The Document That Decides How Good Your Charter Will Be
You have signed the contract. The APA has been transferred. Flights are booked. Somewhere between two weeks and two months before your departure, a document lands in your inbox.
It is a form. Anywhere from two to eight pages depending on the yacht and the management company. It asks about dietary requirements, preferred wake times, favourite wines, whether anyone is seasick, whether the children need floatation aids.
Most guests treat it like a hotel check-in form. They fill in the obvious fields, leave half of it blank, and move on.
That is the single biggest mistake you can make before a crewed charter. Not because a missed field is a crisis, but because this document is the primary brief your crew works from for the entire week. A well-filled preference sheet is the difference between a crew that anticipates what you want and a crew that reacts to what you ask for. Those are not the same experience.
This is what goes into it, why it matters, and what the captain is actually looking for when it arrives.
What the Preference Sheet Actually Is
A preference sheet (sometimes called a guest preference form or provisioning brief) is the document through which charter guests communicate their expectations, requirements, and preferences to the yacht's crew before embarkation.
It is not a formality. On a well-run charter yacht, it is the foundation of the entire operational plan for your week.
The captain and broker use it to plan the route, factoring in whether you want long sailing days or short hops with maximum time at anchor. The chef uses it to plan the provisioning list before you board, which is why it needs to be submitted at least two weeks ahead. The steward or stewardess uses it to configure the cabins, set the tone for service, and understand the dynamics of your group. The deckhand uses it to know which water toys to prepare and whether to prioritise the paddleboards or the snorkelling kit.
When it arrives blank or half-finished, the crew improvises based on what they think most guests want. Improvisation is fine. It is not the same as a crew that already knows you want coffee on the aft deck at 7am, that one guest is allergic to shellfish, and that you would rather anchor in quiet bays than moor stern-to in a busy marina.
The Sections Most Guests Skip (and Shouldn't)
Dietary Requirements
This one most people complete, at least partially. Allergies and hard restrictions tend to get mentioned. What gets left blank is the nuance.
A chef provisioning for a week at sea needs to know more than "no nuts." They need to know whether a guest is lactose intolerant or just prefers not to have heavy cream sauces. Whether vegetarian means strictly no fish, or whether fish is fine. Whether a guest keeps halal or kosher, which has implications not just for ingredients but for preparation surfaces and storage.
They also want to know what you actually enjoy. There is a difference between "no strong preferences" and "we genuinely love fresh seafood and local produce." The first results in safe, competent meals. The second results in the chef sourcing the morning catch from the harbour before you wake up.
Alcohol and Beverages
The APA, explained in the APA guide on this site, covers provisioning costs including drinks. But the APA amount is set before the charter. If your group consumes significantly more or significantly less than the estimate, there is a reconciliation at the end.
What the preference sheet is asking here is not how much you plan to drink. It is asking the chef and stewardess how to stock the yacht. Which wines by name or region, if you have preferences. Whether you want spirits on board and which ones. Whether anyone in the group does not drink. Whether you want a bar setup on the flybridge or prefer drinks served at the table.
A chef who receives a blank beverage section will provision conservatively and order more during the week if needed. That is fine operationally, but it means the Burgundy you prefer is not chilled when you board. It means the champagne you wanted for the first sunset is not on ice. Small things, but a detailed preference sheet is the mechanism that prevents them.
Activities and Pace
This is the section that most directly shapes your itinerary, and it is the one most commonly left blank.
The captain needs to know whether your group is there to sail or to swim. Whether you want to cover distance or stay in one bay for two days. Whether anyone wants to take the helm or whether you want to hand that entirely over. Whether early morning departures work for your group or whether nobody is functional before 9am.
These are not preferences the captain can assume. A captain who sails aggressively because nobody indicated otherwise will frustrate a group that wanted lazy mornings. A captain who slow-cruises to protect guests who seem elderly will disappoint a group that came specifically to cover the coast.
For destinations with complex wind patterns, as covered in the Greece charter regions guide, the captain's route planning depends heavily on knowing whether you have must-see stops that are non-negotiable or whether you are happy to adapt based on conditions. The preference sheet is where that information should be.
Water Toys and On-Water Activities
Most charter yachts carry a selection of water toys. Most preference sheets ask which ones you want deployed and ready. Most guests leave this blank.
Preparing the jet ski or the hydrofoil boards takes time. If nobody mentioned an interest in them, the deckhand may have the paddleboards out but the more involved equipment stowed. If you ask for the jet ski on day three, it can be done, but it will not be the same as walking off the swim platform on day one to find it already fuelled and ready.
If diving is important, this needs to be communicated clearly, including certification levels. Some yachts carry full scuba setups; others need to arrange a dive guide and equipment in advance. This cannot be organised in 24 hours in a remote anchorage.
Special Occasions
Birthdays, anniversaries, proposals, milestone celebrations. If any of these are happening during the week, the preference sheet is where to say so.
The crew will not organise a surprise cake for a birthday that was never mentioned. They will not coordinate a bottle of champagne and the right anchorage for a sunset proposal unless they know it is happening. They will not prepare the table, the flowers, and the lighting for an anniversary dinner unless someone told them.
These things are not difficult for a good crew. They need the information to make them happen.
What the Captain Is Actually Reading
When a completed preference sheet arrives, the captain is not just reading individual answers. They are building a picture of the group.
Who are the experienced travellers and who are the first-timers? Who is the person who actually made the booking and whose preferences will drive the week? Are there tensions in the group that the crew should be aware of, different comfort levels with motion, different sleep schedules, different ideas about how much time to spend in port versus at sea?
The more clearly a preference sheet communicates the group's character, the better the captain can calibrate everything from the formality of the service to the pace of the itinerary.
Good captains also read what is not there. A preference sheet that arrives one page long with two dietary notes and no other detail usually means one of three things: the guests are genuinely easy-going and trust the crew completely, the guests did not take the document seriously, or the guests do not yet know what they want and will form opinions during the week. Each of those requires a different approach to managing the first 24 hours.
How to Fill It Out Well
A few practical principles.
Submit it early. Two weeks is the minimum. Two months is better. The chef needs time to source specialty items, particularly in remote areas or for unusual dietary requirements. A preference sheet that arrives three days before embarkation results in a provisioning list built around what is available at the local supermarket, not what you asked for.
Be specific rather than modest. Many guests write "no strong preferences" because they do not want to seem demanding. The crew's entire job is to meet your preferences. Vague answers result in generic service. "We enjoy red wine, prefer Italian varieties, and would rather have two good bottles than many average ones" is more useful than "wine is fine."
Include the unglamorous information. Seasickness is common and nothing to be embarrassed about. Letting the captain know in advance means they can plan routes that minimise open-water exposure, have medication available, and avoid scheduling a long crossing on the first day when guests have not yet found their sea legs.
Name the person the crew should coordinate with. Most charter groups have one person who is the de facto organiser. Identifying them explicitly on the preference sheet means the captain knows who to approach when decisions need to be made quickly.
Write the celebration details. If there is a birthday on day four, write the date, the name, and whether it should be a surprise. If there is an anniversary, write it. If a guest is planning to propose and needs the crew's help with the moment, write it. The crew cannot create these moments without the information.
How Frontier Yachting Handles the Preference Sheet
The single most common failure point with preference sheets is that the process is friction-heavy. A PDF arrives by email. You fill in your section, then try to forward it to eight other people in the group, each of whom has their own dietary requirements and opinions about wake times. Someone does not receive it. Someone fills in an old version. The final document arrives with three conflicting answers in the same field and a section left blank because nobody was sure who was supposed to fill it in.
We built a dedicated client portal at app.frontieryachting.com specifically to remove that friction.
When you book a charter through Frontier Yachting, your broker sends you a link to the portal. You can also register freely and invite your co-travellers directly. Each guest fills in their own section at their own pace. If someone in the group is less organised, you can fill it in on their behalf. You can see at a glance who has completed their section and who has not. When the form is done, you submit it to your broker with a single click. No email chains, no PDF versions, no wondering whether the captain received the right document.
The crew gets a clean, complete brief. You spend the ten minutes it actually takes, not the forty-five minutes of back-and-forth it usually takes. And the form can be updated right up until the submission deadline if preferences change or new guests are added.
A good charter broker will also review the completed form with you before it goes to the yacht. There is usually at least one detail worth discussing, a route preference that conflicts with the weather window, a dietary requirement that needs clarification, a celebration the chef should know more about.
The step-by-step charter guide covers how the preference sheet fits into the full charter process, from contract signing through to the first day on board.
If you are a first-time charterer and not sure what to include, the first charter guide covers what to expect before, during, and after the trip, including how the crew will use what you provide.
The Summary
The preference sheet is not paperwork. It is the brief your crew uses to prepare the most personal possible version of your week on the water.
Fill in every section. Be specific. Submit it early. Include the celebrations, the aversions, the routines, and the ambitions. Tell the captain whether you want to cover distance or stay still. Tell the chef exactly what you like to eat and drink. Tell the stewardess how you like your cabin, your mornings, and your evenings.
A blank preference sheet results in a generic charter. A detailed one results in something that feels like the crew already knows you.
About the Author
Maurits is a professional yacht charter broker and founder of Frontier Yachting, based in Belgium. He worked multiple seasons as a yacht captain before moving to the broker side. He has read hundreds of preference sheets from the captain's perspective and written the briefings that resulted from them.
Contact: hello@frontieryachting.com | +32 487 22 08 22
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