What a Charter Actually Costs

Charter pricing has a reputation for opacity that the industry has mostly earned. It is not actually complicated; it is just rarely laid out in one place. Here is the whole structure.

The base rate

The headline number, in our fleet, from AUD $120,000 a week for Lumir to $175,000 for Impulsive, buys the yacht and her crew for the week: the platform, the cabins, the professionals who run it. It deliberately does not include the things that vary wildly from one party to the next: what you eat, what you drink, and how far you ask the yacht to go.

APA, the operating float

The Advance Provisioning Allowance is the piece that surprises first-time charterers. Typically around 25–35% of the base rate, paid before boarding, it is your expense float: fuel, food, wine, dockage, that seaplane to the reef. The captain accounts for every dollar, you see the ledger during the week, and whatever is unspent comes back to you. It is not a fee, it is your own money doing the shopping.

The APA is not a surcharge. It is your own money, accounted line by line, and the balance comes home with you.

The rest of the sheet

Crew gratuity is discretionary and customarily 10–15% of the base rate for service that has earned it. Taxes apply per jurisdiction. If you board somewhere other than the yacht's home water, a delivery or repositioning cost can apply, one reason chartering with the fleet that already works your cruising ground is quietly cheaper than importing a yacht to it.

The owner-led difference

Because you deal with the people who own and run these yachts, the quote you get is the whole picture on one page, base, APA estimate, tax, and any delivery, before you commit. If a number would have surprised you on the final ledger, we consider that our failure, not your oversight. Test us at the enquiry desk.