Price factors

In brief...

A holiday in the Med on a luxury yacht, surprisingly, can cost €200 each or even less for a three day weekend in May/June or September/October excluding food, drink and getting there (that's £125, or US$175). That's based on 5 people in a 6+2 designed for up to 8. A week would be around €440/£240 each plus food. A full week in August can cost more like €500 each, or around £300, on a similar basis.  Skipper ? Add only €20 each/day for 5 of you.

"But", asks our prospective customer the other day.....

• "what is it ALL going to cost ?"
• "......including all those hidden extras"
• "how much will it work out per person ?"...........

Dear Tom,

Thanks for your message. I'll try my best to give you some guidelines. Clearly, much depends on personal preferences....however.... I'll try to cover these points....

• cost of the boat
• extras
• getting around, mooring, fuel
• eating
• total

......incidentally, the cost is nothing like as high as your neighbours will be assuming. Far less than skiing for example.

Cost of the boat Obviously the larger yachts cost more. Given that the larger boats can take more people, they often do not cost any more per person. If you are not taking a skipper, a more serious consideration which affects the price is how comfortable you feel being in charge of a larger boat with its more powerful sails, given your level of experience. Yacht cost is higher in August, peak season, and going to cost in the region of €450 (or £280) each per week, assuming 8 people in a boat designed for 8 to 10. 20% less in July, roughly, so about €350. All these figures depend slightly on the exact boat, and any extras you take.

Extras (skipper, outboard, spinnaker etc) E.g. Spinnaker puts price up by 3 to 5% (proportionally more on the cheaper boats), outboard motor for tender 2 to 4% (ditto). If you need a skipper, that will add around 25% assuming similar size boat - but I deduce you don't.

These items are separated out on the price list, since not everyone wants all of these things, and it helps to reduce our prices for those that do not. You might not want to go ashore when you are anchored in a bay for a lunch and a swim, but if you do, you might prefer an outboard engine to rowing. You might want to set a spinnaker when the wind fills in off the beam or stern. You need to know how to do this..it's not really for beginners, and it doesn't usually mix with idle sunbathing, a good book and a glass of chianti on deck.

Getting around, mooring etc We spent 2 weeks last year starting from Cala Galera, on a slow circuit to Sardinia, Corsica, Elba and Giglio. "Parking" your boat at night in a marina cost around 80,000 lire, for a 38' boat, so about €40 / £26 per night. Slightly more for larger boat, but then it's divided between more people.  Obviously if you drop the anchor for the night in one of the bays, you will pay nothing. There are plenty of beautiful places where this is a wonderful thing to do - up to you. Corsica is typically slightly less, Elba/Giglio much the same.  We often chose to throw the anchor in the "rada" or moorings, usually by the port somewhere, and again there is no charge for this.  Sometimes you can tie up in the harbour for no charge.

Might end up paying for berthing 4 times in a typical week, depending on your preferences, and in that case around £15 per person per week.

Fuel costs are pretty low, depending on how much you motor and how much you sail.

Eating Eating out is considerably cheaper than many parts of northern Europe. Not much difference in price between Elba, Corsica and Sardinia - probably Sardinia cheaper, unless you insist on staying in the Agar Khan's port, which is really a haven for luxury motor yachts, and not my taste at all. Price, well, that's really up to you. Can be very cheap - eg cook own lunch on yacht (we prefer to do this, since we often in some bay having a swim for lunch....say €7.50 per head for nice lunch ?), eat out every evening at €15 per head (restaurant prices range from around €8/9 to €30). Total, say €30 per person per day, including breakfast lunch and supper, eating out 7 times, increase to €40 if eat out every day at lunch too ?

Total In all then, probably talking around €490 per person per week in the peak season, assuming no skipper, plus a further €210 for food, total €700 (£450). Reduce by around €100 for July. Hope this helps. Give me call if you need any more detail, or if you need any help selecting your boat. I was not quite sure from your email what size of boat would suit you. Or I can call you - just drop me an email to info@sail-italy.com, tel +44 7780 660644

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