Chartering one of our catamarans is a straightforward process, but if it’s your first time it helps to know how things typically run – from booking through to handing the boat back. Here’s the short version of what to expect.
Four simple stages from first enquiry to stepping off the boat.
Browse the fleet, pick the catamaran and the week that suit your group, and we confirm availability.
We send the contract, invoice and boarding pass. A 50% deposit within 7 days secures it, the balance 4 weeks before departure.
Come to base at least 2 hours before boarding. We run the full handover of the boat, and boarding is at 17:00.
Sail your route, then bring the boat back to base the evening before check-out. Final walk-through and deposit release at 09:00.
Most of our fleet is available as a bareboat charter – you and your crew sail the boat yourselves, with no one else on board. To take a boat out bareboat, at least one person on the crew needs a recognised sailing qualification (an ICC, RYA Day Skipper or equivalent, or your national sailing license).
If you’d rather not skipper yourselves, or nobody on board holds the right qualification, we can arrange a licensed skipper to join you for the week, without going the full crewed route.
A number of our boats are also available fully crewed, with a skipper and a hostess on board for the whole charter.
The skipper handles all the sailing, navigation, and day-to-day running of the boat, and works with you before departure to put together a route that suits what you want to see – the published itineraries are a starting point rather than a fixed plan on a crewed charter. The final day-by-day route is always drafted together with your skipper, and it’s adjusted as needed once you’re underway if weather or sea conditions call for a change of plan.
The hostess takes care of breakfast and lunch on board each day, along with general housekeeping and service throughout the charter. If you’d like all meals included rather than breakfast and lunch, a dedicated chef can be arranged for full board, at an extra cost. This depends on the boat having enough cabins and capacity for an additional crew member, and on the total number of guests on board, so it’s worth flagging when you enquire if full board is something you’re after.
Advance Provisioning Allowance (APA): on crewed charters, running costs during the week – food, drinks, fuel, marina fees, and similar on-trip expenses – are covered through an APA. This is an amount paid in advance of the charter, set at 30% of the charter price, which the crew then manages and spends on your behalf throughout the week to cover these costs directly, rather than you paying for each expense individually as you go. Any unspent balance is settled up and returned to you once the charter ends.
The charter price includes 13% Croatian VAT and all of the boat’s listed equipment, as shown on that boat’s own fleet page.
On top of the charter price, there’s one obligatory extra depending on where the boat is based:
Croatia & Seychelles – the transit log / preparation fee, a mandatory local service charge covering:
Seychelles – a handling fee, charged as an extra in the amount of 35 EUR, payable on spot.
A few things are paid locally, on top of the charter fee:
Once you’ve picked a boat and dates, we’ll confirm availability and send over a booking contract, invoice, and boarding pass by email. A 50% deposit secures the booking, due within 7 days of the invoice, with the remaining 50% due 4 weeks before departure at the latest. Any local extras (tourist tax and similar) are settled at the base.
If plans change, our cancellation terms work on a sliding scale based on how far out you cancel:
If a cancellation is for a genuine, documented reason beyond your control (a family bereavement, serious illness or injury, and similar), rather than refunding the payment we’ll move your booking to another available date, within the current season or the next one – though administrative and other reasonable costs may still apply. Given all this, we’d strongly recommend travel insurance that covers trip cancellation, since weather, flight changes, or illness can affect any sailing holiday.
A refundable security deposit is held against the boat by credit card pre-authorisation, not a cash payment. The amount depends on the boat model and is confirmed in your booking contract and price list. It’s released in full after check-out, provided no damage or missing equipment is found during the handover inspection and there are no outstanding third-party claims connected to the boat’s use during your charter. If something is damaged, we retain whatever portion of the deposit corresponds to the cost of repair or replacement – your liability is capped at the deposit amount unless the damage results from gross negligence or a deliberate act.
On a bareboat charter, you can do your own shopping once you arrive, or we can arrange to have the boat pre-provisioned so the fridge and cupboards are stocked before you even step aboard.
On a crewed charter, provisioning is handled by the crew and covered through the APA described above, so there’s nothing for you to arrange yourself beyond letting us know about any dietary requirements or preferences ahead of time.
Charters typically run Saturday to Saturday / 17:00 – 09:00. Please plan to arrive at the boarding location at least 2 hours before boarding time – this gives us time to run through the full handover with you, covering the boat’s systems, safety equipment, and any local sailing considerations, before you head out. Standard boarding time is 17:00, once the boat has been cleaned and checked from the previous charter.
If you need an airport transfer, grocery shopping done ahead of arrival, or any extra equipment not normally on board, we can arrange it – just let us know at least 7 days before boarding, and the cost of anything additional will be added to your invoice.
Travelling with pets? Well-behaved pets are welcome on board, but please tell us at least 4 weeks before your charter so we can plan for it. There’s a weight limit of 10 kg per animal, and if the boat needs extra cleaning after your charter as a result, a fee of €350 per week, per animal, may apply.
Travelling with children? Of course – children are welcome on board, and additional life jackets in the right sizes can be arranged if you let us know before you arrive.
This is the one part of the process worth flagging clearly: the boat needs to be back at base the evening before your official check-out date. This gives our team time to run a full technical inspection before the next guests arrive, so the last night of your charter is spent at the dock rather than out at anchor. Check-out itself – final walk-through and deposit release – happens the following morning, with standard check-out at 09:00. Our sample itineraries are already built around this, so the sailing days you see listed are the actual cruising days, with the extra evening at base built in at the end.
Since the boat is due back at a fixed time, it’s worth planning your route with a sensible margin – returning late has real costs attached (a daily overdue charge on top of the charter fee, higher still if we’re not notified in advance), except where genuinely severe weather makes an on-time return unsafe.
Yes, if you’re chartering bareboat, at least one member of your crew needs a recognised sailing qualification (ICC, RYA Day Skipper, or your national equivalent) plus some logged sailing experience – this is a requirement of the local harbour authorities, not just us. If nobody on board holds one, we can arrange a licensed skipper to join you instead.
Yes, both can be added to any charter. A skipper takes care of the sailing and route planning; a hostess or cook can handle meals so you don’t have to shop or cook during the week.
Our spec sheets list the maximum sleeping capacity for each model, but a boat that sleeps 10 on paper is usually far more comfortable with 6–8, especially if you want space to relax on deck. Happy to advise on the right fit for your group size.
The charter price includes 13% Croatian VAT (for Croatian charters) and all of the boat’s listed equipment. Not included: the transit log/preparation fee (obligatory in Croatia & Seychelles – see below), Croatian tourist tax, fuel and water for the boat, marina fees at any stops away from base, provisioning, and the security deposit.
It’s a mandatory local charge on top of the charter price for boats based in Croatia, and it covers bed linen and towels, WiFi on board, final cleaning, cooking gas for the kitchen, a small start-up kit, and fuel for the outboard/dinghy engine. For charters in Seychelles, there is an additional handling fee (35 EUR).
The itineraries we publish are suggested routes, not a fixed schedule – think of them as a solid starting point rather than a contract. You’re free to adjust stops based on your own interests, and weather conditions may sometimes mean changing the plan anyway (see below).
Safety comes first, always. If wind or sea conditions make a planned leg unwise, your skipper (or you, if sailing bareboat) will adjust the route – that might mean a shorter passage, a different anchorage, or an extra night somewhere sheltered. It’s a normal part of sailing in the Adriatic or the Indian Ocean and our sample itineraries generally have enough flexibility built in to absorb a change of plan.
Every boat goes through a technical inspection between charters to make sure everything’s in good working order for the next guests. That means the last night of your charter is spent back at the marina rather than out at anchor, with check-out itself happening the following morning. It’s built into the itineraries we provide, so the number of sailing days quoted is what you’ll actually get on the water.
Fuel for the boat itself is billed based on actual usage, settled at the base. Fuel for the outboard/dinghy engine is covered by the transit log fee.
Refunds depend on how far ahead you cancel: more than 61 days before the charter, we retain 30% of the price; between 60 and 31 days out, 50%; inside 30 days, the full amount. If the cancellation is for a serious, documented reason outside your control, we’ll move your booking to another available date instead of a refund, though some administrative costs may still apply. This is why we always recommend travel insurance that covers trip cancellation.
The charter itself includes third-party liability insurance on the boat, but we’d recommend separate travel insurance that covers cancellation, medical costs, and personal belongings, as with any sailing holiday.
Yes, well-behaved pets are welcome, but let us know at least 4 weeks before your charter so we can plan for it. There’s a weight limit of 10 kg per animal, and if extra cleaning is needed after your charter as a result, a fee of €350 per week, per animal, may apply.
Standard boarding time is 17:00, and please plan to arrive at least 2 hours before that so we can run through the handover with you. Standard check-out is 09:00, on the morning after the boat’s technical inspection (see above).
Yes – standard WiFi is included in the transit log/preparation fee on every boat. Some boats in the fleet also have Starlink on board, depending on the model; check the individual boat’s listing to see if it’s fitted.
Beyond personal items, it’s worth packing soft-sided bags (rather than hard suitcases, which are awkward to store), reef-safe sunscreen, a light waterproof layer, and non-marking deck shoes. Bedding and towels are provided, but bringing a beach towel is handy for daytime swim stops.
A refundable deposit is held by card pre-authorisation for the duration of the charter – the exact amount depends on the boat model and is confirmed in your booking contract. It’s released after check-out, once the boat’s been inspected and there’s nothing to deduct for damage or missing gear.
APA stands for Advance Provisioning Allowance, and it’s set at 30% of the charter price. It’s paid before the charter starts, and the crew uses it to cover running costs during the week – food, drinks, fuel, marina fees, and similar on-trip expenses – so you’re not settling individual bills as you go. Any amount left over is returned to you once the charter ends.
Yes, children are very welcome on board. Just let us know before you arrive if you need additional life jackets in child sizes and we’ll have them ready.
If anything here isn’t clear, or you want to talk through which boat and route suits your group, get in touch at charter@kramer-yachting.com or +385 91 3300 691. We’re happy to help you plan the details before you commit to dates.