I’ve been hearing for several months now that the crewed charter market has been slower than usual. Except at the highest levels–yachts 150 feet and larger–most charter brokers and yacht captains have been telling me that they wish they were getting more bookings.

Last week, I heard something I haven’t heard before: a broker who specializes in  150-feet-and-larger yachts saying that business seemed to be slowing down for her, too. Now, hers is just one voice in a segment of the market that until now has seemed unfazed by the global economic slowdown, but quite frankly, hers is also one of the more honest voices I know. She may be the first to say out loud what others are thinking. Maybe. We’ll see.

Yesterday’s financial news doesn’t make me feel any better, of course. As you can see in the graphic above from MoneyCentral, yesterday’s Dow drop was certainly precipitous–but it was also part of the larger downward trend that has been affecting the charter industry, like most industries, for a year now.

I think that for those of you still in a financial (and mental) position to book an upcoming charter, there are a few things to keep in mind as additional economic uncertainty looms.

First, be sure that you are working with a reputable charter broker who will keep your deposit safe in an escrow account–and not in the yacht owner’s pockets–until your charter actually takes place. I suspect that we might start to see some yacht owners selling their boats, and you want to make sure that if the boat you book gets sold before your charter, you will get your money back according to the terms of your contract.

Second, be sure to consider purchasing travel insurance at the time you book your charter. Most reputable charter brokers recommend it to guard against things like weather and illness, but in this case, it also can give you some peace of mind regarding financial turmoil that might affect the yacht’s owner before your embarkation date.

Last, ask your broker if there are any good opportunities out there. There are likely to be some cancellations of bookings onboard some of the newest and best charter yachts, which means you might have an opportunity to charter on popular dates or onboard popular boats that previously had seemed unattainable. I certainly don’t hope for a swath of charter cancellations, but common sense says that a few are likely to occur. Reputable charter brokers will be on top of these opportunities, which could be a silver lining as the gloomy financial predictions continue.

Oceanstyle, a sister company to Burgess Yachts, has opened a new office in Florida and launched a new website.

The new office is at Miami Beach Marina. It will be the company’s U.S. hub for business involving yachts from about 65 to 130 feet long, while London-based Burgess Yachts continues to focus on larger boats for sale and for charter.

The press release from Oceanstyle says the new office will be headed by a sales broker and makes no mention of an on-site charter broker, which leads me to believe that charters will still be booked in cooperation with the brokers from Burgess Yachts (as I mentioned here on the CharterWave Editor’s Blog back in February).

The new Oceanstyle website looks a great deal like the recently redesigned Burgess site, but with a charter section that focuses exclusively on the company’s fleet of 13 charter motoryachts from 68 to 130 feet long. There’s also a nifty FAQ page with lots of good information for people who have never before chartered, and an interactive destinations section that offers brief, sample itineraries.

I’ve been reading with great interest the recent sponsored blog posts here on CharterWave by broker Missy Johnston of Northrop and Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters. She’s just back from a 10-day fam trip to a part of Indonesia where I’ve never been–where most brokers, I would say, have never been–and where she appears to have found a truly unique charter opportunity to share with her clients.

If you’re not a regular reader of CharterWave, then let me take a minute to explain what a fam trip is. It means “familiarization trip,” and it occurs when a yacht owner welcomes brokers and/or media people onboard for at least a few days, to see how his crew and boat function in a particular destination. All the articles I’ve written for CharterWave’s Crewed Yacht Vacation section are the result of fam trips. They really are the only way for a media person like me, or a charter broker, to learn the ins and outs of how a specific yacht and crew operate.

It’s my opinion that a broker who takes the time, expense, and effort to do fam trips really does know more about specific boats, crews, and destinations than other, competing brokers. This case is a perfect example: Missy has now personally made the trip from her Rhode Island office to Indonesia and back, so she can tell clients firsthand what to expect as opposed to simply regurgitating the information put forth in the yacht’s brochure. In her second post about the trip, for instance, Missy starts out by saying the destination was different than what she had expected. That’s what you want: a broker who investigates locations in person so that she can tell you the truth about what your charter vacation will be like.

I encourage you to click over to Missy’s sponsored page here on CharterWave and read the recent posts for yourself, or visit her own website to get in touch with her directly. Her posts are an unusually detailed and candid look at what a top broker has found onboard a yacht in an unusual charter location–information that should be extremely helpful to you if you are thinking about chartering in Indonesia now or in the future.