When it comes to luxury yacht charters, this type of a vaction is rightfully seen as the ultimate holiday. A luxury crewed yacht charter can be defined as any sailing vacation where at least a captain and hostess or stewardess are on board, taking care of all clients wishes.
This can be on a smaller 40-45 ft sailing catamaran or an owner version of a 55ft monohull. At the same time, this definition can also apply to charter of a 200 ft superyacht where there are more crew than guests. For the purpose of this blog, we can assume that all luxury yacht charters are those where service on yachts will usually be at a level of a 5* hotel, on smaller yachts, or 6* or 7* on 100 ft yacht charter boats or even the largest mega yachts. The main rule in all situations, even though you are a guest and whatever the charter yacht you have hired, you should always treat the crew with respect. One of the other main questions is how much to tip a charter boat crew.
When it comes to charter boat tipping etiquette, the service crew is the one you are likely to see most of and spend most time with. Getting a fresh towel every morning, additonal refreshing drink during breafkast or a suitable cocktail in the afternoon is one of those little things that matter most and that will put a smile on your face. An engineer’s work that resolves a major fault with the yacht, which ultimately can destroy your special yachting vacation, can be seen as much more important service, yet you may not even be aware of such heroics given that any unnecessary alarm along those lines may mean affecting your and your guests’ quality living on board. For that reason, you need to consider do you tip charter boat captains only or also the crew individually.
How much to tip a charter boat crew
This will depend on a variety of elements, yet the unwritten rule is to leave 10% of the paid charter fee. Thus, if you have hired a 60 ft catamaran or a 70 ft charter boat or even a Sunseeker 28 metre charter yacht, the same rule would apply. For a charter rate of 20,000 Eur, you would leave 2,000 Eur tips, for the charter rate of 50,000 Eur you would leave 5,000 Eur. This rule applies as a general suggestion and in case you and your guests were satisfied with your boat charter vacation. That is a general charter boat tipping etiquette, accepted on most yachts and in most of the major sailing destinations. To know exactly how much to tip a charter boat crew however, you may need to wait until the end of the sailing vacation all together. In case you are not entirely satisfied with your exclusive yachting holiday or luxury yacht charter experience and the crew did not provide a suitable or expected level of service, you are entitled to reduce the amount of tips. On the other side, should your yachtcharter cruise on board of the chosen 100 ft yacht charter or indeed a 60 ft monohull or any other booked yacht be an amazing, life changing experience, there is no limit as to what tip you can aware the crew with. In all cases, it is best that you consult one of our charter agents as they can advise on the most appropriate course of action.
Do you tip charter boat captains
When it comes to charter boat tipping etiquette, you would have already seen a general reply in the paragraph above. Tip for private boat charter should in most cases be handed to the captain. As shown on below the deck yachting documentary in recent years, the captain has always distributed all tips equally amongst the crew, regardless if they were captain himself, chief engineer or trainee stewardess. The crew on board are a team of professionals and they spend most of the time working together, sharing all responsibilities as per their own job roles and as a result also sharing tips for private boat charter. You could decide to leave individual tip to all crew or if one of the crew has provided an unusually high level of service, a separate tip, in particular if there is a doubt that captain will act fairly when distributing tips. Once again, your yacht charter agent can assist in resolving this and ensure you make the right choice and decision.
Apart from your relationship with the crew, it is worth highlighting that the captain is the decision maker on board and if he does not like behaviour of any individual guest on board, he has the right to end the charter or change the course of the itinerary. The same applies in case of any adverse weather conditions too. You should therefore aim to have a very personal, yet professional daily contact with the captain, ensuring you are aware of any potential harms, dangers or misbehaviours of your guests that will not be tolerated. The same obviously applies to the crew on board as in case you are not satisfied with chef’s cooking, cleaning of your room by the hostess or the quality of service during meals by your chief stewardess, you should report this before it becomes unbearable. That would give the captain and the crew time to listen, change their ways and enhance levels of service where appropriate. At times, we can also request a change of crew if necessary and before you would have left for your first sailing destination.
Finally, you should also reserve the right to speak with your charter agent at all times of course. Apart from providing tailor-made customer service when booking the boat, SuperSailYachts will also try and go above and beyond the usual, unobtrusively speaking with the crew to ensure your private yachting getaway on a 60 metre Lurssen charter yacht or a 70 ft charter boat will end as a very special, memorable and positive experience. Thus, while overseeing your vacation on board of a megayacht at all times is not possible, do make sure that your grievances, if any, are heard on time allowing sufficient room for actioning of any problems and resolving the issues prior to the end of the charter. This will also assist with answering any queries you have in terms of tipping the crew individually or leaving suitable tips in an envelope directly to the captain.