Your charter party’s complexion, as brokers call it, will have a lot to do with the charter yacht vacation you ultimately choose. Unlike with Carnival cruise, a Princess cruise, a Disney cruise, or a Crystal cruise, booking a charter yacht gives you complete control over who is traveling with you.

Unlike onboard cruise ships, though, you will never be twelve decks away from the guests you invite along with you for a private yacht charter. The total space onboard yachts—even the world’s largest—is by sheer physics far smaller than the total space onboard cruise ships. You’ll typically dine as a group at every meal, for instance: three times a day for seven days or longer, if you always eat onboard. You’ll be riding in the dinghy together more often than not, and you’ll rarely be sunbathing alone.

Yes, you will be able to find quiet nooks for getting away, reading a book and stealing solitary moments—especially onboard the larger, crewed yachts—but if you want to make sure everyone in your group stays happy in tighter-than-usual quarters, then you will have to figure out who will be traveling with you and work with a charter broker to find a yacht that is laid out to best suit your needs.

For instance, if you are traveling with three other couples who all want to split the week’s cost equally, you can save yourself from squabbling by looking for a yacht that has three equally, or almost equally, sized cabins—each with an en suite bathroom. On the other hand, if you are grandparents treating your children and grandchildren to a charter, nobody is likely to argue about you selecting a yacht with a super-deluxe master stateroom for yourselves. What they may complain about, though, is having children placed in cabins with double or queen-size beds. For kids, you should look for cabins that have twin-size mattresses and even Pullmans (which are like bunk beds).

When you travel with a small group of family or friends onboard a private yacht, nobody should be thinking about who has the better stateroom or who has to share a bathroom—but we all know what goes through certain people’s minds (especially chronically complaining in-laws). It’s best to head those kinds of problems off before they have a chance to fester, out at sea, where there are very few witnesses…

Seriously, professional charter brokers have good ideas about what features and amenities you should look for when planning for charter parties with different complexions.

Some examples of how your charter party’s complexion might look include:
• One couple traveling alone
• A group of single friends
• Two to six couples splitting the bill
• Families with adult children
• Families with young children
• "Sugar Daddies" footing the bill for everyone
• Business groups
• Groups of more than 12 people  (the typical charter yacht maximum)

In many cases, you’ll know who is going to be part of your charter party before you even start looking for a yacht to match your needs. If it’s your immediate family, for instance, you can’t very well bring dad and leave mom home without hearing complaints during holiday dinners for years to come.

Yet if you find yourself in the opposite situation--trying to decide which of your friends make the guest list and who stays home—there are some ways to make smart decisions. You can learn tips and secrets for doing just that by reading Dream Cruises: The Insider's Guide to Private Yacht Charter Vacations, from which this information is adapted.