Do I need a licence to charter a yacht in Monaco?
No — every charter we arrange comes with a professional skipper or a full crew, so you need no licence and no experience. A licence only becomes relevant for bareboat charter, which is rare on this stretch of coast and not something we broker.
There is a practical reason bareboat barely exists here. Port Hercule and Fontvieille are tight, busy and heavily regulated; the traffic outside the breakwater in August is dense; the Italian ports across the frontier each have their own formalities. An owner will not release a 20-metre yacht into that without a professional at the helm, and the insurance behind the yacht usually will not allow it either.
What that means for you is that the skipper is not an optional extra to be declined for a cheaper price — he is the yacht’s papers, the harbourmaster relationships and the route planning. On a day boat he may be the whole crew. From roughly 20 metres he becomes a captain with two to six people around him, and their wages are inside the charter fee, paid by the owner.
If you hold a licence and want to helm, say so: most captains are glad to hand over the wheel in open water on a calm morning. The manoeuvring in the harbour stays theirs, which is where you would want it anyway.
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