First time on a yacht? Avoid these 7 amateur mistakes
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Loading... - Greta Keller
- 02 Jun 2022
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While most of the travel industry struggled to get back on its feet, the yachting industry had a different problem during the pandemic: serving everyone wanting to charter a boat.
Like the rise in private jet travel during the pandemic, charter demand remains “extremely strong,” said Crom Littlejohn, chief commercial officer of the yacht brokerage company Northrop & Johnson. He said he expects interest to remain this way “for the foreseeable future.”
But it isn’t the same people who have always traveled via sea, he said.
“A big percentage of our business is first-time charters,” said Littlejohn. “They’ve had the ski vacations … they want to try something different.”
Mistake #1: Hard-shell luggage
There are several reasons to leave hard-shell suitcases at home, said Littlejohn.
In the same way that they scuff hotel room walls, hard suitcases can damage the fine finishes on yachts, he said.
“Things bounce and hard things might mar the surfaces,” said Littlejohn.
Then there’s the issue of storing suitcases that don’t collapse. “You can imagine how much [luggage] ten people or 12 people on charter could bring if they were bringing hard luggage,” he said. “It takes an additional room to store it.”
“The more soft-sided duffel bag type luggage, the better for storage and moving around the boat,” he said.
Mistake #2: High heels
Soft-soled shoes are more appropriate than high heels, said Littlejohn, but “we’re going to ask you not to wear the shoes on board period.”
Travelers are free to pack high heels for land excursions, he said, but even in the south of France – where nightlife is often a big part of the charter — cobblestone roads may make comfortable shoes a better option, he said.
But rules on shoes can depend on the yacht owner, said superyacht influencer Denis Suka, who is known as The Yacht Mogul online.
If guests are uncertain about a yacht’s shoe policy, they can keep an eye out upon boarding, said Suka. Look for “pairs of shoes [at] the entrance,” he said. That means shoes aren’t allowed on the boat.
As for what to pack, Suka recommends “keeping it light” with clothes that have “summer vibes,” calling this part of the rules “that are pretty much set in stone.”
Mistake #3: Not giving way on the passerelle
Passengers should board the passerelle — the walkway that is used to get on and off a yacht — one at a time, said Marcela de Kern, a business consultant for the yachting company Onboard Monaco.
“It’s quite fragile,” she said. “If you board at [the] same time, it can break,” she said, adding this can create “massive” problems in ports in Greece and Croatia, where it’s especially hard to get from yacht to port.
“The one leaving the yacht has priority, so if you are boarding and someone else is coming down, you should wait and let them get down first,” said de Kern.
Celebrities like the Kardashians have “no yacht etiquette,” she said, citing a recent video of them disembarking close together, one clad in high heels, from a yacht in Portofino.
Mistake #4: Not planning for extra expenses
New entrants to the industry shouldn’t spend their entire budgets on the charter rate.
“Then you have the rest of your expenses,” said Littlejohn. “With VAT taxes and beverage and food … dockage and fuel, you’re going to add another 75-100% to the cost of that charter.” Read More...
