The most frequent reasons to book a boat with a crew are:

• You're unsure of your sailing skills in general… or your ability to handle this particular boat you plan on chartering for your cruise(the boat is larger than any boat previously handled).
  
• Your sailing skills are perfectly fine, thank you… but the rest of your sailing party cannot tell a sailboat from a motor cruises, so you cannot count on any help whatsoever… so guess who's going to have to do all the work? (ever tried to raise your main sail alone with 25kts. of wind on a 15m (50 ft) yacht)
  
• You want to go cruising in a completely new area, and you would feel more comfortable taking your first charter there with a knowledgeable crew, who, incidentally, would also act the tourist guide.
  
• You’ve had en entire season sailing on your own boat, and you simply want to kickback with the family, kids and friends without having to worry about anything if you don't want to… On a crewed boat you have no responsibility for provisioning, cooking, doing the dishes, watching the weather, anchoring, the water level in the tanks, etc… On the other hand, if you choose to, you can sail the boat as much as you want!
  
• You've done some calculations, and, to your great amazement, you came to the conclusion that, once you compute all the extras in a nice resort and if you share the boat cost with 1 or 2 other couples, a crewed yacht cruise is less expensive than a stay at a good resort, but sooo much more fun.

Charter Company Yachts

A number of charter companies offer monohulls and catamarans: Those yachts have individual owners, but they are operated and managed by charter companies for the owners' account.

The boats range from 12 to 15 metre (40 to 50ft) for the monohulls and the same for the cats. The type of equipment on most boats is usually as follows (some specifics may apply):

• 6 to 8 guests plus crew
• Two uniformed crews (licensed captain and/ or skilled hostess - chef)
• Air conditioning
• Double staterooms with full en-suite bathrooms
• Freshwater showers on deck
• Stateroom housekeeping services
• TV with VCR
• Stereo with CD player
• Snorkelling equipment
• Some have scuba-diving equipment.
• Cellular telephone
• Board games, books

Those boats rates go from $6,000 per week in low season to $15,000 per week in high season.

Private Yachts

There is a rather large range of private charter boats cruising the Australian coastline... There are either operated directly by their owners, usually the captain and his wife, or they are operated by a professional crew paid by the owner.

Because those boats are not in a company fleet, there is basically no standard, and most of those boats have been customized by their owners. Therefore, the quality of the boat, the competence of the crew, and the level of equipment and services can vary greatly between boats, unless of course, close friends who recently had a cruise on it, recommend a particular boat to you. The rates can go from $5/6,000 a week on an owner-operated, 4 guests, 13.5m (45ft) boat to $15/17,000 a week for a 8 guest, 18m (60ft) catamaran or a 21m (70ft) monohull.

All the way up the ladder, a week on the (size) sailing yacht (name) will set you back a cool $65,000!

Also, many private charter boats — usually large ones — have no particular port of call. They are simply based in a defined geographical area, and will pick you up in any reasonable radius. E.g. your vessel could be based in Cairns, North Queensland, but would be prepared to accept a charter in the Whitsundays.

Well, mostly everything is customized. And the more expensive the charter is, the more custom stuff you get!

Meals

The yacht's Chef will provision the boat according to your food / diet preferences, which you will have communicated beforehand. This goes from vegetarian, low fat, to Asian cooking to American cooking to very rich, all chocolate and pastries! Most crewed boats have a professional chef (often with formal instruction) on board. She will cook for you, 3 meals a day, and often serve hors-d'oeuvre with cocktails before dinner.

Waking up in the morning with the smell of freshly brewed coffee and croissants is definitely a winner in any book!

Sailing

Again, the crew will accommodate any of your itinerary wishes, and the distance you want to travel every day, as long as the guests' requests are reasonable, of course. Remember, your skipper is in charge of the guests and the yacht safety. So HE ultimately decides what goes, not the guests. Going against him with unrealistic demands is not a good idea!

But remember that if you did your homework- you are on board of a yacht operated by professionals. Therefore, they WILL do everything they can to make your cruise a memorable time for a simple reason: Word of mouth and repeat business are absolute key for them.

In all other cases, we highly recommend you use an agent... Here is why:

• Quality standards vary tremendously. By using the services of Holidays Allover… you receive unbiased, independent advice on all charter yachts.
• Knowing the specifics of the crew is essential: It doesn’t matter if you are on a $2million yacht, the crew will make or break your cruise. That is the agents primary job. Holidays Allover makes matching your party to a suitable crew an important part of their service.
  A good example is cruising with kids: Some boats/crews are friendlier to, and better equipped for kids than others. The broker will know how to book you adequately. He/she will send you an initial selection of recommended yachts, based on the specifics you indicated.
• An agent can recommend hotels, provisioning options, itineraries etc… and if you have a problem during the cruise, an agent can normally reach a satisfactory solution more easily than you could as an individual.
• Using an agent or not, your cost will be the same: the boat owner, not you, pays the broker's commission so it won't make any difference to you.
• A knowledgeable agent knows all the industry's insights and will steer you in the right direction. Holidays Allover will do everything possible to have you come back satisfied from your vacation.
• Lastly, using Holidays Allover protects your deposit and final payment. Try using an agent affiliated with AFTA (Australian Federation of Travel Agents) and TCF (Travel Compensation Fund) We are required to have special trust accounts to guarantee your deposit will be returned in case a problem happens with the yacht before your cruise.

Your deposit is not released to the yacht until just before the charter. It is strongly advised that you do not send money to a boat directly. This does not imply any problem with the boat operators, but things can go wrong and accidents do happen - it can be very difficult to get your money back after the fact.

• Your basic budget
• Time of the year
• Number of guests (any kids coming along?)
• Area(s) of interest
• Sailing preferences: Type of boat you prefer, easy or more adventurous sailing conditions.
• Activity preferences: Are you very active, or just want to relax?
• Do you scuba? Do you want nightlife or quietness?
• Do you want to learn how to sail?
• Health problems: It is very important to let us know about any such consideration or physical disability
• Your food/diet preferences
• Do you prefer a young or a more mature crew?
• Celebration (if any)
• What trip cancellation insurance is available?

As you can see, crewed yacht charters are not only for the rich and famous. This is definitely an option to explore for your holidays. If you decide to do so, you now need to read our Guidelines article for all you want to know for the success of the cruise itself.