We review every yacht, broker, and destination against the same six factors. Reviewers are named. Conflicts of interest are declared. Corrections are logged publicly.
The six factors
Build quality
Hull, joinery, mechanical systems. For sailing yachts, also rig and deck hardware.
Crew and service
Captain reputation, crew retention, prior charter reports. Service depth, not service theater.
Layout and use
How the boat actually lives. Beach club. Tender garage. Whether the master cabin gets noise from the engines.
Toys and tenders
What is on board and what works. A jet ski that sits in the garage is not a jet ski.
Operational fit
Where the yacht runs well. Some yachts are made for the Med. Some are wrong for Capri's anchorages.
Price versus alternative
What else you could charter for the same money. The verdict is always comparative.
The four-stage review process
- Stage 1, desk review. Specs, refit history, charter brochure, prior charter reports from our network. About 8 hours per yacht.
- Stage 2, broker conversation. Two brokers minimum, on the record. Specific questions about issues we have heard about. About 90 minutes per yacht.
- Stage 3, onboard inspection where possible. Not every yacht, every season. Currently we have inspected approximately 14 percent of the 2,420 yachts in our index. Stated explicitly on the page when we have not.
- Stage 4, editorial check. A second reviewer reads the draft against our voice and standards. Banned words, banned framings, missing data are flagged.
The reviewers
Lead editor is a former charter broker who placed yachts for 14 years out of Antibes. Senior reviewer in Palma covers Sanlorenzo and Benetti deeply. Caribbean correspondent based in Antigua covers Antigua, St Barths, BVI, and the Bahamas in season. Technical fact-checking is by an MCA-licensed marine surveyor with 20 years in the new-build pipeline. Bios are linked from individual article bylines.
Conflicts of interest
Where a reviewer has placed charter business with a broker we cover, we say so on the page. Where a reviewer has owned a yacht built by a yard we cover, we say so. Where a reviewer has been compensated for prior work by an operator we cover, we say so or we do not assign them the page.
Corrections
Mistakes are corrected and logged. The correction stays at the bottom of the page in perpetuity. If we change a ranking, we explain why and when. We will not silently re-rank a broker, a yacht, or a destination.