8 things you should do for peace of mind when booking a bareboat yacht charter

From when to book to what insurance to take out, there are several things we recommend doing when booking your next sailing holiday. 

For your peace of mind, read through our tips and if you want to know more about bareboat, flotilla, or by-the-cabin charters, speak to me or someone else in our team and we will be happy to share our advice.

Just get in touch and give us a call between 9am and 5.30pm from Monday to Friday.

1. Secure your yacht charter in advance

It’s often better to find and book your yacht well in advance of your travel date.  

We work with operators in more than 60 destinations around the world and they want to make sure their fleets are booked up as early as possible. 

We do offer some great last-minute deals – it is one of our specialities – but to secure the boat you want, we recommend you book between six to 10 months in advance.

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2. Make sure you take out travel insurance

We strongly advise you to book travel insurance as soon as you have made your yacht charter booking with us and/or booked your flights. 

Often if you take more than one trip abroad in a 12 month period it can work out better value for money to take out an annual policy instead of a single trip policy. 

Some of our UK clients recommend TopSail to us for charter insurance.

We are not financial experts – so always make sure you check the details of what is covered in the policy with the insurance company.

3. Book flights early

Gone are the days of getting good last-minute prices on flights. 

It’s sensible to book your flights in advance, when demand is lowest, to secure the best offers. 

Airlines such as easyJet release flights around 10 to 11 months in advance so it pays to keep an eye out well ahead of time.

For our Mediterranean destinations, look for flights with easyJet, British Airways, TUI or Norwegian or Ryanair. 

For all other destinations, contact us for advice.

4. Take out charter deposit insurance

On all charters, a refundable damage deposit is placed on a credit card at embarkation. This is held on the card in case of damage to the boat and can cost around £2000 but depends on the size of the yacht. 

You may be able to insure this payment directly with the operator, or alternatively with a third party. 

Damage deposit waiver insurance for your charter will give you piece of mind in case of any accidental damage which happens on the boat as the deposit will be refunded to you in event of a claim by the operator. 

Clients have recommended Yacht Pool insurance to us, but we recommend you do your own research into this.

5. Be aware of mandatory and optional extras

Depending on the operator, it’s likely there will be mandatory extras when you book a LateSail yacht charter. These extras include things such as charges for cleaning at the end of the charter, outboard engine and in some rare cases bed linen. 

We will confirm what the mandatory extras are when we send you your quote and again at booking confirmation stage, but please check with us if you have any questions. 

There are also optional extras to consider – for example provisioning packs can be booked in advance with some operators to save you the hassle of going grocery shopping when you arrive.

6. Make sure you’ve got the right qualifications

Generally the RYA Day Skipper qualification or the International Certificate for Operators of Pleasure Craft (ICC) are adequate for chartering a yacht or catamaran in the Mediterranean. 

Elsewhere in the world, a sailing resume should be widely accepted.

There can be exceptions, so for monohulls bigger than 50ft or catamarans bigger than 45ft, check with us before booking.

For peace of mind, we recommend double checking you’ve got the appropriate qualifications with us before booking and making the final payment.

7. Arrange your transfer before departure

Our knowledge of the charter bases around the world means we are well placed to help give you advice on transfers from the local airport. 

Most bases are situated in main towns so it shouldn’t be a problem getting from the airport to the marina. Usually there will be a bus service, taxi rank or even Uber. 

If you need some help, we can arrange transfers for you with the operator. 

Just let us know when making your booking and we will be pleased to help.

8. Complete the booking paperwork

When you confirm your booking, you will receive details to log in to the secure customer area of our website. 

Here you will find base information and any other important documents for your charter.

You will also need to complete a few tasks such as filling in our booking form and uploading your crew list. You will also need to upload copies of your qualifications. 

The sooner you do this small bit of admin, the sooner you can sit back and look forward to your charter!

Get in touch

Contact us if you have any more questions about booking a yacht charter. With a combined 50 years of experience, our team knows all there is to know about the world of yacht chartering.

If you want to know more about bareboat, flotilla, or by-the-cabin charters, speak to one of our experts who will be happy to share their knowledge with you. Use our price comparison tool to search for charters by date or destination, request a quote or contact our team on 01227 479 900.

We love being on the water and it’s our ambition to enable others to share our love of sailing.

2019-09-25 14:52:28.000