Where the week goes
A charter is a week bought by the mile. Charter Destinations looks at where the fleet goes and when, how the classic itineraries actually run, what the allowance and the tax add to the rate, and which coast fits which kind of guest.
Burgess
Photo: Burgess
Burgess has published its charter experts' advice for Christmas at sea. The short version: ten day minimums, twelve guests at most and the best yachts booked up to a year ahead.
Charter Destinations
The rate in the listing is about two thirds of what leaves your account. Here is every line, in the order it appears on the contract.
Charter Destinations
The most chartered stretch of coast on earth is also the most crowded. Done badly it is a traffic jam. Done well it is still the best week in the Mediterranean.
Charter Destinations
The winter half of the fleet calendar runs on trade winds, short hops and a completely different idea of what a charter week is for.
The short version
The weekly rate in the listing is the beginning of the price. On top of it comes the advance provisioning allowance, usually 30 per cent of the rate, which pays for fuel, food, drink, berths and everything the guests consume; it is an estimate, settled at the end. Then VAT at the rate of the country where the charter starts, and a gratuity for the crew of 10 to 15 per cent in the Med and 15 to 20 in the Americas.
A week is also a distance. A 50 metre motor yacht cruising at 12 knots covers about 60 miles in a comfortable morning, so a Riviera week runs Monaco to St Tropez to Corsica and back, an Ionian week runs Corfu to Lefkada and the islands south, and a Virgin Islands week hardly moves at all. The best itineraries are short on miles and long on anchorages.
Seasons decide everything. The Med runs June to September with July and August at full rate, the Caribbean December to April with Christmas and New Year at a premium and a minimum of ten nights, and the shoulder months on both sides are where a well-advised charterer goes.
Worth knowing
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Base rate, allowance, tax and the tip, for the week you are actually planning.
Questions people ask
For a specific boat in July, August, Christmas or New Year, eight to twelve months. For a boat of a given size and standard in shoulder season, two to three months is enough and the rate is often negotiable. Last-minute charters exist; last-minute charters of the boat you actually wanted do not.
A preference sheet filled in honestly, a broad idea of the itinerary agreed with the captain before the week rather than during it, and the understanding that the captain decides about weather. Everything else is their job.
What is not spent is returned at the end of the charter, with the receipts. If the guests drink the cellar dry or ask for a berth in Porto Cervo in August, the captain will ask for a top-up before the end of the week, and the contract allows it.
Not a superyacht. Bareboat charter ends somewhere around 20 metres and a very good CV. Above that the crew come with the boat, and the boat is insured on that basis.
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