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A 7-day Mediterranean charter at $350,000 base fee carries a $14,000 to $28,000 insurance premium if you choose to buy cancellation cover. The premium buys you the ability to recover the base fee if a covered event forces you to cancel inside the MYBA refund window. It does not cover changes of heart, family disagreements, or work schedules. The exclusions section of a standard policy runs 4 to 6 pages and is where most disputed claims originate.
This page is what charter insurance actually covers, what it does not, and how to file a claim that pays out.
What charter insurance is not
Charter insurance for the client is not the same as the yacht's insurance. The owner carries hull, liability, and crew cover, and the MYBA contract makes those policies the owner's problem. The client's insurance is a separate, optional product covering the client's financial exposure if the charter cancels or is disrupted.
There are three distinct products worth knowing:
Charter cancellation insurance, which covers the client's base fee if a covered event triggers cancellation. Premiums 4 to 8 percent of base fee.
Medical and evacuation coverage, which pays for medical care during the charter and emergency evacuation. Premiums $200 to $600 on a typical 7-day charter for up to 12 guests.
Personal effects coverage, which covers theft or damage to items brought on board. Most clients self-insure on this through their home contents policy and do not buy a separate rider.
The MYBA contract does not require any of these. The contract requires the owner to insure the yacht and the crew. Everything else is optional, on the client.
The three standard underwriters
The market is fragmented but three names dominate at the high end. Pantaenius (German, longest history in yacht insurance, strong on owner-side hull policies and increasingly active on client-side cancellation). Lloyd's of London syndicates writing under broker programs (the standard is through Hayes Parsons, Bishop Skinner, or similar yacht specialists). Mitsui (Japanese, growing footprint on superyacht and charter cancellation in the past five years).
What separates these three from the wider market is predictable claims handling. A Pantaenius cancellation claim on a 7-day Mediterranean charter typically settles inside 28 days when documentation is in order. A Lloyd's syndicate claim runs 30 to 45 days. A Mitsui claim, 35 to 50 days. These are the upper-tier baselines and they hold across most loss types.
The yachts to pass on for insurance purposes are those whose retail brokers route you to a smaller, regional underwriter unfamiliar to the central agent. Insist on a top-three name. If the broker resists, ask why.
What standard cancellation insurance covers
The covered-event list is broadly consistent across the top three underwriters:
Medical events affecting the lead charterer or named guests, supported by a treating-physician letter. This is the most common claim category. The policy typically covers the lead charterer, immediate family of the lead charterer, and any guest named on the policy schedule.
Death of an immediate family member. Documented with death certificate.
Government-issued travel advisories declaring the destination region unsafe. The standard wording requires a Level 3 advisory or higher from the client's home government. A Level 2 advisory is not enough.
Major weather events that render the destination unsafe within 14 days of charter start. Named hurricanes, named storms, and government-mandated port closures all count. Generic Mediterranean wind does not.
Acts of war or terrorism in or adjacent to the cruising area. The standard wording defines "adjacent" as within 200 nautical miles. Some policies tighten this to 100 nautical miles.
Yacht-side mechanical or crew issues that the owner has not disclosed. Rare. The owner's cancellation usually triggers the contract's refund clause directly without insurance involvement.
What insurance does not cover
Section 4 of the policy, where the exclusions live. The standard exclusions:
Change of plans. Buyer's remorse. A new project at work that conflicts with the trip. A relationship change inside the charter group.
Family disagreements over the charter group. We have seen denied claims here. A claimant cited "irreconcilable disagreement with co-charterer" and was declined under standard wording.
Routine illness that does not require hospitalization. A common cold is not a covered event. A flu requiring hospitalization is.
Weather that is uncomfortable but not dangerous. The captain reroutes around uncomfortable weather; the trip continues; no cancellation triggers.
Geopolitical events outside the immediate region. A flare-up in one Mediterranean country does not trigger a Bahamas charter cancellation, even if the news cycle suggests they are linked.
Pre-existing health conditions disclosed less than 14 days after policy binding. Buy late and pre-existing conditions become an exclusion regardless of severity.
Pandemics, except where named pandemic coverage has been added as a rider. The 2020 to 2022 cycle taught the market to write this out unless explicitly purchased.
Crew gratuity, APA, and any other amounts outside the base fee. These are recovered through contract mechanics, not insurance.
The 18 to 24 page policy document spells these out. Read section 4 before binding. We have seen clients pay premiums of $18,000 only to discover post-event that their specific trigger was excluded. This is recoverable in some cases through the retail broker's relationship with the underwriter, but not always.
Premium pricing factors
The 4 to 8 percent of base fee headline figure shifts with five variables.
The cruising area. Mediterranean charters in standard regions price at the low end. Caribbean charters during named-hurricane season (June through November, formally) price 1 to 2 percentage points higher. Anywhere with active geopolitical tension prices significantly higher and sometimes is uninsurable.
The age and health of the lead charterer. A 65-year-old lead charterer pays 1 to 2 percentage points more than a 45-year-old, all else equal. This is rated as standard travel insurance is rated.
The time between binding and charter start. Buying 90 days out is standard. Buying inside 30 days adds 1 percentage point. Buying inside 14 days adds 2 to 3 percentage points and most underwriters refuse to bind on pre-existing conditions.
The deductible structure. Most policies offer a zero-deductible option at the higher end of the premium range and a 5 to 10 percent deductible option at the lower end.
Any rider additions (pandemic, named geopolitical, named family events beyond immediate family). Each rider adds 0.3 to 0.8 percentage points.
A 4 percent quote on a Mediterranean charter for a 45-year-old lead client, with a 10 percent deductible and no riders, is a standard market quote. A 7 percent quote on the same trip with a zero deductible and pandemic and named-geopolitical riders is also standard. Anything outside the 4 to 9 percent envelope is worth a second opinion.
Filing a claim
Filing the claim through the retail broker. Filing directly with the underwriter is technically possible and structurally slower. The retail broker has a relationship with the underwriter and a knowledge of the policy wording.
Day 0: trigger event occurs. Document within 48 hours.
Day 1: notify the retail broker and central agent in writing. Email only, no SMS.
Day 2 to 3: assemble the documentation. Medical events require a treating-physician letter on letterhead, with diagnosis and the physician's statement that the condition prevents travel. Family events require death certificates or equivalent. Geopolitical events require the government advisory text and date.
Day 3 to 7: the retail broker submits the claim to the underwriter with the documentation. The underwriter assigns a claim handler.
Day 7 to 21: the claim handler reviews. The handler may request additional documentation. Respond inside 48 hours of each request. Delay weakens the claim.
Day 21 to 45: the underwriter settles. Payment is wired to the retail broker's escrow account and forwarded to the client.
If the claim is denied, the retail broker has a relationship-based path to push back through the underwriter's senior claims function. This works perhaps 25 percent of the time on borderline denials. It does not work on clear exclusions.
What to pass on
Three insurance products that get sold in this category but do not perform.
The travel-insurance upgrade. Major travel insurance policies (the ones your credit card sells) cap charter cancellation reimbursement at $5,000 to $50,000 per trip. This is below the cost of a single night on a 50m yacht in peak season. Do not rely on travel insurance for charter cancellation.
The cruise-line cancellation product. Some clients buy the cancellation product sold by cruise lines on the assumption it applies. It does not. The MYBA charter is not a cruise, the policy is not built for it, and claims are routinely denied.
The discount underwriter you have never heard of. The broker who routes you to a regional underwriter offering a 2 percent premium on a charter where the top three quote 6 percent is offering you a claim denial waiting to happen. Pay the standard premium. Use the standard names.
One specific case
A client we tracked in 2024 booked a $480,000 Sardinia charter for August. Bought Pantaenius cancellation cover at 5 percent ($24,000) with the standard medical and named-geopolitical riders. In late July, the lead charterer's father had a major cardiac event requiring family presence. The trip cancelled inside 30 days. The MYBA retention was 100 percent, $480,000.
Documentation: hospital letter dated within 24 hours of the event, signed by treating cardiologist, named relationship to the lead charterer (paternal). Filed through the retail broker. Pantaenius claim handler engaged on day 4 of submission. Settled on day 31 of submission. $480,000 reimbursed in full. Deductible was zero on the policy version chosen.
Same trip without the cancellation insurance: $480,000 retained, no recovery. The premium paid back 20 times over. This is the asymmetry that justifies the product.
FAQ
Is charter insurance required by MYBA? No. Optional, on the client.
How much does charter cancellation insurance cost? Premiums 4 to 8 percent of base fee on standard policies.
Does my general travel insurance cover a yacht charter? Usually not. Coverage caps too low to be useful.
Does charter insurance cover the APA? No, because APA is fully refundable directly through the central agent on cancellation.
What if I get sick mid-charter? Medical evacuation coverage is the relevant rider, $200 to $600 on a 7-day charter.
Can I buy insurance after I sign the contract? Yes, but buy within 14 days for pre-existing health conditions to remain inside coverage.