What you should know before the voyage

If you decide to sail on a ship, the first thing you have to come to terms with is the age-old rule that the captain's decision is law! Of course he will try to accommodate you, but you need to realise that the captain sees things in a wider context concerning, for example, the safety of the ship and the crew, the weather, or perhaps the needs of the ship or of the other people on board. His decision is final and irreversible!

Just as we are not a travel agency, generating profit is not our aim either. Yes, from the point of view of the law and taxes we were forced to set up a limited company, but we don't behave the way one would expect in these capitalist times. Our aim was to bring together people with the same interest, to build this ship together, to sail her across seas and oceans and to raise only as much money for her operation as La Grace needs in order to live. That is why we do a great many things ourselves and with the help of hundreds of volunteers. It may surprise you, but we don't know how to do it any other way.

"A sailing ship is not a bus." We plan our voyages carefully and realistically, yet we can never guarantee 100% that we will reach the planned destination, or reach it on time. It can also happen that the swell makes a crew change impossible at a given place. Be prepared for the possibility that you will have to make your own way out to the ship, or back ashore the same way.

When arranging your travel to the ship, think carefully about when to buy your ticket. Trying to get a cheap flight as early as possible often ends with you buying a second ticket. If you really are in a hurry, at least book a flight to the main airport of the region; you will always find an onward connection locally. Travel to and from the ship is always at your own expense.

A category of their own are people who book not only travel but also local accommodation a year in advance. We live in a world where "booking.com" will find you a room anywhere in 10 minutes. There is no point in worrying in advance that the booking will be lost because the crew change moves elsewhere. We recommend not doing it.

A big problem is the size of La Grace, for which many ports may not have room, and so we simply change crews at anchor and ferry people by dinghy. We know how to do it, it's not a problem.

If we expect a change, we will try to let you know as soon as possible using the contact details you gave us. If everything is as agreed, we don't call, and we only confirm the crew-change place to people the day before, or on the day of the change, and only to those who call the ship themselves. Many of you follow us on AIS (the ship's position online), or read the Captain's Log, so you have an overview yourselves.

La Grace has her limits. She is certainly not a luxury yacht. If you have come to experience how an 18th-century sailor felt, you will be pleasantly surprised. If you mistake our ship for a *****hotel, you will be disappointed. Glass and marble are far easier to maintain than wood, and although the ship is cleaned every day, it will never look the same. We think that is a good thing. Even so, if you are not happy with the state of the ship, please tell the captain straight away. We will roll up our sleeves together and tidy her to a standard that is acceptable to everyone and, of course, achievable.

Trasy našich plaveb dopředu pečlivě plánujeme na základě našich mnohaletých zkušeností tak, aby bylo reálné je stihnout za dobu, kdy je Vám loď k dispozici. Nehoníme NM kvůli zápisu do jachtařské knížky. 😊 A noční plavby jsou jen součástí přeplaveb, nebo zážitkem, nikoliv pokusem odrovnat stálou posádku. 😊 Vždy také hodně záleží na tom, jaké jsou vaše schopnosti – jinými slovy taháme jen tolik plachet, kolik se naučíte obsluhovat. A v neposlední řadě má hlavní slovo pro výběr trasy počasí. La Grace pro nás není jen nějaká vypůjčená loď, a protože ji chceme zachovat dalším generacím, tak ji zbytečně neničíme v bouřích jen kvůli touze po adrenalinovém zážitku. ☹  Na koho vyjde silná bouře, tak se holt bude stát v chráněné zátoce , či v bezpečném přístavu a vejletovat po okolí.
"Plujeme bezpečně a na pohodu!"

Jsou lidé, kteří se starají o Vaši bezpečnost a zajištují odborný chod lodi, včetně Vašeho výcviku. Existují jachty, kde si (tedy za úplně jiné peníze) najímáte služebnictvo, u nás velení 😊. Na La Grace platí, že Vás všechno naučíme a se vším pomůžeme, ale hnací silou této lodi jste vy. Bez Vás to nebude fungovat, protože jak s oblibou říkáme:
"Na La Grace bude jen to, o co se společně postaráme!"

A voyage on La Grace is for actively living people, or for those who want to rest in the role of guests. Keeping this complex ship in good technical condition means working on her continuously. Every day one of our 4 watches takes bosun's duty and works as a support team for the permanent crew. We do not expect you to toil all day, and we try to make it interesting shipboard work, such as sail repairs or rope splicing. We never know in advance what will be needed. This too sets a voyage on a historical ship apart from an ordinary luxury charter.

Until 2026, La Grace could not produce drinking water herself, and it worked anyway. It was common, especially in the summer months around the island of Elba, for water to be short and impossible to obtain. Today we can produce it, but we still use water sparingly on board. This is not a problem. We wash the dishes and ourselves in salt water and use fresh water only for cooking. The ship's bathrooms have both filtered sea water and fresh water. You can comfortably wash completely in salt water, and anyone who really needs to can rinse off with fresh water. That is what saves the most drinking water. If drinking water consumption during the week turns out to be too high, the crew will switch to the so-called "Atlantic system": drinking water runs only in the galley, while salt water remains available at all times. We ask you to save water for practical reasons, not out of a wish to restrict you. Please respect this.

❌ There is no hot water in the ship's showers, neither salt nor fresh. Thank you for your understanding.

La Grace faces the same problems as every hotel and guest house, including luxury ones. It can never be guaranteed that someone will not bring fleas, cockroaches, bedbugs or similar pests on board in their luggage. We cannot disinfest every passenger and every bag before boarding, so we have the ship treated regularly instead. Please take care where you sleep on your way to the ship and where you put your luggage down. With cockroaches, a small thing is enough: you buy a case of beer in a local supermarket and want to store it on board in its cardboard box. Please do not. These insects live in shop storerooms, and one moment of inattention by the permanent crew is all it takes for them to get on board. It does not happen often, but it cannot be ruled out, and dealing with it later would be very unpleasant for all of us. If we do not find out who brought the pests on board, we are all in the same position. We therefore do not consider such a situation grounds for a complaint.

We are not a hotel and we cannot arrange laundry for bed linen. Please bring a sleeping bag or a clean blanket, and above all a bed sheet and a pillowcase. At a pinch a T-shirt will do for the pillow, but the sheet is essential. It is how we keep conditions as hygienic as possible for the cadets who come after you. Please respect this.

Every country has its own laws and we are obliged to observe them. In Italy, for example, a ship may not anchor closer than 100m from a rocky shore or 182,5m from a beach. The rule is meant to protect swimmers coming from the shore, but it forces swimmers from ships to swim long distances instead. Where swimming is dangerous at a given spot, we solve it by swimming from the ship or by landing on the beach on paddleboards, because not even our motor tender is allowed to go ashore.

Possession of any drugs on board is strictly prohibited, including soft drugs such as marijuana. Based on past experience, we reserve the right to search any participant and to exclude immediately, without compensation, anyone found in possession of drugs. Maritime law has zero tolerance, so drugs may not be carried even for personal use. If a drug inspection finds drugs on board, the sentence is 10 years for the person carrying them and the same 10 years for the captain, who is not at fault, and the ship is confiscated. We are not going to risk any of that. Please respect this.

Everything is getting more expensive. Some of the things we buy for the ship now cost twice what they did a year or two ago. Even so, we keep our prices at the lowest level of all the Tall Ships we know. We want to keep La Grace within everyone's reach and to keep the people who have been coming to us for years. Thanks to certain economy measures on board, we are managing. If the economy does not change, however, it will catch up with us in time. Until then we are choosing the path of gradual price increases. Although inflation in the Czech Republic runs at 15-20 %, our prices rise by only 5 % year on year. This is also stated in our general terms and conditions. Please bear it in mind.

For the same reason we cannot afford to give discounts on voyages – please don't ask us for them.

Přestože máme za 16 let plaveb na La Grace jen minimum zkušeností se stížnostmi a ti co nás znají a plaví se s námi, by tyto řádky považovali za zbytečné strašení, my se naopak snažíme předejít plavbě s lidmi, kteří by s námi na historické lodi nebyli šťastní!Proto Vás závěrem prosíme, pokud Vám cokoliv z výše uvedeného přijde jako Váš osobní problém chápeme, že nepřijedete. Proto se Vás na to snažíme upozornit ještě před rezervací Vaší plavby. Berete tímto na vědomí, že nepovažujeme nic z toho za důvod jakékoliv pozdější reklamace! :-)

Thank you for your understanding