Two proposals for the same yacht, in the same week, can differ substantially and describe exactly the same holiday.
The difference is almost never the boat. It is what each proposal has decided to put inside the headline figure and what it has left outside — and since there is no industry rule about where that line falls, the only way to compare two quotations is to know what belongs on each side of it.
This is worth twenty minutes of anyone's time, once. After that, every proposal you read for the rest of your life becomes legible.
What the charter fee covers
The charter fee buys the yacht for the period, with its equipment, and on a crewed charter it buys the people who run it. Across most of our fleet that means a captain, and on the larger yachts a chef and a hostess as well. Their wages, their insurance and their experience sit inside the fee.
- The yacht, yours alone, for the agreed dates
- Professional crew, with wages and insurance
- The yacht's own equipment — tender, safety gear, navigation, water toys where fitted
- Insurance on the vessel and its regulatory certification
- Bed linen, towels and the yacht's standard consumables
What sits outside it
Running costs are extra. They are extra on every yacht, with every broker, in every country — this is not a local convention and nobody is being unusual about it.
They vary enormously with how you actually use the week. A party that anchors, swims and eats aboard spends a fraction of what a party that takes a berth in a different marina every night does. The same yacht, the same seven days, two very different final accounts.
- Fuel, for engines and generator
- Provisioning — food, drink and anything else consumed aboard
- Berthing and harbour fees, which vary sharply by port and season
- Port taxes, tourist taxes and any cruising permits
- Shore transfers, excursions and restaurant bills
- Crew gratuity, which is discretionary
APA, explained properly
On fully crewed yachts those running costs are usually handled through an Advance Provisioning Allowance. The name is off-putting and the mechanism is simple.
You place a float with the captain before the charter begins. The captain spends it on your behalf through the week — fuel, berths, provisions, everything on the list above — and keeps the receipts.
At the end you receive an account. Spend less than the float and the balance comes back to you. Spend more and you settle the difference. It is not a fee, and it is not the broker's money. It is your money, held and spent on your instructions, and every line of it should be accounted for.
The practical benefit is that nobody is hunting for a card at a fuel dock at seven in the morning. The practical requirement is that you should always be told what the APA is set at, and you should always be given the reconciliation at the end. If either is missing, ask.
Crewed, skippered and bareboat
Most of our fleet is offered fully crewed: you step aboard and the week runs itself.
Some of the sailing yachts can be taken skippered only. You get a professional captain, but provisioning and the domestic side of the week are yours. It suits experienced parties who want the boat rather than the service, and it is a real saving for people who genuinely enjoy doing it themselves.
Bareboat — the yacht with no crew at all — requires the appropriate licences and is a different proposition again. Of the three, one will usually be obviously right once we understand who is coming and what they want from the week. We would rather say so than sell you the larger option.
Why we quote rather than publish
We do not publish rates, and it is fair to explain why rather than leave it looking evasive.
A meaningful figure does not exist until four things are known: your dates, the size of your party, the yacht, and roughly what you intend to do. The same catamaran in the third week of August and the second week of June is not the same commercial proposition, and a single published number would be wrong for almost everybody who read it.
So we quote on enquiry. You tell us what you have in mind; we come back with a proposal setting out the charter fee, the expected APA, and precisely what falls on each side of the line. The final price and terms are always those set out in the charter agreement. Nothing should be discovered at the dock.
Questions worth asking anyone
These apply to us and to everybody else. A good broker will answer all five without hesitating.
- Is the yacht crewed, skippered or bareboat, and how many crew are included?
- What is the APA set at, and will I receive a full reconciliation with receipts?
- Are berthing fees inside the charter fee or outside it? On this coast they are rarely inside.
- What happens if weather forces a change of itinerary or a night in a different port?
- Is there a delivery or repositioning charge to reach my embarkation point?
The cheapest quotation is rarely the cheapest week
Once you can see where each proposal has drawn its line, the comparison usually resolves itself — and it frequently resolves in the opposite direction to the headline figures.
The number that matters is not the one at the top of the page. It is the one you will have paid by the time you disembark, and a proposal that is honest about that from the start tells you a good deal about who you are dealing with.
If a proposal you have received elsewhere is unclear, send it over and we will read it with you. And if you would like one of our own, tell us your dates and who is coming.
