A crewed yacht charter runs from about 20,000 euros to well over 500,000 euros for a week, and the price you see advertised is never the price you pay.
The charter fee buys the yacht and its crew. On top of it come the running costs, the tax of whatever country you cruise in, and, if you choose to, a tip for the crew.
Budget for 30 to 60 percent on top of the charter fee, depending on the yacht type and the cruising ground. Here is exactly where that goes.
- Charter fee is the headline number: the yacht, its crew, and its insurance for the week.
- APA, the running-cost fund, is usually 25 to 30 percent of the fee. Motor yachts run 30 to 40 percent, sailing yachts and catamarans 20 to 25 percent. Whatever is not spent comes back to you.
- Tax follows the water you cruise in, not your nationality. It ranges from nothing in the British Virgin Islands to 22 percent in Italy.
- A crew tip is never in the contract and never required. The custom is 5 to 15 percent in the Mediterranean and 15 to 20 percent in the Caribbean.
What you actually pay for
Five things sit on a charter invoice, and only the first one is advertised. The rest are predictable once you know they exist, which is the whole reason first quotes feel like a surprise.
| Line item | What it is | Typical size |
|---|---|---|
| Charter fee | The yacht, its crew, and its insurance for the week. This is the number in the listing. | The headline price |
| APA | A prepaid fund the captain spends on fuel, food, drink, dockage, and your onboard extras. Unspent money is returned. | 25 to 30 percent of the fee |
| Charter tax (VAT) | Set by the country whose waters you cruise. Charged on the charter fee, not on the APA. | 0 to 22 percent |
| Delivery or relocation fee | Only when the yacht has to move to meet you, or you start and finish in different countries. Agreed before you sign. | Varies, often none |
| Crew gratuity | Discretionary. Never in the contract, never charged up front, never taken from the APA. | Custom: 5 to 15 percent Med |
Every one of these terms is defined in plain English in our yacht charter glossary.
What a week costs, by destination
Where you cruise moves the price more than almost anything except the boat itself. These are real entry points and the bands our clients actually book, quoted the way each market quotes: euros in the Mediterranean, dollars in the Caribbean.
| Destination | Entry point | Yacht type at that price | Where most clients land |
|---|---|---|---|
| Croatia | from 20,000 euros | sailing catamaran | 50,000 to 90,000 euros |
| Turkey | from 25,000 euros | gulet | 30,000 to 70,000 euros |
| Mallorca | from 25,000 euros | crewed catamaran | 70,000 to 150,000 euros |
| Greece | from 30,000 euros | sailing catamaran | 100,000 to 250,000 euros |
| British Virgin Islands | from 40,000 dollars | premium catamaran | 40,000 to 100,000 dollars |
| Bahamas | from 60,000 dollars | crewed catamaran | 60,000 to 200,000 dollars |
| French Riviera | from 100,000 euros | motor yacht | 150,000 to 300,000 euros |
| Italy | from 120,000 euros | motor yacht | 150,000 to 300,000 euros |
Charter fee only, high season, before APA and tax. St Barts at Christmas and expedition charters in Antarctica sit outside these bands entirely.
What moves the price most
Yacht type, by a distance. A sailing catamaran and a planing motor yacht of similar length are not in the same price class, and the gap widens once you add fuel. Moving from motor to sail is the single biggest saving available to you.
Season. July and August are peak in the Mediterranean, Christmas and New Year in the Caribbean. The same yacht in June or late September often costs 20 to 30 percent less.
Length, not guest count. Twelve guests is the legal maximum on almost every charter yacht, so a larger boat buys space and crew, not capacity. Going from 8 guests to 10 rarely changes the price. Going from 30 meters to 40 changes it completely.
How you cruise. Nights at anchor are free. Nights on a marina berth in Saint Tropez in August are not. Long passages burn fuel that a slower route does not. Both come out of your APA rather than your charter fee, which is why two identical weeks on the same yacht can settle thousands apart.
APA: the fund, not a fee
The Advance Provisioning Allowance is a working budget for your week. You pay it before boarding, the captain spends it on fuel, food, drink, dockage, and anything you ask for that is not in the base rate, and whatever is left is returned to you afterward.
The percentage is set in your contract and it tracks fuel consumption. Sailing yachts and catamarans usually sit at 20 to 25 percent of the charter fee. Motor yachts run 30 to 40 percent, and the largest and fastest sit at the top of that.
Ask for a running position mid-week, once the balance drops toward a quarter of the original amount. It turns a top-up request into something you saw coming instead of a surprise on your second-to-last evening. You are also entitled to an itemized account with receipts at the end, not a single closing number.
Tax follows the water, not you
Charter tax is charged by the country whose waters you cruise. Your nationality does not matter, and neither does where the yacht is registered. Cruise two countries in one week and the split is calculated across them.
Croatia charges 13 percent and Greece 13 percent, both well below the rate you might expect in the Mediterranean. France charges 20 percent and Italy 22 percent, with reductions available under certain commercial arrangements.
The British Virgin Islands charge nothing on the charter fee itself, though per-person government fees apply. The Bahamas charges a flat 14 percent.
Which sea you pick moves the bill before any of this does, and we set the two against each other in Caribbean or Mediterranean.
The full country-by-country table, including which rate applies when you cross a border mid-charter, is in our yacht charter VAT guide.
The crew tip
A tip is always at the guest’s discretion. The MYBA charter agreement does not require one, it is never charged up front, and nobody will ask you for it. What follows is custom, not contract.
The custom is 5 to 15 percent of the base charter fee in the Mediterranean and 15 to 20 percent in the Caribbean, handed to the captain on the last day and shared equally across the crew.
In the Mediterranean, 5 says a decent week, 10 a good one, and 15 a great one. In the Caribbean, 15 is the usual floor.
Calculate it on the charter fee, never on VAT or the APA. On an all-inclusive yacht, the same custom applies to the all-inclusive fee. There is more on how and when to hand it over in our guide to crewed charter etiquette.
Three weeks, costed end to end
Percentages are easier to trust once you see them applied. These are three real shapes of charter across the range we book, with every line shown.
Croatia, sailing catamaran, 8 guests
The value entry point into the premium Mediterranean.
| Charter fee | 20,000 euros |
| APA at 25 percent | 5,000 euros |
| Croatian VAT at 13 percent | 2,600 euros |
| What you commit to | 27,600 euros |
| Crew tip, if you follow the custom at 10 percent | 2,000 euros |
| Indicative all-in | 29,600 euros |
Roughly 3,700 euros per guest for the week.
Greece, motor yacht, 10 guests
Where most of our Greek charters actually land.
| Charter fee | 100,000 euros |
| APA at 35 percent | 35,000 euros |
| Greek VAT at 13 percent | 13,000 euros |
| What you commit to | 148,000 euros |
| Crew tip, if you follow the custom at 10 percent | 10,000 euros |
| Indicative all-in | 158,000 euros |
Roughly 15,800 euros per guest for the week.
French Riviera, motor yacht, 10 guests
The Western Mediterranean tier, and DMA's busiest price band.
| Charter fee | 150,000 euros |
| APA at 35 percent | 52,500 euros |
| French VAT at 20 percent | 30,000 euros |
| What you commit to | 232,500 euros |
| Crew tip, if you follow the custom at 10 percent | 15,000 euros |
| Indicative all-in | 247,500 euros |
Roughly 24,750 euros per guest for the week. Reductions on the French rate are available under certain commercial arrangements.
All-inclusive or plus expenses
Most crewed yachts are chartered plus expenses, which is the structure above: a charter fee, then an APA on top. A smaller number are all-inclusive, where food, drink, fuel within a normal cruising range, and usually dockage are already in the price.
All-inclusive is common in the British Virgin Islands and rare in the Mediterranean. It is easier to budget and it removes the settlement at the end, but read what “normal cruising range” means in the contract, because long passages and premium wine are usually still extra.
Neither is cheaper by nature. Compare them by working out the all-in number for the week, not by comparing the two headline rates, which are measuring different things.
People also ask
How much does a yacht charter cost per week?
A crewed yacht charter costs from about 20,000 euros a week for a sailing catamaran in Croatia to 500,000 euros and up for a superyacht in Italy or the French Riviera. Most DMA clients book between 60,000 and 250,000 euros. On top of the charter fee, budget 30 to 60 percent for the running-cost fund, tax, and an optional crew tip.
What is APA and do you get it back?
APA stands for Advance Provisioning Allowance. It is a prepaid fund the captain spends on fuel, food, drink, and dockage during your week, usually 25 to 30 percent of the charter fee. It is not a fee. Anything the captain does not spend is returned to you after the charter, and if it runs low you top it up.
Is the crew tip included in the charter price?
No. A tip is always at the guest’s discretion, it is never charged up front, and the MYBA charter agreement does not require one. The custom is 5 to 15 percent of the base charter fee in the Mediterranean and 15 to 20 percent in the Caribbean, handed to the captain on the last day and shared across the crew.
Do you pay VAT on a yacht charter?
Yes, in most of the Mediterranean. Charter tax is set by the country whose waters you cruise, not by where you live or where the yacht is registered. Croatia charges 13 percent, Greece 13 percent, France 20 percent, Italy 22 percent, the Bahamas 14 percent, and the British Virgin Islands nothing on the charter fee.
What is the cheapest way to charter a yacht?
Choose a sailing catamaran over a motor yacht, cruise outside July and August, and stay at anchor rather than in marinas. Yacht type is the biggest lever: a catamaran burns a fraction of the fuel of a planing motor yacht, which lowers both the charter fee and the running-cost fund.
Why is the same yacht a different price in July than in September?
Charter yachts publish seasonal rates, and high season in the Mediterranean means July and August. The same yacht in late September or early June often costs 20 to 30 percent less, with warmer water and far fewer boats in the anchorages.
Every number here is a starting point. The real answer depends on the yacht, the week, and the route, and it takes us about ten minutes to give you a proper one.
Tell us the week you have in mind and roughly what you want it to feel like, and we will come back with real yachts at real prices, all-in.
You can also browse the fleet by budget or read what a superyacht charter involves at the top of the range.
