A crewed catamaran charter starts around 25,000 a week all-inclusive, for a two-crew boat with 4 cabins in high season. Euros in the Mediterranean, dollars in the Caribbean. The typical booked boat is nearer 34,000.

What changes is the price structure, and that depends on where you cruise.

• Caribbean: all-inclusive is the standard. Food, drinks, fuel and moorings are already calculated into the price. You add government fees and the tip.
• Mediterranean: you pay a base charter fee, which can look lower than a Caribbean all-inclusive rate. Then the APA and VAT go on top.
• APA covers what the boat spends during your week: fuel, food, drinks, marina nights. 20 to 25 percent of the fee is normal on a catamaran. More if the itinerary is ambitious and burns fuel, or if you want premium champagne, steak or lobster every night. How the APA works.
• VAT depends on the country: 13 percent in Greece and Croatia, 21 in Spain, 14 in the Bahamas, nothing on the fee in the BVI. The rates by country.
• Tip: custom, not contract. 5 to 15 percent in the Mediterranean, 15 to 20 in the Caribbean.

For 8 guests, that lands around 6,500 per person for the week with everything in, tip included. Section 7 shows three weeks line by line.

1. What the weekly rate actually buys

The rate covers the catamaran and the people who run it: a captain, a chef or hostess, and on some catamarans a third crew member, stewardess or deckhand. Wages, food and the boat’s insurance sit inside that number. You pay for a week where nobody in your group drives, cooks or plans.

For a group, the useful figure is the rate divided by heads. A 35,000 euro Greek catamaran for 8 guests is 4,375 euros per person before running costs and tax; for 10 it is 3,500.

All-in, with tax, APA and a 10 percent tip, the same boat lands near 6,475 per person for 8; section 7 shows the arithmetic. A full boat is the best-value boat. For the full picture across every yacht type, read our whole-market cost guide.

2. What a crewed catamaran costs, by crew and size

Across the BVI, Bahamas, Greece, Croatia and Mallorca, a two-crew catamaran with 4 cabins realistically starts around 25,000 a week in high season. The typical booked boat is nearer 34,000. Each extra crew member and every 5 feet of length moves the number, so read it by crew first.

Size is the other lever, about 4,000 per 5 feet. A 48-foot catamaran with 2 crew is around 27,000. A 60-footer with 3 crew is around 41,000. A 70-footer with 3 crew is around 54,000. The third crew member is not an add-on you choose; it comes with the boat from about 60 feet.

The cruising ground then decides what sits on top of the rate. Here is what each one does.

Greece is the cheapest crewed-catamaran market at the base rate, and the smallest. The BVI is the deepest, with more than 120 two-crew boats, so the differences between hulls are real. We keep a shortlist of the BVI crewed catamarans that earn their place.

3. Why the same catamaran is all-inclusive in the BVI and plus-expenses in the Med

In the BVI most crewed catamarans are all-inclusive. One rate covers the crew, all meals, the ship’s bar of house wine, beer and standard spirits, fuel for a normal week’s cruising and, on many boats, the mooring balls. Still outside it: per-person government fees, premium alcohol, dinners ashore, dockage you request and the tip.

Which lands cheaper? Stack each week to its all-in number before you compare anything:

The BVI ends up cheaper than Croatia and Mallorca and level with Greece, a little under it once the euros are converted.

Four reasons, in order of size: no VAT, which is 13 to 21 percent of the fee elsewhere; mooring balls instead of 2 to 4 marina nights; the deepest crewed-catamaran fleet anywhere, so owners compete; and only then shorter hops and less fuel.

4. APA on a catamaran

The APA is a running-cost deposit. On a sailing catamaran it is usually 20 to 25 percent, though some Caribbean plus-expenses boats print 30 to 35; a motor yacht asks 30 to 40 because fuel is its biggest line, and a catamaran under sail burns a fraction of that. Power catamarans sit between, nearer 30.

Some boats quote a fixed sum instead of a percentage; the mechanics are the same.

It pays for fuel, provisioning, drinks, marina nights and port dues, spent at cost against receipts. Anything left over is refunded to you at the end of the week; it is separate from the tip. Ask the captain for the running balance around day 4, while there is still time to adjust the week.

5. Tax and fees by cruising ground

The country whose water you cruise sets the charter tax, and it is charged on the fee, not the APA. Croatia charges 13 percent. Greece charges 13 percent. Spain, and so Mallorca, charges 21 percent. The Bahamas takes a flat 14 percent on the fee.

The BVI charges nothing on the fee. Per-person government fees apply instead: a cruising tax from 4 dollars per person per day on a BVI-based boat and 16 on a foreign-based one, a 10 dollar environmental levy, and park and overnight moorings at 25 to 55 dollars a night. Your contract states the exact figures.

The DMA VAT guide has the full table by country.

6. The crew tip for a 2 or 3 person catamaran crew

The tip is at your discretion. Custom, not contract. Mediterranean crews expect 5 to 15 percent of the charter fee; Caribbean crews 15 to 20. Hand it to the captain, who splits it across the crew. Some BVI contracts print that range; it is still your call. Our etiquette guide covers when and how.

7. Three crewed catamaran weeks costed: BVI, Greece and Croatia

The BVI and Greek weeks are 8 guests; Croatia is 10, to show what a full boat does to the per-person number. All are 7 nights, high season. Tip rows are discretionary and follow the local custom.

Read across, not down. The BVI rate is the highest of the three, yet it is almost the whole bill: fees add about 1 percent. The two Mediterranean boats add 38 percent before anyone tips, and the unspent APA comes back.

If you want your own week costed this way, send us the group and the cruising ground and we will do the table for the boats that fit.

8. What moves the number most

Season first: the same catamaran in early June or late September is often 20 to 30 percent under peak. Sailing versus power catamaran is next; a power cat’s rate and APA both run higher. Then marina nights: a peak-season Greek berth may not exist, and a wide catamaran can be charged more than a monohull.

Dinners ashore lower the APA and raise your restaurant bill, usually a fair trade in Greece and Croatia. One-way routes carry a relocation fee, small on a short Croatian hop and larger on a long delivery, and a one-way across a border can change which tax applies. Ask before you plan one.

Send us an inquiry with your group size, dates and cruising ground, and we will come back with a shortlist of crewed catamarans costed the way the tables above are, all-in and per person. The money is the easy part to plan; what the week is like once you step aboard is the better question.

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You do not sail the boat, cook, or plan the days on your own. On a crewed catamaran the captain runs the boat, the crew run the week, and your job is deciding what kind of week it is.

The thing first-timers get wrong is picturing a cruise. A crewed catamaran is a private boat with 2 to 4 people working on it, and it bends to your group: when you eat, where you stop, how late the evening runs.

The short version:

• Who does what: the captain drives and decides what is safe; the chef or hostess feeds and hosts you; a deckhand, on bigger catamarans, runs the tender and toys.
• The shape of a normal day: anchor up mid-morning, 2 to 3 hours moving, lunch and a swim at anchor, a new bay by mid-afternoon.
• The 2 things that decide everything: the preference sheet you fill in before boarding, and the captain’s briefing on day 1.
• What the crew do while you are not watching: provisioning, cabins, laundry, weather, tomorrow’s route.

Everything before boarding, from inquiry to contract, is in our guide to how a first yacht charter works, and the differences between bareboat, skippered and crewed charters are in our comparison. This article starts where those end.

1. Boarding day

In the BVI most crewed catamarans board at noon, and lunch is the first meal the crew serve. In Greece and Croatia boarding is late afternoon, usually 5 pm, and dinner is the first meal. The hour is in your contract, so check it before you plan the day.

The first hour is welcome drinks, cabins and the safety briefing. Then the captain sits down with the whole group and goes through the preference sheet in person, with the week’s weather and a first sketch of the route.

Day 1 is a short hop or staying put, because permits need clearing and provisions need stowing. In the BVI, when you board in the USVI, the crew usually handle customs while you stay aboard. Use the meal before boarding to agree on the 2 or 3 things everyone wants from the week.

2. Who does what on board

Their job is you, and by the first evening it feels normal. A catamaran for 4 to 10 guests runs on 2 or 3 crew, 4 on the bigger 60-to-70-footers. The captain drives, reads the weather, anchors, docks and has the final word on safety, including when the paddleboards go in.

The second crew member is a chef or a hostess, and on a 2-crew catamaran that is 1 person: cooking, cabins, drinks, dinghy runs. A third crew member takes the serving and the toys off the chef.

On a crewed catamaran every crew member looks after guests, the captain included. If a listing shows 3 crew and only 1 of them hosts, ask your broker why.

The crew have their own cabin, often a berth in the bow, sometimes a cabin of their own in one hull, and they take their meals at their own times, apart from you. Once dinner is cleared they disappear, and they are up before you.

3. A normal day

The anchor comes up between 9 and 10; breakfast comes out when the first person surfaces, not on a bell. The boat then moves for roughly 2 to 3 hours: the next island or the next stretch of coast. In the BVI the hops are shorter.

Lunch is at anchor, in a bay picked for the water rather than the restaurant. The middle of the day is swimming, paddleboards and a nap on the trampoline. The boat reaches the night’s stop between 3 and 4, early enough to walk a village or do nothing off the back steps.

Dinner is on deck around 8, unless the plan is a taverna or a beach bar. The crew set the timing around wind and weather, not a printed schedule. A breeze due at noon means an earlier start; a flat afternoon means lunch runs long.

4. Who decides where you go

The route starts with your preference sheet: the places you want to see, how much moving you can stand, lively harbors or empty bays. The captain builds each day from that the evening before, usually over dinner, and tells the group what tomorrow looks like.

Weather overrules everyone, the captain’s own plan included. A 25-knot forecast in the Cyclades or a north swell in the BVI turns a crossing into a sheltered day, and a captain who says no to a crossing is doing the job.

How to ask for a change: the night before, not at breakfast. Fuel, provisioning, a booked berth and the wind sit behind tomorrow’s plan, so a request at 8 pm is a route change and the same request at 9 am is often a no.

5. Meals, drinks and the galley

The main provisioning run happens before you board, from the sheet. The chef shops the week around what you wrote down: coffee the way you drink it, the brand of gin, the kids’ cereal.

If it is not on the sheet, do not expect it aboard on day 1. A mid-week restock in the BVI, usually at Spanish Town or Road Town, gets you the basics, not the brand you named.

A catamaran galley is a home kitchen with a smaller fridge, and on most catamarans it sits in the saloon, so the chef cooks in your space.

One person can run 3 meals a day for 8 to 10 guests well, but not 3 courses at 3 sittings and not a menu per guest.

I am vegan, and I say so at every show lunch and fam trip, then watch what the galley does. The good chefs answer with a menu, not a shrug.

Put every allergy and diet on the inquiry, not just the sheet: your broker confirms the chef can cook it before you sign, so nobody finds out on day 1. Some chefs decline strict ones, and a good broker keeps asking until one says yes.

On all-inclusive Caribbean boats the ship’s bar is in the price: house wine, beer, soft drinks and the standard spirits. Premium labels and a specific champagne are ordered at cost. On plus-expenses boats in Greece and Croatia, drinks come off the APA, the expense allowance the captain holds.

Dinners ashore are yours to pay. Most groups take 1 or 2 a week because the town is the point, not because the galley cannot manage, and the crew will book the table.

6. Nights

In the BVI nights are on a mooring ball or at anchor, and the mooring ball is the default: the boat clips on, the generator runs for the air-conditioning into the evening, and the bay goes quiet.

In Greece nights alternate between a quiet bay at anchor and stern-to on a village quay, and the bay is the version to want.

In Croatia the pattern flips: town nights are common because the old towns are the point. The captain gets in early to claim a berth, since most old-town quays do not take bookings and only the marinas do. Berths go on the APA; you feel less movement and hear more of the harbor.

Does it rock? At anchor in a sheltered bay a catamaran barely moves; 2 hulls make it noticeably steadier than a monohull. In a swell you will feel it, and a captain will move the boat if a bay turns uncomfortable, sometimes at dawn while you sleep.

Not every catamaran runs its air-conditioning all night, and in August that matters, so ask before you book. How long the generator runs is decided boat by boat, and the captain will tell you on day 1.

7. The last morning

In the BVI most contracts have you off by noon, though the crew may ask for 10. In Greece and Croatia disembarkation is 9 am, so the crew can turn the boat around for the next group. The hour is in your contract, so check it before you book flights.

On a plus-expenses boat the APA is settled with the captain the last evening or that morning, line by line, with any remainder refunded or, if you choose, signed over toward the tip. On an all-inclusive boat there is nothing to settle.

The tip is your call, and no contract asks for it. As a custom, crews in the Mediterranean see 5 to 15 percent and crews in the Caribbean 15 to 20, worked on the charter fee and handed to the captain for the whole crew. The rest is in our crewed charter etiquette guide.

What people wish they had known on day 1: that the preference sheet mattered more than the brochure; that the captain would have said yes to a slower week if asked; that soft bags stow and hard suitcases mostly do not; and that the crew are not watching you, they are working.

Send us an inquiry with the group, the dates, the destination you are leaning toward, and the one thing you most want to avoid. We will match you with a catamaran and crew that fit, and start the preference sheet early. To browse first, our crewed catamarans are listed by destination and guest count.

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