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.
The price gap is real, and so is the comfort gap. In our experience the crewed charter is the version people imagine when they picture a yacht vacation, and it is a huge step up for the same destination. If it fits your budget, choose crewed.
If the numbers do not work, talk to us before settling. Sometimes the better answer is a slightly smaller crewed yacht, a catamaran instead of a motor yacht, or different dates, rather than giving up the crew. In the Bahamas, nearly all the motor yachts we book are fully crewed.