Explained by charter manager & head of Bali operations, Kim Guenier
Eight questions worth asking, and how we answer them.
Before booking a yacht charter in Indonesia, ask who you will deal with, whether they have been aboard the yacht recently, whether your itinerary is realistic, what happens if something goes wrong, and who holds your money. A good charter specialist will answer every one of these without hesitation.
Booking a yacht charter means trusting someone you may never have met with a significant payment, a precious holiday and a stretch of ocean most people know little about. The yacht matters. So does the company behind the booking.
These are the questions we would ask in your position, and how we answer them ourselves.
1. How long have they worked in Indonesia?
Experience here is measured in seasons and relationships, and both take years to build. We founded Ultimate Indonesian Yachts in 2012 as the original charter specialist in Indonesia.
Every enquiry is handled by one of our three most senior people: Eddie Widnall, Kim Guenier, or Annie Biziou. Once a charter is confirmed, our guest services team joins in, and we stay involved until you’re home. With our team split between Europe and Bali, someone is on hand in the evenings and at weekends.
It is worth asking any company whether the person advising you now will still be there when your charter begins.
2. Have they been aboard the yacht, and how recently?
Photographs show you a yacht at her best. They cannot show you how she is maintained, how settled her crew is, or how the food holds up across a week.
Each year our Europe team spends a month in Indonesia inspecting the yachts we work with, and our locally-based Bali team is aboard throughout the year. We know the owners, captains and cruise directors, many of them since the yacht’s first charter. More on how we choose the yachts in our collections.
3. Will they tell me if my plans don’t work?
They should. Indonesia is vast, and distances on a map are deceptive. Komodo to Raja Ampat can be done in a week at full speed, but you would see very little of either. At a pace that lets you enjoy them, it is closer to three weeks.
Seasonal winds and a yacht’s cruising speed change crossing times too, and a badly timed crossing is uncomfortable at best. A good specialist will sometimes suggest you do less, and enjoy it more. Our in-house guide, Richard Phillips, a former Aman cruise director, plans our longest and most remote routes with exactly this in mind.
4. Is the yacht right for my group?
The number of guests a yacht can carry is not always the number it carries comfortably. Cabin layouts, mixed ages and how your group likes to spend the day all matter. We will not fill a yacht to its limit simply because the cabins exist, and we will suggest a larger yacht, or two sailing together, if that is the better answer.
5. What happens if something goes wrong?
Weather turns, flights are cancelled, people fall ill. What matters is who takes responsibility. When it happens, we are the ones who put it right, working with the owner to move dates where we can.
From our perspective, a business is built on long term relationships and it’s for that reason we have clients that have travelled with us so many times over the years.
6. Who holds my money, and under what contract?
Ask who the contracting company is, where it is registered, and where your payment goes.
Ultimate Indonesian Yachts is Ultimate Yachts UK Ltd, a limited company registered in the UK. Client payments come through us and are passed to the yacht’s owner. When a yacht is brand new, we hold the funds until we have inspected her ourselves, and this is confirmed and agreed with you in advance.
Each yacht has its own charter contract. If you would prefer MYBA terms, the international standard, we can arrange them on request.
7. Are their credentials really theirs?
It is worth reading credentials closely. A press feature about a yacht is not a feature about every company that sells her. A figure for nights at sea may combine shared-cabin departures with private charters. Neither is a problem in itself, as long as you know which you are looking at.
When we quote figures, they cover private whole-yacht charters only. Press coverage of Ultimate Indonesian Yachts itself is listed on our website.
8. Do they specialise in private charters?
A private charter, with a whole yacht and crew for your group, is a very different trip from a shared departure, and requires additional expertise and attention. Private charter is what we do, across our three collections. Nearly half of our charters run for nine nights or more, and more than a quarter of the nights we book are for guests sailing with us again.
The conversation that matters
The right company will answer all of these questions readily, and will ask you just as many in return: who is coming, how you like to travel, and what you hope to bring home. That conversation is where every good charter begins.
Start that conversation with our senior team. We reply quickly, and honestly.
