Plenty of people who charter a yacht for the first time have been on a Caribbean cruise before. Both are ways of seeing several islands in a week without packing and unpacking, but the experience is very different. Here’s an honest comparison, including where a cruise might suit you better.

Where you go

A cruise ship visits ports: the islands with deep-water harbours big enough to take it, like St Thomas, St Maarten or Antigua. You spend a day ashore, often alongside thousands of other passengers, and sail on overnight.

A yacht visits anchorages: quiet bays, small islands and beaches that no cruise ship can reach. In the British Virgin Islands, places like Anegada, the Tobago Cays in the Grenadines or Anse de Colombier in St Barths are simply inaccessible by cruise ship.

Your own time

On a cruise, the day revolves around the ship’s timetable: shore excursions, meal sittings and an all-aboard time.

On a yacht, there’s no timetable. If you love a bay, you stay. If the weather changes, you go somewhere else. If you’d like breakfast at ten, it’s breakfast at ten.

Privacy and space

A cruise ship carries hundreds or thousands of other guests. Pools, restaurants and decks are shared.

A yacht is yours alone. On a typical crewed catamaran in the Caribbean, that’s up to eight or ten guests: your family or your friends, and nobody else.

Food

Cruise ships offer choice on a huge scale: buffets, restaurants, room service.

On a crewed yacht, a private chef cooks for your party alone, around your tastes, using fresh fish and produce from the islands where possible. Nothing is mass-produced, allergies and diets are easy, and dinner is at a table under the stars, often in a bay with no other boats.

Activities

Cruise ships have entertainment on board: shows, casinos, spas, kids’ clubs, climbing walls.

A yacht’s entertainment is the sea: snorkelling with turtles straight off the back of the boat, paddleboarding, kayaking, swimming to a beach, learning to sail, watching the sunset. Larger yachts add jet skis, Seabobs and diving. If your family needs constant organised entertainment, a cruise may suit you better. If they’d love to spend all day in the water, a yacht will win.

Cost

This is where people are often surprised.

Per person, a mainstream cruise is usually cheaper than a crewed yacht charter. But a crewed yacht is less expensive than many people expect, especially for a group. A crewed catamaran for eight guests in the Virgin Islands might cost US$25,000 to US$35,000 a week in the main season, all inclusive of food, standard drinks, crew and watersports, plus a customary crew gratuity. Shared among eight, that’s comparable to a premium cruise or a high-end resort, with a level of privacy and personal service neither can offer.

For larger parties, smaller budgets or keen sailors, a bareboat charter reduces the cost further.

Motion and comfort

Large cruise ships are very stable in open water. Yachts are smaller and move more, though in sheltered waters like the Virgin Islands, passages are short and calm, and catamarans sit almost flat at anchor. If anyone is very prone to seasickness, tell us and we’ll suggest the steadiest yachts and the calmest cruising grounds.

When a cruise might be the better choice

  • You’re travelling as a couple on a tight budget.
  • You’d like lots of on-board entertainment.
  • You want to visit several big, busy port towns.
  • You’d rather not be on a small vessel.

When a yacht is the better choice

  • You’d like privacy and time together as a family or group.
  • You want to see quiet islands, beaches and reefs.
  • You value great food cooked just for you.
  • You’d like the freedom to change plans every day.

Want to see what’s possible?

Tell us about your party and how you like to holiday, and we’ll come back with yachts that fit your dates and budget. Our guide to your first crewed charter explains what the week is really like.

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