From enquiry to boarding: what the process actually looks like

The eight steps

1. 01Enquiry. Dates, number of guests, ages if there are children, budget range, and what you actually want from the week. The last of those is the one people leave out and the one that changes the shortlist most.
2. 02Shortlist. A good broker comes back with three to five yachts, not thirty, and says why each one is on the list.
3. 03Option. The yacht is held for you, typically for three to seven days, while you decide. An option is free and it is not a commitment.
4. 04Contract. Issued on the MYBA form for most crewed charters. This is the point to read the four clauses that matter and to ask the five licence questions.
5. 05First payment. Usually fifty percent. The yacht comes off the market and the terms become real.
6. 06Balance and APA, about thirty days out. This is normally the point of no return financially.
7. 07Preference sheet. Food, drink, allergies, dietary requirements, diving certifications, celebrations, and how much you want to move each day.
8. 08Captain contact, about a week out. The itinerary gets built properly against the actual forecast and the actual tide.

Where you can still change your mind

Freely up to the contract. After the first payment, only on the cancellation terms. That is the line, and it is worth being clear about it before you sign rather than after.

What to have ready

• Passport details for every guest, for the crew list the yacht files with the harbour master.
• Dive certifications, if anyone intends to dive from the yacht.
• Allergies and dietary requirements in writing, not verbally. A chef provisioning for a week in Phuket cannot fix an unmentioned shellfish allergy at Koh Rok.
• Flight numbers, so the transfer and the boarding time are planned around the actual arrival.

Book the night before ashore. Boarding on the same day you land is possible from Yacht Haven, twenty minutes from the airport, but a delayed flight then costs you the first anchorage rather than an hour.