A honeymoon on a private yacht costs somewhere between the price of a very good hotel suite for a week and the price of a small house. That is an honest answer and an unhelpful one, so this guide is about narrowing it. By the end you should know what the number on a charter quote actually covers, what will be added to it, why the yacht that suits two people is usually not the one in the photographs, and how to make the budget you have go further than the brochures suggest.
We have written it for couples who have never chartered before. If you have, skip to the section on choosing the right yacht for two, which is where most honeymoon budgets are quietly wasted. If you are still deciding whether a yacht is the right shape for your honeymoon at all, our romantic getaway page describes the week itself.
The Short Version
A crewed yacht is priced by the week, not by the person. The weekly rate covers the yacht and its crew. On top of that you pay for what you consume (food, drink, fuel, moorings) through a provisioning allowance, plus local tax and a gratuity for the crew. Add those together and the realistic all-in cost is usually 40 to 60 per cent above the headline rate.
Because you are paying for the whole yacht, a honeymoon for two is the one charter where a smaller, better vessel almost always beats a larger, averagely-run one. Crew quality, the master cabin and the anchorages the yacht can reach matter far more than the number of cabins you will never open.
What the Weekly Rate Covers
The charter fee, sometimes called the base rate, pays for the yacht itself, a full professional crew, their wages, the yacht’s insurance and its routine running. It also includes the use of everything aboard: the tender, paddleboards, snorkelling gear, kayaks, and on larger yachts the sauna or gym or cinema.
For a honeymoon in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean, the base rates you are likely to see fall into broad bands. A crewed catamaran or a sailing yacht of around 20 metres with a captain, chef and one steward typically starts in the low tens of thousands of euros or dollars for a week. A motor yacht or larger sailing yacht in the 25 to 35 metre range, with four to seven crew and a proper master suite, sits in the mid tens of thousands and rises towards six figures in peak season. Above 40 metres the rates climb past six figures quickly, and above 50 metres you are in a market where a week costs more than most people’s cars.
These figures move with the calendar. In the Mediterranean, July and August carry a premium and the same yacht is often 20 to 30 per cent cheaper in May, June, September and October, which happen to be the months when the sea is calmest, the light is softest and the anchorages are emptiest. In the Caribbean, the two weeks over Christmas and New Year are priced separately and steeply, and the shoulder weeks of late November and early December, or late April and May, are markedly gentler on the budget.
Note the coincidence. Most weddings happen in late spring, early summer and early autumn. A honeymoon that follows directly usually lands in exactly the weeks when a Mediterranean charter is cheapest and most beautiful.
What Sits on Top of the Rate
Four things are added to the base rate. Your broker will explain each of them before you commit to anything, but it helps to know what is coming.
The advance provisioning allowance. Known everywhere as the APA, this is a sum paid before the charter, typically 25 to 35 per cent of the base rate, that the captain uses as a running account for everything you consume. Food, wine, fuel, marina berths, port fees, ice, water, the restaurant the captain books ashore. The crew keeps receipts. At the end of the week you receive an itemised account and anything unspent is returned to you. It is the mechanism that lets a chef shop for you at a harbour market at six in the morning without asking permission. Two people eating well and cruising gently will rarely exhaust a full APA, and a refund at the end is common.
Tax. Charters that begin in European Union waters attract value added tax on the charter fee, at a rate that varies by country and by where the yacht cruises. Greece, Croatia, Italy and France each have their own rate and their own rules, and a good broker will structure the itinerary so that the tax position is clear before you sign. In the Caribbean and the Maldives the picture is different, with cruising permits or local levies in place of a European-style tax. Ask for the figure in writing.
The gratuity. It is customary to tip the crew at the end of the charter. In the Mediterranean the convention is 10 to 15 per cent of the base rate; in the Caribbean and the United States it tends to be 15 to 20 per cent. It is discretionary and it goes to the captain to share among the crew. For a honeymoon crew who have quietly arranged a private dinner on a beach and kept out of sight for an entire afternoon, most couples do not find this hard to justify.
Extras you ask for. A massage therapist brought aboard for an afternoon, a yoga teacher for the mornings, a photographer for a day, a particular vintage the chef has to source from the mainland, a seaplane transfer in the Maldives. None of these are hidden. They are simply the things that a honeymoon sometimes calls for and that no standard rate could reasonably include.
The arithmetic, then, is base rate, plus roughly 30 per cent APA, plus tax where it applies, plus a gratuity. Ask your broker for a single all-in estimate at the start rather than discovering each layer as it arrives.
Why Two People Do Not Need a Big Yacht
This is the part of the guide we most want you to read.
A charter yacht is priced for its size, its age, its crew and its reputation. It is not priced per guest. A 40 metre yacht with five guest cabins costs the same for two people as it does for ten. On a honeymoon, eight of those berths stay empty, and you have paid for them.
The instinct, especially for a once-in-a-lifetime trip, is to go larger. In practice the things that make a honeymoon charter memorable have very little to do with length overall. They are:
- The master cabin. On a well-designed 24 to 30 metre yacht the owner’s cabin can be a full-beam suite with a proper bed, a bath and a view. On a mediocre 45 metre yacht it can be a dark room in the bow. Ask to see it, not the saloon.
- The crew. For two people, a crew of three or four who are attentive and know when to disappear will shape the week far more than a crew of twelve. The best honeymoon crews are the ones who read the room.
- The anchorages. Smaller yachts, and catamarans in particular, draw less water and get into the coves and lagoons that larger yachts cannot enter. A honeymoon is improved by having a bay to yourselves. It is not improved by a cinema.
- The water. On a smaller yacht the sea is right there, a step down from the cockpit. On a large motor yacht it is several decks below. If you want to swim before breakfast and float at dusk, closer is better.
The couples who report the best honeymoons at sea have very often chartered a yacht that would have felt small with eight guests aboard and felt exactly right with two. The money saved on length is then available for the things that do register: a better crew, a longer charter, or a destination that takes a flight to reach.
We have written more on this in our guide to how yacht size shapes the experience. The short version for honeymooners is that under 35 metres is nearly always the right answer.
Where the Money Goes Further
The same budget buys very different weeks in different waters.
Greek Islands. A large fleet, sensible rates outside July and August, and an almost unlimited supply of quiet anchorages once you are away from Mykonos. September and early October are close to ideal for a honeymoon: the sea is at its warmest, the meltemi has eased and the islands are emptying. Our Greek Islands destination page covers the moods of the different island groups.
Croatia. Comparable rates to Greece, exceptionally calm and sheltered water between the Dalmatian islands, and short hops between anchorages, which suits a couple who would rather swim than sail all day. June and September are the sweet spots. See our Croatia destination page.
The Caribbean. Rates in United States dollars, a strong catamaran fleet that suits two people beautifully, and constant trade winds that keep the air soft. The high season runs from December to April and the price premium over Christmas is steep. A late April or May honeymoon in the Grenadines or the Virgin Islands is both cheaper and quieter. Our Caribbean destination page explains the wellness case for the region.
The Maldives. Fewer yachts, higher rates, and the cost of a seaplane or speedboat transfer to reach the yacht. What you get in return is the clearest, calmest water on earth and an atoll to yourselves. If the budget stretches, this is the honeymoon that guests describe most often as unreal. Our month-by-month guide to the Maldives shows when the seas are calmest, and our Maldives destination page sets the scene.
A rule of thumb: for the same all-in cost, Greece and Croatia give you a larger or better yacht and a longer charter; the Caribbean gives you warmth in the northern winter; the Maldives gives you something you will not find anywhere else, at a premium.
How Long to Charter
A week is the standard charter period and, for a honeymoon, the right one. The first two days are spent arriving, adjusting and learning the rhythm of the boat. Days three to six are the ones you will remember. A five night charter is possible in some destinations and seasons but feels short; ten nights is a genuine luxury if the budget allows and the yacht is available.
Many couples now split the honeymoon: a few nights in a hotel to recover from the wedding, then a week on the water, then a night or two ashore before the flight home. The yacht is the centre of the trip rather than the whole of it, and it means you board rested.
The Questions to Ask Your Broker
Before you commit, ask for these in writing.
- The base rate for your exact dates, and whether a shoulder-season week would change it.
- The APA percentage and what it is expected to cover.
- The tax rate that applies to the itinerary and who is responsible for paying it.
- The customary gratuity for that yacht and region.
- The crew list, with how long the captain and chef have been aboard together.
- Photographs of the master cabin, not the saloon.
- What the yacht draws and which anchorages that opens or closes on the proposed route.
- A single all-in estimate that adds every one of the above together.
A broker who answers those eight questions clearly is one you can trust with your honeymoon. Ours will, and we would rather you asked. Our page on how it works walks through the rest of the process from first conversation to boarding day.
Every honeymoon voyage we design starts with a conversation about how you want the week to feel, and only then about the yacht. If you would like an all-in figure for your dates and a destination in mind, tell us about the two of you and we will put one together. Prices in this guide are indicative and move with season, yacht and exchange rates; your broker will confirm exact figures before you commit to anything.