Ask our Bahamas brokers to explain
Every answer here comes from a DMA broker who books the Bahamas season after season: what a week really costs, how the charter tax and APA work, who the crew are, and which islands fit which month. Open a question for the short answer, or read the full one on its own page.
Costs and payments
What is the Bahamas charter tax?
Marcelle HailwaxYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
14% of the base charter fee. Since July 1, 2025 it is a single consolidated charter fee collected through the Bahamas Port Department; before that it was split into 10% VAT plus a 4% Port Department fee, so the total is unchanged, only the collection is simpler.
How much should we tip the crew on a Bahamas charter?
Lian BlacquiereYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
15 to 20% of the base charter fee is customary, with motor yacht crews at the higher end of that range. It is always at your discretion and should reflect the service you actually received, but plan for it in the budget from the start; on a $60,000 week that is $9,000 to $12,000.
Can I get a discount on a Bahamas crewed yacht charter?
Martina AsmusYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Sometimes. Outside the holiday peaks, and especially on larger yachts, managers will consider a serious offer. The way to do it is to make one through your broker: we know which managers negotiate, which have a strict no-discount policy, and what number is worth putting on the table.
Does a Bahamas charter price include food, drinks and fuel?
Louis LamprellYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
On most crewed motor yachts, no. The weekly rate you see covers the yacht and its crew. Food, drinks, fuel, and dockage are paid from the APA, an onboard budget of 25 to 40% of the charter fee that you pay before the trip. Whatever the crew does not spend is refunded to you afterwards.
When are the final payment and APA due for my Bahamas charter?
John BoullinYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
The balance of your charter fee, the APA, and the 14% Bahamas charter tax are due together about six weeks before your charter starts. Some contracts state it as 60 days; your charter agreement will show the exact date.
Does using a charter broker cost me anything?
Chris de KockYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
No. Our service is free to you. Like a travel agent, we are paid a commission from the yacht's side, and the charter fee is the same whether you book through us or approach the boat directly. There is no markup for using a broker.
How do payments work when booking a Bahamas yacht charter?
Daniel AsmusYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
The standard structure is simple: 50% of the charter fee is due when you sign the charter agreement, and the remaining 50%, together with the APA and the 14% Bahamas charter tax, is due about six weeks before you step aboard.
Can I pay for my yacht charter with a credit card?
Daniel AsmusYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Short answer: sometimes for the first installment, but we almost never recommend it. The card company's exchange rate plus the processing surcharge, direct or hidden, usually costs you more than any points or miles are worth on amounts this size.
Why are prices shown without tax and APA?
Marcelle HailwaxYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Because those two amounts are not the same for every yacht, so baking them into the listed price would make every rate wrong for someone. The Bahamas charter tax is the predictable part: a flat 14% of the charter fee, collected through the Bahamas Port Department since July 1, 2025, when it replaced the old 10% VAT plus 4% port fee.
How much does a Bahamas crewed yacht charter cost?
John BoullinYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Crewed motor yachts in the Bahamas start at about $40,000 per week in base rate, and most of our clients book between $60,000 and $200,000 before expenses. Crewed catamarans open lower, and many of them run all-inclusive, which changes the math below.
Booking and contract
Do you have professional insurance?
William Mc NallyYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Yes. DMA Yachting carries professional indemnity insurance up to EUR 500,000 with ITIC, the International Transport Intermediaries Club, the specialist insurer for yacht brokers and other transport intermediaries.
When should I book flights for my Bahamas yacht charter?
Chris de KockYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Book your flights after the charter agreement is signed, not before. It is far easier to move a flight, even for 12 people, than to move a yacht: the boat you want has to be free, in the port you need, on your exact dates, and that is the hard part of the puzzle.
How far in advance should I book a Bahamas yacht charter?
William Mc NallyYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Six to twelve months ahead is the sweet spot. Yacht charter is a seller's market: each yacht is one-of-one, and the best Bahamas boats are booked out six months or more, with holiday weeks going even earlier. A year out you choose from nearly the whole fleet; three months out you are choosing from what is left.
Should I buy charter cancellation insurance?
William Mc NallyYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
We recommend it, and for Bahamas summer and fall bookings we recommend it strongly. Cancellation and curtailment insurance protects your charter fee if illness, travel disruption, or other events force you to cancel or cut the trip short.
What happens if weather or a hurricane affects our charter?
John BoullinYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
It depends on your contract, so we make sure the right terms are in it before you sign. For June through November bookings we add a hurricane addendum, which sets out what happens if a named storm affects your dates: typically rescheduling or credit rather than losing your fee. Do not book a summer charter without one.
Do I need a passport for a Bahamas yacht charter?
Susannah DeehanYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Yes. The Bahamas is an international destination, so every guest, children included, needs a valid passport to fly in, and it is the document the yacht uses to clear you with Bahamian customs and immigration. We recommend at least six months of validity remaining, which keeps you clear of airline rules.
What happens after I send an inquiry?
Nadja AsmusYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
First, we confirm reality: whether the yacht you asked about is actually free on your dates, and at what price, since rates move through the year. At the same time we pull together comparable boats, including ones with better deals or better crew fit, so you choose from a real shortlist rather than one listing.
Can I charter a yacht in the Bahamas for one day?
Marcelle HailwaxYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Yes. Day charters run mostly out of Nassau: a morning start, beaches, sandbars, and snorkeling stops around Rose Island or the nearby cays, and cocktails on the way home. Larger crewed yachts generally take multi-day bookings, so the day fleet is its own set of boats, and we know which ones deliver.
Choosing your yacht
Can guests with limited mobility enjoy a yacht charter?
William Mc NallyYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Yes, with the right yacht, and choosing that yacht is exactly the kind of work we do. Catamarans put most of the living space on one level with wide, stable decks. Larger motor yachts add short stair runs but calmer motion, and some superyachts have elevators between decks. What we avoid is narrow-companionway boats where every move is a climb.
Can we charter a yacht for a honeymoon, birthday, or wedding?
John BoullinYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Yes, and celebrations are some of the best charters we arrange. Tell us the occasion when you inquire and the crew builds around it: decorated cabins and cakes for birthdays, champagne at anchor for honeymoons, a proposal set up on a private sandbar with the tender standing by. The crew genuinely enjoys these weeks; a proposal on board is an event for everyone.
We are more than 12 guests. Should we take one yacht or two?
John BoullinYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Two yachts, in most cases. For big groups, splitting across two boats usually comes out 20 to 50% cheaper than one yacht large enough to sleep everyone. Yacht cost climbs steeply with size, and most charter yachts are limited to 12 guests anyway, so the single-boat option quickly means a much larger, much more expensive vessel.
Can we bring an extra child beyond the listed guest count?
William Mc NallyYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Usually not, and it is worth understanding why. Every charter yacht has two licensed limits: the number of guests it may carry by day and the number it may sleep overnight. Those caps come from the yacht's registration and insurance, not from the crew's goodwill, so managers hold the line even for small children. We have seen occasional flexibility for infants under 12 months, decided case by case.
What is a tandem charter?
Louis LamprellYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
A tandem charter is one vacation spread across two yachts that cruise together. One captain leads, the boats coordinate their route and anchorages, and the group mixes freely: kids can go off for watersports on one boat while the adults take a quiet bay on the other, and everyone meets up for dinner ashore. Three or more boats doing the same is called a flotilla charter; the same idea with more logistics, and we have organized those too.
Do you offer bareboat as well as crewed charters?
Susannah DeehanYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Yes, we arrange bareboat charters too. Tell us the yacht type, dates, group size, and budget, and we will line up the options, along with the qualifications the charter company will ask you to show.
What is the difference between a fully crewed and captain-only charter?
Chris de KockYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
On a fully crewed charter you are a guest; on a captain-only charter you are the crew. A crewed yacht comes with at least a captain plus a chef or stewardess: meals cooked, cabins made up, drinks appearing, watersports launched for you. A captain-only charter gives you a professional at the helm, but the provisioning, cooking, and cleaning stay with your group.
Life on board
What should we pack for a Bahamas yacht charter?
Martina AsmusYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Pack light, and pack it in soft-sided bags: yacht cabins have clever but limited storage, and a hard suitcase has nowhere to live once emptied. Daily life aboard is swimwear, cover-ups, shorts, and sunglasses; add one smarter outfit for dinners ashore and a light layer for breezy evenings, especially December through February when winter fronts pass.
Is there wifi on board a Bahamas yacht charter?
Daniel AsmusYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Most crewed motor yachts in the Bahamas now run Starlink, which changed the answer to this question completely. It matters more here than in most charter destinations: the Bahamas is genuinely remote, and once you leave Nassau behind, whole stretches of the Exumas have no cell signal at all. On a Starlink-equipped yacht you can still take a video call from that empty anchorage, and working a morning from the flybridge is realistic, not hopeful marketing.
What do you eat on a Bahamas yacht charter?
Marcelle HailwaxYacht charter broker & former yacht chef, DMA Yachting
Whatever your group loves to eat, cooked by a private chef who provisioned the boat specifically for you. Before the charter you fill in a preference sheet: favorites, dislikes, allergies, how adventurous the table should be, and what the bar should hold. The chef builds the whole week's menus around it. This answer comes from inside the galley: Marcelle cooked aboard charter yachts before joining our broker desk.
Do I need a jet ski license on a Bahamas yacht charter?
Louis LamprellYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
No. The Bahamas has no license requirement for charter guests using the yacht's own jet skis, unlike Croatia or Spain, where a recognized license is legally required. What governs jet ski use here is the yacht's insurance: expect a safety briefing from the crew, a minimum driving age (16 on most boats, sometimes 18), and the crew keeping an eye on where you ride. Younger kids can usually ride behind an adult.
Will we get seasick on a Bahamas yacht charter?
Daniel AsmusYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Unlikely, by charter standards. The Bahamas is one of the calmest cruising grounds we book. The Exumas sit on shallow banks where sandbars stop the ocean swell, so yachts spend most of the week in flat, protected water, and the daily legs are short, often 10 to 40 nautical miles.
Can we scuba dive during a Bahamas yacht charter?
Louis LamprellYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Yes, and the Bahamas is one of the easier places to dive from a charter yacht. A good number of our Bahamas yachts carry full scuba setups onboard: tanks, gear, a compressor, and crew qualified to lead dives straight off the swim platform. We keep a live list of them here: charter yachts with scuba diving onboard, currently over a dozen boats from sailing catamarans to superyachts.
Does the crew stay on board during the charter?
Lian BlacquiereYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Yes. On a crewed charter the captain, chef, and stewardess live aboard for the whole trip. They have their own crew quarters, separate from the guest cabins, which is why a yacht listed with 4 guest cabins genuinely sleeps 8 guests: the crew is not using any of them.
Is the Bahamas safe for a yacht charter vacation?
Martina AsmusYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Yes. A crewed yacht charter is one of the most protected ways to travel: you sleep on a private yacht, your itinerary runs through quiet cays and anchorages, and a professional crew with local knowledge is with you the whole week. In the Exumas you will often see more iguanas than people.
Where and when
When are the high and low seasons for a Bahamas yacht charter?
Daniel AsmusYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
The Bahamas has a clear weather high season and low season. High season runs December through May: dry, settled weather, with March through May the sweet spot for warm water and steady conditions. December through February is popular but can bring cooler, windier days when winter fronts pass through. Low season is June through November, which is hurricane season: hotter, stormier, and much quieter on the water.
Can we see the swimming pigs on a Bahamas yacht charter?
Louis LamprellYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Yes, and by yacht is the best way to do it. The famous swimming pigs live on Big Major Cay, better known as Pig Beach, right next to Staniel Cay in the Exumas. On the classic route it is a natural mid-week stop, and you visit by tender straight from your anchorage.
Which airport do we fly into for a Bahamas yacht charter?
Chris de KockYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Nassau, for almost everyone: Lynden Pindling International (NAS) has direct flights from the US East Coast and Europe and is around 30 minutes from the marinas. Land by early afternoon and you can be aboard and at anchor off Rose Island before sunset.
Can we fish on a Bahamas yacht charter?
Daniel AsmusYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Yes, and the Bahamas is one of the best places in the world to do it from a charter yacht: mahi mahi, wahoo, tuna, and marlin offshore, and world-class bonefishing on the flats. A deep-sea morning fits naturally into an Exumas week, with the yacht repositioning while you fish.
Can any yacht start from any island in the Bahamas?
Lian BlacquiereYacht charter broker, DMA Yachting
Not quite. Every yacht has a homeport, and in the Bahamas that is usually Nassau, so most charters start and end there. Starting somewhere else, deeper in the Exumas for example, is often possible, but it means repositioning the yacht and a delivery fee that reflects the fuel and crew time.
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