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Simple and general explanation
Renting a yacht for your personal reason for some specific period is called a yacht charter. Usually, people charter yachts (motor yachts, gulets, catamarans, sailing yachts) to spend their vacation onboard a yacht. There are of course other reasons: to use a yacht for a special event, such as a wedding, to celebrate a product launch, to host a business meeting, to meet for cocktails pre-party during some special event, such as Cannes Film Festival.
Such type of vacation is very popular in the Western world. It originated in the Caribbean after the WW2. There are many countries that are still discovering such holiday opportunity. I hope this blog can inspire those who’ve never chartered a yacht to do that.
Yacht charter types
There are three types of a yacht charter: bareboat, only with a skipper and a crewed yacht charter. The third one is my specialization. Bareboat means there’s no crew on a yacht to assist you during your charter.
The crew onboard a charter yacht
The crew usually consists of the captain, deckhands (seamen), a hostess or a steward, and the chef. If a yacht is quite big, there can be also an engineer, a bartender, a masseuse, a yoga instructor, a diver instructor, and so on. All the crew is meant to assist the guests 24/7 and make their stay onboard as carefree as possible. The only thing that charterers are expected to do is to have a good time and relax. The team takes care of the rest. And that would be yacht’s navigation, preparation of all the meals, drinks, assisting with the preparation of all the activities onboard and onshore for the guests, yacht’s cleaning and maintenance, etc. And it doesn’t matter if you rent a yacht that’s around 5,000 euro per week or 200,000 euro per week. The crew is dedicated to making everything possible for the charterers to be happy on any kind of a yacht.
How long does a yacht charter usually last?
It is the most common to hire a yacht for a week-long charter. A yacht, in this case, serves to her guests as a real floating villa with all possible facilities: fully equipped cabins of a room hotel size, ensuite bathrooms, saloon or a living room with a bar, TV, DVD, music system, dining tables, sofas, lounge areas, sun mattresses, sometimes a jacuzzi, an elevator, a helipad, a fitness room, hammam, sauna, etc.
Why charter a yacht?
The yacht is spacious, stable and safe. It travels from one port to another, for example - from one cute village in Italy to a nearby island, taking the guests on a real journey. They go onshore, meet the locals, shop, discover places, and when ready for the next episode of travels, they board a yacht and sail to another seaside town or a bay for a swim.
A yacht charter itinerary also includes visits to secluded bays for guests to enjoy swimming, sunbathing in privacy, canoeing, riding a Jet Ski, surfboard, diving, while a personal yacht chef is preparing lunch or dinner, and a hostess sets the table or serves drinks to the charterers.
A yachting holiday is one of the best ways to spend time together, for family reunions, friends bounding, romantic escapes in a fun and comfortable way filled with sea odyssey adventure.
What are the reasons to charter a yacht?
One of the main reasons that people choose to hire a yacht and not to stay in a hotel or go on a cruise with a big ship is privacy and freedom. The yacht visits only the places that you choose to be included in the charter itinerary. You choose how long to stay in that place and when to leave. A cruise ship experience doesn’t offer that luxury of freedom.
The chef prepares customized meals according to your preferences, and there are drinks on board that you’ll choose to have.
It is also similar to staying in a 5* hotel (sometimes even more luxurious) but the difference with a yacht is that every day you get to see new places without a need of packing and unpacking, and losing energy for moving around. The yacht does the main movement for you.
The boat almost never goes to the open sea waters, unless you sail from Bodrum to Mykonos or from Sardinia to the south of Italy. So it is usually more about staying closer to the shore. This is an important issue for those who think that a yacht charter is boring because all you get to see is only the sea.
Is a yacht charter affordable?
And yes, a yacht cruise is a luxury. For one week you can spend from 10,000 to several millions Euro. However, for those who don’t have 10k for a vacation, there are many options.
It is true that a yacht holiday used to be an expensive retreat. But now people can easily afford this alternative to the land vacation. There are various yachts that cost 2,000-6,000 Euro per week for 6-10 people. So if you divide the price, a yacht charter holiday can cost 500-800 Euro per person.
And one more pleasant bonus - you get to see the same towns, islands, national parks, secluded beaches, fantastic bays as those who charter yachts for a much higher price. With luxury hotels it’s impossible. You can’t access the same level of luxury if not staying in that hotel.
It makes me very happy that each year more and more people discover a yacht holiday as a way to spend their vacation. There are so many cruising areas in the world where you can hire a yacht, Patagonia, Caribbean, South-East Asia, French Polynesia, Turkey, Montenegro, Galapagos Islands. The world is ours to discover and enjoy it.
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