Bareboat, skippered or fully crewed: the three ways to charter a yacht, what each one asks of you, and how to choose the right one for your group and experience.
The word "charter" hides three quite different holidays. On one, you are the skipper and the boat is yours to run. On another, a professional runs the boat and you never touch a line. Picking between them is the first real decision of any charter, and it shapes the cost, the crew list and how much you actually relax. Here is how the options compare, from a host who books all three for guests every season.
The three ways to charter (and a fourth)
Bareboat charter
A bareboat charter is the boat and nothing else. You collect it, you skipper it, and you plan and sail your own route. It is the option experienced sailors reach for, because it gives you full control of the week and the lowest price of the three. The trade is responsibility: you are the captain, so you carry the qualifications, handle the navigation and weather calls, and take charge if anything goes wrong.
To take a yacht out bareboat you normally need a recognised sailing licence and some logged experience, and the charter company will ask to see it. In much of the Mediterranean an ICC (International Certificate of Competence) or an equivalent national qualification is expected, sometimes with a VHF radio certificate alongside it.
Skippered charter
A skippered charter adds one person to the bareboat: a professional skipper who takes the helm and the legal responsibility for the yacht. You still have the boat to yourselves, but the navigation, the docking and the weather decisions sit with someone who knows the waters. This is the middle path, and it is the one most first-timers overlook.
A skipper does more than steer. A good one reads the forecast, picks the sheltered anchorage when the wind turns, knows which harbours fill by mid-afternoon, and quietly teaches you as much or as little as you want to learn. You provide for the skipper's food and a cabin (or a berth in the saloon on smaller boats), which is worth factoring into your plans.
Fully crewed charter
A crewed charter comes with a professional team, usually a captain plus at least a cook or host, and more crew as the yacht gets larger. You need no sailing experience at all. You board, and the crew handle the sailing, the meals, the tender, the water toys and the tidying. This is the format most people picture when they imagine a yacht holiday, and it is the right one for the majority of first-time guests.
Crewed is the most hands-off and the most expensive of the three, because you are paying for skilled people as well as the boat. What you get back is time. Nobody in your group has to cook, wash up, plan the passage or dock the boat at the end of a long day.
Cabin charter (the shared option)
There is a fourth format worth naming. On a cabin charter you book a single cabin on a crewed yacht and share the boat with other guests, much like a small cruise. It is the cheapest way onto a yacht, but you give up the privacy that makes chartering special, so it suits solo travellers and couples happy to meet new people rather than groups.
How to choose
The honest way to decide is to answer three questions about your group.
- Can someone confidently skipper the boat? If yes, bareboat is on the table. If not, you want a skipper or a full crew.
- How much do you want to do yourself? Sailors who want the tiller in their hands lean bareboat or skippered. Guests who want a holiday, not a job, lean crewed.
- What is the group? Families with young children and mixed-ability groups almost always have a better week crewed or skippered, because someone else is watching the weather and the water.
| Bareboat | Skippered | Fully crewed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who runs the boat | You | A professional skipper | A full crew |
| Sailing licence needed | Yes | No | No |
| Privacy | Just your group | Just your group | Just your group |
| Cooking and chores | You | You (skipper helps sail) | Crew |
| Relative cost | Lowest | Middle | Highest |
| Best for | Qualified sailors | Confident guests who want a pro aboard | First-timers and families |
What this means for a first Mediterranean charter
For a first charter in Croatia, Greece, Italy, France or Spain, a skippered or fully crewed boat removes almost every source of stress. You do not need a licence, you do not need to know the coastline, and you have someone aboard who does. That is the whole reason the crewed model sits at the centre of what we do at YachtZap, and why our listings are crewed yachts rather than bareboats.
If you are still weighing a yacht against a hotel-based trip, our comparison of land versus sea sets out the trade-offs. Once you have a format in mind, how to charter a yacht walks through the booking from start to finish, and what's included in a crewed charter explains exactly what your fee covers.
When you are ready to see real boats and prices, browse the crewed fleet or tell us about your group and we will shortlist a few that fit. You can also explore the destinations we cover to picture where the week might go.