10 minutes read
Published by Eldin Basic (TpMBA)
To charter a superyacht, one has to plan with a considerable expense of around 50,000 Eur per week, for the charter fee alone, with expenses coming on top. However, in order to understand the pricing of a yacht, any yacht, let alone a superyacht, one has to define it first. For a start, we can say that there are yachts, luxury yachts, superyachts, megayachts and gigayachts on the charter market. Yachts tend to be any boats from 40ft upwards, but that will have an owner on board or they may just be bareboat yachts without any crew. When it comes to chartering a luxury yacht, in most cases we assume this to be crewed yacht with a captain and hostess or chef/hostess. Such yachts are usually around 50-65ft in size, and in most cases tend to be monohulls or catamarans, at times motor yachts.
A typical example of such a yacht is a new Bali 5.4 sailing catamaran, a cat such as Privilege 510 Signature, smaller Oyster sailing yacht of around 60ft or even bigger Hanse yachts such as Hanse 588 or Hanse 675. Amongst motor yachts these are boats such as Sunseeker Manhattan 55 and even Manhattan 68 or Sunseeker Predator 60 Evo or Predator 65. All these yachts may be in a different price range when it comes to buying them outright; 50ft catamarans from around 1 – 1,5 million Euros, 58ft sailing boats at half that price probably and 65ft motor yachts at twice the rate or well above 2 million in any case. All of them are crewed by 2 or maybe 3 crew however and that does not classify them as superyachts, but only as luxury yachts.
GIGA YACHTS
On the other end, the range between a superyacht and megayacht for example is huge potentially, while giga yachts have their own exclusive place in this pyramid. Gigayachts are simply out of this world boats that most of us, even those UHNW individuals who belong amongst 1%, do not own or will never charter. Gigayachts are in other words extremely exclusive, almost untouchable. Arguably, one can say that these yachts are exclusively owned by multi-billionaires who tend to keep them off-the-grid and private for their own entertainment. Most of these cannot be chartered in other words, although there has been some movement in the recent years with sublime 162 metre or 533 feet ECLIPSE, the boat launched in 2009 by prestigious German shipyard Blohm & Voss, offered for so called giga yacht charters. Accommodating 36 guests in 18 spectacular staterooms, all serviced by a staggering number of crew of 70 she is priced at a rate from around 2 million Euros per week.
Other giga yachts falling into this range are:
– 126 metre OCTOPUS by Luerssen which costs from 2,2 million Euro per week
– 108 metre IJE by Benetti which costs from 1,8 million Euro per week
– 93 metre LADY S by Feadship available from 1,47 million Euro per week
– 85.5 metre SUNRAYS by Oceanco which costs from 1,15 million Euro per week
– 88 metre PROJECT X by Golden Yachts available from 1,1 million Euro per week
– 86 metre MAN OF STEEL by Oceanco available from 1,2 million Euro per week
– 90 metre PHOENIX 2 by Luerssen available from 1 million Euro per week
– 89 metre CLOUD 9 by Oceanco available from 1,1 million Euro per week
– 91.5 metre TRANQUILITY by Oceanco available from 1,1 million Euro per week
– 95 metre O’PARI by Golden Yachts available from 1 million Euro per week
– 83.5 metre SAVANNAH by Feadship available from 1 million Euro per week
or even boats such as KENSHO, a 74.85 metre giga yacht by Admiral which only costs from 850,000 Eur per week
Apart from enormous costs, probably starting from around 500,000 Eur per week plus expenses, the giga yachts would also distinguish themselves from other yachts by number of crew which would be at least 20 and above all else their size and specific features such as helicopter landing pads, a swimming pool, wheelchair access and most recently a supercar garage.
MEGA YACHTS
ECLIPSE, or any of those listed above and classified as giga yachts are hardly an example of a superyacht though and therefore provide poor insight into what it costs to charter a superyacht. Going a step back therefore, one has to discount mega yachts from this equation too, as they tend to be boats of around 150ft+, ones that cost from around 150,000 Eur per week and up to 1/2 million Euros per week or onward. Some of these 150ft to approximately 250ft yachts can indeed be classed as superyachts, especially if they are lower priced classics, luxury gullets, converted tug boats, explorer yachts or similar, average priced superyachts. It is therefore already clear that to charter a superyacht one has to plan with an expenses of up to around 150,000 Eur as anything above that is likely to fit the mega yacht market. Those luxury motor yachts featured in the Below Deck TV programme, charter from around 140,000 – 220,000 US$’s per week for example. One can class the lower priced as a superyacht, but the higher priced as a mega yacht. This is mainly due to the size, but also age of the boat and resulting number of the crew. Thus, mega yachts tend to be charter boats with at least 6 crew and costing well above 150,000 Eur per week. Mega yachts are likely to have most of the facilities and features such as giga yachts, but will lack in extraordinary size, crew numbers being up to around 20 and their accessibility and pricing being much greater so that HNWI can also afford to charter them.
SUPERYACHT CHARTER RATES
Going back to the subject of the blog, a superyacht can also be an 80ft luxury sailing yacht such as OYSTER 825, CNB 90 or Southern Wind 100. All these yachts tend to be crewed by 4 crew, a distinguished captain, professional chef, a deckhand or an engineer and a professional hostess. Having four crew, rather than 2 or 3 on board is therefore probably the best way to distinguish from a luxury yacht charter and a superyacht charter. New Sunreef 70 sailing catamaran is as an example crewed by 4 members, while a smaller Fountain Pajot 67 Alegria tends to have 3 crew in most cases. The difference in size is only 3ft on paper, yet difference in purchase price is much higher, probably 100% given that Alegria 67 is definitely a boat that costs well below 3 million Euros (mind-boggling price anyway) yet a Sunreef 70 is probably a 5million+ supercat for sure.
FINAL WORD
This brings is nicely to a definition of a superyacht. A luxury yacht that is crewed by 4 crew, amongst who are both chef and an engineer as well as a captain and a deckhand or stewardess. If you have chartered a luxury boat with 3x crew yet it was a 100ft sailing boat, an 80ft motor yacht or a 70ft catamaran, they are likely to be classed as superyachts by their size and cost of purchase, yet as an experience, quality of service and formal atmosphere on board were probably that of a luxury yacht rather than a superyacht.
The costs of chartering superyacht is therefore starting somewhere around 50,000 Eur per week during low season and more during peak of the season. A new Lagoon 65, similar to Alegria 67 is likely to cost around 40,000 Eur during high season. A Hanse 588 is likely to cost below 20,000 Eur while an Oyster 595 or even an Oyster 675 are unlikely to cost more than 25,000 or 35,000 Eur per week respectively. In order to plan and budget for a superyacht charter therefore, we recommend that you plan with at least 50,000 Eur on the charter fee alone with VAT likely to take another 10-20% and APA Expenses or costs of charter a further 20-40% depending on the itinerary or the type of yacht (20% for a sailing boat = 10,000 Eur and 40% or 20,000 Eur for a fast cruising motor yacht such as Sunseeker 88 Yacht or Ferretti Yacht 1000.
So there we go, a superyacht is first and foremost a luxury yacht crewed with at least 4 crew. In order to experience a superyacht charter, you will probably need to plan with a total cost of around 60,000 – 100,000 Eur as a minimum and you will need to charter a modern boat such as Sunreef 70, Lagoon 77 or Sunreef 80 amongst sailing catamarans, a Sunseeker Yacht 100, a Ferretti Yacht 920 or Infinito 90 or bigger and an Oyster 885 S11 or Oyster 125 amongst sailing yachts. Some de-luxe gullets may cost only 20,000 Eur and have up to 5 crew on board, may even include a concierge or a 6th crew with more water toys on board than on any more luxurious superyacht, yet they may not qualify as superyachts or as a superyacht charter experience simply due to quality of accommodation, professionalism of some of the crew or general set up as an informal yacht charter experience. For the gullet to qualify as a superyacht therefore, she needs to be an exclusive yacht with 5-star accommodation, at least 6 crew and bigger than 125ft.
High-end superyachts are likely to be models from all of the above named shipyards at around 125-150ft and costing well above 100,000 Eur per week in total. Above 150ft or 45metres on newer boats, we can start talking about mega yachts and their cost is likely to be 150,000 Eur+ per week in low season with other costs such as VAT AND APA EXPENSES coming on top.
I certainly hope this complex definition of a superyacht and round and round explanation of a superyacht charter cost is clear now and that you can start planning your next yacht charter holiday, be this just a regular yacht charter, luxury yacht charter, long-term yacht charter or an exclusive superyacht or megayacht or maybe even a gigayacht charter.