Superyachts, 50 to 80 metres. Where the yacht stops being the limit.
Twelve guests, twenty crew and a boat with lifts, a beach club and space nobody has to share. The size where the week is shaped by what you want to do rather than by what the yacht can manage.
At a glance
What this size carries
- Guests12, on any commercial charterTwelve is the maximum a charter yacht may carry at sea, whatever her length. At fifty metres and up, twelve people are accommodated generously rather than squeezed.
- CabinsUsually 6 to 8A full beam master, often on its own deck, two or more VIP cabins, and doubles and twins for the rest, each with its own bathroom.
- CrewTypically 12 to 22Roughly one crew member per guest and often more. Captain, officers, engineers, chef and sous chef, chief stewardess, stewards, bosun and deckhands.
- DecksFour, sometimes fiveLower, main, upper, sun deck and often an owner's deck. Lifts appear from around fifty metres, and a beach club at the stern is normal.
Typical figures across the charter market rather than rules. The individual yacht decides everything, which is why a proposal names specific boats.
Why this band
The size where the yacht stops being the constraint
Below fifty metres a charter week is planned around the boat: where she can berth, how many can sit down to dinner outside, whether the tender can run two groups ashore at once. Above fifty metres those questions mostly disappear. There is a second tender, the chef has a second pair of hands, there are three places to eat outdoors, and twelve people can spend a day on board without meeting anyone they did not intend to meet.
What you gain is space and specialisation. A gym that is a room rather than two machines in a corner. A cinema, a massage room, sometimes a hammam. A beach club at water level with a proper platform, a sea pool on some yachts, and a garage of toys that needs a crew member to run it. From around sixty metres many yachts also carry a helicopter deck, though whether it is certified for landing or only for winching differs from yacht to yacht and matters enormously.
Odyssey arranges charter yachts. We are not selling a particular boat, so when a smaller yacht with a better crew is the right answer for your week, that is what the proposal will say.
On board
What you generally find at this length
- A full beam master suite, often with its own private deck, and VIP cabins good enough that nobody feels demoted
- A lift between decks, which changes the week completely for older guests and for anyone who dislikes stairs
- A beach club at water level, usually with a gym, a sauna or hammam, and a bar, opening onto a bathing platform
- A tender garage holding a limousine tender for shore runs in the evening and an open tender for the beach and for water skiing
- Toys run by a dedicated crew member: seabobs, e-foils, wakeboards, paddleboards, inflatable slides and jet skis where local rules allow
- Diving on many yachts, with an onboard compressor and a crew member qualified to supervise, subject to local rules and certification
- A chef and a sous chef, so lunch for twelve on deck and a formal dinner the same evening is routine rather than ambitious
- Stabilisers that work at anchor as well as under way, which is the single feature guests notice most
Honest comparison
How the three bands differ
| 30 to 50 metres | 50 to 80 metres | 80 metres and above | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests | Usually 10 to 12 | 12, in considerably more space | 12, unless the yacht is coded to carry more |
| Crew | 6 to 11 | 12 to 22 | 25 to 60 |
| Spaces | Several, on separate decks | Gym, cinema, spa, beach club, lift | All of that, plus pools, submarines and helicopter decks |
| Berthing | Most major marinas, booked ahead | A shrinking list of harbours, booked far ahead and expensive | Very few berths anywhere. Often at anchor by necessity |
| Pace | Two or three hours between anchorages | Comfortable longer passages, including overnight | Ocean capable, with repositioning planned months ahead |
| Best for | Two families or a group of friends | Multi generational parties, milestone weeks, corporate hosting | Occasions where the yacht itself is the point |
See motor yachts 30 to 50 metres and gigayachts for the bands either side, and how charter costs work.
Berthing
The part that surprises people
At this size a berth stops being a detail and becomes part of the itinerary. The harbours that can take a sixty or seventy metre yacht in the Mediterranean are a short list, and in high summer they are committed months in advance. Port Hercule in Monaco, Porto Cervo, Port Vauban in Antibes and the large berths at Palma all work this way, and around the Grand Prix, the yacht shows or the Sardinian high season they are effectively sold out long before.
The practical answer is that big yachts spend much of a charter at anchor, which is usually where you want to be anyway: quieter, cooler and with the toys in the water. The tender does the rest, and a good captain plans the week so that the nights you want to be in a harbour are the nights he has a berth for.
Tell us early if being alongside matters on particular evenings, for a dinner ashore or a flight out the next morning. It is one of the few things that cannot be fixed at short notice, and it shapes which yachts we put forward.
Where they cruise
Usual grounds
Weeks they are chartered for
Getting there
Twelve people, one arrival
Embarkation day decides the week. We arrange the aircraft, the cars at the quay and the transfer to the yacht on one itinerary, and tell the captain when the aircraft moves rather than when it lands.
Request a proposal
Tell us who is coming
Dates, numbers, ages, and where in the world you would like to be. We come back with a shortlist of yachts in and around this size, the full cost of each, and a candid word about the crew on every one. Nothing is booked or charged online.
Prefer to talk? +44 2030 048300 or WhatsApp, at any hour.
Questions people ask
About this size of yacht
Why only twelve guests on a seventy metre yacht?
Because a commercial charter yacht may carry no more than twelve guests at sea, whatever her size. A yacht that sleeps sixteen in private use still charters for twelve. Yachts coded under the Passenger Yacht Code can take more, and there are very few of them.
Can we land a helicopter on board?
Some yachts in this band have a certified landing deck, some have a touch and go area, and many have neither. It is a specific question we ask about each yacht, because the answer changes how you join her.
How much crew contact is there?
As much or as little as you like. Say so on the preference sheet and a good chief stewardess sets the tone of the whole week accordingly.
Can we change the itinerary during the week?
Within the agreed cruising area, yes, subject to weather, berths and customs. Larger changes may carry a delivery cost, which we would explain before you agreed to anything.
Is a bigger yacht always better?
No. A superb crew on a well run fifty metre yacht makes a better week than an indifferent crew on a seventy metre one, and the proposal will say which is which.
