Where Yachts Go

DJ Parker has been a leader in the charter industry since 1980. She is currently president of the American Yacht Charter Association. E-mail DJ

Trina Howes has 10 years of experience in the charter industry finding great pleasure in creating the best yachting vacations possible. E-mail Trina

Beverly Parsons has been chartering since 1969. She is a licensed, bonded broker and a founding member of the professional groups AYCA and CYBA International. Contact Beverly.

Nicole Caulfield is licensed, bonded, and a longtime member of FYBA and AYCA. She brings a unique perspective as a broker, having worked aboard yachts for nearly 10 years. Email Nicole

Where Yachts Go

Charter yachts go to a lot of the same places that cruise ships do, but in a different way.

Yacht charters are much more compact in terms of distance. The boats are smaller, they carry less fuel (or rely on sails), and they typically stay at anchor or in a marina instead of cruising overnight--all of which means your charter yacht will cover far less distance in a week than a typical cruise ship, whether you book a Caribbean cruise, a Mediterranean cruise, a Panama cruise, or a Hawaiian cruise.

where yacht charters go

For instance, if you want to charter a yacht for a week in the Mediterranean, you might focus solely on exploring the western coast of Italy—as opposed to a cruise ship itinerary that would make one stop in Italy in between visits to Spain, France, and Greece.

By the same token, a weeklong cruise ship itinerary in the Caribbean may include St. Thomas, St. Lucia, and Cozumel, literally crisscrossing the entirety of the Caribbean Sea, while a yacht charter that starts in St. Thomas is likely to spend the rest of the week within the borders of the Virgin Islands.

The more compact private yacht itineraries are a very good thing. Instead of having less than a day at any given port to rush ashore and find a T-shirt shop, a yacht charter gives you all the time you need to slow down and really get to know a place. You always will have time to wander way, way off the streets lined with trinket shops and rip-off souvenirs, and you will never fail to find a cute little watering hole or luncheonette where a local person befriends you and points you toward the destination’s lesser-known treasures—the stuff you’d never find on a five-hour cruise ship excursion before rushing back to your cabin.

Covering less geographical ground in the same week’s worth of cruise vacation time means a more in-depth experience. In fact, even when a yacht charter is for a fewer number of days than a cruise-ship journey to the same destination, you are likely to see as much if not more of the actual place during the yacht charter, and you can change your itinerary as you go along, because the yacht is all yours for the week and you do not have to stay on a pre-arranged schedule.

You can enjoy this freedom to explore in many worldwide yacht charter destinations.

Some of the most popular yacht charter itineraries are for Caribbean cruises, Mediterranean cruises, and Virgin Islands cruises.

You can learn more about suggested yacht charter itineraries in these places by checking out the above links on CharterWave (yes, it’s free content), and you can learn about even more great charter destinations by reading Dream Cruises: The Insider’s Guide to Private Yacht Charter Vacations, from which this information is adapted.