What is Cabin Charter
Renting an individual berth or cabin, know as Cabin Charter, is a new way of experiencing a sailing holiday. This type of rental has become extremely popular over the last 10 years and each year sees new clients trying out a sailing holiday for the first time using this formula.
South Star Charter organizes both themed cabin charter holidays and flotillas. What exactly does this mean?
When you book with the themed cabin charter formula, you rent a single berth or cabin on a sailboat or catamaran, sailed by a professional skipper, which follows a pre-arranged itinerary in the company of similar participants. That is, singles with singles, couples with couples or families with families.
With cabin charter, you don’t have to rent a whole boat, or organize a group of friends; we choose the rest of the crew and the boat based on your age-group and interests. When a number of boats all leave at the same time on the same itinerary, we create a flotilla and the number of participants can exceed 20. The boats and catamarans that we use range from 13 to 15 meters and have from 3 to 5 double cabins so can accommodate between 6 and 10 guests plus skipper.
All you have to do is choose the destination, we do the rest using our experience to tailor the trip to your needs.
Cabin Charter therefore gives you the opportunity to go on a sailing holiday with other crew members who love the same things: the sea, sun, swimming, relaxation and, of course, fun.
How does renting a single berth work?
Embarkation is at 5pm on the Saturday and on your arrival at the base, you will be met by our staff and taken to the boat that will be "home" for the next week. There, you will meet the other members of the crew and after a short briefing, your skipper will show you around the boat and the cabins will be assigned. After this, we go to the local supermarket to do the main food shopping for the week.
The food shopping is usually done using a kitty and obviously takes into account everyone’s preferences. Crew members with allergies or intolerances to various foods will usually do their own shopping. The skipper’s food also comes out of the crew kitty.
Depending on the itinerary and on the weather, the skipper will decide whether or not to set sail on the Saturday evening or early the following morning. All decisions regarding the safety of the boat and crew are taking by the skipper, but one thing is sure: the skipper will always try to accommodate the crewmembers’ desires, he will tell you all about the places that you visit and will teach basic sailing to anyone that is interested.
During the day, on a sailing holiday, you will alternate moments of navigation with other moments when you stop for a swim, and perhaps lunch and drinks in a little bay. In the evening, you will usually have dinner on board and then go ashore to visit one of the pretty little coastal towns. Alternatively, you can eat in one of the local restaurants and enjoy the local cuisine. Normally, you will eat ashore a couple of nights and on board the rest of the time.
At night you can choose whether to lay at anchor or sleep in a port – much more comfortable but a lot less romantic! In normal circumstances (it also depends on the weather) you will sleep in a port a couple of nights and the rest of the time at anchor. The mooring fees (excluding the port of embarkation and disembarkation) come out of the crew kitty. The skipper doesn’t share in the cost of mooring fees.
When you go on a cruise on a sailboat, you are always on the move. While you sunbath, have a drink or nibble a snack, you will see beautiful and ever-changing views scroll in front of you like a film.
The cruise ends on the Friday evening at 6 pm (although you stay on board until the Saturday morning). By that time, the crew will be old friends and over dinner, either on board or at a local restaurant, the members will be deciding on the next trip, all together again but in a different area. Whether it actually happens or not doesn’t really matter; the important thing is that during the following cold winter nights, you remember all the lovely moments spent on the boat with your new friends.
Cabin Charter offers for 2017
What are you waiting for? Choose your destination!
- Aeolean Islands
- Cilento Coast
- Egadi Islands
- Elba & Corsica
- Amalfi Coast, Flegrea Islands & Pontine Islands.
- Amalfi Coast, Flegrea Islands
- Balearic Islands
- Greece