Bud N' Mary's Marina — Hotel in Islamorada

This is a multipart review since I took two different charters and ate at the cafe. I'll start with the parts that they really do well with.

First charter was sword fishing on Water Damage with Travis Dickens. We all had a great time sword fishing even though we didn't get lucky enough to land a swordfish on the boat. He was informative through the whole process. He asked what our goals were for the trip and geared it all towards what we wanted out of it. Everything was top notch from the boat, to the gear, to the communication, and tailoring the trip for us. Id highly recommend this captain and boat to take a stab at landing a swordfish. I look forward to returning on his boat and hope we get lucky next time. I'd give him 5 stars.

The cafe had a great server and excellent food. You really couldn't ask for a better server. 5 stars.

The second charter we took was on the Endeavor with Hunter Barron. We set sail by about 7AM. The captain never introduced himself. The first mate brought his friend on the trip who was an experienced fisherman to lend a hand. We were quickly told all about the hangover they had. We asked what the plan was for the day and they made it very clear that it was to limit out on Mahi so they could make it back to the dock. This was not our goal and we told them we wanted to NOT limit out on Mahi and would like to mix it up at some point with maybe some bottom fishing for some grouper. We were told that there really isn't anything other than Mahi and that is what we will catch. I asked if grouper was not in season like I had read which was responded with that it is too hot to bottom fish. The first mate and his friend would only allow you to hold a rod if they got a fish on the line for you to reel in. At times they would get a fish on the line, not say anything, and set the road in the holder. The second the fish was in the boat the gear was taken from you. You essentially just reeled in whatever they caught. After catching around 25 Mahi that we could keep we told them we didn't want to keep anymore than that and we just wanted to switch it up to some bottom fishing. It felt like they were upset with our request. They went and talked to the captain and came back about 20 minutes later. They said they were going to switch it up for us. We rode in towards shore and they set up one single rod for bottom fishing. One rod. For the four of us. Even then - they bottom fished it and passed it off only when a fish got on the line. Took it back the second it was at the surface. They decided without telling us that they were done and we were back on the dock at 2PM....for a FULL DAY charter. The captain decided at the end to introduce himself but it was with the purpose of payment.

I think the worst part of it was that they were talking extremely bad about sword fishing and how boring it is. And they made it very clear that they despised Water Damage and Captain Travis. It was extremely unprofessional for them to talk poorly about the boat we had been on and enjoyed the day prior. And worse yet throw insults about him as a person.

I would highly recommend Bud n Marys marina. It is a historic fishing place with a ton of talent around. But be cautious on which boats you charter with. I look forward to going back on Water Damage and eating...

My husband and I booked a trip originally for early July. Due to the fact that we are both active duty military and subject to travel restrictions most are not, I asked at the time of booking if the cancellation policy could be flexible to where if we had to cancel, I would be able to put our deposit towards a future stay. It was agreed upon that that would be okay, as long as I allowed Bud N Mary's the same flexibility, should they have to cancel on me due to potential COVID shutdowns for Florida tourism again. ||||Unfortunately, in late June, the Army viewed Florida as a "hotspot" and would not allow us to travel there. I cancelled my booking as soon as possible and spoke with the employee about applying my deposit towards a future trip. He approved it and I received a confirmation number as well. ||||When I went to re-book our trip this week, an employee named Robin originally allowed me to book using the previous deposit. She then called me back and told me that the employee I had previously been speaking with had not written down the cancellation as allowing the deposit to be put toward a future booking. When I asked her to talk to him, she said " he's not allowed to do that anyways-that isn't how this works" and that if I wanted to speak to the employee I had been coordinating with up until this point that would be okay but she'd "tell me the same thing I'm telling you right now." Despite the fact that Robin acknowledged the other employee could have promised something he wasn't authorized to, this situation was not handled how it should have been. ||||I asked Robin to give me a call back when the other employee was present that afternoon and she agreed. I received no phone call from them, so I called the next day to speak with the employee I had previously coordinated with. Robin once again came on the phone and said "I can have him stand next to me while I tell you the same thing I told you yesterday...you're not getting the $250." ||Due to the lack of integrity and honesty on Bud n Mary's part, I asked that she not make me a reservation coming up because I did not want to continue to give them my business after this situation. ||||EVEN IF the other employee did promise something he was not authorized to promise, Bud N Mary's should rectify the situation on behalf of the customer and take it up with the employee afterwards. I would never have booked this without a flexible cancellation and I also agreed to allow Bud N Mary's the flexibility to keep my deposit if they needed to cancel on me. Extremely disappointed in the customer service and especially Robin's attitude toward me and the situation. ||||I sincerely hope others do not have this experience and that Robin/Bud N Mary's take care of their customers better in the future, whether that's training their employees better or rectifying less-than-ideal situations in a manner that highlights customer service...

My husband and I booked a trip originally for early July. Due to the fact that we are both active duty military and subject to travel restrictions most are not, I asked at the time of booking if the cancellation policy could be flexible to where if we had to cancel, I would be able to put our deposit towards a future stay. It was agreed upon that that would be okay, as long as I allowed Bud N Mary's the same flexibility, should they have to cancel on me due to potential COVID shutdowns for Florida tourism again. ||||Unfortunately, in late June, the Army viewed Florida as a "hotspot" and would not allow us to travel there. I cancelled my booking as soon as possible and spoke with the employee about applying my deposit towards a future trip. He approved it and I received a confirmation number as well. ||||When I went to re-book our trip this week, an employee named Robin originally allowed me to book using the previous deposit. She then called me back and told me that the employee I had previously been speaking with had not written down the cancellation as allowing the deposit to be put toward a future booking. When I asked her to talk to him, she said " he's not allowed to do that anyways-that isn't how this works" and that if I wanted to speak to the employee I had been coordinating with up until this point that would be okay but she'd "tell me the same thing I'm telling you right now." Despite the fact that Robin acknowledged the other employee could have promised something he wasn't authorized to, this situation was not handled how it should have been. ||||I asked Robin to give me a call back when the other employee was present that afternoon and she agreed. I received no phone call from them, so I called the next day to speak with the employee I had previously coordinated with. Robin once again came on the phone and said "I can have him stand next to me while I tell you the same thing I told you yesterday...you're not getting the $250." ||Due to the lack of integrity and honesty on Bud n Mary's part, I asked that she not make me a reservation coming up because I did not want to continue to give them my business after this situation. ||||EVEN IF the other employee did promise something he was not authorized to promise, Bud N Mary's should rectify the situation on behalf of the customer and take it up with the employee afterwards. I would never have booked this without a flexible cancellation and I also agreed to allow Bud N Mary's the flexibility to keep my deposit if they needed to cancel on me. Extremely disappointed in the customer service and especially Robin's attitude toward me and the situation. ||||I sincerely hope others do not have this experience and that Robin/Bud N Mary's take care of their customers better in the future, whether that's training their employees better or rectifying less-than-ideal situations in a manner that highlights customer service...