Never taken the helm before, but always dreamed of trying? Have no fear. Some companies have programs that can teach you how to be your own charter's skipper in a week's time.

Back in the 1970s, there were entrepreneurs who envisioned owning entire fleets of smaller yachts in major charter destinations such as the Virgin Islands and Bahamas—kind of like car rental companies today that own fleets of Toyotas in airport hub cities like New York and Tokyo.

These charter boat entrepreneurs figured that there was an entire category of potential charter client out there in the world, people who were willing to do the sailing and cooking onboard themselves in exchange for paying a far lower price for their cruise vacation than they would have to pay if they booked a yacht with a full crew. The entrepreneurs knew that they could offer this do-it-yourself price if the boats were all kept in one easily accessible place, like the Virgin Islands, as part of a fleet.

So began the concept of bareboat charter.

With bareboating, charter customers are offered the bare bones in terms of onboard help—you act as your own captain, cook, deckhand, stewardess and engineer—but the cruise vacation is still onboard a private boat, and at a fraction of the cost of the charter yachts that come with a full crew. In some cases, the per-person cost for a bareboat is even less than what you would pay to get onboard a Princess cruise, a Carnival cruise, a Disney cruise, or a Crystal cruise.

In many parts of the world today, bareboating is still a mom-and-pop business. A couple or a family will own one or two yachts that they make available for charter through brokers or directly to vacationers like you.

There are, however, several larger companies that have fleets of bareboats, power and sail alike, all over the world. Two of the biggest companies, Sunsail and The Moorings, recently joined forces under the parent company First Choice Marine and now book nearly 30 percent of the estimated quarter-million bareboat charters that vacationers take each year. Hubs where fleets of bareboats are kept exist everywhere from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean, the South Pacific to the Indian Ocean. You can book them directly through the management company or by working with a charter broker.

If you’re booking a bareboat through one of the world’s major companies—like The Moorings or Sunsail—whether you use a charter broker or not, your odds are pretty good of getting a fair shake, a well-kept boat, a knowledgeable instructor, and a good or even excellent overall experience. A broker adds a layer of protection, but when the bareboat company itself is on the up-and-up, you may not need the added distance that a charter broker provides.

It’s sort of like the difference between booking a Walt Disney World vacation package directly through the folks at the Magic Kingdom, versus trusting an Orlando-based tour operator who has a special arrangement with a less- expensive motel on nearby International Drive.

Will your vacation experience be just as good if you go with the cheaper option? Perhaps.

Would it be wise for you to have someone looking out for you besides the tour operator? Probably. And since the management company or bareboat yacht owner pays the charter broker’s fee, you really can get that added layer of protection for free.

Whom can you trust, and what questions do you need to ask? You can learn all of that and more by reading Dream Cruises: The Insider's Guide to Private Yacht Charter Vacations, from which this information is adapted.