It is the last evening, the crew lined up the best week of your summer, and now there is a question nobody prepared you for. Here is what is customary in the Mediterranean, so you can decide calmly instead of googling on the passerelle.
Crewed weeks
The Mediterranean norm is 5-15% of the charter fee, given to the captain at the end of the charter, who divides it across the whole crew including the ones you rarely saw: the engineer who kept the air conditioning alive and the chef behind every plate. Where you land inside that range is genuinely your call, guided by how the week felt. Cash is traditional; a transfer is increasingly common and completely acceptable, and the captain will give you details if you ask.
Day charters
Simpler: tip as you would in a fine restaurant, entirely at your discretion. Handing it to the captain or skipper at the end of the day is the normal way; they share it with the deckhand.
What matters more than the number
- It is never obligatory, and no serious crew will make you feel otherwise.
- Give it to the captain for the whole crew rather than tipping individuals, which unbalances a team.
- Never feel pressure to tip your way out of a bad experience. If something went wrong, tell us; that is our job to fix, not yours to paper over.
- A written review afterwards is worth almost as much to a crew as the envelope. If the week was special, say so where future guests can read it.
Budget it in from the start
When we send a weekly quote we state the base rate, APA and VAT. Add a mental line for gratuity at whatever percentage feels right to you, and the final morning holds no surprises. That is the whole trick of chartering happily: every number known before it arrives, which is the theme of everything included and the APA guide.