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Many of our clients would like to have the exclusive use of
a ship for their clients programs but erroneously believe that for various
reason it would not be possible. Happily that is not the case because if
you have a group of 12 people or more you have the possibility of
chartering your own vessel.
With so many smaller ships entering the cruise market in
the last few years you have lots of choices. Depending on your groups
requirements, their budget and the location they wish to cruise there are
many options to choose from. Luxurious
river / hotel barges,
classic sailing ships,
river-ships,
super and mega-yachts and
small but luxurious
cruise ships as well as the traditional
cruise ships
and
crewed yachts there is also an amazing selection of
day/party
yachts for entertaining. In fact there are many
exciting options available to you so do not rule out a charter for your
group just because the group is small.
Chartering a yacht or ship for your group or event.
A charter gives you the
utmost in privacy, exclusivity, and safety. For incentives or meetings at sea, you
have the added plus of an environment that you control, so there are no
concerns about a competitor being on board or participants going
off-property and getting into accidents or (like you might find on a
program at a resort). For a sold out city, special event or convention a
“floating hotel” charter provides a unique solution that generates lots of
buzz and excitement.
It gives you flexibility in
designing the itinerary to suit your specific needs and objectives. On a
charter, you can brand the program throughout the cruise without the
ship’s staff having to balance concerns for the other passengers. This
often means more creativity in customizing the itinerary, dressing up the
ship and on-board functions as well as custom shore excursions for the
group, plus you will find that you will receive more cooperation and care
from the on-board staff and crew members if they only have your group to
deal with.
Another plus a charter gives
you is the flexibility you have with your numbers. Initially care has to be
exercised in pinning down the maximum number of cruisers likely to
participate as once you have
commit to a charter you do not have to worry about penalties for
downsizing the group, however, if your group
does grow then you have a problem as the ship can only accommodate a fixed
number of passengers. But since since the biggest headaches are always
attrition, this removes one potential planning challenge.
Yes, but won’t it be
very expensive?
It can be but it can also be
very reasonable. It depends on many factors having to do with market
conditions, the level of luxury you are looking for, the size of your
group and other issues.
If you have some flexibility
in sailing dates often we are able to obtain some very special rates.
Low season, slow periods or a cancelled charter will sometimes allow us to
obtain some exciting pricing for whole ship charters. Additionally,
by buying the whole ship on a charter basis and taking the ship out of the
companies inventory early on allows the cruise line to offer a per person
per deim rate far below their brochure rate. Sometime, if they
already have a charter booked which is going to leave them with odd days
left over or, the ship will be out of its usual area, an economical
charter rate can be obtained to "fill-in" these periods. We are the
specialist in this field and with our in-house connections frequently hear
of opportunities which do not come onto the open market. So as you
can see a whole ship charter is not necessarily beyond your budget, call
us, with our knowledge of the market we may find you what you want at a
price that might surprise you.
How far in advance
can I charter a ship?
The major cruise lines,
generally set
their itineraries one year in advance and then go to press with their
glossy brochures. So, if a whole ship charter is your chosen option, we
strongly advise you to make the decision well before that. If you want to design your own itinerary with specific
embarkation and disembarkation ports, then the further out you commit the
better your chance of obtaining what you want.
Chartering a yacht does
not generally require the same amount of lead time unless you are
looking to do a special event such as the Cannes Film Festival or the
Monaco Grand Prix or such like. These events create a huge amount
of interest and the best yachts are chartered well in advance.
There is another reason to decide and act early, berthing for the yacht
of your choice. Berthing at these venues is extremely limited and
needs to be reserved, often at a high premium, many months prior to the
event.
Cruise lines will in fact
plan their ships itineraries around your charter if your charter is going
to areas outside of their normal ports or operation. For example, great opportunities for charters exist when a
cruise line repositions a ship after the cruise brochure has been
published. Providing the cruise line has not sold an excessive amount of
passengers on the cruise date you want to charter, they will "buy" these
passengers off. This usually means offering them another date and
some incentives by way of soft dollars or whatever. The cost of the
buy off will be added to your charter fee, so once the decision to move
ahead is made, the sooner you contract the charter, the cheaper it will
be. However, there comes a point where the numbers do not work so
the cruise line will not move those passengers in order to accommodate a charter.
What other issues do I need to be aware of?
You need to be fully aware
of the commitment you are making. A lot of work will go into the
preparation and research of your charter both prior to contract and far
more once you have committed. Different cruise lines have different
contracts, but all will be expecting you to pay for the charter
irregardless of what may happen prior to the sailing date. The cruise line, upon signature of the
contract, will pull your cruise segment from its selling inventory. If
you are customizing the itinerary, the line is building other cruise
segments around your embarkation and disembarkation ports. So the
penalties for cancellation are high, up to the full amount of the charter.
Many cruise lines will do "due diligence" to see if you really are able
to meet the commitment. Often they will require an irrevocable
letter of credit for the whole of the charter fee.
With yacht charters it is
important to be aware of the different contracts used. Some, such
as the MYBA (Mediterranean Yacht Brokers Association) stipulate that ALL
expenses related to your charter in the way of consumables (food,
beverages, fuel, water berthing, all taxes, fees etc. which can amount
to 25% or more of the charter fee) are additional to the charter fee,
plus you will be expected to leave the crew a gratuity, which is today's
age means something in the region of 15% of the charter fee depending on
your satisfaction with the cruise. Beware of charter contracts that are
loosely worded as you might end up having to pay for far more than you
originally anticipated and deal with an experienced, professional
organization who can guide you through the contractual paperwork and
on-board programming or you stand a very good chance of spending a lot
of money and being very disappointed..
If you wish to receive more
details about charter opportunities and to learn what ships might be
suitable for your group
please click
here.
Current
Charter Hot
Dates/Cool Rates
For updated special charter
values, please visit our web-site at the following -
link
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