Your first charter, explained.

The Advance Provisioning Allowance is a running-cost float, normally 35–40% of the base fee, that you transfer before you board. It is your money held by the captain, not a fee to the yacht. It pays for fuel, all food and drink, dockage, port fees, laundry, flowers, and anything the crew arranges ashore on your behalf.

You receive a full itemised accounting at the end of the week and any unspent balance is returned. If you cruise hard, drink well or take a lot of marina berths, the captain will tell you mid-week that a top-up is needed. He will never spend past it without asking.

The yacht, her full crew and their salaries, the yacht's insurance and maintenance, all tenders and water toys, every piece of onboard equipment, linens, and the use of everything aboard from the spa to the gym to the cinema.

What is not included is anything consumed: fuel, food, beverages, dockage, port and pilot fees, communications, shoreside arrangements, tax and gratuity. Those all come out of the APA.

50% of the charter fee on signing the contract, and the balance 30 days before embarkation. That balance is the rest of the charter fee, the APA, VAT, and delivery if it applies. Payment is sent to Denison Yachting for onward transfer to the stakeholder, who is also a party to the contract.

Value-added tax applies to charters that begin in European Union waters, and it is charged on the base fee. The rate is set by the country you start in, and it ranges from 0% in Montenegro to 22% in Italy. France, Italy and Greece all allow the taxable amount to be reduced for documented time outside EU waters; Spain does not.

Greece is the one to understand properly. The rate there depends on the licence and certification the individual yacht carries, not on her size or price. The statutory rate is 13% for a crewed charter over 48 hours, but a correctly certificated yacht is invoiced on a reduced taxable value, and 2026 rate sheets commonly show 5.2%, 6.5%, 7.8% or 12%. Two yachts sitting side by side in the same harbour can carry very different tax.

There is no VAT in the Caribbean. The full country table is in section 05, and your formal offer states the exact figure before you commit to anything.

Legitimately, yes, and it is one of the more valuable things a broker does. Where the charter starts determines which country's rate applies, so a week that begins in Montenegro or on a well-certificated Greek yacht rather than in Italy can change the total by six figures on a large charter.

Time spent outside EU waters can also reduce the taxable amount in France, Italy and Greece, provided the navigation is properly documented by the captain. This is planning, not avoidance, and it happens before you sign rather than after.

The convention is 10–20% of the base charter fee, and 15–20% is the usual figure now for a week where the crew were excellent. It is entirely discretionary.

You give it to the captain in one sum on the final evening and he distributes it across the crew by an established formula. If you would rather not travel with that much cash, the gratuity can be wired to Denison Yachting for onward transfer to the captain. You do not tip individually, and you should never feel you need to tip during the week.

Typical weekly base rates run $150,000 to $300,000 for a 30–50 m yacht, $300,000 to $500,000 for 50–60 m, $500,000 to $900,000 for 60–75 m, $900,000 to $1.6M for 75–90 m, and $1.6M to $3.5M or more at 90 m and above.

Those are base fees only. Budget roughly 40% on top as APA for running costs, VAT if it applies in your charter destination, and a gratuity of 10 to 20%, most often 15 to 20%. A $600,000 week in the Mediterranean realistically lands near $1,000,000 all in.

On a case by case basis. We can ask for a discount when we put in your offer, and the owner has the right to accept it, counter it, or decline it. In high season a discount is usually not accepted.

The contract is firm. Deposits are generally non-refundable, and cancelling inside 30 days can forfeit the full charter fee. In practice, if the yacht re-sells your week, the owner will usually return what was recovered, but that is goodwill rather than a right.

This is precisely what charter cancellation insurance exists for. More on this in the contract.

Yes, and buy it at the same time you sign. A specialist yacht charter policy covers cancellation and curtailment for illness, injury, a death in the family, jury duty, and other named causes, and typically costs a small single-digit percentage of the charter value. Standard travel insurance almost never covers a charter contract.

Buying it early matters: cover for a pre-existing condition or an unfolding situation is generally void once you already know about it. I can put you in touch with brokers who write this cover specifically.

No. The retail broker's commission is paid out of the charter fee by the yacht owner, exactly as it would be if you booked direct. The rate you see is the rate either way. What you get for it is someone who knows which yachts have a crew worth having, who negotiates the terms, and who is on the phone at 2 a.m. on Wednesday if something goes wrong.

Twelve overnight. This is not a yacht-by-yacht policy, it is international maritime regulation: a vessel carrying more than twelve passengers must be certified to full passenger-ship standard, which fewer than twenty charter yachts in the world are.

During the day at anchor, most yachts can host more, often twenty to thirty, subject to the captain's discretion and local rules. If you need to sleep more than twelve, the answer is a Tier 04 yacht or a second yacht cruising alongside, which is more common than you would think.

Yes to both, and yachts are unusually good with children. Cabins convert to twins, cots and high chairs are standard, and most crews include someone happy to run the watersports all afternoon. A nanny can be added to the crew for the week.

Tell me the ages early. Netting on the rails, appropriate lifejackets, childproofing and a chef who knows what a five-year-old will actually eat are all arranged before you board, not after.

Sometimes. It is entirely the owner's decision and it varies yacht by yacht, so it has to be asked at the shortlist stage rather than after you sign. When a yacht does accept pets there is usually an additional cleaning fee.

The bigger constraint is paperwork. EU pet passports, rabies titres and country-by-country import rules for the Caribbean can take weeks or months to arrange, so raise this at the first conversation.

Exactly as much as you want, and this is a genuine setting you control. Tell the chief stewardess on day one that you want service to be invisible and it will be: crew move on the service stairs, appear when called, and disappear otherwise. Tell her you want the crew around and you will finish the week knowing all twenty of them.

Note it on the preference sheet before you arrive so the tone is set from the first hour.

Yes. Nearly every yacht in these tiers now runs high-speed low-orbit satellite internet, which means video calls from an anchorage work reliably. Larger yachts carry redundant systems and 4G/5G bonding close to shore.

If a specific meeting matters, tell the captain. He will position the yacht for it.

Far less than people expect. Yachts of this size carry zero-speed stabilisers that hold her steady at anchor as well as underway, and captains plan the week around the forecast, moving overnight or repositioning to the sheltered side of an island rather than taking guests through weather.

Note it on the preference sheet if anyone is sensitive. The crew keep remedies aboard and will pick the calmest anchorages without being asked.

Yes, and it is routine at this level. Crew contracts already include confidentiality clauses, and a specific non-disclosure agreement for your charter can be put in place before you board. Phones-away policies, no-photography rules and restricted crew access to guest areas are all normal requests.

Discretion is the profession. Crew who talk do not work again.

Passport scans for every guest, for port clearance and immigration. A completed preference sheet. Flight details so transfers are timed properly. And any medical, dietary or mobility information the captain and chef need to plan around.

That is genuinely all. Everything else is theirs to handle.

It is a detailed questionnaire that goes out after contract and comes back to the chief stewardess and the chef four to six weeks before you board. It covers every guest by name: how they take coffee, what they drink and at what temperature, favorite and forbidden foods, allergies and intolerances, pillow type, cabin temperature, music, celebrations happening that week, activity level, and how visible you want the crew.

The chef then provisions specifically for you, which is why the food aboard is unlike a restaurant: nothing was bought for a general public. Fill it in properly. It is the highest-leverage hour of the entire process.

Yes. Organic and locally sourced, gluten free, dairy free, plant based, keto, paleo, kosher, halal, seed-oil free, raw, or a specific protocol you follow at home. Charter chefs cook for twelve people with twelve different requirements as a matter of course, and they provision from the best markets on the coast rather than a supplier catalogue.

Serious allergies go on the preference sheet and get mentioned to the captain directly, so the galley can control cross-contamination.

Entirely up to you. Most guests eat breakfast and lunch aboard and go ashore two or three evenings. The chef would rather know the morning of than the hour before, purely so nothing is wasted.

Yes, and this is one of the real advantages of a large yacht. The purser and captain hold long-standing relationships in every port on the circuit, and a superyacht guest is a client those venues want. Tables that are unavailable to the public in August are frequently available to the yacht.

Send the list with your preference sheet. The further ahead, the better the table.

Yes, and you should. Send the list, at any level of specificity, and it will be aboard and correctly stored before you arrive. It is bought through the APA at cost, with no markup, which is one of the quiet advantages of chartering over any hotel.

You do, with the captain. You describe the week you want, he drafts a route that works with the weather, the distances, the port availability and the timing of your arrival and departure, then you adjust it together. Nothing is locked.

Around three to four weeks before embarkation, once he has your preference sheet. It is a direct conversation, usually a call, and it is where the week takes shape. You will speak or message again in the days before you board.

Constantly, and most charters do. The itinerary is a proposal, not a schedule. The only limits are cruising time, fuel, port availability and the captain's judgement on weather and safety, which is final and non-negotiable, as it should be.

Yes. A one-way charter, for example Naples to Ibiza, or St Barths to Antigua, is common. Depending on the distance there may be a repositioning or one-way fee, and it is one of the first things I try to get waived during negotiation.

Less than people imagine. A typical day involves two to four hours underway, often during breakfast or after lunch, with the rest at anchor. Long passages are run overnight while you sleep. If you want to wake up somewhere new every morning, say so and the captain plans for it.

The captain reroutes, usually before you notice. There is almost always a sheltered alternative within a few hours, and the crew are practised at making a weather day feel like a deliberate choice: a long lunch, the spa, a film, a protected bay you would not otherwise have seen.

For peak weeks in the Mediterranean, July and August, or the Caribbean over Christmas and New Year, nine to eighteen months. The best yachts with the best crews are gone first, and holiday weeks on the top yachts are booked two years out.

For everything else, three to six months is comfortable. Last-minute charters do exist and can be excellent value, but you are choosing from what is left.

Sometimes. Owners prefer full weeks and in high season most will only accept them. Outside peak, a five-night charter is often possible, usually priced at a pro-rata rate plus a premium. Day charters on yachts of this size are rare and largely a Caribbean and Miami phenomenon.

Boarding is generally from noon on day one, disembarkation by noon on day eight. Both times are negotiable and we agree them when we put your offer in. Most guests sleep aboard the final night rather than leaving the evening before, and the crew will serve breakfast before you go.

Tell me your flights and it is handled. Cars, helicopter transfers and private terminal arrangements are all booked through the APA, and the crew track your flight so the tender is waiting whether you land early or three hours late.

Soft luggage is preferred, so bags can be stowed. Swimwear, resort clothes, one or two smarter outfits for dinner ashore, and a light layer for evenings underway. Bring your own toiletries, and anything a baby or a young child needs, or send me the list and the yacht will have it aboard before you arrive. Shampoo, conditioner, soap and sunscreen are provided. No heels for the deck, and shoes come off at the passerelle.

There is no dress code aboard. The only one that exists is at the restaurants and clubs you might visit ashore.

Yachts at this level carry an engineering team and a full spares inventory, and problems are usually solved without guests knowing. In the rare case of a genuine mechanical failure that stops the charter, the contract provides for a pro-rata refund of the unused days, and the owner and I would work to place you on a comparable yacht.

It is uncommon. It is also exactly why the contract matters.

A passport valid for at least six months, yes, for every guest. Visa requirements follow the countries in your itinerary rather than the yacht, so a Med charter crossing from Croatia to Montenegro or from Greece to Turkey has its own rules. The purser handles all port clearance and immigration paperwork; you just hand over the passports on day one.

Rushing the preference sheet, and booking too small. The first costs you a week of small details that would have been effortless to get right. The second is the one people actually regret: the difference between a yacht that fits your group and one they are slightly on top of each other in is usually one tier and a fraction of the total spend.