When you charter a catamaran in Greece you generally choose between two models: bareboat, where you skipper the yacht yourself, and crewed, where a professional captain and hostess sail and cater for you.
Both can make a wonderful holiday. The right choice comes down to your sailing experience, your budget and how much you want to do yourself. Here is what separates them - and what a crew actually adds beyond just driving the boat.
Bareboat: freedom, if you have the skills
A bareboat charter puts you in command. You plan the route, handle the sails, anchor each night and cook on board. For a qualified, confident skipper it is the purest form of freedom - and the cheapest way to charter, since there are no crew costs.
The catch is that Greek charter companies require valid sailing qualifications (typically an ICC or equivalent, plus a VHF certificate) and real experience, especially for the open crossings and strong summer winds of the Cyclades. You are also responsible for the yacht, provisioning, navigation and the daily workload.
Crewed: switch off completely
On a crewed charter a professional captain handles everything on the water while a hostess cooks fresh meals, keeps the boat immaculate and looks after the details. You need no sailing experience at all - you simply enjoy the trip.
The captain’s local knowledge is the hidden value: the quiet cove for lunch before the day-trip boats arrive, the taverna the locals actually eat at, the sheltered bay when the meltemi blows. It turns a sailing trip into a curated week.
The real cost comparison
Bareboat looks cheaper on paper, and it is - but you then take on provisioning, all the cooking, and every marina and logistics decision yourself. A crewed charter bundles the captain, the hostess and their expertise into one price for the whole boat. Split across a group, the difference per person is often smaller than expected, and you get a genuine holiday rather than a job.
Who should choose what
Choose bareboat if you hold sailing qualifications, have chartered before, and love being hands-on. Choose crewed if you have no licence (or simply don’t want to work on holiday), are travelling with family, or want the food, the local secrets and the peace of mind that come with a professional crew. Every yacht in our fleet sails fully crewed.
