Chartering
The arithmetic of a charter week
The advertised rate is roughly two thirds of what you will pay. Here is the rest of it.
A 30 metre motor yacht in the western Mediterranean in July lists at 85,000 euro a week. The number people actually transfer, across the two invoices and the envelope at the end, is usually between 130,000 and 150,000. None of the difference is a surprise if you know where to look, and all of it is a surprise the first time.
The four numbers
Where the APA actually goes
The provisioning allowance behaves like a bar tab. The captain draws on it as the week goes and hands you the accounts at the end with the receipts. What surprises people is the shape of the spend: it is not the food.
A typical week on a 30 m motor yacht, share of the APA
Fuel and berthing together are usually sixty per cent, which means the itinerary decides the bill. A week anchored in three bays with two port nights burns a fraction of a week that hops between Saint-Tropez, Cannes, Monaco and Portofino in high season, where a single night alongside on a 30 metre boat in August can run to 1,800 euro before anybody has eaten.
What the price does not buy
The base rate does not include a delivery fee if the boat is not where you are. It does not include the shore excursions, the beach club table or the helicopter. Water toys are usually included, the jet skis usually are not, and diving is charged separately and requires the crew to hold the qualification, which they may not.
It also does not include the cabin arrangement you assumed. On many boats the fourth and fifth cabins are markedly smaller, and who gets them is a conversation to have before the deposit rather than at the passerelle.
Choosing the boat, in the order that matters
When to book
For July and August in the Mediterranean, by January. The boats with the crew people request by name are gone before the spring shows. What remains in May is either new to the market, priced ambitiously, or has had a difficult season, and a broker will tell you which if you ask directly.
For the last week of August and the first two of September, the weather is better, the ports are emptier and the rates fall by fifteen to thirty per cent. It is the best fortnight of the Mediterranean year and it is the one people stop booking because school has started.
Use it now
Charter Calculator
Base rate, provisioning, VAT and the tip, for the week you are actually planning.
