Start with the number, because that is what everyone actually wants to know. A crewed catamaran in the BVI charters from roughly $25,000 to $100,000 for the week, all-inclusive, depending on the boat's size, age and crew. For a full boat of eight, most groups land somewhere between $400 and $700 per person per day. That is the whole holiday: floating villa, private crew, chef, open bar, fuel and the toys.
I have been involved with crewed charter yachts for years, as captain, in fleet management, the BVI included, and now as the broker arranging these weeks. This is how the booking actually works, from first message to stepping aboard in Tortola, with the parts people get wrong marked along the way.
Why the BVI model is different
Most crewed yachts in the Caribbean, and nearly all crewed catamarans, charter on the CYBA Inclusive Charter Agreement. The name is accurate. Under its terms the charter fee includes the entire yacht, a fully licensed crew, all meals, the standard ship's bar, fuel, cruising taxes and permits, mooring fees, and the on-board watersports equipment. One rate, one boat, one crew, done.
If you have chartered in the Mediterranean this will feel unusual, because the Med runs on MYBA terms where the fee covers the yacht and crew and everything variable flows through an APA of 25 to 35% on top. In the BVI the equivalent figure is a small advance allowance, typically around 5% of the charter fee, for anything beyond the standard arrangement. We have compared the two contract worlds properly in MYBA vs CYBA; the short version is that the BVI week is about as predictable as charter budgeting gets.
What sits outside the rate: crew gratuity at a customary 15 to 20% of the charter fee, scaled to how the week actually went, plus personal extras like scuba, premium wines, dockage you specifically request, and getting to the boat. Excluded items are settled before you step off, usually in cash.
Charters run noon to noon. You board at midday on day one and step off at midday a week later, which is worth knowing when you book flights.
What it costs, more precisely
The range is wide because the product is. At the lower end you will find older or smaller catamarans with a crew of two doing honest, relaxed weeks. In the middle, from around $40,000, sit the modern 50 to 60 foot cats with the beach-club sterns and serious chefs, which is where most families and friend groups end up. The top of the range is the new-generation 70 to 80 foot machines with a crew of four, and those weeks compete with any villa on land.
Season moves the numbers. December to April is the season, and Christmas and New Year weeks carry premium rates with a strict one-week minimum. Those holiday weeks are typically committed by September or October, so if that is your window, the timeline below starts earlier than you think.
What the inclusive rate looks like by size, 2026 to 2027
Added August 2026. The ranges below are taken from current listings for BVI-based crewed catamarans, quoted as weekly all-inclusive rates in US dollars. They are a selection from the wider market rather than the whole of it, and the per-person figure is at each band's usual capacity, before the crew gratuity.
Catamaran | Weekly rate, all-inclusive | Per person before tip | Examples in the 2026 to 2027 listings |
|---|
46 to 47 ft, 2 crew, 6 to 8 guests | $22,000 to $27,000 | $2,750 to $3,400 at 8 | Bali 46 and Lagoon 46 from 2023 to 2024, Fountaine Pajot Saona 47 |
50 to 54 ft, 2 crew, 8 to 9 guests | $26,000 to $32,000 | $3,250 to $4,000 at 8 | Lagoon 50 from 2021 to 2022, Bali 54 from 2023 |
55 to 65 ft, 2 to 3 crew, 8 guests | $40,000 to $60,000 | $5,000 to $7,500 | Lagoon 55 from 2024, Lagoon 65 from 2021 |
67 to 80 ft, 3 to 5 crew, 8 to 12 guests | $58,000 to $112,000 | $5,800 to $11,200 | Fountaine Pajot 67 from 2023 up to the 80-foot Sunreef class |
Christmas and New Year weeks sit above these figures. On the listings we read, Christmas week carries a premium of roughly 10 to 20% over the standard rate and New Year week 20 to 35%, both with a 7-night minimum, and the Christmas charter has to end by 26 or 27 December so the boat can turn around for the New Year one. Older boats with a recent refit can sit well under the band for their size, which is where the value often is for a group that cares more about the crew than the year of build.
What sits on top of the inclusive rate
The inclusive rate on a BVI-based crewed catamaran normally covers the boat, the crew, all meals, the standard bar, fuel for a normal itinerary, the water toys, the moorings, and the BVI cruising permit and national parks permit. What it does not cover is a short list, and it is worth having the figures.
The crew gratuity is the largest item. The CYBA agreement itself gives no percentage and describes the tip as discretionary, but 15 to 20% of the charter fee is the convention across the Caribbean, paid to the captain at the end of the week for the crew to share. On a $27,000 week that is $4,050 to $5,400.
The government charges are small on a BVI-based boat. The Environmental and Tourism Levy is $10 per visitor on arrival, and the BVI Search and Rescue contribution collected by operators is $2 per person. The cruising permit is about $4 per person per day for a BVI-based charter boat and up to $16 for a foreign-based one, and the National Parks Trust permit runs from $25 to $55 per boat per week depending on the number of guests; on BVI-based crewed catamarans both are normally inside the rate, and the listing should say so. If you leave by ferry to St Thomas there is a $20 departure tax, and the ferry itself is somewhere between $25 and $60 one way depending on the operator and route.
The 2025 change worth knowing about concerns boats based outside the BVI, typically in St Thomas. Since June 2025 a foreign-based term-charter vessel pays a licence fee of $1,200 per entry into the BVI, or a larger annual fee, and is limited in the number of BVI pick-ups it can make in a year. Those costs reach the guest one way or another, and it is one reason a BVI-based boat with the permits already in the rate is usually the simpler and cheaper choice for a BVI week.
Beyond that, the extras are the ones you choose: premium spirits and fine wines above the standard bar, scuba diving, dockage on the nights you specifically ask to be in a marina rather than on a mooring, and everything ashore that you pay for yourself. Flights and the transfer to Tortola are yours as well.
A worked example for 8 guests
Take a 50-foot catamaran from the middle of the table at $27,000 for the week, all-inclusive, with 8 guests and 2 crew. Before the tip that is $3,375 per person, or about $480 per person per night. Add a 15 to 20% gratuity and the week comes to $31,050 to $32,400, which is $3,880 to $4,050 per person and about $555 to $580 per person per night. The levy, the rescue contribution and the ferry add less than $100 a head, and the flights sit on top. That is the whole holiday, with a private crew and a chef, and it is the figure to compare against a villa or a resort week.
For a Mediterranean comparison, the same calculation on a crewed 46-foot catamaran in Greece, where the fee, the VAT, the running costs and the tip are all separate lines, is set out in what a crewed catamaran week in Greece really costs.
The steps, in the order they actually happen
1. The brief. Dates, group size and make-up, budget range, and how you want the week to feel. Divers or beach-bar people, kids or couples, sailing purists or floating-villa. Sixty seconds in a form or a WhatsApp message is enough to start.
2. Options. We come back with a handful of boats that fit, usually three to five, with honest notes on each: the boat, the crew, why it suits your group. Then we go back and forth. This is the part where the brief sharpens, someone remembers an allergy, the budget stretches for the boat everyone fell for, or shrinks back to the one that was always the sensible answer.
A word on how a broker earns their place in this step, since I am obviously not neutral. On a crewed catamaran the crew is the product. The same boat with a different crew is a different holiday, and nothing about crew quality shows up in listing photos. Brokers see the boats and talk to the crew and the operators; one of the catamarans in our own Caribbean fleet, AEOLUS 77, took Best Crewed Catamaran 60 feet and over at the 2025 BVI Charter Yacht Show, and the kind of crew behind a result like that is exactly what we shortlist for. The price is the same for you either way, the operator pays the commission. Tell us your dates and your group and we will shortlist from boats and crew we actually know.
3. Contract. Once the boat is chosen, we draft the CYBA agreement. It is a seven-page standard document and the important parts are readable: what is included, the payment schedule, the cancellation terms, the captain's authority. Your funds go to a broker's escrow client account and are only released to the owner on a fixed schedule around your charter, which is the structural protection a brokered booking gives you.
4. Sign and pay. The first payment is due on signing. Book far out and the fee splits into instalments; book inside a couple of months and it is usually a single payment of the charter fee plus the advance allowance. Under CYBA terms, payments made are earned and non-refundable, and if you cancel, the mechanism is rebooking: the owner and broker try to re-let your week, and if it re-lets you are refunded pro rata less a 20% cancellation fee. Cancellation cover exists and is a booking-time decision; we cover the whole subject in cancelling a yacht charter.
5. Preferences and details. After signing comes the part that decides how good the week is: the preference sheet. Food likes and dislikes, allergies, drinks down to brands, occasions, watersports interests. The crew provisions the boat against this document, so vague answers produce a generic week and specific answers produce a personal one. We wrote a whole guide to filling it out properly. Sometimes there is a call with the captain or crew at this stage to talk through the route and the wish list; either way, the itinerary stays flexible and the captain shapes it day by day around weather and what your group turns out to love.
6. Getting there and stepping aboard. Tortola is the base. From Europe, the practical routes are via St Maarten or San Juan to Beef Island airport, or the ferry across from St Thomas if you fly through the US Virgin Islands. Noon boarding, welcome drink, safety briefing, and the first anchorage is an hour away. What the week itself looks like, Norman Island to Anegada to Jost Van Dyke, is written up day by day in our BVI itinerary.
The mistakes worth avoiding
Booking too late for the week you actually want; the good crew are known and their calendars fill first, holiday weeks by early autumn. Choosing the boat off photos and treating the crew as furniture. Leaving the preference sheet half-empty. And budgeting the headline rate without the gratuity, which on a $40,000 week is another $6,000 to $8,000 for a crew that earned it.
None of these are complicated to avoid. They just require deciding earlier and answering more honestly than most people do.
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