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On a 50m motor yacht in the Mediterranean at 350,000 dollars per week, the crew gratuity at the end of the trip is 35,000 dollars in cash, handed to the captain in an envelope on the morning you disembark. In the Caribbean and the Bahamas at the same charter rate, the same envelope is 42,000 to 52,500 dollars. These numbers are not in the contract. They are the standing convention across MYBA charters in 2026, they are paid on top of base fee and APA, and they are the line item first-time charter clients least want to talk about and most often miscalibrate.
This is the working guide.
The two numbers, by region
Mediterranean charters under the MYBA contract: 10 percent of the base charter fee is the standing convention. The range is 5 to 15 percent in the contract small print, but the live market is 8 to 12. Below 8 percent reads as dissatisfaction. Above 12 percent reads as either repeat-client retention or a yacht with extraordinary service depth (we name a few on the best charter yachts Mediterranean 2026 guide).
Caribbean and Bahamas charters: 12 to 15 percent. The shift is partly because crew on Caribbean yachts work harder per day (more anchorages, more tender work, more in-water guest activity), partly because the service economy in the Caribbean leans American and runs at higher tipping benchmarks generally, and partly because Caribbean charter weeks are typically shorter and the all-in trip cost has to absorb the gratuity.
Pacific (French Polynesia, Tahiti, Fiji): 10 to 15 percent. Closer to Caribbean convention because the season is short, the crew is in remote locations for months, and tip culture follows the American expat captain market.
Northern Europe (Norway, Iceland, Greenland): 7 to 10 percent. A slightly tighter band. The season is even shorter than the Pacific, but the operating cost of these yachts is higher and clients tend to be more European.
Sailing yachts, all regions: same percentages as the equivalent motor yacht of the same length. The smaller crew is offset by harder physical work per crew member.
What the percentage is calculated on
Base charter fee. Only the base. Not APA. Not local taxes added at booking. Not delivery fees. Not relocation fees. If the base fee is 350,000 dollars and APA is 105,000 dollars, the Med-standard 10 percent gratuity is 35,000, not 45,500.
We have seen brokers calculate gratuity on base plus APA when they package a "total trip cost" sheet for the client. That is not the convention. If your broker is showing 13 percent on base plus APA and calling it standard, ask them to show the same number as a percentage of base alone. It almost always lands at 16 to 17 percent. That is over-tipping.
How to set the number before you leave
The tip is decided at contract signing, not on the last day of the trip. Here is the practical reason: if you wait until the last morning, you are setting the number under social pressure, after seven days of being looked after, often after wine, and almost always while saying goodbye to people you genuinely liked. The number always goes up in that scenario. By 20 to 40 percent.
Decide the figure when you sign the contract. Wire the equivalent funds to your travel cash account the same week. Carry the cash on board on day one or pick it up from a local bank on day six. The decision is locked. You can still adjust up if the service warrants it.
How to adjust up or down
Up: if the crew did three things that were not on the preference sheet but were obviously the result of the chief stew or captain reading the trip well. A surprise anniversary dessert. A scuba refresher organized for a teenager who had not mentioned diving. A late lunch staged at a fishing village the captain knew about that did not appear in the standard charter brief. Move from 10 to 12 percent in the Med, or 13 to 15 percent in the Caribbean. Anything above that, in a single charter, is either a tip the client genuinely could not have set at signing or an attempt to buy first call on next year's calendar. Both happen.
Down: only if you raised the issue mid-charter and it was not fixed. The captain is the right point of contact, not the broker. If you tell the captain the chef's seafood is below standard, give them two meals to fix it. If it does not fix, drop the gratuity to 7 percent and write a one-paragraph note to the broker after the trip stating what was raised and what was not addressed. The captain will know the cut is coming before you hand the envelope. They will not be surprised.
What you do not do: tip zero. Zero is read as a slight, not a critique. It does not go on the crew's record as feedback. It is forwarded by the captain to the broker as either an oversight or an insult. Neither outcome is useful to you, and neither helps the next charter client on that yacht.
How to physically hand it over
A single envelope, in the local currency, given to the captain on the morning of disembarkation. Eurozone for the Mediterranean. US dollars for Caribbean, Bahamas, and Pacific. The captain distributes per the yacht's published split, which is typically 20 to 25 percent to the captain, 15 to 20 percent to the chief stew or chief officer, 10 to 12 percent to the chef, and the balance divided across the rest of the crew by rank. Some yachts publish their split in the welcome book. Some do not. Either way, do not try to override it. If you want to recognize a particular crew member, do it with a written note named to that person plus a small separate cash gift handed directly. Not in addition to the main gratuity; instead, take that person's share out of the main envelope and hand it separately.
Wire transfer is technically allowed under MYBA. It is slower for the crew, sometimes weeks, and on charter yachts where the captain is the legal employer of the crew, the wire occasionally gets routed through a management company that takes a service fee. Cash avoids all of that.
The trap: when the captain asks for a "service charge" instead
A small share of charter yachts now operate on what the management companies call an "all-inclusive" or "no-tipping" structure. The way this is described to the broker is "service is included in the base fee." The way it actually shows up in practice is: the base fee is 12 to 15 percent higher than the equivalent yacht, the gratuity convention is described as "discretionary," and the crew still expects to be tipped. We have seen this in the Bahamas, in the Greek islands, and increasingly on some smaller new-build sailing yachts.
If a broker tells you the yacht is "tip included," ask three things in writing. First, is the captain employed directly by the owner or via a management company? Second, what was the gratuity split on the last three charters? Third, is there any contractual prohibition on the charter client paying an additional gratuity directly to the crew? If the answer to the third question is no (which it almost always is), pay the gratuity. The "included" claim was a marketing decision by the management company, not a refusal of the crew to be paid.
When the trip is shorter or longer than a week
The percentage is on the base fee, regardless of duration. A four-day Bahamas charter at 200,000 dollars base attracts a 24,000 to 30,000 dollar gratuity. A two-week Med charter at 800,000 dollars base attracts a 64,000 to 96,000 dollar gratuity. There is no per-day or per-night convention. Crew works the trip; crew is paid on the trip.
The exception is back-to-back charters with the same client on the same yacht. Many charter clients book two consecutive weeks in the Med, often with different guest configurations across the fortnight. Gratuity on a back-to-back is paid once, at the end of the second week, on the combined base fee, at the same percentage as a single week. Do not pay twice.
When the charter is canceled or cut short
If the charter is canceled before the start by the client, no gratuity is paid; the crew did not work the trip. If the charter is canceled by the owner or operator for force majeure, no gratuity is paid. If the charter starts and is cut short by the client (weather, family, change of plans), gratuity is paid pro rata on the days completed at the agreed percentage. If the charter is cut short by the owner or operator (mechanical failure, crew issue, owner-side change), no gratuity is paid and the broker arranges either a credit or a substitute yacht. The mechanics of all three sit in the contract. We cover the full version on the how to handle a charter cancellation guide.
The post-trip note
Within seven days of the end of the charter, send a short email to the captain (the broker will forward it) thanking the crew, naming two or three people by name, and saying one specific thing each did well. The chef's pan-fried sea bass on day three. The stew's reading of your teenage daughter's mood on day five. The deckhand who fixed the paddleboard rig at 7am on day seven. This is what gets remembered when you re-book and what the captain forwards as a reference when a crew member moves to a different yacht. It is also what gets you priority on the captain's calendar for the next season.
FAQ
How much do you tip yacht crew? Mediterranean standard is 10 percent of the base charter fee. Caribbean and Bahamas standard is 12 to 15 percent. The figure is calculated on the base fee only, not on base plus APA.
Is the yacht crew tip on top of APA? Yes. APA covers operating costs during the charter. Crew gratuity is a separate payment, in cash, made directly to the captain on the last day of the charter, on top of base fee and APA.
Can I tip yacht crew by wire transfer instead of cash? You can, but crew prefer cash because it clears immediately and is harder for the management company to take a cut of. Bring physical cash if possible.
Do I tip the captain separately? No. One envelope to the captain. The captain distributes the total per the yacht's published split.
What if the service was bad? Raise the issue with the captain mid-charter so it can be fixed. If it was not fixed, reduce the tip to 7 percent and write a one-paragraph note to the broker after the trip. Do not tip zero.
Does my charter broker get a share of the tip? No. The gratuity is between the client and the crew. The broker has no contractual claim. If a broker is asking for a "tip handling fee," that is not a standard line item.