July Fourth marks the Independence Day holiday here in the States, and I am doing my part to celebrate by attending a barbecue pretty much every night this week. Yesterday’s was at a neighbor’s home, where I was introduced to a few new people as “our friend who writes about boat vacations.”

As it turns out, two of the women at the barbecue are avid scuba divers just like me, so we got to talking about destinations. Neither of them had ever even considered yacht charter. They didn’t know it was an option for scuba diving enthusiasts–which it definitely is onboard some pretty darn cool yachts.

After I spent a few minutes explaining the ins and outs of chartering, one of the women got excited about the idea–and then lamented that her husband isn’t such a big fan of boats.

“No problem,” I replied. “You could book a surf and turf, a combination yacht-resort or yacht-villa vacation. Spend a few days on a charter yacht, and then have it drop you off at a land-based hotel or rental property for the rest of the week. Reputable charter brokers arrange that sort of thing all the time.”

A few hours later, this woman was still talking to her husband about the idea and peppering me with questions. She’ll be a CharterWave reader, for sure, and no doubt will book her family’s first charter vacation soon.

I have two more holiday barbecues to go this week. I hope they’ll be all about surf and turf, as well!

I heard an interesting, cautionary tale at the Newport charter show from longtime broker DJ Parker, who runs her own company in Florida called Neptune Group Yachting.

DJ’s story was about APA, which stands for Advance Provisioning Allowance. This is the money you pay on top of the charter yacht’s base rate for things like food, fuel, marina fees, and the like. You make an estimated payment before the charter starts (hence the word “advance”) and then settle up with the yacht at the end of the charter depending on whether your APA covered the actual costs or not.

DJ had a repeat client who enjoyed a lovely charter yacht vacation but told her the final tally on the APA seemed a little high. She asked the client whether he’d like her to look over the captain’s bookkeeping, and he said yes.

So she did–right down to the penny–and found out that her client had been inadvertently charged for some fuel expenses that she had negotiated out of his APA before the charter even began.

DJ contacted the yacht’s management company, and the problem was immediately corrected. In this case, that meant several thousand dollars worth of a refund for DJ’s charter client.

This is one of those stories that reminds me, yet again, about the importance of working with a reputable charter broker. Remember: The best brokers in the business do a heck of a lot more than just ask you what dates you want to travel. They continue to look out for you well after the charter is completed.

I heard some rumblings at last week’s charter show in Newport about the phrase “liquidated damages.” After a bit of sleuthing, I can tell you it’s a phrase that you should definitely know–and that you should look for before signing any charter vacation contract.

When you book a charter yacht, you sign a contract with that particular yacht’s owner. There are many different kinds of charter contracts, as yachts must follow different international rules depending on where they are flagged, where they are chartering, and what kind of services they are providing.

The Newport show docks were buzzing about the contractual phrase “liquidated damages” because of a new contract being put forward by members of the American Yacht Brokers Association, one of the four worldwide professional associations that we here at CharterWave recommend for finding a reputable charter broker. It seems that after years of trying to negotiate the term “liquidated damages” into contracts on behalf of their clients who are booking charters, the AYCA’s members have decided to try to make the term a standard contract clause.

This is a good thing if you’re a person booking a charter. Liquidated damages means that if a yacht owner cancels your charter at the last minute, he not only has to refund your charter fee, but also has to pay penalties depending on how close to the actual charter date the cancellation occurs.

As an example, if your charter starts on Friday the 16th and the owner pulls his yacht out from under you on Thursday the 14th–with no time for you to find another yacht–then he will have to pay not only for your loss of his yacht, but also a penalty for the potential loss of your entire charter vacation.

Like I said, this is a good thing if you’re the person booking the charter–and it’s yet another reason I always suggest booking through a reputable charter broker. Obviously, every yacht’s owner is better served by taking “liquidated damages” out of the contract completely. Your goal should be to make sure the clause is in there, a goal you can best achieve by having a professional negotiating on your behalf.