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The MYBA contract says noon. On the final day, your yacht almost always wants you off by 09:00 or 10:00. If the yacht is back-to-back, the next charter client is at the same lunch table you used a week ago, and the chief stew is now praying you do not linger over a fourth coffee. On a 50m motor yacht with a €420K weekly rate and 30% APA, the final morning carries two financially loaded decisions, a logistical one, and one piece of crew theatre. We will take them in order.
This is the companion piece to our embarkation day reality. The same protocols hold on a Caribbean charter with the times shifted earlier because of the flight schedule out of Antigua or Saint Maarten. Where Med and Caribbean differ, we say so.
The night before: the chief stew's final round
The chief stew runs a quiet check at the end of dinner on day six. Final laundry to be done overnight. Breakfast time. Departure time. Onward transport: car, helicopter, or tender to shore. Any last-minute laundry the chef can do in the galley overnight. This is the moment to flag that you would like to keep your towels stiff and beach-bag-able and not pressed flat. The interior crew prefers to know.
If you are doing a final dinner ashore on the last night, the chief stew will have already booked it three days earlier. If you have not yet decided, the next morning is too late.
06:30 to 08:00: crew morning, you are still asleep
The deck team strips the sundeck cushions, runs the watermaker to top off the freshwater tanks, and pre-stages your luggage in the luggage corridor. The chef has breakfast prep done by 07:30. The chief stew lays out the breakfast service either on the upper deck or in the dining saloon. The captain runs the morning weather brief and confirms the marina slot for arrival.
If you have a 12:30 flight out of Nice from a Saint-Tropez disembarkation, the captain will have the car booked and the driver on the quay by 09:15. The Nice airport drive from Saint-Tropez is two hours in July traffic. Build the buffer.
08:00 to 09:00: the final breakfast
The chef cooks light. Eggs to order, fruit, the same coffee setup you have had all week. The chef does not want you doing a full English on day seven. You are going to a plane. The chef knows.
If you are flying transatlantic, ask the chef the night before for a takeaway sandwich package. Most charter chefs will pack you off with two cold sandwiches, a fruit box, and a thermos of espresso. Charter clients consistently forget to ask. Ask.
09:00: the captain's reconciliation
This is the most important meeting of the week.
The captain sits down with the lead guest at the saloon table with a printed APA ledger. Every charge from day zero is on it: the chef's market run, the fuel slips, the dockage at each marina, the chandlery items, the dive instructor day rate, the helicopter touch-and-go fee, the wine reorder. The captain walks line by line.
This is also when you discover whether the APA is going to refund you or whether the captain is going to ask for a top-up. On a 50m yacht with a 30% APA on €420K weekly, the APA was €126K. A typical Med week burns 85% to 105% of APA, depending on fuel burn, dock choice, and whether you ate ashore. If the burn is over 100%, the captain asks for the difference in wire transfer or cash before disembarkation. If the burn is under 100%, the refund is wired to your central agent within 14 days.
Two things to do during this meeting. First, scan the dockage line. Some captains overbook dockage as insurance and then quietly refund what was not used. The line should show the marinas you actually used. Second, scan the chandlery line. New tender lines, new fenders, replacement glassware, repair of anything broken: it should all be in the ledger. If a guest broke a glass on night three, it should be on day three. If the line reads "general chandlery, day six," that is a line you ask about.
The captain expects you to push. A captain who flinches at line-by-line review on a six-figure APA is a captain to flag in your post-charter broker debrief.
09:30: the gratuity envelope
The gratuity is the piece of crew theatre that charter clients agonize over and crew handle every week.
The Mediterranean baseline is 10% of the charter fee, before APA and VAT. The Caribbean baseline is 15% to 20%, because the charter fee structure runs lower and the crew counts more heavily on the season's gratuity total to cover the off-season. Either side of the baseline is fine. Below 5% is a statement. Above 20% is a different statement. The chief stew has heard both before. The captain has the data on what the last 14 charter clients tipped.
The mechanic: cash in an envelope to the captain, or a wire to the central agent who pays it forward after disembarkation. Cash is the cleaner option in the Mediterranean. Wire is the cleaner option in the Caribbean because most US guests do not carry six-figure cash. Either is acceptable. Do not split the envelope between crew members yourself. The captain knows the split.
How the captain then splits it is detailed in our companion piece on crew tip distribution. The captain takes the largest share. The chief stew, chef, and bosun are next. The deckhands and stewardesses share. The split is rarely equal and rarely communicated to guests, and it is one of the parts of the charter economy that gets messy when a yacht has rotational crew. Read the linked piece before you write the envelope.
10:00: the photograph
Most captains will ask the chief stew to gather the crew on the swim platform or at the gangway for a group photograph with the guests. The crew will line up in uniform whites. Take the photograph. Send it to the chief stew's email address. Most yachts will print it and frame it on the saloon table for the next charter. The next charter client will not know who you are. The crew will.
This is also the moment to thank the chief stew personally, and the chef. Captains tend to disembark guests with formality. Chief stews and chefs are the ones who watched your kids and remembered which one cannot eat the prawns. The personal thank you matters and the chief stew will remember it.
10:15: luggage, tender, car
The deck team moves luggage either to the gangway if you are dock-side, or to the tender if you are at anchor. If you are at anchor, the tender does two runs typically: one with the bulk luggage and one with the guests. Sit on the upper deck of the tender on the guest run. Watch the yacht recede. Take the photograph in your head. It is the only week of the year the yacht looks like that from that angle.
The chief stew waves from the swim platform. The captain salutes from the bridge wing. These are not affectations. They are the conventions of every well-run charter and they signal closure.
10:30: onward
If you are flying same-day, the driver is at the quay. If you are spending a few nights ashore, this is where a post-charter villa above the Amalfi Coast or in the back-roads of the Côte d'Azur catches the after-glow of the week without putting you on a long-haul flight five hours after the captain's salute. We strongly recommend it. The week ends better when you have a quiet 48 hours to reverse it slowly.
What needs work
Three things, again consistently.
First, captains generally do the APA reconciliation at 09:00 over coffee. We think it should happen the night before, after dinner on day six, when the lead guest can read the ledger carefully without a flight clock running. Some captains will agree to this if you ask on day five.
Second, the group photograph almost always happens with the crew in formal whites. We have asked some captains to take a candid photograph the day before, in uniform, with the deckhands and stewardesses you actually spent the week with. Better photograph. The captain will rarely refuse.
Third, the post-charter survey is almost always sent by the broker, not the central agent. The broker has every commercial interest in the survey reading well. We would always reply directly to the central agent with any real concerns. The MYBA charter network compiles central-agent feedback into the yacht's profile. It travels with the yacht.
Passed on
The "extended disembarkation" some brokers sell as a 12pm or 14:00 disembarkation against a "small additional fee." If the yacht is on a back-to-back charter, the next client has paid for that yacht starting at noon, and you have no claim on the yacht after noon regardless of what a broker has quoted. The crew will be polite. They will also be cleaning the cabin next to you. Decline the extended disembarkation. Stay one more night ashore instead.
FAQ
What time does the charter contractually end? Noon local time on the disembarkation date. The yacht is yours until then. The crew is the yacht's, not yours, and they need the morning to turn around.
Do I get APA back? Sometimes. Most Med charter weeks burn 85% to 105% of the APA, depending on fuel and dock fees. Anything unspent is wired to your central agent within 14 days of disembarkation.
When do I pay the crew gratuity? After the captain's APA reconciliation, before you leave the yacht. Cash to the captain in an envelope, or wire to the central agent who pays it forward.
What is the standard crew gratuity? 5% to 15% of the charter fee, by region. Mediterranean baseline 10%. Caribbean baseline 15% to 20%. See the regional tipping guide for detail.
Can I tip individual crew separately? You can, and the captain will not object, but the crew tip pool will then be split awkwardly. Better to tip the pool and write a private note to the chief stew, chef, or anyone else who looked after you specifically.
Can the disembarkation be extended past noon? On a back-to-back charter, no. On a yacht with a gap before the next charter, yes, and the captain will agree informally. Ask the day before, not the morning of.
Should I leave a written review? Reply directly to the central agent, not just to the broker. The MYBA network keeps central-agent feedback in the yacht's profile and it is the version that follows the yacht.