The request arrives in one line, usually from an American family office or a husband who has been handed the job: get a quote for a 40 metre motor yacht charter in Greece for July. It sounds like a price enquiry. It is actually four decisions and a calendar, and the quote that comes back is only as good as the questions answered before it was written. This is how a quote for that week is built at this house, what the proposal shows line by line, what the 35 to 50 metre tier costs in July 2027 on the cards we represent, and how to tell a broker who can deliver the yacht from a website that can only show her.
I am George P. Biniaris, Founder and Managing Broker of George Yachts Brokerage House, an IYBA Charter Active Member working to MYBA standard terms from a desk in Kifisia, Athens. The numbers below are the yachts' published 2027 cards and the contract they are chartered under; where a figure is an estimate I say so.
What do you need to tell a broker to get a real quote?
Four things, and the quote is wrong without any of them.
- The week, honestly. July 2027 is the one month when the calendar decides the yacht more than the budget does. Give the exact Saturday or the ten day window you can leave, and say whether the dates can slide a week either side. On the larger yachts the diary fills from the peak outwards, and a week of flexibility is often the difference between your first choice and your third.
- The party. How many adults, how many children, how many couples who need their own bathroom. Greek law caps every charter yacht at twelve guests regardless of her length, the 12 passenger rule, so a party of fourteen is two yachts or a different conversation, and I would rather have it now.
- The budget on the right basis. Say whether you are thinking in base fee or all in. The cards are quoted base, plus expenses, VAT and APA, and on a 40 metre motor yacht the expenses are a third again on top. I write every proposal all in so that July does not arrive with a second number.
- Where the week is pointed. Athens and the Saronic, the Cyclades, or the Ionian from Corfu. A 40 metre yacht at 20 knots makes the Cyclades a week rather than a passage; the direction decides which marina she boards from and which yachts are even relevant.
With those four lines I can confirm availability with the owners within the day and send three yachts, each with her numbers, usually by the next morning.
What does a quote for a 40 metre motor yacht actually show?
One page per yacht, and the same four lines on every one, because a quote that hides a line is not a quote.
- The base fee for your dates, read from the yacht's card at the July rate. The cards run low to high season; July sits at the top.
- The APA, the Advance Provisioning Allowance, as a percentage of the base, 30 to 40 percent on a motor yacht because fuel dominates it. A 30 metre motor yacht can burn EUR 10,000 to 15,000 of diesel in a week; a 40 metre yacht at 20 knots burns more. The APA is your money, held aboard for fuel, food, drink, berths and shore water and power, and reconciled against receipts at the end with the balance refunded. The APA explainer has the mechanics.
- Greek VAT at the yacht's certified rate, 5.2 to 12 percent depending on each hull's certification, with a statutory ceiling of 13 percent. It is a line of its own on the proposal because it differs from yacht to yacht; the VAT guide explains why.
- The all in figure, base plus APA plus VAT, with the crew gratuity outside it: 10 to 15 percent of the base, customary, at your discretion, given to the captain in cash at the end of the week.
Beside the numbers, the proposal shows the dates the owner has actually offered, the crew count and structure, the cabins and who sleeps where, the toys on her listing, a note from me on what I know first hand about the yacht and her crew, and the brochure. If a quote you receive elsewhere shows a single number with no VAT line and no APA percentage, ask for both before you compare it with anything.
What does a 35 to 50 metre motor yacht cost in Greece in July 2027?
The cards below are the yachts' published base rates, low to high season, and July takes the high figure. The all in brackets are my estimate from the motor yacht APA band of 30 to 40 percent and the certified VAT range of 5.2 to 12 percent; the exact figure for a given yacht and week is on the proposal. At the European Central Bank rate of 23 October 2026, EUR 1 was USD 1.12.
- PROJECT STEEL, 34 metres, steel hull rebuilt and stretched in 2020, five cabins for twelve, a crew of six, zero speed stabilisers, Flisvos. EUR 55,000 to 67,000 base; the July week roughly EUR 91,000 to 102,000 all in.
- BROOKLYN, 37 metres, full 2025 refit, five cabins for ten with a full beam master suite and a private sauna, a crew of six, Alimos. EUR 60,000 to 75,000 base; July roughly EUR 101,000 to 114,000 all in.
- CAN'T REMEMBER, 35.6 metres, Tecnomar 116 refitted 2022, six cabins for twelve including a playroom cabin with bunks, a crew of seven, 25 knots, Flisvos. EUR 80,000 to 90,000 base; July roughly EUR 122,000 to 137,000 all in.
- PAREAKI II, 39 metres, Maiora 126 refitted 2023, five cabins for twelve, a crew of eight led by a captain who is also a diving instructor, stabilisers at anchor and under way, a flybridge Jacuzzi, 21 knots, Flisvos. EUR 98,000 to 115,000 base; July roughly EUR 155,000 to 175,000 all in, about USD 174,000 to 196,000.
- NORTHWIND II, 45.6 metres of classic steel built in 1966 and refitted in 2022, five cabins for ten, a crew of nine, Flisvos. EUR 83,300 to 110,000 base; July roughly EUR 149,000 to 167,000 all in.
- KOKOMO NIGHTS, 47.5 metres, Picchiotti classic with a 2026 refit, six cabins for twelve, a crew of ten with a full department structure, Flisvos. EUR 120,000 to 140,000 base; July roughly EUR 189,000 to 213,000 all in.
- LA PELLEGRINA 1, 50 metres, Couach refitted 2024, five cabins for twelve, a crew of nine, zero speed stabilisers, a beach club that becomes a cinema, 22 knots, Flisvos. EUR 180,000 to 235,000 base; July roughly EUR 318,000 to 357,000 all in, about USD 356,000 to 400,000.
The Charter Index carries every card, and the superyacht page sets the tier against the rest of the list. For what the 40 metre tier buys that a 30 metre yacht does not, I wrote a separate piece; this one is about the quote.
Why does July change the quote?
Three reasons, and only one of them is the price.
The price is the obvious one: July takes the top of the card. The second is the wind. The Meltemi, the northerly that blows through the Cyclades from mid July into September at 15 to 25 knots and occasionally above 30, is why I will not propose a yacht without stabilisers for a July Cyclades week on this tier, and why every card above names them where the owner has stated them. Lunch at anchor on a stabilised 40 metre yacht in a Meltemi is lunch; on an unstabilised one it is an exercise. The stabiliser page explains the two systems and lists the eleven yachts on our list that state them. The Meltemi guide has the month by month picture.
The third is the calendar. July weeks on 40 metre yachts are the first to go, and the 2027 calendars on our list began filling in August 2026. For a July week on this tier the honest lead time is nine to fourteen months, which means now; the lead time piece has our own numbers. A quote for July sent in the spring is a quote for what is left.
How is availability confirmed, and how fast?
Not by a website. A listing site shows a yacht; it cannot tell you whether she is free for your Saturday, because the owner's diary is held by the owner or the yacht's central agent, and that is who I write to the moment your four lines arrive. On the larger yachts the answer comes within the day, often within the hour in October, and sometimes with a counter: the week after, or the Ionian instead of the Cyclades because she is positioning. Those counters go into the proposal as they are, with the dates the owner actually offered beside each yacht.
What I will not do is quote a yacht as available because her page says so. The piece on comparing charter houses explains the four kinds of company that sell a crewed week and why the price of the yacht does not change with the company you reach her through; what changes is whether the person quoting her has spoken to the owner.
What happens between the quote and the yacht?
The order is the same on every charter this house writes, and it is written into a MYBA form agreement, the standard of the industry and the contract that protects the charterer, the owner and the broker in equal measure.
- You choose the yacht from the proposal and I hold the dates with the owner.
- The agreement is drawn up and you pay fifty percent of the net charter fee on signature. That deposit secures the yacht, the dates and the crew as yours.
- Around 45 days before boarding, the balance, the VAT and the APA are paid.
- The preference sheet goes to the chef and the captain: wines, allergies, the children's breakfast, the places that matter to you.
- On day one you board at 17:00, in Athens at Flisvos for most of the yachts above, and you step off at 09:00 on day eight. The piece on a week from Athens covers the marinas, the airport and the first night.
Funds move by wire transfer to the house's own business account, never to a personal account and never through a card link, and the contract names the yacht, the owner's company and this house. The MYBA contract explainer walks through the clauses that matter, including the one on crew changes that I prefer you read before July rather than in it.
How do you tell a reputable superyacht charter broker from a listing site?
Four checks, each one takes a minute, and they matter more on this tier than on any other because the sums are larger.
- A professional body you can look up. IYBA or MYBA, verifiable on the body's own website, not a badge on ours. Our IYBA listing is on the credentials page with the link.
- A MYBA form contract, named as such, with the yacht, the owning company and the broker's legal entity on it. This house is a Wyoming LLC with a desk in Athens, and that is who you contract with.
- A person. You should know, before you sign, who answers the phone during your week. On this house it is me, and I am at the marina for most embarkations.
- A proposal that shows every line. Base, APA percentage, VAT rate, all in, dates offered by the owner. A quote that cannot show the VAT rate for a specific hull has not asked the owner.
Online booking platforms are useful for seeing what exists. They are not where a July week on a 40 metre yacht is held, confirmed and contracted, and the piece on verifying a broker sets out the checks in full.
When is a 40 metre yacht not the right answer?
When the party is twelve and the budget is nearer EUR 100,000 all in than 200,000, a 30 metre yacht does the job with less diesel in the APA. SUMMER FUN, an Admiral 101 refitted for 2026 with six cabins for twelve, a crew of seven, stabilisers both ways and 24 knots, lists at EUR 45,000 to 65,000 base, roughly EUR 88,000 to 99,000 all in for a July week, and American families come back to her year after year. The twelve guest ceiling means a 40 metre yacht gives those twelve more volume, more crew and a bigger beach club, not more beds. If what you want is the volume, the quote above is honest; if what you want is twelve people well looked after in the Cyclades, ask me for both proposals and read them side by side.
How to send the request so the quote comes back right
Write the four lines: the week and its flexibility, the party with ages, the budget and whether it is base or all in, and the direction. Add anything the week is for, a birthday, an anniversary, a family summit, because on this tier the crew will build the week around it. I confirm availability with the owners the same day, and the proposal with three yachts and every line above arrives usually within the day, on one page per yacht, with the all in figure beside each. The list is here; the week starts with the four lines.
