Charter Guide.

Charter rates are quoted per week for the yacht, her crew, her insurance and her equipment, and they move with the calendar: May and October are the lowest, July and August the highest, June and September in between. Our fleet in the current season sits in these bands:

• Motor sailors (modern gulets, four to eight cabins): from about €14,000 per week in the shoulder months to €35,000–€60,000 in high season for the largest and newest.
• Motor yachts (five to six cabins, 24–45 m): from around €40,000 per week to €150,000 and beyond for the biggest.
• Catamarans (four to five cabins): from about €25,000 per week.

Shorter charters are possible outside July and August and are priced per night at the weekly rate divided by six. Longer charters are pro-rated per night, and a second week is often discounted.

The charter fee pays for the yacht. Everything you consume is paid from the Advance Provisioning Allowance, a float of 25–35 % of the charter fee paid before embarkation. The captain spends it on fuel, food and drink, berthing and harbour fees, water-sports fuel, communications and anything you ask the crew to arrange ashore, and keeps receipts for all of it.

On the last evening you see the accounts. Whatever is unspent is returned; if the week has been thirstier than planned, the balance is settled before you leave. Fuel is the largest variable: a motor sailor at anchor most of the day uses little, a motor yacht running from Bodrum to Kaş uses a great deal, which is why we suggest the APA percentage yacht by yacht rather than by rule.

Value-added tax is charged on the charter fee at the rate of the country where the charter takes place, and the two sides of the Aegean differ.

• Türkiye: charters on Turkish-flagged yachts carry Turkish VAT at the standard rate, currently 20 %. Certain foreign-flagged yachts embarking in Türkiye are taxed differently, and the licensing rules for them change often, which is one reason we only propose yachts whose papers we have checked for your dates.
• Greece: charters that embark in Greece carry Greek VAT. The standard rate is 24 %, reduced for professional charter yachts (commonly to 13 % on charters longer than 48 hours, with further reductions tied to the yacht's licence and where she cruises). Greece also levies a cruising tax (TEPAI) on the yacht, which is included in the quote.

Every proposal we send states the VAT rate and the amount in writing. If a route crosses from one country to the other, the proposal explains how the tax is split.

We charter under the MYBA (Worldwide Yachting Association) charter agreement, the standard contract of the Mediterranean charter industry. It sets out what the owner provides, what you pay, what happens if the yacht breaks down and how disputes are settled, in a form that brokers, owners and insurers all recognise.

Payment is in two parts: 50 % of the charter fee on signing, which secures the dates, and the remaining 50 % plus APA, VAT and any delivery fees five weeks before embarkation. For bookings made inside five weeks, the full amount is due on signing. Funds are held in a client account until the charter begins.

Cancellation terms follow the contract: deposits are not normally refundable, but a cancelled week can often be re-chartered and the fee recovered, and charter cancellation insurance is available and recommended.

A motor sailor of six cabins carries a crew of four or five: captain, chef, one or two deckhands and a hostess. A forty-metre motor yacht carries eight to ten. They live aboard in their own quarters, work from before you wake until after you sleep, and are the reason guests come back to the same yacht year after year.

A gratuity is customary and discretionary. The guideline in the Mediterranean is 10–15 % of the charter fee, given to the captain at the end of the week for the whole crew. It is never included in the fee or the APA.

In the charter fee: the yacht, crew wages and food, insurance, linen and towels, water toys on board, tenders, Starlink or 4G internet, and the yacht's standard equipment.

Paid from the APA: fuel for the yacht and tenders, food and drink for guests, berthing and harbour dues, customs and agency fees when crossing to Greece, laundry, excursions and anything bought ashore at your request.

Not included: VAT, the crew gratuity, flights and transfers (which we arrange at cost), travel insurance, and in Greece the cruising tax, which appears as a separate line in the quote.

Seven nights, Saturday to Saturday, is the standard week in July and August. Outside those months the day of embarkation is flexible and charters of four or five nights are possible. Ten days suits the longer routes (Göcek with Kaş, Bodrum with the Dodecanese); fourteen days allows the Turkish coast and the Cyclades in one trip.

The best yachts for July and August are booked by the previous December. June and September are usually available until early spring; May and October can often be arranged a few weeks out. If a specific yacht matters to you, write to us the moment you have dates.

Embarkation is usually at noon and disembarkation at nine or ten in the morning a week later, so the crew can prepare the yacht for the next guests. Our driver meets you at the airport; the captain meets you on the quay with the safety briefing, a tour of the yacht and something cold. Passports stay with the captain for the week if the route crosses to Greece, since the crew clears customs for everyone aboard.

The preference sheet we send a month before departure covers menus, allergies, the occasions to mark and the bays you have read about. The chef shops to it, the captain draws the route from it, and the week begins the way you imagined it.