Last updated September 25, 2026
The short version. A 50% deposit reserves your charter, and the balance is due 24 hours before departure. Payments are non-refundable if you cancel or do not show up. If the captain cancels for weather or safety reasons, you choose: a free reschedule or a full refund.
This page explains how payments, cancellations, reschedules and weather calls work at YachtBuddy, so you know exactly where you stand before you book. The specific amounts and dates that apply to your charter are the ones written in your confirmation. If anything here differs from your written confirmation, your confirmation is the one that counts.
1. Reserving Your Charter
Your date is reserved only once your payment has been received and we have sent you a written confirmation. Until then, the date and the vessel stay open to other guests.
- More than 48 hours before departure: a 50% deposit reserves your charter. The remaining 50% is due 24 hours before departure, so your charter is paid in full by the day of your trip.
- Less than 48 hours before departure: 100% of the charter total is due at the time of booking.
Paying the balance. By paying your deposit, you authorize YachtBuddy to charge the remaining balance to the same card 24 hours before departure. About 48 hours before your charter, we will send you a reminder with a secure payment link in case you prefer to pay the balance with a different card. If you pay through that link before the 24-hour mark, your card on file will not be charged again.
All payments are processed securely by Stripe.
2. If You Need to Cancel
Payments are non-refundable if you cancel your charter. Please make sure your date, departure time and group size are correct before you pay.
If your plans change, contact us as early as possible. We will always try to help you move your date, as described in section 3.
3. Moving Your Date
Please make sure the date you select is correct. Rescheduling is not always guaranteed, because it depends on the availability of the vessel. However, you can always contact us and we will do our best to accommodate your request.
No-shows. If you do not show up for your charter, the charter is treated as a no-show and payments are non-refundable.
4. Weather and Safety
Your safety comes first, and the decision to sail is always the captain’s. If the captain determines that the charter must be canceled because of unsafe weather or safety concerns, you choose between:
- Rescheduling your charter at no additional cost, or
- A full refund of all amounts paid.
5. If We Have to Cancel
If a mechanical issue, a crew emergency or any circumstance on our side prevents your charter from sailing, we will offer you a comparable vessel for the same date whenever one is available. If it is not, you receive a full refund of everything you have paid, deposit included.
6. Timing on the Day
Your charter starts at the hour confirmed in your quote, whether or not the whole group has arrived. We hold the dock for thirty minutes; after that the charter may be treated as a no-show. Time lost to a late arrival is not refunded and cannot be added to the end of the charter, because the vessel usually has a schedule after yours.
If the day is going well and you want more time on the water, just ask the captain. Extra hours are charged at the hourly rate in your quote and are always subject to availability.
7. Security Deposit and Damage
Some charters require a refundable security deposit, which is stated in your quote whenever it applies. It covers damage to the vessel or its equipment, lost items, and cleaning beyond normal use — for example a spill that needs professional treatment, or any incident involving sickness on board. The deposit is released once the captain confirms the vessel came back in the condition it left in.
8. Conduct and Safety on Board
The captain has final authority over everything that happens on the vessel. For the safety of your group and the crew, the captain may end a charter early if guests behave in a way that is unsafe, illegal, or that puts the vessel at risk. A charter ended for this reason is not refunded.
Illegal substances are not permitted on board under any circumstance. The number of guests may not exceed the capacity stated in your quote. That is a legal limit set by the vessel certification, not a preference, and the captain cannot make exceptions to it.
9. Refunds
When a refund applies, for example a weather or safety cancellation by the captain or a cancellation on our side as described in section 5, it is issued to the original payment method within five to ten business days.
10. Gratuity
Gratuity for the captain and crew is not included in your charter total and is entirely at your discretion. In Miami, fifteen to twenty percent of the charter total is customary for good service. It is never charged automatically and it is never affected by a cancellation.
11. European Union and United Kingdom Customers
If you are a consumer resident in the European Union or the United Kingdom, this section applies in addition to the rest of this policy. Nothing here limits any right you may have under the mandatory consumer law of your country of residence.
The 14-day withdrawal right does not apply to a dated charter. A private yacht charter is a leisure service provided on a specific date. Under Article 16(l) of Directive 2011/83/EU and under regulation 28(1)(h) of the UK Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, the 14-day right of withdrawal does not apply to leisure services performed on a specific date or period. This means that once you confirm a date and pay a deposit, the cancellation windows and refund amounts described above are the ones that govern your booking.
What we confirm to you in writing before you pay. Before you make any payment we send you, by email or WhatsApp, the vessel, the date, the departure time and duration, the departure location, the maximum number of guests, the total price, what is included and what is not, the amount and treatment of any security deposit, and the cancellation windows that apply to your booking. Keep that confirmation: its amounts and dates take precedence over the general framework on this page.
If something goes wrong. If we cancel or materially change your charter, you are entitled to a full refund of everything you have paid, as described in section 5, without prejudice to any additional remedy available to you under the law of your country of residence. If you are not satisfied with how we have handled a complaint, you may use the European Commissions online dispute resolution platform, and you keep the right to bring proceedings in the courts of your country of residence where the law of that country gives you that right.
Your data. YACHTBUDDY L.L.C is the controller of the personal data you provide when you book. Your rights of access, correction, deletion, restriction, objection and portability, and how to exercise them, are described in our Privacy Policy. Write to info@goyachtbuddy.com for any request related to your data.
12. Questions Before You Book
If anything on this page is unclear, ask before you pay a deposit rather than after. Write to info@goyachtbuddy.com or call +1 786-554-5056, Monday to Sunday, 8:00am to 8:00pm. We would rather spend ten minutes explaining a detail than have you commit to a day you are not completely sure about.
This policy complements our Terms and Conditions and forms part of your booking agreement. The amounts, dates and conditions written in your individual quote take precedence over the general framework described on this page.