To charter a boat is to hire the whole boat, for a period, from the company or owner that has it. That is the only thing every charter has in common. Beyond it the word covers four quite different products at prices an order of magnitude apart, and most confusion about what a charter costs comes from comparing two of them as though they were the same thing.
The four kinds, in the order they cost
Bareboat: the boat and nothing else, sailed by you, and the cheapest real week aboard. Skippered: bareboat plus a professional skipper, who sleeps aboard and takes a cabin. Crewed: skipper plus at least a host or cook, with food and running costs handled through an allowance. Fully crewed superyacht: several crew, a chef, and a different market entirely. Every published figure on this site belongs to exactly one of these, and mixing them is how a budget goes wrong.
What each one costs, from published figures
Bareboat: Nautilus Yachting publishes a low-season Italian monohull from around 1200 pounds a week, and The Moorings publishes from $1,885 in Croatia and $2,634 in Greece for a 7 day charter for 2 people. Skippered: Sailing Holidays in Croatia publishes 4.500 to 6.500 EUR a week in summer, with the skipper itself at 1.260 EUR. Crewed: the same source publishes an average crewed catamaran at 10.000 EUR and crewed luxury from 25.000 EUR. All read on 9 September 2026.
What no charter price includes
Fuel, provisioning, marina and port fees along the way, the end cleaning and the security deposit, in every case. On crewed charters an Advance Provisioning Allowance replaces most of those with one larger figure paid before the trip and reconciled at the end, and the crew gratuity is customary and separate again. A charter rate is the boat; the bill is the boat plus the week.
Questions people ask about charter boat
What does it mean to charter a boat?
To hire the whole boat for a period, rather than a berth or a seat on it. It comes in four kinds: bareboat, skippered, crewed and fully crewed, and they price very differently.
How much does a boat charter cost?
The cheapest published week in this record is around 1200 pounds for a low-season Italian bareboat monohull; The Moorings publishes from $1,885 in Croatia. Crewed charter is published from around 10.000 EUR a week upwards.
Is a skipper included in a charter?
Not on a bareboat, which is the point of it. A skipper is published by Sailing Holidays in Croatia at 1.260 EUR a week, paid at embarkation, and takes a cabin as well as a fee.