Every few days an email arrives from the United States that does not use the word charter at all. It asks about a Greek yacht cruise, or a yacht vacation in the islands, or a private cruise of the Cyclades for two families. The people writing have usually done a cruise ship, or a villa with a rented boat for a day, and they are trying to describe something they have not done yet: a week on one yacht that belongs to them alone, with a crew, moving through the islands at their own pace. I know exactly what they mean, and this piece is written in their language. In the trade it is called a crewed yacht charter. To the family on the aft deck it is a private cruise, and that is the better name for what the week feels like.
What is a private yacht cruise in Greece?
A private yacht cruise in Greece is one yacht, hired for one week by one party, with her professional crew aboard, cruising the Greek islands on a route that is drawn around that party and nobody else. Nothing about it is shared. The captain answers to you, the chef cooks what your table wants, the anchorage each night is chosen with you at the chart, and the fee is quoted per yacht per week, never by the head, so the price is the same whether six of you come or ten.
The legal frame is simple. Greek law caps a charter yacht at twelve guests however large she is, which is why every yacht on my list sleeps between six and twelve, and why a group of fourteen is two yachts, not one. The contract is the MYBA charter agreement, the standard the Mediterranean has used for decades: a signed agreement, a deposit, a balance, a provisioning fund held against receipts, and the unused balance returned to you at the end.
The word cruise is honest for two reasons. The first is that a crewed yacht is a floating home that moves: you unpack once and wake up somewhere new. The second is that you do nothing to make it move. This is not a sailing course and it is not a boat you drive. If you have never set foot on a yacht, the week is the same week. On the crewed charter page I describe the format in the trade's own terms; here I will describe the days.
How is a private yacht cruise different from a cruise ship?
The honest answer is that they share the sea and almost nothing else. A ship runs a schedule fixed months ahead and calls at the ports that can take her. A private yacht runs on a plan that changes at breakfast. If the wind is up in the north of the Cyclades, the captain turns south to Sifnos and you lose nothing. If the family falls in love with a bay, you stay another night. If someone hears of a taverna on the far side of an island, the tender goes.
The second difference is where you are. A ship's day is a port day, the harbour, the queue, the town. A yacht's day is a bay, and there are hundreds of bays in Greece that no ship will ever enter, with sand under the keel and nobody in sight. Most nights on a private cruise are spent at anchor in one of them or on the quay of a small harbour, and the swim before breakfast is off the back of the boat.
The third is the food. On a ship you choose between restaurants. On a yacht the chef is yours: the provisioning is done around your list, the fish comes from the harbour you slept in, the table is laid on the aft deck at the hour you want it. I wrote the whole crew up, role by role, in who does what aboard a Greek charter yacht.
I will be fair to the ship, because some of my clients come from one. A ship has a theatre, a spa, a choice of bars, entertainment for teenagers, and a fixed price that includes almost everything. A yacht has none of that; the entertainment is the sea, the toys on the swim platform, and the island. It is a quieter week. For most families writing to me that is the point, but it is worth knowing before you book.
What does a private yacht cruise in Greece cost?
Every figure below comes from the rate cards of the yachts this house represents, compiled in the Greek Charter Index. The fee is per yacht per week, net base, before the provisioning fund, Greek VAT and the crew gratuity, and it is the same whether you fill every cabin or not.
The crewed floor is EUR 17,000 a week for a 15 metre sailing catamaran with five cabins for ten guests and a crew of two or three, which is the format most first-time American families end up choosing. A 20 metre sailing catamaran with five cabins and a crew of three sits between EUR 31,500 and 43,500. A 22 to 25 metre motor yacht for six to ten runs from EUR 21,000 to 47,500, a 26 to 31 metre for ten to twelve from EUR 35,900 to 75,000, a 35 to 40 metre from EUR 59,900 to 150,000, and the two yachts above 50 metres from EUR 162,500 to 235,000.
To turn a base rate into the number that leaves your account, the site already publishes the multipliers I use: roughly 1.35 to 1.6 times the base on a catamaran and 1.45 to 1.7 on a motor yacht, which covers the provisioning fund of 20 to 40 per cent, Greek charter VAT at 5.2, 6.5, 7.8 or 12 per cent depending on the individual yacht's papers, with a statutory ceiling of 13 per cent, and a crew gratuity of 10 to 15 per cent of the base, which is a convention rather than a charge. Three worked weeks, using the low figure on each card:
S/CAT AZUL, a 17 metre Lagoon 55 with four cabins for eight and a crew of three, EUR 20,000 net base: about EUR 27,000 to 32,000 all-in. S/CAT SERENISSIMA, a 20 metre with five cabins for ten and a crew of three, EUR 31,500: about EUR 42,500 to 50,500 all-in. M/Y SUMMER FUN, a 31 metre motor yacht with six cabins for twelve and a crew of seven, EUR 45,000: about EUR 65,000 to 76,500 all-in. Divide any of those by the party and the week costs what a good hotel week costs by the head, with the boat, the crew, the chef and the islands included. The full ladder from EUR 30,000 to EUR 300,000 is in crewed luxury yacht charter, explained, and the line-by-line breakdown is in the complete cost guide.
One thing an American should know: the contract is in euro, always, because the yacht is Greek-flagged and her owner is invoiced in euro. The all-in figure in dollars moves with the exchange rate between the day you sign and the day you pay the balance. I go through the mechanics in the American's guide to chartering in Greece.
Where does a Greek yacht cruise go in a week?
Almost every yacht this house represents lives in Athens: 76 of the 91 on the list at Alimos marina, nine at Flisvos, three at Nea Peramos, all about 25 minutes from the airport. Three live elsewhere: ARIVA at Corfu and MANU at Zakynthos, on purpose, for the Ionian, and one in the Dodecanese. From Athens the week goes one of two ways.
The Saronic Gulf is the near cruise, and the one I give to first-timers, to families with small children, and to anyone who wants seven nights with short passages. On the house distance table the loop reads Alimos to Aegina 18 nautical miles, Aegina to Poros 18, Poros to Hydra 12, Hydra to Spetses 25 and Spetses back to Athens 50: a week of two hour mornings and long afternoons. Hydra has no cars at all. It is the only ground where I will write a five night programme, because the distances allow it. The region page is here.
The Cyclades are the postcard: Mykonos, Paros, Naxos, Sifnos, Milos, Santorini, white villages and the bluest water in Greece. They are also the windy side of the country in July and August, when the Meltemi blows from the north. A week from Athens that respects the wind reads Alimos to Kea 35 miles, Kea to Kythnos 15, Kythnos to Syros 25, Syros to Mykonos 25, Mykonos to Paros 30, Paros to Sifnos 35 and Sifnos home 80, which is why the last day is the long one and why a faster yacht earns her keep here. The Cyclades page has the anchorages; the quiet Cyclades piece has the islands the ships do not call at.
The Ionian is the other Greece, on the west coast, green and calm, with an afternoon breeze instead of the Meltemi and passages of 10 to 50 miles between Corfu, Paxos, Lefkada, Ithaca and Kefalonia. It is the cruise I write for three generations and for anyone who is nervous of the sea, and it boards at Corfu or Lefkada rather than Athens. The Ionian page is the place to start, and the multi-generational week I wrote last week shows how ten relatives fit on one boat there.
Whichever ground you choose, understand that the route on the proposal is a sketch. Greek captains plan a day ahead, not a week ahead, because the weather decides, and a good one will hand you a better week than any itinerary I could print.
What does a day on a private yacht cruise look like?
Breakfast is at anchor, on the aft deck or the flybridge, at whatever hour the family surfaces. The captain tells you where the day goes and why; you can say no. The morning passage is two or three hours on most yachts, and the difference between hulls shows here. On a motor yacht like SUMMER FUN, which cruises at 24 knots, a 30 mile hop is about 75 minutes and the anchor is down before lunch. On a steel displacement yacht like IDYLLE, built for anchoring rather than racing at 11 knots, the same passage is under three hours and the point of her is the calm at the other end. A sailing catamaran takes the morning and enjoys it.
Lunch is at anchor, in a bay chosen for shelter and sand, and the afternoon belongs to the water: swimming, the tender to a beach, the paddleboards, the seabobs where the yacht carries them, a walk up to a chapel. Late afternoon the yacht either stays where she is for the night or moves to a harbour for the evening ashore, a decision the captain takes with you around four o'clock. Dinner is the chef's, on deck, and the island is there if you want it. Nobody drives home.
Who is aboard, and what do they do?
At the floor of the list, a crew of two or three: captain, chef or cook-hostess, sometimes a deckhand. Four of the yachts this house represents run with two crew, SUMMER STAR and EFFIE STAR among the catamarans and MANU and SEA U among the motor yachts, and on those boats the captain is also the man who takes you snorkelling. From 20 metres the crew is three or four. SUMMER FUN carries seven for twelve guests; a 39 to 48 metre yacht carries eight to ten. On the larger yachts the crew have their own quarters and their own passage through the boat, so a family has the guest decks to itself.
The one rule of a crewed yacht is that the crew work for you and the captain is responsible for the yacht. He will take you anywhere the sea allows and will refuse a passage the sea does not, and that refusal is the reason the week is safe. Everything else, the hours, the food, the pace, the music, is yours.
Which yacht: catamaran, motor yacht, or something larger?
Of the 91 yachts on the list this September, 45 are catamarans, 30 under sail and 15 with engines only, and 46 are motor yachts. Forty-two of the 91 sleep ten and ten sleep twelve; six carry six cabins, which is the layout every large family asks for and the one that books first. The choice is not about luxury, since the floor and the ceiling of the list are both crewed and both private. It is about pace and motion.
A sailing catamaran is the family boat: level decks, a trampoline forward, the cabins in the two hulls, and a week that moves with the sails up when the wind is kind. It is the format I put most first-time American families on, and the format the crewed catamaran page is written for. A power catamaran keeps the space and adds speed; the power catamaran page explains where that matters. A motor yacht is the cruise in its purest form: more crew, more speed, a proper galley and a chef who cooks for twelve, and on the boats that carry them, stabilisers that hold the yacht still at anchor. SUMMER FUN and PAREAKI II carry stabilisers both under way and at zero speed, which for anyone who worries about motion changes the week. The weekly motor yacht page sets the bands out by size.
If motion is the worry that brought you here, read is a Greek yacht charter right for us before you choose a ground; the short answer is the Ionian, a catamaran, or a stabilised motor yacht, in that order of cost.
When is the best time for a private yacht cruise in Greece?
May, June and September are the months I recommend without being asked: warm water from June, long days, the Meltemi not yet or no longer at its strongest, harbours with room, and rate cards that in the shoulder months sit below peak on most yachts. July and August are the peak, hot and busy, and in the Cyclades windy; the Ionian and the Saronic are the calmer choice in those weeks. On my own 2027 request log, September is the month most asked for, with twelve of thirty-one dated 2027 requests, and June is second with nine. The month by month page has the weather and the rate pattern, and September in Greece is the case for the month I would choose myself.
How far ahead should a private yacht cruise be booked?
Further than a hotel, and further than most Americans expect. On the same request log, the median 2027 request reached this desk 354 days before the week, and the four 2027 weeks confirmed by mid-September 2026 were confirmed between 276 and 417 days ahead: all from Athens, June and September, parties of four to eight, budgets between EUR 25,000 and 100,000 all-in. The five and six cabin yachts and the most requested motor yachts commit first, and the 2027 rate cards open through this autumn. If your week is in July or August 2027, decide this winter; if it is May, June or September, you have a little longer, but not a year. The full picture is in how far in advance to book.
How does an American book a private yacht cruise in Greece?
You write to me with the people, the dates, the ground you like the sound of, and a budget stated all-in. I answer with a shortlist of three or four yachts that fit, from the list I know first hand, with the all-in figure worked for each. You choose, we hold the yacht, and the MYBA contract goes out: a 50 per cent deposit secures the dates and the balance is due four weeks before you board. The provisioning fund is paid before you board and accounted for at the end of the week. This house is a Wyoming LLC and an IYBA Charter Active member, which matters for the contract and the wire; the credentials page has the detail.
Flights are simpler than they were: several US cities have seasonal nonstops to Athens, listed with the passport rules in the American's guide. Alimos is 25 minutes from the airport, so a morning arrival becomes a lunch in Athens and an evening at anchor off Aegina. There is no Saturday rule on this list; the week starts on the day your flights make sense. What to bring is in what to pack, and the answer is less than you think. The enquiry page is the door.
Is a private yacht cruise all-inclusive?
Not in the resort sense, and the difference is worth understanding rather than glossing. The base rate covers the yacht, her crew, and her insurance. Food, drink, fuel, harbour fees and everything consumed during the week are paid from the provisioning fund at cost, against receipts, with the balance returned. VAT is added at the yacht's own rate. The gratuity is yours to decide. The all-inclusive page explains what the phrase means in Greek chartering and where the fixed-price versions exist. I prefer the honest version: you see every receipt, and a week at anchor in the Ionian costs less to provision than a week of marina berths across the Cyclades on the same yacht, which a flat price would hide.
When is a private yacht cruise NOT the right choice?
If you want the ship's evening, the theatre, the casino, five restaurants, a crowd, then it is not, and I will say so. If your party is fourteen, it is two yachts or a different holiday, because the twelve guest rule has no exceptions. If you want three nights, no: seven nights is the week, and the five night Saronic programme is the shortest thing I write. If the family includes someone who will not settle on a moving floor, choose the Ionian and a catamaran or a stabilised motor yacht, and if even that does not persuade you, a villa is the kinder answer. If the all-in budget is below about EUR 23,000 for a peak week, the crewed list does not reach it, and I would rather tell you than send you a brochure. And if what you actually want is to sail the boat yourself, this house does not do bareboat, and sailing in Greece will point you at the right question.
The short version
A private yacht cruise in Greece is a crewed yacht charter by another name: one yacht, one party of up to twelve, one week, your own captain and chef, a route that changes with the weather and your mood. Net base from EUR 17,000 a week for a five-cabin catamaran, roughly 1.35 to 1.7 times that all-in, per yacht not by the head. Three grounds: the Saronic for the first time, the Cyclades for the postcard, the Ionian for calm. Book it a year ahead for July and August 2027, this winter for the shoulder months. Tell me who is coming and what you want the week to feel like, and I will send you three yachts, by name, with the all-in figure for each.
