Paradise Found: Luxury Yacht Charters

My first visit to the Bahamas was aboard a cruise ship as a child. I remember walking ashore in Nassau , having locals drape wooden beads around my neck, and watching my father grunt with disgust as they asked him for money in return. We'd been off the boat all of five minutes, and already we were tourists under siege. The only secluded shores we found were on three-for-a-dollar postcards with dented corners.

I returned to the Bahamas last winter aboard the 120-foot motoryacht Joanne , expecting much of the same. My trip happened to come a few months after I finished another charter, aboard the 115-foot motoryacht Surprise in Fiji —an exotic destination full of untouched beaches without a person in sight.

I'd had a terrific time in the South Pacific and was actually dreading a return to the waters around Nassau . After visiting a true paradise, I thought, how could a charter through cruise-ship alley compare?

Joanne 's crew gave me an answer I never expected. They took me to the Bahamas that cruise ships display in their brochures but rarely pull into themselves: long, colorful reefs teeming with life in warm waters along pristine coastlines full of sparkling sand and towering palms. We saw a few dozen other yachts during our week aboard, but not a single Carnival or Royal Caribbean logo. A crowded beach was one that we had to share with another cruising couple, and that only happened once. The Bahamas , as I saw them on charter, turned out to be just as paradisiacal as the storied South Pacific.

Luxury yacht charter in the Bahamas and Caribbean is part of a worldwide industry coming into its own. Just a few decades ago, chartering a yacht in St. Lucia or Martinique meant finding a doctor who owned a sailboat and might let you use it for a week. Today, the yachts that cruise in and around those islands under power and sail have professionally trained crews and management houses dedicated to matching exclusive clients with ideal vacation experiences. Whether you want to spend $40,000 a week or $840,000 a week, you can experience yacht charter this winter in the Bahamas and Caribbean —a world away from every other vacation you've ever taken there.

“On your five-star floating hotel, the crew is able to bring a whole new dimension of a destination to life that you will not see from the porthole of a cruise ship,” says Jennifer a broker. “Their local knowledge of a bay, of a snorkeling spot, of a diving spot or fishing spot or restaurants, you're really getting a tour guide.”

Brokers fly around the planet getting to know yachts, crew and destinations so they can match any vacation-seeker's desires. If you love scuba, they can find a yacht that has a dive master in the Virgin Islands . If hiking is your hobby, they can introduce you to Caribbean islands like Saba —where you can climb through seven eco-zones in a day. If your wish is to see and be seen among movie stars, they can tell you which yachts are available in tony St. Barth's—and which ones are the best value for your dollar.

“Many reputable charter brokers have actually been accomplished crew members themselves,” Jennifer explains. “They've been chief stewardesses or captains or chefs on megayachts. They know the quality and level of service that people should expect from the inside out.”

Charter brokers also work with yacht captains to create unique itineraries. During a properly planned charter, you may step onto the same islands where cruise ships dock, but you'll rarely be among the throngs of tourists there. Instead, your yacht will pull into authentic ports of call—where there are still conch huts instead of Hard Rock Cafes.

Consider Antigua . Its town of St. John's has a 900-foot dock built to accommodate four cruise ship landings a day. That's upward of 10,000 people going ashore in any given 24-hour period, squishing into overpriced T-shirt shops and guided tour buses with questionable air conditioning.

On the islands other side, though, is an entirely different scene. The Antigua Yacht Club in Falmouth Harbor has just 42 slips. It's down the road from Nelson's Dockyard (a Georgian naval yard that oozes historical charm) and from English Harbor; where there is a single inn surrounded by villas with swimming pools that seem to flow right into the sea. Instead of battling your way back to a cruise ship in time for a 3 p.m. departure, you can loll about in a bathing suit eating hors d'oeuvres on your charter yacht's aft deck until sunset, then hike up the hillside to Shirley Heights , an old military installation where the locals now throw a raucous reggae party every Sunday night.

“The flexibility is second to none,” Jennifer says, and she's right. When you charter a yacht, it is yours for the week. You're not sharing it with thousands of other people, and you need not conform to anything but your own desires. If you particularly like the nude beach at Orient Bay on Sint Maarten, simply tell the captain you'd like to stay an extra day. If you decide you'd like to play in the yacht's kayaks until well past the suggested afternoon hour off St. Vincent , your deckhand will wait—with a smile. If you snuggle with your spouse under the stars in the top-deck Jacuzzi until dawn near the coast of Anguilla , you can sleep in the next morning. Your chef will prepare breakfast at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, just before it's time to go ashore and hear Bankie Banx sing Bob Dylan tunes in Rastafarian style at his small local club, The Dunes.

You can opt to dine ashore before the show, but why would you when you have a personal chef? Many people rave about cruise ships because of the food—the miles and miles of carved vegetables and posed turkeys that line buffet tables at all hours. No, you will not find that aboard a luxury yacht charter. Instead, you will find even more elegant culinary creations made to suit your personal tastes.

“The chefs on private yachts cater to individual requests,” Jennifer explains. “Each time you charter a yacht, you fill out a preference sheet. One person may be allergic to chocolate, another to garlic. That's fine. These chefs are five-star trained at top culinary institutes. Plus, they really pay attention to the local provisioning and are able to bring a lot of your destination onto your table.”

Such personalized service and local expertise is available aboard charter yachts in all price ranges. Smaller boats tend to be less expensive than bigger boats, and sailing yachts tend to be less expensive than motoryachts, but one thing is almost always the same: quoted rates are base prices that do not include food, fuel, dockage, crew tip and other expenses. Figure on your charter costing one-third to one-half again any rate you see.

In the case of Whisper , a stunning 116-foot sloop launched last year by the noted builder Holland Jachtbouw, the base rate is $55,000 per week for six guests with five crew. Whisper 's interior feels like a gentlemen's club, with handcrafted teak varnished in a warm shade. When I was aboard her last fall during her North American debut, I found her bar and main saloon so comfortable, I had no desire to go up onto the deck. That's a special quality in a sailing yacht, since smaller designs sometimes feel cramped belowdecks. With naval architecture by the renowned Ted Hood, Whisper is an excellent example of a yacht designed to provide an adventurous sailing experience by day and luxurious accommodations at night.

If sailing isn't your thing, consider a motoryacht such as the 156-foot Inspiration , which carries 10 to 12 guests for $115,000 a week. (The “10-to-12 guest” description on any yacht usually means some of the staterooms have Pullman berths, which are great for kids.) There are nine crew aboard Inspiration , so with 10 adults in a charter party, you receive nearly one-to-one service.

When I was aboard recently, the owner told me he had just invested about $500,000 in new marble and other improvements for the guest accommodations. That's important on a popular boat—it shows the owner is committed to ensuring guests' comfort and the yacht's upkeep.

Triple Inspiration 's rate is the 205-foot motoryacht Apogee . This yacht's $305,000-to-$320,000 weekly price tag is in part a function of her pedigree (she was launched in 2003 by Codecasa, one of the finest Italian yards) and in part a function of the service aboard (she has 17 crew caring for 12 guests).

Then there are her amenities, which include an elevator that runs all the way up to the sundeck. There's a gym up there that can be closed off or open to the elements, so you can exercise in the great outdoors if you so choose. Afterward, you can retire to the upper-deck lounge that has a wraparound bar and surround-sound theater system.

The most expensive charter yacht in the world today is the 280-foot motoryacht Annaliesse . One-to-one crew service is provided for as many as 36 guests for a weekly rate of $840,000. The master suite alone is 1,184 square feet, and Annaliesse has a hydraulic door on her transom that opens to reveal a Tropicana Bar near the water toys and swim platform. Since she just launched a few months ago in the Mediterranean, Annaliesse is a hot commodity that will turn quite a few heads during her Caribbean debut this winter.

Whatever your price range, each of these yachts and many more like them offer the opportunity to see parts of the Bahamas and Caribbean you've never seen before—even if that simply means going to the other side of an island that disappointed you during a cruise-ship trip in the past.