Your first crewed charter, day by day

If you’ve never chartered a crewed yacht before, it can be hard to picture what the week will actually be like. Will you feel like a guest in someone else’s home? Will there be enough to do? Will there be too much? This is what a typical week looks like on a crewed catamaran in the Virgin Islands, and a few things our guests wish they’d known before their first.

Before you arrive

About six weeks before your charter, we’ll send you a preference sheet. It asks about food, drinks, allergies, how active you’d like to be, and what you’re celebrating. It’s the single most useful thing you can do to shape the week, so it’s worth spending half an hour on it. We’ve written a separate guide to filling it in.

Your captain will usually be in touch a week or two before, too, to say hello, confirm your arrival plans and ask about anything they should know.

Day one: stepping aboard

Most charters start around midday. A taxi from the airport or ferry drops you at the marina, where the crew meets you on the dock, often with a cold drink and a cool towel. Shoes come off at the gangway (you’ll barely wear them again all week), and the crew will take your bags to your cabins.

Then comes a short, friendly safety briefing: where the life jackets are, how the heads (the toilets) work, what to do in the unlikely event of an emergency, and a few house rules. It takes about fifteen minutes and is the only formal part of the week.

Many yachts leave the dock the same afternoon for a short sail to a first anchorage, so you wake up somewhere beautiful on day two. Dinner that first night is usually aboard, a chance to get to know the crew and talk through ideas for the week.

A typical day

There’s no fixed timetable on a crewed yacht. The day bends around you, the weather and the anchorages. But most days fall into a rhythm:

• Early morning: coffee on deck as the sun comes up. Early risers often swim off the back of the boat before breakfast.
• Breakfast: cooked to order or laid out as a spread: fruit, pastries, eggs, pancakes.
• Mid-morning: the captain suggests the plan for the day, and you sail on to the next island. Passages in the Virgin Islands are usually one to three hours.
• Lunch: at anchor somewhere new, often after a snorkel.
• Afternoon: watersports, a beach, a walk ashore, a nap in the shade, or simply a book on the trampoline.
• Sundowners: the crew brings out drinks and canapés as the sun sets.
• Dinner: three courses aboard, by candlelight, or ashore at a beach restaurant your captain recommends.

How much do you have to do?

As much or as little as you like. You don’t need any sailing experience: the crew does everything. But if you’d like to help, most captains are delighted to teach you to steer, trim the sails or pick up a mooring. Children often love being given small jobs.

Living with the crew

Crewed yachts are designed so that the crew has its own quarters, usually at the front of the boat or in a separate hull, and good crews have a knack for being there when you want them and invisible when you don’t. Most are couples or small teams who have worked together for years.

It’s perfectly fine to ask for quiet time, to change plans, to skip a meal ashore, or to say you’d rather not sail today. That’s what they’re there for.

Days ashore

Your captain will suggest the best things to do on each island: The Baths on Virgin Gorda, lobster on Anegada, a beach bar on Jost Van Dyke. They’ll organise taxis, book restaurants and arrange anything special, like a beach picnic or a dive.

The last night and morning

The last evening is often a little celebration: a special dinner aboard, perhaps with a cake. The yacht usually returns to the marina the evening before or early on the final morning, and you disembark mid-morning after breakfast.

This is also the moment for the crew gratuity, if you’d like to give one. It’s customary in the Caribbean and usually 15 to 20 per cent of the charter fee. Our guide to tipping explains how it works.

What first-timers tell us

• “We didn’t need half of what we packed.” Soft bags, swimwear, a couple of light evening outfits and reef-safe sunscreen are most of it. See our packing guide.
• “We wish we’d booked longer.” A week goes quickly, and many guests come back for ten nights.
• “The crew made the holiday.” That’s why we spend so much time matching the right crew to each party.

Ready to plan yours?

Tell us about your party and we’ll suggest yachts and crews that suit. If you’re still deciding whether a crew is right for you, read crewed or bareboat?.