What should I do if I have a problem or complaint during my charter?
Raise it with the captain or chief stewardess directly and as soon as possible — most issues (a cabin's temperature, a request not being followed) are resolved quickly once the crew knows about them. For anything more significant, contact your broker, who represents your interests and can involve the yacht's management company if needed.
Key facts
- Most day-to-day issues are resolved fastest by speaking to the captain or chief stewardess directly.
- Crew genuinely want to know if something isn't right — they can't fix what they don't know about.
- Your broker represents your interests throughout the charter and is the right contact for anything more serious.
- The broker can involve the yacht's management company if an issue needs to go beyond the crew.
Start with the crew, and do it early
The captain runs the yacht and the chief stewardess runs guest service, so between them they can resolve the vast majority of issues that come up during a week — a cabin that's too warm or too cold, an activity that hasn't been scheduled as requested, a dish that didn't land the way you'd hoped. Raising it early, rather than waiting to see if it improves, gives the crew the best chance to actually fix it during your trip rather than after.
Crew are trained to want this feedback in real time. A polite, direct word to the chief stewardess or captain is normal and expected — it isn't an imposition, and it's far more useful to everyone than staying quiet and being unhappy for the rest of the week.
When to bring in your broker
For anything that feels bigger than a quick fix — a recurring issue, a safety concern, a significant gap between what was promised and what's being delivered — contact your broker rather than trying to resolve it entirely yourself. This is precisely the role a broker plays during the charter, not just during booking: they represent you, not the yacht, and they can raise the issue with the yacht's management company with the standing to get it properly addressed.
Brokers also have context you don't — they know the yacht, sometimes the crew, and what's reasonable to expect on that particular vessel — so they can usually judge quickly whether something is a simple misunderstanding or a genuine problem worth escalating.
Common questions
What if the problem happens outside office hours for my broker?
Most charter brokers give clients a direct mobile number or emergency contact for the duration of the trip precisely for this reason — use it, since these issues are rarely convenient during business hours.
Will raising a complaint affect the crew's gratuity?
Not necessarily — gratuity reflects the whole week's service, and a crew that responds well to a raised issue is still delivering good service. Judge the tip on the full trip, not one moment.
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