10 Most Common Greece Yacht Charter Booking Mistakes

There are websites with 230,000+ reviews. Others use non-verified sources that can be easily manipulated, such as Google reviews. A luxury yacht charter company will not have thousands of reviews per year; it will have tens or low hundreds at the maximum. It is always a good idea to check the company with Trustpilot. If the broker does not exist there, it might mean they have been asked to be removed. In any case, broker reviews are becoming more important, and few renowned companies are ignoring the trend.

Chartering a technically complex yacht with significant human factors rarely goes without a problem. Engine issues, electronics issues, or human failings are not uncommon. Check the reviews—not the smooth ones—the trouble ones. A sign of a good broker is: “There were problems, but all were solved to our satisfaction, and we have had a great time.”

Too often, a client has a fixed start and finish date for the charter. This is understandable, as our time off is rarely very flexible. Nevertheless, even one day might mean the difference between picking the boat you really want and the boat that is left.

The charter market is seller-oriented—the offer is smaller than the demand. That’s why it’s always best to start planning your vacation early (9-24 months) and secure the boats before you purchase your flights to Greece.

You might want to do a charter in Santorini, but you bought the tickets to Athens for the day the charter starts. The 150 miles from Athens to Santorini can cost up to $42,000 ($2 liter x 700l/hour x 15 hours x 2 ways = 42,000) for a motor yacht. Even if your broker advises a yacht with 200 liters/hour consumption, it’s a waste of your charter time.

Options include flying into Santorini and Mykonos (again, a broker with Yachtfolio access will have the yacht’s location on the date) or choosing a different charter location, like a charter in the Saronic Gulf—Spetses, Hydra.

An APA (Advance Provisioning Allowance) is an additional fee on top of the charter fee to accommodate variable expenses – mostly gas, food, and drinks. It ranges from 20% for sailboats to 40% for some motor yachts, depending on the individual boat.

A common mistake is thinking the APA is unlimited. A guest would choose Athens – Santorini with lobsters and French wine, only to be asked to top up the APA on the third day.

A good broker should provide you feedback on the APA based on the individual boat, itinerary, and preferences, ideally advising on the yacht that has low actual (not declared) consumption, great wine available in Greece (local and international), and warn you from items on your preference sheet that might cost more than you’re comfortable with.

A great example would be ordering luxury wines or specific types of fish that would have to be flown in fresh from other countries. It’s perfectly possible to order anything you need; just be aware that the cost of obtaining it might differ from what you’re used to.

Unlike land vacations, where last-minute discounts of up to 40% are common, the yacht industry operates under different dynamics. The demand for yachts often exceeds the supply, and owners typically reserve their boats for peak season weeks, making significant discounts a rarity.

We mostly see discounts in shoulder season and they usually don’t go beyond 10%. Contrary to a vacation villa owner paying a mortgage, a yacht owner might consider a large discount offer an insult and even a signal of a troublesome charter.

Ask an experienced charter broker about the possibilities for your price range and dates and trust them—there are yacht owners and central agents who are more flexible, and there are times when you’re inquiring about the same peak dates with two others.

20% of the worst boats will have 80% of the best pictures. Similar to a land vacation, images and shiny videos can be misleading. Try to look for a yacht walkthrough on youtube.

We periodically do client videos for the most popular yachts in Greece as well as inspect them regularly. That’s why a broker who has been on the boat is more valuable than 1000 images.

Moreover, a yacht is not only the yacht itself: Dealing with the central agent is difficult (they unexpectedly asked our client for a deposit after the contract was signed; previous charters had unresolved APA issues). Is the crew up to your standard? (reading that the captain is fluent in English does not mean he’ll not be hiding away the whole charter because he’s terrified to talk to you). The most inquired Greek charter yachts and the best-reviewed Greek charter yachts are not the same.

There is a significant information asymmetry in Greek yacht charters, possibly greater than the asymmetry in real estate. Don’t be afraid to qualify your broker by asking them – do you have Yachtfolio access? Can you use MYBA contracts? What’s the last time you’ve been in Greece (if ever)? Where can I see your 3rd party reviews?

It’s very common to have CEOs and strong personality types ignore this asymmetry – I see the yacht images, the proposed itinerary, the crew details, the price including APA, I know what I’m doing. Any yacht broker can make that sale – yes, here is the contract.

Then you arrive at the boat, the images are greatly exaggerated, and the APA does not fit the itinerary. You are asked to pay up additional APA on the 2nd day of the charter, which ruins 2 days of your vacation as you need to arrange and oversee the transfer. The crew has been changed without advising you and after you come home, there is an additional request to pay more APA. The preference sheet you sent was never forwarded to the boat crew; half the things on it are missing.