On most BVI catamarans, one price covers your meals, the ship’s bar, fuel, and the water toys. It does not cover the crew tip, premium alcohol, or the small BVI government fees.
All-inclusive is the default here. 83% of the crewed sailing yachts in our BVI fleet, almost all of them catamarans, include meals, the ship’s bar, and fuel in one weekly rate.
Big motor yachts price differently. Most quote a base fee plus expenses, so the 2 quote styles cannot be compared side by side without a little math. Below is what all-inclusive covers, what it never covers, and the math done on 2 real boats.
Broker insight
When I send a catamaran and a motor yacht side by side, clients almost always ask why the motor yacht looks cheaper. Usually it is not. The base fee leaves out food, drinks, fuel and dockage, and on a motor yacht the APA runs 35 to 40%, not the 30% you sometimes see quoted. So I give the realistic week total on both, tip included. That is the only way to compare them like for like.
Chris de Kock
Charter Broker, Sales Broker, Active CYBA Member
What the One Price Covers, and What Stays Out
The rate on an all-inclusive BVI catamaran is built so the week ends with almost no extra bills. Here is what it covers on most of the boats we book, taken straight from their own charter terms.
Included in the rate on most all-inclusive boats:
- All meals aboard: 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, and 7 dinners, cooked around your preference sheet.
- The standard ship’s bar: house wines, beer, and standard spirits.
- Fuel for normal day-to-day cruising, the generator, and the dinghy.
- The water toys the boat carries: paddleboards, snorkel gear, tow toys, and whatever else her listing names.
- Mooring fees and dockage on many boats, and on some, even customs fees and cruising permits.
- On many catamarans, a choice of meal plans: eat some dinners ashore and take about $150 per person off the full-board rate.
Still outside the rate, even all-inclusive:
- The crew tip. 15 to 20% is the Caribbean norm, paid at the end of the week and always at your discretion.
- Premium alcohol and specialty items. A specific champagne or an aged rum is provisioned at cost.
- Meals ashore. The beach bar night is on you.
- The small BVI government fees: cruising tax from $4 per person per day on BVI-based boats, a $10 per person environmental levy, and park fees. Fee rates move, so we confirm the current figures in writing on every quote.
- A sleep-aboard night before the charter, if you want one, at about half the daily rate.
QARA, an 82 ft power catamaran we book, prices the same week both ways: $36,500 plus expenses or $47,500 all-inclusive. That $11,000 difference is a real-world price tag on a week of meals, the bar, moorings, dockage, and daily fuel.
A few boats go further still. BAREFEET RETREAT folds the BVI taxes and fees into her rate, which is rare and worth asking about. For the boat-by-boat line items, our guide to what is included on a crewed BVI charter breaks the whole package down.
Why Catamarans Go All-Inclusive and Big Motor Yachts Do Not
The billing model follows the boat, not the marketing. Across the 400-plus crewed yachts we track in the BVI:
- 83% of the crewed sailing yachts, almost all of them catamarans, are all-inclusive.
- 68% of the motor yachts under 80 ft follow the same one-price model.
- 90% of the motor yachts of 80 ft and over charter plus expenses instead.
The reason is predictability. A catamaran burns little fuel and caters for 8 to 10 guests, so her owner can price the whole week up front. A 100 ft motor yacht’s fuel and dockage swing with every itinerary, so those boats bill the real costs through an APA instead.
The APA works like a trip account. You pay a percentage of the charter fee up front, usually 30 to 35% in the Caribbean, and 35 to 40% on larger motor yachts. Food, drinks, fuel, and dockage come out of it at cost, and whatever is unspent comes back to you.
It can also run short. If the week runs long on fuel, the crew flag it early and ask for a top-up. So budget the full APA as spent, and treat any refund as money back.
This split is a Virgin Islands trait. In the Bahamas, St Maarten, and Antigua, plus expenses is the standard model even on many catamarans.
How to Compare an All-Inclusive Quote With a Plus-Expenses Quote
Never compare the 2 headline numbers. An all-inclusive quote is most of your week’s cost. A plus-expenses quote is roughly two thirds of it. Here is the honest math on 2 real boats from our current BVI fleet.
OUT OF THE BLUE, a 55 ft Bali catamaran for 8 guests, all-inclusive:
- Charter fee, covering meals, the bar, fuel, and the crew: $32,000
- BVI government fees for 8 guests: about $500 to $700, covering the cruising tax, the environmental levy, park fees, and overnight moorings where they are not already in the rate
- Crew tip at 15 to 20%: $4,800 to $6,400
- Realistic week total: about $37,300 to $39,100, around $4,700 to $4,900 per guest
INCEPTION, a 103 ft motor yacht for 10 guests, plus expenses:
- Charter fee, covering the boat and crew only: $65,000
- APA at 40%, her own listed figure: $26,000, spent at cost, with the unspent balance refunded to you
- Crew tip at 15 to 20% of the base fee: $9,750 to $13,000
- Realistic week total: about $100,750 to $104,000, around $10,100 to $10,400 per guest
The headline quotes said the motor yacht costs twice as much. The realistic totals say about $38,000 against about $102,000, for a bigger boat, 2 more guests, and a different level of yacht. Neither headline figure was the price of the week, and that is the whole trap.
2 things keep the comparison fair to the motor yacht. Unspent APA comes back to you, and the tip is calculated on the base fee, not on a larger all-inclusive total. INCEPTION’s 40% APA is typical for a yacht her size, so budget it in full and treat the refund as upside.
For the full budget picture, our BVI charter cost guide carries the current numbers, fee by fee.
The Boats Behind These Numbers
OUT OF THE BLUE and INCEPTION are the 2 boats from the math above. NAE KAE runs the same all-inclusive model at $31,500 for up to 10 guests from Nanny Cay on Tortola. Rates move between seasons and boats change terms, so we confirm the contract type and the week total in writing before you commit.
Read the card prices with the terms in mind. OUT OF THE BLUE and NAE KAE are all-inclusive, so their rates cover the week. INCEPTION quotes plus expenses, so her $65,000 is the boat and crew only, before the 40% APA and the tip.
The longer lists live on our pages of best-value all-inclusive catamarans and the rare all-inclusive motor yachts.
How We Quote It
Ask us for the realistic week total and we send both versions of the number. The contract type first, all-inclusive or plus expenses, then the week with the tip range and government fees included, so a catamaran and a motor yacht read like for like.
Tell us your group size and the week you have in mind, and we will send both versions of the number for boats whose calendars we have checked.
People also ask
Is alcohol included on an all-inclusive BVI yacht charter?
Yes, the standard ship’s bar is included: house wines, beer, and standard spirits. Premium brands are the exception. A specific champagne or a rare tequila is provisioned at cost.
Put the brands you care about on your preference sheet and the crew will price them before the trip.
Is the crew tip included in an all-inclusive rate?
No, never. The tip stays outside the rate on every BVI charter, all-inclusive or not. In the Caribbean 15 to 20% is the norm, paid at the end of the week and always at your discretion.
Our guide to tipping the crew on a BVI charter covers how and when.
Is fuel included on a BVI yacht charter?
On an all-inclusive catamaran, yes. The rate covers normal cruising, the generator, and the dinghy. Some boats state a daily cruising allowance in their terms, around 3 hours a day, which is more than a typical BVI hop needs.
On a plus-expenses motor yacht, fuel is paid from the APA at cost, and it is usually the biggest single item in it.
Why does a plus-expenses quote look cheaper than it really is?
Because the 2 quotes measure different things. The all-inclusive quote already contains meals, drinks, fuel, and dockage. The plus-expenses quote is the boat and crew only, and the APA and the tip come on top.
Compare the realistic week totals, never the headline figures. Ask us for that total and we send it alongside the quote.
Do all BVI catamarans include everything?
Most, not all. 83% of the crewed sailing yachts we book in the BVI, almost all of them catamarans, are all-inclusive, and a few high-end cats charter plus expenses instead.
Even a fully all-inclusive rate leaves out the crew tip and the small government fees. That is why we confirm the exact terms in writing on every quote.
