Jeroen (Jay) & Andrea (Andi) Van Den Hoek discovered the Princess Caroline in Portugal operating as a rather sad floating restaurant lying in Vilamoura, in the Algarve. She really was in serious need of some loving care & attention & Jay was smitten immediately.

We already had many years of experience in the boating industry as we had just sold our successful Yacht Brokerage in Portugal. Back then we enjoyed a gentle life working together & bringing up our children up in the local area.

Jay was brought up surrounded by boats as his father had a an extremely successful Restaurant, Hotel & Marina in Loosdrecht, Holland.The Restaurant - T'Kompass was extremely popular and would frequently have double sittings of 100-plus guests of an evening.

Andi had lived and worked in South of France where she learnt to cook under a Parisien Chef and sailed around the Mediterranean and over to the Carribean working for private owners of pleasure yachts.

We first met when we worked together in Holland for Jay's father. We used to love working in a16th Century Party House called 'Het Reght Huis' which held up to 450 guests - this also meant often having up to 3 different events going on under the same roof. That certainly kept us on our toes!

We would also work on a friend's sailing boat which he chartered for corporate groups - Andi would always suggest that she should do this job as it was a firm favourite !! There really is nothing more enjoyable than sailing around on a beautiful day whilst working !!

In fact we also married on a boat with guests present whilst we sailed on the lake before going on to Het Reght Huis for our wedding reception !

We had further experience in a famous Michelin Star Restaurant - De Hoefslag in Holland. Once we put all of these experiences together it was the obvious solution to put the Princess Caroline into action, combining all of our joint experience.

However first of all Jay had to renovate the ship with a team of workers which began in Portugal and was then was finally completed in Holland more than a year & half later. Jay remains constantly vigilant to the maintenance of the ship and is one of the several Captains on board.

Andi runs the office and all of the events on board to make sure that it is a smooth show with fabulous food & service! Andi creates all of the menus and meets each of the clients to discuss and organise how they would like their event to go. Even our sons can often be found working as well !

It was incredibly scary investing everything that we had & moving to a different country where we didn't even know anyone to begin not only a new business venture but also a new life adventure ! Once we got into action it all felt like it was moving in slow motion.... gradually doors started to open and guests would come to try us out.

Here we are seven years on and the repeat business is fantastic. There are many occasions when it's just so nice to see a familiar face back again and have a catch up on what we've all been up to since the last time they were on board.

Best of all is not only the variety of guests who come on board but also guests who begin as a corporate client who then go on to celebrate either their wedding, anniversary , birthday or retirement on a more personal level !

We couldn't have acheived all of the reputation that we have without a fantastic team behind us who work really hard. Most of them have been with us for at least five to six years now which it makes it like a family.

Along side that we've established a wonderful portfolio of entertainers, florists, cake makers etc. of all descriptions who work really well with us in providing a professional and highly appreciated service. That makes our ship run so well as it is each cog in the wheel that has to be well oiled & smooth.

We wouldn't change it for anything and look forward to seeing you all on board whenever you are ready !