The charter fee covers the yacht and its crew. Food, fuel and mooring are handled separately through a provisioning fund. Here is what you get, and what you budget for on top.
Most people booking a first crewed charter want a plain answer to one question: what does the price actually get me? The charter fee is not an all-in number in the way a hotel room often is, and the parts that sit outside it catch first-timers out. Once you see how a crewed charter is put together, the structure is simple and, in fact, fairer than a single lump sum. Here is what the fee covers, and what you budget for separately.
What the charter fee covers
The charter fee is the headline price on any listing. It buys the yacht and the people who run it for your booked period, along with everything permanently aboard.
The crew
On a crewed yacht, the fee includes the professional crew and their wages. On a smaller boat that might be a captain and one cook or host. On a larger yacht it grows to a full team, adding deckhands, stewardesses and sometimes a dedicated chef. The crew navigate and handle the boat, prepare and serve meals, run the tender for trips ashore, set up the water toys, and keep the yacht clean throughout. You need no sailing experience, because the captain carries the qualifications and the responsibility.
The yacht and its equipment
The fee also covers the boat itself and the equipment that lives on it: the cabins and their linen, the galley, the safety gear, and the standard toys such as paddleboards, snorkelling kit and the tender. Bigger yachts carry more, from jet skis to diving equipment. If a particular toy matters to you, check the yacht's listing or ask, because inventories vary from boat to boat.
What you budget for on top
The costs that change week to week sit outside the charter fee, because they depend on how and where you cruise. Grouping them separately is what keeps the headline price honest.
The provisioning fund
Running costs are usually handled through a provisioning fund, known in the industry as an APA, or Advance Provisioning Allowance. You pay this to the captain before the trip, and it covers the variable costs of your week: fuel for the yacht and tender, all your food and drink, mooring and harbour fees, and any cruising permits or local taxes. The captain spends it on your behalf, keeps the receipts, and returns whatever is left at the end. It is arranged as a set share of the charter fee, agreed before you sail, so you know the figure in advance rather than meeting it as a surprise.
The fund is not an extra profit line. It is your money, spent on your holiday, and reconciled with receipts. If you eat simply and cover short distances you will spend less of it; long passages and fine dining spend more.
Crew gratuity
A tip for the crew is customary but discretionary, and it sits outside both the charter fee and the provisioning fund. You base it on the service you received, and in the Mediterranean it is usually handed to the captain at the end of the trip to share among the team. Treat it as a genuine reflection of the week rather than a fixed line item.
How sailing and motor yachts differ
The structure above is the same on every crewed yacht, but the running costs inside the provisioning fund shift with the boat. A sailing yacht or catamaran burns far less fuel when the wind does the work, so more of the fund goes on food, mooring and shore trips. A motor yacht covers ground faster and reaches more in a week, at the cost of higher fuel use. Neither is better value in the abstract; it depends on the pace of holiday you want.
Put it together before you book
The clean way to compare boats is to read the charter fee as the fixed price, then picture the provisioning fund and a gratuity on top. If you are still choosing a format, our guide to crewed versus bareboat versus skippered explains the alternatives, and how to charter a yacht walks through the whole booking. When your dates are set, the yacht charter checklist covers what to pack.
Every listing on YachtZap shows its charter price up front. Browse the crewed fleet to see real prices, or ask the team to talk through what a given yacht's week would include.