APA explained: what it pays for and what comes back

Why charters work this way

Nobody can quote the cost of a week's food, drink and fuel in advance without knowing what you eat, what you drink and where you want to go. The alternatives are a padded all-inclusive price that overcharges the modest and undercharges the extravagant, or a float. The market chose the float.

What it covers

• Fuel for the main engines, the generator and the tender.
• All food and drink aboard, provisioned to your preference sheet before you arrive.
• Marina berths and mooring fees along the itinerary, including national park moorings.
• National park entry fees, unless the operator itemises these separately.
• Diving, excursions, and anything the crew books ashore on your behalf.
• Laundry, and the running costs of the yacht in service during your charter.

What it does not cover

• The crew gratuity. That is separate and it is yours to decide.
• Anything you buy ashore yourself.
• Damage. That is a deposit or an insurance question.

The accounting

The captain keeps every receipt and gives you a running account. On a well-run yacht you can ask for the position at any point in the week and get it. At the end you get a reconciliation and a refund of the balance, usually within a couple of weeks, back to the account the APA came from.

Ask at the enquiry stage how the APA is reconciled and how quickly the balance is returned. It is a fair question, it has a simple answer, and the answer tells you something about how the operator runs.

Why 25 percent for one yacht and 35 for another

Fuel. A crewed sailing catamaran on a Phang Nga itinerary might burn a few hundred dollars of diesel in a week. A 30 metre planing motor yacht crossing to the Similans and back is running twin engines at cruising revs for fifteen hours, plus a generator around the clock for air conditioning in 32 degree heat.

If a motor yacht quotes 25 percent, that is worth a question rather than a celebration: it usually means a top-up request is expected.