First Impression: Aegean Schatz  Date toured: May 2007
Aegean Schatz is a 99-foot-long gulet, or traditional Turkish motorsailer. She’s the second gulet to enter the charter market from the same owner. The first one is called Schatz, and it’s still available for bookings as well. Aegean Schatz was launched in 2006. She’s the same size as her sistership, but with five guest cabins instead of six for a feeling of greater interior luxury and space. She was entering her second charter season in Turkey at the time I got onboard.
She and her owner came with good recommendations from several international charter brokers whom I trust, and I have to say, the deckhand who showed me around spoke good English and was quite friendly. He explained that Aegean Schatz takes 10 guests with four crew, and that the yacht has two generators—which is important for having air conditioning available 24 hours a day in the sweltering Eastern Mediterranean climate.
The yacht also has television, but no satellite reception. Internet reception is available onboard “almost every day,” according to the deckhand, depending on where the yacht is cruising.
 I found the yacht itself to be spacious and full of natural light, with even the “small” twin-bed cabin all the way forward feeling big enough for me to accommodate two adults. Also worth noting is that the master cabin forward and the VIP cabin aft were quite similar in size and décor, which means Aegean Schatz is a good yacht for couples who want to split the weekly bill without feeling like one got a better cabin than the other.
I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that out on deck, I found the yacht’s stainless steel and flooring to be less than ideally maintained, a surprising note given that the yacht was only 14 months old and spruced up to look her best for a boat show at the time of my tour. Lack of comprehensive maintenance can be a problem with Turkish gulets in general, and it’s one reason I suggest booking yachts like Aegean Schatz through a reputable charter broker who has attended the annual Turkey charter yacht show and visually inspected each yacht, each and every year.
Aegean Schatz is owner-operated under the name Pero Yachting. Her lowest weekly base rate is 14,000 euros, or about $1,900 per person for 10 guests before expenses are factored in. Contact any reputable charter broker to get true estimated costs for a week onboard.—Kim Kavin
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