Every recommended yacht on this site has been reviewed against a 37-point checklist. Every charter broker has been measured against a 22-point service rubric. Every destination page is re-verified against current port-fee schedules and seasonal availability each quarter, with a hard refresh cadence stamped at the foot of the page. The current refresh cycle began 2026-04-01 and concludes 2026-06-30. This page documents how we do the work.
The yacht review checklist
A yacht earns a recommendation by passing 30 of 37 criteria across six categories. Marginal yachts (passing 25 to 29) are listed but not recommended. Yachts passing fewer than 25 are not listed.
The six categories: build and refit, capacity and layout, crew and captain tenure, commercial performance, paperwork and classification, and reader-side comfort.
Under build and refit we check the builder and yard, the build year, the date and scope of every major refit, the engine hours since last overhaul, the generator pair history, the at-anchor and underway stabilizer specification, hull condition at the last survey, and any documented major incident. A yacht with two generator failures in 24 months earns a yellow flag. Three failures earns a red flag and disqualification.
Under capacity and layout we record LOA, beam, draft, GT, guest capacity at sea (MCA limit) and at anchor (some yachts can host larger groups at anchor under different rules), cabin count, master configuration, the relative size of the master to the VIPs (a yacht where the master is the same size as the VIPs is usually a poor charter yacht), tender garage capacity, beach club presence, and helipad classification (touch-and-go vs certified). We do not write "spacious" anywhere. We write the square meters of the master.
Under crew and captain tenure we verify the captain's name, their tenure on the boat, and the chief stew's tenure. Captain tenure under 24 months is a yellow flag unless the previous captain left on retirement terms. Captain tenure under 12 months is a red flag and we name it in the verdict. We also check crew-to-guest ratio and the headcount of named service roles (chief stew, chef, bosun, sous chef, masseuse if relevant).
Under commercial performance we check the historical charter rate over three seasons, the APA range (most 50m yachts run 25 to 30%, anything above 35% is a yellow flag), the no-charter weeks in the past 24 months (a yacht that does not get booked is being passed on by the market for a reason), and the broker's renewal rate (does the same broker keep listing it season after season).
Under paperwork and classification we check MCA compliance, ABS or Lloyd's or RINA classification, flag (Cayman, Marshall Islands, Malta, Jamaica), commercial vs private registration, and the validity of the charter license in the cruising area we are recommending.
Under reader-side comfort we check Wi-Fi specification (Starlink Maritime or fallback VSAT, with bandwidth), guest age suitability (some yachts are tuned for adult charters and bad for families with small children, and the reverse), service style (formal versus relaxed), and known dietary capability of the chef.
The broker review rubric
We rank charter and sales brokers across 22 criteria in four categories: response and process, market knowledge, financial conduct, and post-charter or post-sale follow-through.
Under response and process we measure first-response time on a cold inquiry (we mystery-shop every broker in our coverage at least once per cycle), the quality of the first-response answer (template versus tailored), and the broker's ability to pull a relevant short-list in 48 hours.
Under market knowledge we test whether the broker knows the captain on a boat we both name, whether they will be honest about a yacht in their book that has had problems, and whether they will name a competitor's listing if it suits the client better. The third test fails more often than the first two combined.
Under financial conduct we check the MYBA contract usage, escrow handling, refund history on cancelled or interrupted charters, and disclosure of broker commission on the listing side (some brokers represent both sides of a charter and the commission stacking is meaningful).
Under post-charter follow-through we check whether the broker handles a complaint or a deposit dispute well or badly, and we check sale broker follow-through on punch lists and warranty work in the year after a yacht purchase.
The destination page checklist
Destination pages (Mediterranean, Caribbean, and the regional sub-pages) are re-verified each quarter against current data. We check port and anchorage availability for vessels over 50m at the destination's busiest two weeks, current cruising tax and tonnage fee schedules (the French annual cruising tax for yachts over 30m changed in 2024 and we caught the update on 2024-11-12), current local concession rules in the marquee anchorages (the Pelagos sanctuary rules, the Bonifacio passage rules, the Cinque Terre access permits, the Galapagos overlay), and the operating dates of the major shipyards in the region for refits.
We also check the destination's two-week weather windows by season. The Mistral in the Gulf of Lion runs above 30 knots roughly 18 days per year between July and September and we publish the average start and end dates by month.
Verification levels
Each yacht and broker page carries one of three verification levels at the top of the editorial body.
Verified, on-board. A contributor has been physically aboard the yacht within the last 12 months or the broker has been visited at their office within the last 18 months. This is the strongest level.
Verified, third-party. The information has been cross-checked against the broker, the captain, a recent charter client, the registry, and the classification record, but no contributor has been aboard in the last 12 months. This is the most common level.
[VERIFY: pending]. A specific data point we have not yet verified to our standard. We mark it inline. We do not invent the data point.
We currently rate roughly 18% of yacht pages as Verified, on-board and 76% as Verified, third-party. The remaining 6% have at least one [VERIFY: pending] flag on a non-critical data point. We will not list a yacht without LOA, beam, draft, GT, year built, builder, capacity, and crew count verified.
Disqualification criteria
A yacht is removed from coverage if any of the following are documented and not remediated.
The yacht has had three or more verified guest complaints with the same operational root cause (typically generator, water-maker, or air-conditioning) within the last 24 months.
The captain has been replaced more than twice in the past 36 months, with no satisfactory explanation from the owner or management company.
The yacht has been involved in a class-relevant incident (grounding, fire, collision) that has not had a published completed survey afterward.
The owner or management company has refused to honor an APA reconciliation that an independent audit would have approved. We have removed two yachts from coverage for this reason in 2026.
A broker is removed if the broker misrepresents a yacht's spec in writing more than once in a 12-month window, fails to handle a deposit dispute consistent with MYBA contract terms, or pays a guest to remove a public complaint. None of these are theoretical. We have seen all three in the wider market.
Refresh cadence
Charter destination pages and best-of guides: re-verified every quarter. Last cycle started 2026-04-01.
Individual yacht pages: re-verified every six months, with a forced refresh on any rate change, refit, captain change, or generator overhaul.
Broker review pages: rebuilt fully every 12 months. The current cycle for the top six broker pages began 2026-03-15 and will conclude 2026-06-15.
Builder review pages: rebuilt every 18 months. Model lineup, hull list, delivery dates, and refit shop capacity all verified each cycle.
Cost guides and how-to guides: re-verified annually. APA percentages and tip ranges checked against MYBA contract templates and a sample of broker-shared data.
Reader corrections
The fastest route to a correction is editor@yachtsforkings.com. We respond to factual corrections within five working days. We publish corrections inline on the affected page, dated, and we keep the corrected text and the original text in our internal change log for two years. Material corrections are also listed on the contact and corrections page.
We do not respond to ranking-change requests from brokers, shipyards, or yacht owners. If a yacht's facts change (refit, captain, rate, spec), update us with documentation and we will update the page within five working days.
What we will not do
We will not write copy without verification. If you find inline text on the site that does not have at least third-party verification behind it, email the editor and we will resolve within five working days. We will not run a destination page that has not been refreshed in the past quarter. We will not rank a yacht we have not put through the 37-point checklist. We will not rank a broker we have not mystery-shopped within the cycle.
For the commercial side of the operation, see the how we make money page. For the firewall between editorial and commercial, see editorial standards.