Here’s the real dish: Even onboard the  biggest, most beautiful brand-new yachts, you’re likely to have an unsatisfying cruising experience if the chef is just average.

That’s a commonly known fact in the charter yacht industry, one that even the savviest of brokers whisper when (they think) nobody’s listening. You need to take the chef into great account when choosing a crew to spend time with on the water. In a lot of cases, the chef can make or break your cruising vacation. After all, if it rains for seven days straight and the boat breaks down, you at least want to enjoy some fabulous food.

 So how do you know whether you’re getting a top-notch yacht chef? 

If you’re like most charter clients, you might start by asking what specialties the chef knows how to prepare, or where he went to culinary school. Those things are important, of course, but the true key to having a terrific charter chef is to go with one who really, really loves the owner of the yacht he works onboard. Specifically, you should ask your charter broker how a yacht’s owner treats the chef. You’re looking for an owner who considers the chef to be a professional in a gourmet kitchen, not a slave in a commercial galley.

Ideally, you’ll find a charter chef who feels like Betsy McDonald onboard the 150-foot Trinity motoryacht Magic.

“I have everything in the world I need, plus some. And that includes continuing education. Anytime I feel it is right, I’m allowed to go to Greystone, the Culinary Institute of America’s continuing education branch out in the Napa Valley. This is where you learn what’s new and trendy, to reinvigorate yourself. 

 “[Magic’s] owner, he is a foodie,” she continues. “He’s the first one, when we get to Europe, he wants the whole crew at Michelin-star restaurants. He wants us all to have these experiences because he believes we will be better able to serve our clients. Ladies and gentlemen should be serving ladies and gentlemen. We should know what a Michelin restaurant is, because that’s the experience we want to give the guests.” 

Stuart Dunsheath, the Michelin-rated chef onboard the 161-foot Feadship motoryacht Teleost, says the same thing. The owner of that yacht flies him from ports in the Indian Ocean all the way to Paris and New York whenever an exceptional new restaurant opens, just so Dunsheath can sample the cuisine and bring good ideas back to the boat. The yacht’s owner also pays whatever shipping costs are required to get the finest ingredients out to the boat on a regular basis, and he allows Dunsheath to experiment with new recipes almost constantly.

McDonald’s boss allows her that creative outlet, as well, and she says it’s key. “You want minimum ego and maximum passion,” she says. “We’re hopefully great cooks who can be able to do every kind of cuisine. We’ve got to be beautifully proficient in Japanese, Italian, French, spa cuisine—we’ve got to do it all.”

 You also want a chef who respects the rest of the yacht’s crew, too—lest the stewardesses drop a plate into a lap now and again, or allow food to get cold before it is served.

“I’m feeding 10 to 12 guests and 10 crew,” as McDonald puts it. “That’s 22 people [per meal, per day]. A lot of chefs just screw the crew; the charter is what they’re focused on. I’m not going to do that. These are the people who make me look good and help me do my job, so they get really nice food.”

Dunsheath is the same way, even making extra portions of fresh sushi—a time-consuming preparation—for the yacht’s crew when tuna are abundant. And the crew respond in kind, offering first-rate service at every meal, at cocktail hour, and for the smallest of snacks in between.

McDonald and Dunsheath have one other thing in common: They both work onboard yachts that are among the most exclusive for charter in the world. Magic, part of the Merrill-Stevens fleet, has a $155,000 weekly base rate while Teleost, part of the Fraser Yachts Worldwide fleet, has a $195,000 weekly base rate.

Still, even if you’re looking at charters in other price ranges, the same lessons will hold true. If you want to maximize your charter dollar, then you need to know what’s cooking behind the scenes.--Kim Kavin