Compare each yacht against your own group, not against the other yachts. Once 5 yachts have cleared the same budget, the same week and the same cruising area, they are all good boats. Nobody on that list is a mistake.
What separates them is the cabin plan for your group, the usable outdoor space, the crew, and whether the 5 prices are built the same way. Work through it in that order and a shortlist of 5 usually comes down to 2.
We are not reading the same brochures back to you. We have been aboard a lot of the yachts that show up on a Greek shortlist, we have met the crews, and we hold feedback from charters that already happened. That is what settles the 2 you cannot separate on paper.
Quick answer
- Every yacht that cleared your budget, your week and your cruising area is a good boat. You are choosing between good and better, not trying to avoid a mistake.
- Start with the cabin plan: equal cabins when couples split the cost, a master plus doubles when one family pays.
- Deck and shaded outdoor space matters more all week than one extra cabin.
- Ask what the crew’s track record on charter looks like, and whether the yacht carries a chef or a cook.
- Put VAT, the APA percentage and any extras in the same column before you compare headline rates.
Start With the Cabin Plan, Not the Yacht
One of our brokers had a client comparing 5 nearly identical 67 foot catamarans for the same week in Greece. The only visible differences were build year, water toys and crew count. So we start with the cabin plan. The same order works if your 5 are motor yachts rather than catamarans, because the questions do not change with the hull.
Ask who is paying and who is sleeping where. If 4 or 5 couples are splitting the cost evenly, equal cabins beat a bigger boat, because nobody drew the short straw at the dock. For one family the opposite is true: a proper master, doubles or twins for the children, and a clear answer on where the grandparents end up. A forward lower deck cabin is tighter and moves more at anchor, which matters for older guests. Our guide to cabin layouts on charter yachts explains the terminology on the plan.
Broker insight
When a group of couples splits the bill evenly, the cabin plan decides the booking more often than the yacht does. I had a client choosing between 2 lovely yachts who leaned hard toward the second because it had 5 equal cabins, so nobody had to be handed the small room. Look at that before anything else.
William Mc Nally
Charter Broker, Associate CYBA Member
Deck Space Is What You Actually Feel All Week
Cabin count is a booking number. Deck space is a living number. You sleep in the cabin for 8 hours and spend the other 16 outside.
Check 3 things on each layout: the aft deck where you sit after swimming, whether the shade covers the whole group at 2 in the afternoon, and whether there is a real dining table outside rather than a coffee table people balance plates on. One of our brokers came back from a 58 footer unable to get over how small the aft deck was, on a yacht that looked generous on paper. Ask us which of your 5 you would actually want to eat outside on.
The Crew Makes or Breaks the Week
Same layout, different crew, completely different week. 2 questions separate them fast.
First: what is this crew’s track record on charter, and what did recent guests actually say about them? Crew move between yachts constantly in Greece, so a first season aboard a particular hull tells you very little on its own. What tells you a great deal is feedback from charters that have already happened, and that is ours to find rather than yours. One family we placed on ESTIA YI came back so taken with the crew, who were superb with their 2 children, that they asked us to rebook them for September before the trip was even written up.
Second: chef or cook? A chef builds menus around what your group tells us they like. A cook does a good, honest job on simpler food, and on a smaller yacht that role is often shared with the interior crew. With fussy children that difference shows up at every meal. This is also why client and crew compatibility is what we check hardest for you.
Match Speed and Range to the Route You Want
A motor yacht cruising at 15 knots and a sailing catamaran cruising at 6 to 8 knots do not give you the same week, so settle the route first and let it eliminate a yacht for you. The open Cyclades reward speed. The Saronic and the Ionian sit close enough together that a slower yacht costs you nothing and buys you more space for the money. Santorini is its own conversation, and our brokers will talk you through it honestly rather than promise it inside 7 days. Our guide to whether a yacht will reach the islands you want works through the real distances.
Make the Quotes Comparable Before You Compare Them
Most of our Greek clients land between 100,000 and 250,000 euro a week for the right motor yacht, and at that level the headline rate is the least reliable number on the page.
Fill in the same 4 boxes for each yacht: the base rate, whether VAT sits inside or outside it, the APA percentage, and what is genuinely included. In Greece the APA usually runs 25 to 40 percent of the charter fee and covers fuel, food, drinks and berths, with motor yachts sitting at the top of that range because they burn more. On a 150,000 euro week, 30 percent against 40 percent is 15,000 euro of difference before you have compared a single cabin. Then look at what surfaces later: water toys charged rather than included, a one way route carrying a relocation fee, and where the yacht starts, because an Athens base and an island base give you a different first evening and a different shape of week.
Broker insight
VAT is mandatory and nobody can waive it, but there is no regulation on where a quote puts it. One yacht folds it into the headline rate so you see a final number, the next tucks it into the APA so the base rate looks lower. Get VAT and the APA percentage into the same column on both offers first, or you are picking the one with the better formatting.
Mo Pristas
CharterGuru
Ask us to rebuild all 5 offers into one table, on the same lines as our Greece yacht charter cost guide. That is usually the moment the decision gets easy.
Age and Condition Are Not the Same Question
The build year is a weak proxy for quality. A 2019 yacht chartered hard every season since can look tired next to a 2012 yacht that refitted 2 winters ago, so ask for the refit year and for recent photos of the sundeck and the decking rather than the brochure set. We go through the whole of that question in how to judge a charter yacht from a listing.
The Tie-Breakers That Actually Decide It
By now you usually have 2 yachts left and no objective reason to prefer one. Let a small thing decide.
One Lagoon 55 in Greece has a shaded lounging area on the flybridge that the other Lagoon 55s do not, and the clients who chartered her loved being able to lie down out of the sun. Elsewhere it is a jacuzzi on the upper deck, newer seabobs the teenagers will fight over, or shade on the right side of the boat at 4 in the afternoon. Finishing on a detail like that is sound. Just ask us to confirm the toys are aboard this season, since a listing can still show a toy that left the yacht over the winter.
Send the Shortlist Back to Us
If you already have 5 yachts sitting in your inbox, reply with your honest reactions, even the vague ones:
- "The second one feels too tight."
- "The crew photos on 3 look brand new."
- "The price on 5 makes me nervous."
All of it is useful. Tell us who is sleeping where and what the group wants from the week, and we will tell you which one we would put our own family on, and why.
If you do not have a shortlist yet, that is an easier place to start, not a harder one. Send us the week, the group and the route you have in mind and we will build the 5 for you.
You are also not on a clock. In most cases we can put a hold on your top 2 while you decide. Options sit with the yacht’s central agent rather than with us, so ask us early and we will tell you what each of your 2 can hold, and you will hear from us if another enquiry starts moving.
People also ask
How many yachts should be on my shortlist?
3 to 5. Fewer and you have nothing to compare against, more and the differences stop registering.
Can we hold more than one yacht while we decide?
Often yes. Options are held with the yacht’s central agent rather than with us, so it depends on the yacht and how busy that week is. Tell us your top 2 before you narrow down and we will come back with what each of them can hold.
Why do 2 quotes for the same week look so different?
Usually because one includes VAT in the headline rate and the other does not, or the APA percentages differ. Line both up with the base rate, VAT, APA and inclusions in the same columns and the gap often closes.
What if the group cannot agree on which yacht?
Go back to who is paying and who is sleeping where. When couples split the cost evenly, equal cabins settle it more often than any other feature. If it is still 2 against 2, tell us the split and we will tell you which one we would book and what the other group gives up.
