Captains Give Best Cruises When Number of Steaming Hours is Limited to Four a Day

Although we understand how much our clients like flying into cities with international airports and be able to transfer directly to their yacht, freeing them from having to transfer by van or plane to smaller cities, it isn’t always in a client’s best interest to ask a yacht to do that, due to many reasons, including paying higher Vat Taxes, requiring a yacht to accept a tight turnaround they cannot do, incurring expensive delivery fees, and also missing out on the ‘best itineraries’ for you.

Superyachts do not compete with Cruise ships, which travel 20 knots an hour and quickly get to places by night.  Private yachts cruise at roughly 10 knots per hour and travel only by day, and sailing yachts travel slower than that.  This doubles the time it takes a private yacht to reach its destination, when yachts prefer to keep number of hours cruising per day to 4 hours, so that guests have more time to explore ashore, to use the ships sports gear, to enjoy the amenities aboard, and benefit from the dining opportunities aboard, where stewardesses create theatrical sets for guests.  Chefs also have an easier time preparing their tour de force meals in a still galley, which is not moving, despite stabilizers that the yachts have aboard nowadays.  It’s windy to dine on deck when the yacht is underway.  Cruise ships also sail at night; private yachts don’t, due to number of crew, and while yachts in the Mediterranean operate with “ten crew,” the number is still fewer than on cruise ships.  Our captains and crew need to be fully awake on duty each and every day to offer their services to guests.

Nature has a role in choosing best itineraries too, for not all landmarks are located right outside a city.  If a yacht has a tight turnaround and needs to sail from another city to pick up guests at the city of their choice, a yacht needs time to get there, and time is money in incurring costly delivery fees.  Because numbers need to work for a yacht owner to agree to putting wear and tear on engines, sometimes it’s necessary for guests to take a van or connecting flight to the heart of a cruising ground.  We prefer guests don’t have to back track, so they see something new and different every day, and sometimes that requires a one-way cruise, other times not, depending on the cruising ground and guests choice. Athens, Greece and the Virgin Islands offer the best opportunities for catching non-stop flights directly into the heart cruising ground and not have to catch connecting flights. Catch a non-stop flight to Athens and be onboard your yacht in an hour!  Italy and Spain usually require additional connections. The important thing to take home is that captains can give best cruises to guests when the number of steaming hours is limited to four hours a day, so that his or her crew can provide their best services to guests.

Exceptions are always possible, but they cost more…..