Of all the lines on a charter contract, the APA is the one guests misread most often. It is not a fee, not a deposit and not a margin. It is a working float — your money, held by the captain, spent on your behalf and returned with receipts. Understanding what it covers is the difference between a week with no surprises and an uncomfortable conversation on the Friday.
What APA means
Advance Provisioning Allowance. On a crewed charter, the yacht arrives with empty tanks, an empty cellar and no berths reserved. Rather than bill you afterwards for a hundred small purchases across four countries, the industry asks for a float in advance — typically 25 to 35 per cent of the charter fee, paid with the balance thirty days before embarkation.
The captain becomes, in effect, the treasurer of your week. Fuel, food, wine, harbour fees, port taxes, laundry, the diver who cleans the hull before you arrive: all of it comes out of the same account, and all of it is documented.
- Fuel — for the yacht, the tenders and the generators. Usually the largest single line.
- Food and beverage — all provisioning, including wines and spirits you request.
- Berthing and port taxes — marina nights, mooring fees, anchorage charges where applicable.
- Communications — satellite and onboard connectivity.
- Shore logistics — laundry, deliveries, agents’ fees, occasional local transfers.
What it does not cover
The charter fee already covers the yacht, the crew’s wages, the insurance on the vessel and the standard equipment on board. The APA does not touch any of that. Nor does it cover VAT, which is invoiced separately and calculated on the itinerary actually sailed. It does not cover the crew gratuity. And it does not cover anything genuinely personal: restaurant bills ashore paid on your own card, shopping in Saint-Tropez, the helicopter you take on the last morning unless the crew arranged and paid for it.
One frequent misunderstanding: extraordinary requests are not automatically inside the APA. A rare vintage sourced for a birthday, a jet ski hired from shore, a florist sent to the yacht before dinner — these are billed through the APA only if the captain pays for them, and they will drain it faster than a day at sea.
Where the money actually goes
The proportions vary with the itinerary, but on a typical seven-night charter between Cannes and Saint-Tropez, on a 35-metre motor yacht, the shape is broadly this.
| Line | Share of APA | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel | 35–50% | Rises sharply with distance covered |
| Food & beverage | 20–30% | Wine list is the swing factor |
| Berthing & port fees | 15–25% | Monaco and Saint-Tropez in season are exceptional |
| Communications & sundries | 5–10% | Laundry, agents, deliveries |
A week largely at anchor with two marina nights will underspend its APA comfortably. A week that crosses to Corsica and back, with four nights alongside, will not.
We review the APA and the contract with every client before signature.
Reading the end-of-week statement
On the last morning the captain presents an accounting: every category, every receipt, the total spent and the balance owed to you. Three habits are worth adopting. Ask for the mid-week figure rather than waiting. Check the fuel line against the itinerary actually sailed — it should make sense. And query anything unfamiliar immediately, on board, while the receipts are to hand rather than a fortnight later by email.
A well-run yacht welcomes all three. Reluctance to produce a running total is, in our experience, the single most reliable early signal that a week will need managing.
Setting the right level
Too low an APA means a top-up request mid-charter, which is awkward and avoidable. Too high means a large sum sitting idle for a month. The percentage in the contract is a starting point, not a rule: if you know you intend to cross to Italy, or to spend three nights on a Monaco berth in July, say so before signature and set the allowance accordingly.
The broader arithmetic of a charter — fee, APA, VAT, gratuity — is set out in our note on yacht charter costs on the French Riviera. If you are at the stage of comparing offers, we are glad to read them with you.