JP for Day Skipper because we had trained with Ian before Instructor Josh is also lovely and zoomed through the Theory course at top speed Bring your brain and extra specs It s not the Hilton but they don t do Night Sailing If you are doing Express Day Skipper anywhere then best book a flat bed somewhere for the first week Food Waitrose Eroski Morrisons for life s little extras

I had a thoroughly enjoyable time on this two week course On arrival it s a meet and greet at one of the local bars where all of the Jolly Parrot staff were welcoming and friendly Then on to the boat to get settled in The course was enjoyable I had two different instructors over the two weeks - Lissie for Comp Crew and Josh for Day Skipper theory and practical They were both excellent in my opinion Josh in particular was quite the raconteur I stayed on board for the whole two weeks but many people opted to sleep in local hotels which are relatively inexpensive Not the full five stars because I felt the boats were a little tired but that may be down to my expectations and the fact it was right at the end of the season I don t imagine I ll extend my qualifications past Day Skipper but if I did I d return and do it with Jolly Parrot