The BVI is the easiest first family yacht charter we know. The islands sit within sight of each other, the water is flat, and a crewed catamaran takes care of the cooking, the toys and the driving.
Most families we book here spend between $35,000 and $55,000 for the week, all-inclusive. 2 families sharing a 5-cabin catamaran land between $45,000 and $60,000, and the detail is below.
Children count as guests, an infant included, and the ages decide almost everything else: the cabin plan, which toys they can use, and how far the boat moves in a day.
Here is how we plan a BVI week around the kids, what to skip, and the catamarans we send families to.
Why the BVI is the family charter we recommend first
The BVI works for children for 3 reasons, where other destinations make parents work. The hops are short: Norman Island is about an hour from Tortola, and the longest run on a family route is about 2 hours.
The water is sheltered. The main islands form a channel that keeps the swell out, so the boat sits flat at anchor and the kids swim off the stern without a current to think about.
And the money is 1 number. Most BVI catamarans are all-inclusive, so food, drinks, fuel and the toys are in the rate and nobody is reconciling a fund on the last morning.
The captain of C’EST LA VIE put it best when we walked her: sailing is nice, but you are here to see the islands. If he can get you to the next one in 20 minutes rather than an hour, the day is yours.
Greece and the Bahamas both work well with older children and a bigger boat. Our BVI vs Bahamas comparison covers the trade-offs. For a first charter with kids under 10, we start here.
Tell us the ages first, because the ages plan the week
The first thing our BVI brokers ask on a family inquiry is how old the children are. It is the question that shapes the shortlist before any budget does.
Under 6
The boat moves at nap time and anchors by lunch. We keep the days to 1 hop and pick bays with a beach the tender can nose onto. Nets on the bow and shade on the aft deck matter more than any toy.
6 to 12
This is the age the BVI was made for. The Baths at Virgin Gorda, snorkeling off the stern, the tube behind the tender, paddleboards in a flat bay. Several boats carry kids’ snorkel sets and kids’ water skis, and we ask for them by name on the preference sheet.
Teens
Teens want the toys with an engine. Some rate cards set 13 as the minimum age for a SeaBob and 16 for an e-foil, and the crew hold the line on that. A Discover Scuba session on a dive-rigged boat, a full day at Anegada and the beach bars are all on the table.
Jet skis are not: the BVI bans them outright, and our jet ski post explains what replaces them.
Most families have mixed ages, and the rule is simple. We plan the route to the youngest child and the toys to the oldest. A 4-year-old and a 9-year-old get 1 short hop a day, and the tube goes out in the afternoon anchorage while the little one naps.
The cabin plan decides the boat
Most BVI catamarans carry 4 or 5 queen cabins, each with its own bathroom. A 4-year-old and a 9-year-old share a queen happily, so a family of 4 fits every boat on this page with a cabin to spare.
2 teenagers do not share, and that single fact takes half the fleet off a bigger family’s shortlist.
The exceptions are the boats we go to first. A twin cabin for the kids, a proper bunk cabin, a forepeak single for a teenager, or a cabin with a lower bed and an easy step in for grandparents.
TWO OCEANS carries a twin next to 3 doubles, and it is the layout we wish more 55-footers had.
Then there is the count. Almost every crewed catamaran in the BVI is licensed for 12 guests at most, and a baby is a guest. A catamaran listed for 12 that is really 5 cabins plus pullman berths will not sleep them well.
Our 12-guest catamarans page shows which boats put all 12 in real beds.
Tell us who is sharing with whom and we send you only the boats where the beds match the family. Our master cabins list covers the parents’ end of the deal, and for a single family of 4 to 8 our 8-guest catamarans page walks through which 4-cabin layouts fit which family.
Broker insight
A baby counts as a guest in the BVI, and it comes up more than you would think. 10 adults plus an infant is 11 guests, and that takes most catamarans off the list. I would rather know about the infant in the first email than at the contract. Tell me the ages and I shortlist the boats where the count works and the cabins make sense.
William Mc Nally
Charter Broker, Associate CYBA Member
What a family week in the BVI costs
The $35,000 to $55,000 most families spend buys a 4 or 5 cabin catamaran built in the last few years, a crew of 2 or 3, every meal, the bar, fuel and the toys for 7 nights.
For 2 families on a 5-cabin boat, the $45,000 to $60,000 splits to $22,500 to $30,000 per family for a private crewed week with every meal, the bar and the toys included.
The floor is about $30,000, on older or smaller boats and on shoulder dates. Below that we would rather steer a family to a different plan than to a boat that disappoints.
Between $30,000 and $40,000 a family of 4 has real choice: ALTESSE, STELLA MARE and SAIL AWAY all start in that band, and all 3 are on the list below.
Our BVI cost guide and what $40,000 gets you walk through the bands.
Most boats price children on the same per-guest ladder as adults, so a family of 4 pays the 4-guest rate. A few knock $200 to $250 off per child, SAIL AWAY and ALTESSE among them, and we ask every time. Christmas and New Year carry their own premium, covered in our family Christmas guide.
Spring break and the Easter weeks are the first family dates to fill each year. If March is your window, the shortlist should be in your inbox the fall before.
What to skip with children aboard
A good BVI week with kids is mostly about leaving things out. These are the ones we take off the plan first.
- The Anegada crossing with toddlers, or in a windy week. It is the 1 open-water leg in the BVI. With teens in settled weather it is a highlight. With small children, or when the Christmas winds are blowing, the captain finds a better day inside the channel.
- The afternoon at the Willy T or the Soggy Dollar. Both are great bars, and both fill with grown-ups by 3 pm. We anchor the family at Norman Island for the snorkeling and send the parents over by tender for an hour.
- More than 2 hours underway in a day. Inside the channel the BVI never needs it, and the Anegada crossing is the 1 optional exception. A short morning hop and a long afternoon at anchor is the rhythm children settle into by day 2.
- A boat listed for 12 that is really 5 cabins with pullmans. We count the real beds, not the guest number, before a boat reaches your shortlist.
None of this shortens the week. It just puts the boat where the children are happiest, which is at anchor in flat water with the toys in.
The BVI catamaran charters we send families to
These are BVI catamarans we have walked, and each one is here for 1 reason a family will feel on day 1.
The full ranking, with a review of each boat, is in our Top 10 BVI catamarans for families.
Rates shown are the starting weekly rate at the lowest guest count and season, all-inclusive. A family of 4 usually pays a step above the From figure, and we quote the exact number for your count and dates.
When the grandparents are coming
HOURGLASS has a full-beam master with a walk-in closet, and a cabin with a lower bed and an easy step in that makes 3 generations work on 1 boat. Captain Adriana runs the toys herself.
When the kids need their own beds
ALTESSE carries bunk beds for the children, movie nights with a projector and popcorn, a crew who make it out to Anegada every week, and $250 off per child under 15. FOREVER YOUNG takes children from 7 up, keeps a twin cabin set up for the kids, and the crew coach teenagers on the e-foil.
When the crew matters most
SAIL AWAY runs a family-first service, every cabin a queen with a dry head, and takes $200 off per child under 12. STELLA MARE sets up a full beach with volleyball, badminton and cornhole, and has a movie projector on the shaded foredeck.
DO MORE is the active boat. Emma trained as a speech and language pathologist before going to sea and told us she has experience with children who need extra patience. Georgina, a PADI instructor, runs the dives, confirmed season by season.
When it is 2 families
ZINGARA takes 10 guests in 5 cabins, 1 of which converts from a queen to 2 singles for the kids, and asks for 6 nights or more over spring break.
TRYST takes 11 in 5 queens plus a single forepeak for a teenager. John Boullin, who spent 4 nights aboard, calls her the best charter catamaran in the BVI.
The crew is what you are paying for
On a family charter the crew do 3 jobs the brochure never lists. They cook what the children will actually eat, and the preference sheet 6 weeks out is where you tell them. They run the toys, which means an adult is in the tender every time the tube goes out.
And they move the boat while the kids sleep. A 7 am hop to the next bay, breakfast at anchor, and the children wake up somewhere new without a minute underway.
The toys are the other thing we check. Kids’ versions of a lot of the water toys exist, and the boats we send families to carry them: wakeboards and skis sized for children, and plenty of floats, donuts and towables, which are the toys the kids come back to every afternoon.
We ask the central agent about the crew before we recommend a boat for children, and we say so when a crew has changed since we were aboard. Our guide to crew size in the BVI explains why we recommend 3 crew when the budget allows.
The difference shows most above 6 guests. The 2-crew boats on this list earn their place because the couple running them are used to children, and with 4 guests aboard that is enough hands.
How we would plan a family week out of Tortola
A 7-night loop, Tortola out and back, no leg over about 2 hours. This is the shape we start from, and the captain bends it to the weather and the ages.
- Day 1: board at Nanny Cay after lunch, an hour to Norman Island, first swim before dinner.
- Day 2: snorkel the caves in the morning, then an hour across to Cooper Island for the afternoon and the mooring.
- Day 3: the Baths early, before the day boats, then the North Sound and its flat water for the toys.
- Day 4: a lazy North Sound morning, or Anegada if the children are older and the wind is down, then about 90 minutes back to Marina Cay or Trellis Bay for the night.
- Day 5: about 2 hours west along Tortola’s north shore to Jost Van Dyke, White Bay in the morning before the day boats, Great Harbour or Sandy Cay for the night.
- Day 6: Sandy Cay or Peter Island, a last long afternoon at anchor.
- Day 7: a short run home, 1 more swim, and the bags packed by the crew.
Our first-timer guide covers what happens between the inquiry and boarding day. Send us the ages, the dates or a month, and a range, and the shortlist comes back with the beds already counted.
People also ask
Is there a minimum age for children on a BVI yacht charter?
No legal minimum. Some rate cards ask that children are swim safe, a few boats set their own floor (FOREVER YOUNG takes children from 7), and the motorized toys carry age rules. Babies and toddlers charter every week; we match them to a boat with nets, shade and a crew used to small children.
Do children pay less on a crewed charter?
Usually not. The rate is per boat and set by guest count, so a family of 4 pays the 4-guest rate. A few boats take $200 to $250 off per child, and some do not charge for a baby under 2, so we ask every time.
Can grandparents manage a catamaran?
Yes, with the right boat. Catamarans stay flat at anchor and underway, and a few carry a cabin with a lower bed and an easy step in. Tell us about stairs and mobility early and we shortlist around it.
Is a BVI charter safe for a 3-year-old?
Yes. Most boats carry life jackets in small sizes, and we confirm the size for your child before you board. The bow has nets, and the crew supervise every toy. We plan 1 short hop a day and skip the Anegada crossing, so the boat is at anchor in flat water most of the time.
When is the best time for a BVI family charter?
Spring break, Easter and early summer have the calmest water and the most family boats free. Christmas is a good week and a windier one. School holidays fill first, so the spring dates should be booked the fall before.
How much does a BVI yacht charter for a family cost?
Most families we book spend $35,000 to $55,000 for 7 nights on a crewed catamaran, all-inclusive. 2 families sharing a 5-cabin boat land between $45,000 and $60,000. The floor is about $30,000 on older or smaller boats and shoulder dates.
Do we need to bring a nanny?
Most families do not. The crew run the toys and the kids’ meals, and a boat with 3 crew has someone free for the children. If you want a dedicated nanny, we find the boats with a spare berth for one.
