If you don’t want to sail the yacht yourself, or want someone else to look after the domestic chores such as cooking and cleaning, you need a Crewed Charter. Effectively it turns your yacht in to a hotel afloat.
Crewed Charter covers a wide range of holidays, with a wide range of prices to match, depending on the level of services you want, and the size of the boat.
Bareboat or flotilla with crew
If you just need assistance sailing the yacht you can take a professional skipper. This is known as a skippered yacht charter. It’s available withh virtually all the yachts I offer, both flotilla and bareboat..
If you also want help with the domestic side you can also add a hostess. A hostess will prepare light meals (typically breakfast and lunch) and keep the yacht clean. She will usually also assist the skipper with sailing the boat. Dinner is generally taken ashore.
If you want a fully catered service you can take a cook instead of a hostess. This is the least popular option as to most people, dining out is an essential part of the holiday experience.
With all the above options you can get involved with sailing the yacht or if you prefer just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Crewed charters
A number of the bareboat companies offer yachts that are only offered with crew (usually a skipper ad a hostess). There are also private yachts with permanent crew offering some more prestigious (or at least diiferent) yachts to the usual bareoat charter yachts.
In theory, you get a better quality boat because it has never been left purely in the hands of self skippering charterers. In reality, the difference is marginal. These days most charter yachts are well kept.
Again with these boats, the crew will usually be happy to involve you in the sailing.
Superyacht charter
At the top end of the market are private yachts where you may find the crew outnumber the guests. The team will include a chef and virtually all meals are taken on board, with your particular tastes or requests taken in to account. Your boat may be anything from a traditional sailing yacht with acres of varnished wood, to a sleek modern motor boat with glistening chrome and sparkling white superstructure.
These charters may be sold on an inclusive basis where the price includes all running expense and food. Alternatively, they may be “plus all expenses” where consumables such as fuel and food are charged as used.
Either way, prices are often well in to five figures for a week’s hire as a minimum. As you get in to mega yacht territory think six or seven figure sums. You won’t get hands on experience sailing the boat, any more than you would on a cruise liner.