The headline weekly rate is rarely the price you pay. Here is the candid arithmetic behind a superyacht charter, set out plainly, before you sign.
A principal is quoted a clean weekly figure and reasonably assumes it is the cost of the holiday. It is not. Across a typical Mediterranean week, the all-in spend lands thirty to fifty percent above the advertised base rate once provisioning, fuel, taxes, berthing and gratuity are settled. None of these items is dishonest; under standard MYBA terms they are charged at cost. But they are seldom totalled for you in advance, and the gap between the brochure and the bank statement is where good charters quietly turn sour. This page sets out every line, with current figures, so you can read a quotation the way a broker does.
A crewed superyacht is quoted as a weekly base fee. That figure secures the vessel, her captain and crew, insurance for the hull and the core cost of having the yacht ready and standing by. It does not include the cost of actually living aboard her for seven days — the fuel she burns, the food and wine you consume, the harbours you visit or the taxes the cruising nation levies on the charter itself.
The industry convention is to quote low and itemise the rest, which is why two yachts at the same headline price can carry materially different real costs depending on how thirstily they run and where they cruise. As a working rule, the all-in spend on a medium-activity itinerary runs thirty to fifty percent above the published base rate. A clean €150,000 week is, in practice, a €195,000 to €225,000 commitment before gratuity. We say this not to alarm but to anchor expectations: the number that matters is the total, and the total is knowable in advance if someone troubles to calculate it.
The Advance Provisioning Allowance is the single largest variable after the base fee, and the one principals least understand. It is a float — your money, paid before departure — from which the captain settles the running costs of the charter as they arise: fuel, food and beverages, port and marina dues, harbour pilots, laundry, communications and any special requests. Under MYBA terms every APA expense is charged at cost; the owner, crew and broker may not mark it up, and the unspent balance is returned to you at the end of the charter.
The figure is typically set at 25–35% of the base fee for sailing yachts and catamarans, and 35–40% for motor yachts, which burn far more fuel. A demanding itinerary — fast passages, fine wine, peak-season harbours — can see the captain request a top-up mid-charter. The discipline here is twofold: read the APA as a real cost rather than a deposit, and insist on a daily expenditure log so the float is reconciled transparently. A well-run yacht volunteers this; a poorly run one does not, and the difference is exactly what vetting exists to surface.
Value-added tax is levied on the charter fee, not on the APA, and the rate is set by the country in which the charter begins — even if you then cruise into neighbouring waters. The variance is significant enough to reshape an itinerary. France charges 20%, Spain 21%, Italy 22% and Greece up to 24%. Croatia applies a reduced 13% to qualifying multi-day charters. Montenegro, outside the EU, generally applies 0%, as do most Caribbean grounds — with the notable exception of The Bahamas, which since July 2022 levies 10% on the charter fee for foreign-flagged yachts.
On a €150,000 week the tax line alone ranges from nothing in Montenegro to roughly €36,000 in Greece. This is not a detail to discover at signing. The order in which you visit countries, and the port from which you embark, are legitimate planning levers — structured properly and lawfully, never as evasion. A capable broker maps the VAT consequence of a route before the route is fixed.
Fuel is the cost of ambition. A 50-metre motor yacht at a relaxed twelve knots burns 250–350 litres an hour; at Mediterranean dock prices of roughly €1.40–€1.60 a litre, an eight-hour transit day is €2,800–€4,480 in diesel alone. A week of genuine cruising — say Cannes to Portofino to the Amalfi coast, 400 to 600 nautical miles — consumes €15,000–€30,000 in fuel for a yacht of this size. A languid week at anchor costs a fraction of that. The itinerary you choose is, in fuel terms, a financial decision.
Berthing is the cost of stopping in the right place. A night alongside in a premium Mediterranean marina runs €200–€1,500, but the marquee harbours ignore that band entirely. Monaco's Port Hercule comfortably exceeds €1,500 a night for a 50-metre yacht and reaches thousands during the Grand Prix; Porto Cervo averages around €2,500 a night for a large yacht in August. Electricity, water and security add a further 20–40% on top. Then come delivery and redelivery fees — the fuel and crew time required to bring the yacht to a starting port that is not her home base, and to return her — which are quoted separately and easily overlooked.
Crew gratuity is customary and expected. The accepted range is 5–15% of the base charter fee, given to the captain at the end of the charter for distribution among the crew, with most principals settling around 10%. On a €150,000 week that is €7,500–€22,500 — a line that surprises those who have mentally closed the budget at the APA.
Provisioning is drawn from the APA but deserves its own attention, because it is where personal taste meets open-ended cost. A week's food and beverage for twelve guests routinely reaches €10,000–€15,000, and a serious wine list can match the fuel bill on its own. Communications, watersports fuel, ad-hoc excursions and shoreside reservations complete the picture. A worked example concentrates the mind: a €150,000 motor-yacht week, on a medium-activity itinerary, totals roughly €260,000 all-in — base fee, APA, fuel, two nights of premium berthing, provisioning, communications and a 15% gratuity. None of it is hidden in the dishonest sense. It is simply never added up for you until it is too late to plan around.
The remedy for hidden cost is not suspicion; it is arithmetic, performed early by someone who is on your side of the table. Before a charter is confirmed we model the full position — base fee, APA at the correct vessel-class percentage, the VAT rate of the embarkation country, a fuel estimate built from your actual itinerary, named-marina berthing for the nights you intend to stop, realistic provisioning and a gratuity allowance — and present a single reconciled figure with a sensible contingency. The brochure becomes a budget.
The table below sets out the lines and current figures for a representative €150,000 motor-yacht week, so you can see precisely where a published rate becomes a real one.
| Cost line | Typical basis | Indicative figure (€150k week) |
|---|---|---|
| Base charter fee | Quoted weekly rate | €150,000 |
| APA (motor yacht) | 35–40% of base, at cost | €52,500–€60,000 |
| VAT | 0% Montenegro to 24% Greece, on base | €0–€36,000 |
| Fuel (active cruising) | 400–600 nm, drawn from APA | €15,000–€30,000 |
| Premium berthing | Per night, marquee harbours | €1,500–€2,500 / night |
| Provisioning (12 guests) | Food & beverage, from APA | €10,000–€15,000 |
| Crew gratuity | 5–15% of base, customary | €7,500–€22,500 |
| Delivery / redelivery | Fuel & crew time, if applicable | Quoted per route |
Read this way, the charter holds no surprises. That is the entire point of engaging counsel before you commit rather than questioning an invoice after.
We do not sell yachts and we do not flatter brochures. Through the Obsidian Helm Marketplace we source and vet vessels on your behalf, introducing you only to broker partners and yachts whose terms, condition and crew we have examined ourselves. Your advisor models the full reconciled cost — APA, VAT, fuel and berthing — before a single contract is presented, and remains your point of contact throughout. Our remuneration comes by way of referral arrangement with vetted brokers, never from a mark-up on your APA or your bill, which keeps our counsel candid and your interests first. Request a private introduction to begin.
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APA is the Advance Provisioning Allowance — a float you pay before departure, typically 25–35% of the base fee for sailing yachts and 35–40% for motor yachts, from which the captain settles fuel, food, berthing and other running costs at cost. It is genuinely your money: every expense is itemised and the unused balance is refunded at the end of the charter.
On a medium-activity itinerary the all-in cost runs thirty to fifty percent above the published base rate once APA, fuel, VAT, berthing, provisioning and gratuity are settled. A representative €150,000 motor-yacht week totals approximately €260,000 all-in. The figure is knowable in advance and we reconcile it before you sign.
VAT applies to the charter fee, set by the country where the charter begins. Mediterranean rates range from 20% in France to 24% in Greece, with Croatia at a reduced 13%. Montenegro and most Caribbean grounds are generally 0%, while The Bahamas levies 10% on foreign-flagged yachts. Your embarkation port is therefore a legitimate planning consideration.
Gratuity is customary rather than contractual. The accepted range is 5–15% of the base charter fee, with most principals settling around 10%, given to the captain at the charter's end for distribution among the crew. On a €150,000 week that is €7,500–€22,500 — a line worth allowing for from the outset.
We are remunerated by referral arrangement with the vetted brokers we introduce, never by marking up your APA or your final invoice. Because our income does not rise with your spend, our counsel stays candid: we source and vet on your behalf, model the full cost honestly, and recommend the yacht that suits the brief rather than the one that pays most.
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