Luxury Yacht Charter

Why Charter A Luxury Yacht

A luxury yachting holiday is the ultimate antidote to the pressures of modern life. Stepping aboard a glamorous private yacht – feeling the warm teak under your feet and watching land disappear as you cast off into adventure – is the answer to your troubles, allowing your family and friends to refresh and revive, to laugh and reconnect. To delight in the feeling of sunshine on your face, the water on your skin, and the freedom to go where you please. A luxury yacht charter is the escape we’re all looking for. Here are 8 reasons why a luxury yacht charter really is better than any other vacation in the world.

1. You don’t have to move hotels, or fly between islands

It is hard to overestimate how important this facet of yacht travel is if you want to explore. We all know the hassle of having to repack and move hotels every day or two on holiday. You might need to go to the airport to take a local flight to the next island, (hoping your luggage made it with you), get on a crowded inter-island ferry, or battle summer-snarled roads. Anyone who’s tried to get from Monaco to Saint Tropez by road on a hot day in August will know the ability of traffic to put a dent in your holiday mood. And if you get to the next hotel and find your room disappointing – or worse, double-booked – the vacation can really lose its shine.

A yacht bypasses all of this fuss. You just board, unpack in your gorgeous stateroom (or be unpacked for), and settle in for a dreamy week, as you float along the coast from one hotspot to the next. There is no parallel for the ease of this type of travel, except for cruises of course, but on a cruise you’re herded around like cattle and call exactly zero of the shots. Which brings us to…

2. On a yacht, you call the shots

You decide the menu, you decide what time lunch will be, you can decide where the yacht will go tomorrow. The captain will come to you each morning and give you a range of options of activities and anchorages, but it’s up to you. If you’re having a lovely time at a Cannes beach club and don’t feel like leaving for St Tropez that afternoon, you just tell the captain you want to stay. If you want a helicopter organised to go to play golf in Provence, or want a masseuse sent out to the yacht, you just ask. And it is done.

3. Every day you wake up to a different view

A yacht charter moves through a spectacular landscape, with each day offering a different anchorage – a different backdrop to your breakfast or lunch, a different sunset view.

No hotel on earth can offer you that.

4. You benefit from the yacht owner’s largesse

Yachts are set up for their wealthy owners, and you, as charterers, benefit. Owners do not charter their yachts to make a profit, they charter them to offset, at least in part, the quite tremendous costs of owning these gorgeous machines and enjoying them for themselves.

This means the yacht, from the type of TV screens on board to the quality of the Carrara marble in the bathrooms, is set up for the owner, and you are the lucky one who gets to enjoy all the extras and fine things that the owner considers special.

The crew are trained to serve at such a high standard because their owner pays them handsomely to exceed his or her expectations, the chef has Michelin-restaurant training because the owner insisted on recruiting only the best. The owners bought the futuristic water-toys for their family to enjoy, you just get to enjoy them too. That’s why everything’s top quality on charter yachts, rather than mid-range. It’s because the owners use the boat themselves, so everything has to be the best.

Compare this with hotels. Hotels – even the finest ones – are solely set up for paying guests. That is their business model. An owner of a hotel will generally try to drive down operational costs or reduce luxury touches to increase profits, while a charter yacht owner knows that if they drive down costs and remove the extra luxuries, their dream yacht – and their family holidays – will suffer. Isn’t it great?

5. You do not share your staff

On a yacht charter, you are the sole focus of every crew member, from the captain to the chef to the deckhands and stewardesses. Each activity is planned solely for your group’s enjoyment. Your chef creates the menu only for you and your group, and can adapt it to your childhood favourites, a sudden whim, or any dietary requirement. If you want to eat caviar at midnight, you need only ask.

You are not sharing your staff with other hotel or villa guests, and the crew to guest ratio is higher than other holiday types, with many yachts offering a 1:1 crew to guest ratio, or even greater in larger yachts with large numbers of crew.

On a yacht charter, you will rarely hear the word ‘no’. The whole yacht charter experience is geared towards the word ‘yes’: giving you exactly what you want, and the professional crew will go above and beyond to deliver it. Unlike in hotels where high turnover is common and you might be served by a dizzying multitude of different people, yacht crew are permanent employees and you’ll see the same faces serving throughout your trip, who will get to know your preferences quickly.

When you hire a yacht, you are made to feel like the only person that matters. Because for the duration of the charter, you really are.

6. You don’t have to interact with strangers

Some people love resorts and cruises for the friendly sociability of them – the crowds of strangers playing by the pool, the neighbouring restaurant table talking loudly about their particular brand of whacky politics, or other people’s children screaming all the way through dinner.

Most yacht charter clients prefer exclusivity and privacy, passing the days in a relaxing dream of swimming off the yacht and dining on deck under the stars. On a yacht, you choose when to go ashore and mingle – whether having cocktails at a beach club, wandering around a medieval village, or enjoying a meal in a Michelin star restaurant. On a yacht, you go to the world, the world doesn’t intrude on you. As for the crew, their discretion is unmatched, and they are trained to be inconspicuous but always available.

The privacy on a yacht is second to none.

7. A yacht charter can win you business

There’s no better way to impress your clients than with a luxury yacht charter. Corporate yacht charters are a big thing – whether that be throwing a yacht party during the Monaco Grand Prix and inviting your VIP clients, or sending your execs on a three-day charter along the Italian Riviera to say thanks for an extraordinary year. For businesses wanting to make an outsized impact at a trade show like MIPIM, a static yacht charter offers the opportunity to heavily brand your yacht and throw lunches, parties and product launches on board, while having the benefit of luxurious accommodation in the middle of the show for staff or clients. A corporate yacht charter is a powerful weapon in any business strategy arsenal.

8. A yacht is a private place to reconnect

Life is busy, and holidays are times for families and friends to reconnect. No matter how far your family seems to have drifted apart in the busyness of daily life, a yacht charter brings everyone together as they fall under the spell of life on a yacht, passing their days playing on the water-toys, eating gourmet food, and relaxing. The sullen teenager begins to smile (and is not embarrassed by her parents out in the middle of the sea), and the family spends quality time together, with none of the usual frustrations of chores and busy schedules pulling everyone apart. The crew are there to do everything for you, from ironing your clothes to bringing you a cocktail on a deckchair, so all you have to do is relax and enjoy the company of those you love. For families, a yacht charter is a healing time full of fun and laughter, and it is a family holiday that everyone will always remember.