Date toured: November 2006

November 2007 update: There has been another crew change on this yacht. Capt. Jonny Coop and chef/stewardess Kelly Becker are now onboard. They previously ran a 45-foot saling catamaran, and he is a former sailing and water sports instructor. They had done five charters when I met them, with 11 more booked into early 2008, so any reputable charter broker should be able to find fpr you out how those charters went.--K.K.

I first heard of the sailing catamaran Double Feature from Gina Robertson, a reputable charter broker with Yachtstore. I was interviewing Gina for my new insider’s guide book to yacht charter, and she was discussing the differences in pricing between cruise ship cabins and crewed yachts in Double Feature’s size range.
     Here’s what she said at the time:
     “There’s this great boat, Double Feature, a 57-footer. It’s no secret that her owner is a very famous movie producer. It’s an immaculate, four-stateroom boat with queen beds for four couples. Two crew, five-star food, all-inclusive for $25,000 a week—and that’s with good wine and scuba diving. It comes out to about $300 per person, per day. That’s less than a Princess [cruise ship] balcony cabin.
     Gina’s comments came to mind when I saw Double Feature for the first time at an industry-only charter show on Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands.  I made a beeline onboard for a look around, and I can confirm that this yacht is indeed in great shape. She’s a 2000 build, but she looks practically brand-new. Her owner takes very, very good care of her inside and out.
     The crew that Gina knew had left the boat by the time I got onboard, but I had a good deal of time to interview the new couple onboard, Bob & Sharon Monroe Davidson. They’d been hired just two weeks earlier following about seven years of running charter catamarans and sailing yachts in the Virgin Islands, New England and the Mediterranean. They’d even lived onboard their own boat in the Cayman Islands at one time.
     I liked them a lot, and their experience showed in their ability to make me feel at home onboard Double Feature immediately. I also liked the boat a lot, including the surround-sound theater system with large flat-screen display in the saloon—unusual in this size range, and no doubt thanks to the yacht owner’s business.
     I’ m not sure why the price for Double Feature is different from the one Gina mentioned, but the rate they gave me was an all-inclusive $18,000 a week for eight guests. That’s $2,250 a person, or about $320 a day per person, the way Gina likes to think about it.
     Check on the price with any reputable charter broker when you decide to book, or contact management company CharterPortBVI.—Kim Kavin