Yacht Rental Ibiza — Reading a Charter Quote Properly

A small open boat or RIB with a skipper is the cheapest way onto the water and the most fun for two or four people. Fast, wet, no shade, no lunch service, and perfect for a half-day of coves. Expect a few hundred euros upwards for half a day depending on size.

A catamaran is the family and group option: stable, shallow-drafted so it gets close in, plenty of flat deck to lie on, and slow. If your plan is anchoring somewhere and staying there, this is the right hull. Roughly four figures for a day.

A motor yacht with crew is what people mean when they say charter. It goes further, it has proper shade and a saloon, there is usually a hostess handling food and drink, and the day costs several thousand upwards depending on the length of the boat. Above a certain size you are into a different market again, and the mooring fees at the smart marinas start to matter.

Ask this question first and in writing: what is excluded. Fuel is the common one, and on a motor yacht in a day of moving around it is not a rounding error. Then the skipper and crew if they are quoted separately, the mooring or berthing fee at the far end if you stop somewhere, food and drink beyond basic provisions, and tax.

A quote that looks dramatically cheaper than the others is nearly always one with more of those sitting outside it. A cleaning or end-of-charter fee and a security deposit are both normal and should be stated up front.

Broad guide: a half-day on something small starts in the hundreds, a decent crewed day for six to eight is a four-figure day before extras, and it climbs steeply from there. Anyone quoting precisely without knowing your date is guessing — our concierge page covers how we handle supplier costs.

This is the part most first-time charterers do not know. The seagrass meadows around Ibiza and Formentera are protected, and anchoring on them is not allowed. In practice that means designated buoy fields and sandy patches rather than dropping the hook wherever the water looks nice, and at Formentera in August the buoys are taken early.

The waters around the salt flats and towards Formentera fall inside a protected marine area with its own rules. A good operator tells you that before you book rather than at eleven in the morning. It is also why a competent skipper is worth more than an extra two metres of boat — he knows which buoy fields fill first and which cove is sheltered on the day.

Ibiza is exposed differently on each coast, so the plan you agreed in advance is provisional. With wind from the north the boat will stay on the southern and western side, and the northern coast is off the table. From the south it works the other way.

Most summer days are calm enough that this is invisible. On the days it is not, the skipper changing the route is him doing his job, and arguing for the original plan gets you an uncomfortable afternoon. Check the cancellation policy before you pay a deposit.

Set the departure early. Mornings are generally calmer than afternoons, and a nine or ten o'clock start gives you the good half of the day.

A full charter is eight to ten hours door to door, and you will be tired afterwards in the specific way that sun and salt make you tired. Do not put a club night on the end of it — the VIP itinerary page explains why that combination fails.

Two or three weeks of notice is sensible for a crewed boat in July and August; a few days is usually enough in May, June and September. Book the transfer to the marina at the same time, because a taxi at half past eight in August is not a certainty.

If the day includes company, arrange it alongside the boat rather than afterwards — the yacht companion page sets out what a full day on board actually asks of someone, and the VIP tier handles charters with business guests aboard.