Apsley Travel · Bespoke Luxury Travel
A crewed luxury yacht charter arranged through Apsley starts around €25,000 per week for a sailing catamaran in the Caribbean and rises to €400,000–1,000,000+ per week for a 50m+ superyacht in the Mediterranean, plus an Advance Provisioning Allowance (APA) of 25–35% and local VAT. We work with the leading brokerage houses in Monaco, Fort Lauderdale, Palma and London and can shortlist the right yacht, captain and itinerary within 48 hours.
Yacht charter is priced in three parts: the base charter fee (yacht + crew for the week), APA (a working float for fuel, food, drink, berthing — reconciled at the end of the charter), and local VAT. The base fee bands below are peak-summer indicative pricing; shoulder weeks (early May, late September) run 15–25% lower.
| Type / size | Guests | Regions | Indicative weekly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crewed sailing catamaran (Lagoon 620, Fountaine Pajot 67) | 6–10 | BVI, Grenadines, Bahamas | €25,000–70,000 |
| 24–30m motor yacht | 8–10 | Western Med, Adriatic | €50,000–120,000 |
| 30–40m motor yacht | 10–12 | Med, Caribbean | €100,000–250,000 |
| 40–50m superyacht | 10–12 | Med, Caribbean, Indian Ocean | €200,000–450,000 |
| 50m+ superyacht / explorer | 12+ | Worldwide incl. high latitudes | €400,000–1,000,000+ |
APA is the working budget the captain draws on during the week: fuel, dockage and mooring fees at Portofino or Capri, food and drink to your specification, laundry and cleaning products. It's typically 25–35% of the charter fee — heavier if you cruise long distances daily, lighter if you sit at anchor. It's collected before the charter and reconciled to the euro at the end; unspent funds are refunded, overspend is settled.
VAT is applied on the base charter fee at the flag/embark-country rate. In the Western Med it's typically 20–22% (France 20%, Italy 22%, Spain 21%), with reductions on qualifying itineraries that spend time outside EU waters. Croatia's is 13%, Montenegro's 7%, Turkey 0.8%. The Caribbean and BVI are generally VAT-free. Apsley confirms the exact figure on the quote — it materially changes the total.
Convention is 10–15% of the base charter fee, paid to the captain at the end of the week for distribution to crew. Discretionary but universally expected on the yachts we book.
Where the fleet actually charters — and what each region does well.
Yacht charter is for clients where privacy, staffing ratios (typically 1:1 crew-to-guest above 40m) and the ability to move a full-service home around the coastline are the point. Multi-generational family groups get separate cabins across three decks; UHNW principals gain a floating base to arrive by private jet into Nice or Olbia and step straight onto the passerelle. For events — Monaco Grand Prix, Cannes, Cowes, the F1 in Abu Dhabi — a yacht is the only way to guarantee a berth, a view and a set for entertaining.
We respond within one working day.
A useful working rule: base charter fee + 30% APA + local VAT + 12% crew gratuity. So a €300,000 base fee in France comes out at roughly €300k + €90k APA + €60k VAT + €36k tip = €486,000 all-in for the week, before jet, transfers and any special requests. Apsley itemises every component on the quote before you commit.
The Advance Provisioning Allowance is a working float — collected in advance, spent by the captain during the charter on fuel, dockage, food, drink, laundry and consumables, and reconciled to the euro at the end. Typically 25–35% of the base fee; heavier if you cruise long distances or drink premium wines, lighter for sit-at-anchor weeks. Unspent funds are refunded; overspend is settled.
It's a seasons question, not a preference one. The Med runs May–October — best in June and September for weather without August's crowds. The Caribbean runs November–April, with the BVI ideal for families and St Barths peaking Christmas–New Year. If you want scale of coastline and named ports, choose the Med; if you want turquoise water and short hops between anchorages, choose the Caribbean.
For peak Med weeks (mid-July to mid-August) on the strongest yachts in the 40m+ bracket, 6–12 months is normal — many are provisionally held by returning charterers by the previous October. For shoulder-season weeks, 8–16 weeks is usually enough. For last-minute (2–6 weeks) we can still find quality, but choice narrows.
Yes — probably our most common yacht enquiry. Typical routing: <a href="/private-jet" style="color:#2F3A56;text-decoration:underline;">private jet</a> to Olbia, Nice or Split, tender waiting at the FBO for a 15-minute run to the yacht, then reverse on disembarkation. It's billed as one itinerary with one point of contact, and the jet is timed to the boat's schedule, not the other way around.
No — our charter income comes from the broker commission built into the standard MYBA charter agreement, paid by the yacht owner, not by you. The quote you see is the quote the market is offering; we're incentivised to find the best yacht for the brief, not the highest-margin one.
The captain is the final decision-maker on itinerary and will reroute for safety and guest comfort — a mistral forecast on the French Riviera routinely moves boats to the more sheltered Corsican coast, for example. Full charter cancellation for weather is very rare and covered by the charter agreement; travel insurance covering yacht charter is worth having and we'll flag policies that do.
Berth allocation drives everything at events, so book 9–12 months out — Monaco Grand Prix berths are the tightest and command a 30–100% premium on the base fee for that week. We book event charters as full packages: yacht, berth, race tickets, driver access where relevant, transfers between paddock and stern.