Once you have chosen your yacht, confirmed your dates and started looking forward to your time on board, there is one more important step before your charter begins: completing your Guest Preference Sheet.
It may look like another piece of pre-charter paperwork, but it is much more than that. The preference sheet is what allows your charter broker and yacht crew to prepare for the people arriving on board – not simply the number of guests.
From how you take your morning coffee and what your children like to eat to dietary requirements, favourite wines, preferred activities and special occasions, the information you provide helps shape many of the details of your week.
For guests planning a yacht charter in Croatia or elsewhere in the Mediterranean, completing the preference sheet carefully is one of the simplest ways to make the experience genuinely personal from the moment you step aboard.
What Is a Yacht Charter Preference Sheet?
A yacht charter preference sheet, sometimes called a guest preference form or preference list, is a questionnaire completed before your charter. It gives your charter broker, captain, chef and crew a detailed understanding of your group and how you would like to spend your time on board. Depending on the yacht, it will usually ask for information including:
- Guest names, ages and contact information
- Passport details where required for charter documentation
- Embarkation and disembarkation information
- Flight, hotel and transfer arrangements
- Dietary requirements, intolerances and allergies
- Medical or accessibility requirements relevant to the charter
- Favourite foods, snacks and cuisines
- Preferred wines, spirits, cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks
- Breakfast habits and coffee preferences
- Children’s food and drink preferences
- Watersports and activities you would like to try
- Preferred pace and style of cruising
- Birthdays, anniversaries and other celebrations
- Entertainment preferences
- Any other requests that could help the crew prepare
It is worth completing the form for every member of your charter party, rather than only for the primary charterer.
One guest may prefer a light breakfast while another looks forward to a full cooked breakfast every morning. Children may have completely different snacks and drinks from their parents. Some guests may want to spend every afternoon trying the yacht’s water toys, while others would happily spend the entire week with a book on deck.
Those differences are exactly what the preference sheet is designed to capture.
Why Is the Preference Sheet So Important?
A luxury yacht charter is unusual because the experience can be adapted extensively around a relatively small group of guests.
Unlike a hotel or resort, where hundreds of guests may be using the same restaurants and facilities, your yacht and crew are dedicated to your charter party for the duration of your stay. That gives the crew an extraordinary opportunity to personalise the experience – but they need information to do it. A detailed preference sheet allows much of that preparation to happen before you arrive.
Your preferred drinks can already be on board. The chef can plan menus around your tastes. The crew can prepare for birthdays or anniversaries. Watersports equipment can be organised around the interests and abilities of the group. The captain and charter broker can better understand the type of itinerary and pace you have in mind.
Good service often feels effortless to the guest. The preference sheet is part of the preparation that makes that possible.
What Should You Include About Food?
Food is one of the most detailed sections of most yacht charter preference sheets – and for good reason.
Your yacht chef will usually provision specifically for your charter, so the more useful information you provide, the better they can tailor menus to the group. Start with anything that affects health or safety. Food allergies and intolerances should always be clearly identified, including their severity where relevant.
Then move on to preferences.
Rather than simply writing “we like Mediterranean food,” think about what your group genuinely enjoys. Do you prefer light lunches and larger dinners? Are leisurely breakfasts important, or do you normally start the day with coffee and fruit? Do the children have favourite meals? Is there anything nobody wants to see on the menu? You can also mention favourite cuisines, ingredients and dishes, as well as foods you particularly dislike. You do not need to plan every meal yourself. The point is to give the chef enough information to understand your tastes while leaving room for their creativity and knowledge of local ingredients.
On a Croatian yacht charter, for example, you may want to experience fresh Adriatic seafood, local produce and regional dishes during your week. Mentioning your interest in local cuisine gives the chef another direction to explore.
Don’t Forget Drinks
Beverage preferences deserve more detail than simply “wine and cocktails.”
Consider what you normally drink throughout a day on holiday:
Which coffee do you prefer in the morning? Still or sparkling water? Particular soft drinks? Fresh juices? A favourite rosé for lunch? Champagne for special occasions? A particular gin, whisky or tequila? Favourite cocktails?
If there is a specific producer, vintage or premium product you would particularly like on board, include the brand and exact product where possible. This becomes especially important when cruising in destinations where certain imported or specialist products may not be readily available. Giving your broker and crew sufficient notice gives them a much better chance of sourcing what you want.
How the Crew Uses Your Preference Sheet
The preference sheet is not simply filed away after it is returned. Different members of the yacht team use the information to prepare their areas of the charter.
The Chef
Your chef uses the food section to begin developing menus and provisioning for the group.
Dietary requirements and allergies are particularly important, but preferences matter too. Knowing whether guests enjoy seafood, prefer lighter meals, love desserts or have adventurous tastes helps the chef create menus that feel personal without requiring guests to choose every dish in advance.
The Captain
The captain needs relevant guest and travel information for charter preparations and uses your wider preferences to understand how you would like the week to unfold.
A group interested in secluded bays, swimming and relaxed mornings may have very different priorities from guests wanting restaurants, nightlife and several destinations during the week. Weather and cruising conditions will always influence the final itinerary, but understanding your priorities gives the captain and crew a valuable starting point.
The Interior Crew
This is where many of the smaller details come together.
The interior team uses your preferences when organising drinks, snacks, cabin arrangements and day-to-day service. They may also help prepare celebrations, table settings, themed evenings or other special moments requested by the group.
The more they understand your habits, the easier it becomes to anticipate them.
The Deck Crew
If your group is looking forward to jet skis, Seabobs, paddleboards, e-foils, wakeboarding or other water toys, mention it.
Information about guest ages, swimming confidence and activity interests helps the crew prepare suitable experiences and understand what is likely to be popular during the charter.
Availability and use of individual water toys can depend on the yacht, destination, local regulations, licences and conditions, so discuss any must-do activities with your charter broker beforehand.
Tell Us How You Like to Spend Your Time
This is one part of the preference sheet guests sometimes overlook.
A preference sheet is not only about what you eat and drink. It should also tell us what a great holiday looks like to you. Perhaps your ideal day starts slowly, with breakfast on deck followed by several hours anchored somewhere quiet.
Maybe you want to explore a different island every day. You might be travelling with children who want as much time in the water as possible, or with friends who are interested in beach clubs, restaurants and nightlife.
You may want hiking, diving, wine tasting, historic towns, wellness treatments or simply very little planned at all.
There is no correct way to charter a yacht. Understanding your preferred pace helps your broker and crew make recommendations that suit your group rather than simply following a standard itinerary.
Celebrating Something? Tell the Crew
Birthdays, anniversaries, honeymoons, graduations and other milestones are worth including even if you do not have a specific celebration in mind. You do not need to plan the details yourself. Simply telling your broker what you are celebrating gives the team time to discuss possibilities with you and, where appropriate, organise something on board. And if there is a particular cake, bottle, decoration, restaurant reservation or experience that matters to you, mention it early.
Travelling With Children
Children should have their own preferences included on the form.
Their favourite meals, snacks and drinks can be just as useful to the crew as those of the adults, particularly for younger children or selective eaters. You should also include their ages and the activities they enjoy. If there are particular routines, requirements or relevant information that would help the crew make their time on board more comfortable, add those too.
A yacht charter can be an exceptional family holiday, and preparation allows the crew to adapt the experience to different generations travelling together.
Medical, Allergy and Accessibility Information
Some information on a preference sheet is not simply about personalisation.
If a member of your group has an allergy, relevant medical requirement, mobility limitation or accessibility need, tell your charter broker as early as possible. Yachts differ significantly in layout and accessibility. Stairs, passerelles, tender access and movement between decks can all vary between yachts. Discussing requirements early gives your broker and crew an opportunity to assess what arrangements may be possible and identify potential limitations before the charter.
What Does the Preference Sheet Have to Do With APA?
For yachts operating with an Advanced Provisioning Allowance (APA), your preferences also influence provisioning expenditure.
APA is used to cover charter-related operating expenses such as food and beverages, fuel, berthing and other costs specified under your charter agreement. The preference sheet helps the crew understand what needs to be provisioned before your arrival. Requests for particular premium wines, spirits, specialist ingredients or other high-value products will naturally affect provisioning costs.
Being specific does not necessarily mean spending more. In fact, clear preferences can help the crew provision more accurately and avoid purchasing items your group is unlikely to use.
For a detailed explanation of how this works, read our Guide to Advanced Provisioning Allowance (APA).
No Detail Is Too Small – But Be Specific
You do not need to write an essay about every guest. What helps most is specific, useful information.
Instead of:
“We like wine.”
Try:
“We usually prefer dry Provençal-style rosé at lunch and Italian red wine with dinner.”
Instead of:
“The children like watersports.”
Try:
“They are particularly excited about the Seabobs and paddleboards and would love to try wakeboarding.”
Instead of:
“We eat healthy.”
Explain what that means to you – perhaps plenty of vegetables and seafood, lighter lunches, fresh fruit throughout the day and minimal fried food.
Specific information gives the crew something they can actually work with.
When Should You Complete Your Yacht Charter Preference Sheet?
Do not leave it until the day before you travel.
Your broker will advise you of the appropriate timeline for your particular charter, but returning the preference sheet well in advance gives the crew more time to provision, source special items and prepare specific requests. This becomes even more important if you have unusual dietary requirements, want particular premium products, are organising a celebration or require something that may be difficult to source locally. If you realise you have forgotten something after submitting the form, contact your charter broker. It is much better to add the information than assume it is too late to mention it.
Five Tips for Completing Your Preference Sheet
1. Complete it together.
Send the relevant sections to everyone travelling rather than guessing their preferences.
2. Be honest about what you don’t like.
Knowing what guests dislike can be just as helpful as knowing their favourites.
3. Separate allergies from preferences.
Make it absolutely clear which requirements are medical and which are personal choices.
4. Include the children.
Food, drinks and activities should reflect younger guests too.
5. Tell us what matters most.
If there is one restaurant you want to visit, one activity the children cannot stop talking about or one bottle you want for an anniversary, make sure it stands out.
Your Charter Starts Before You Step Aboard
By the time you arrive at the yacht, a considerable amount of preparation has already happened behind the scenes.
The Guest Preference Sheet is one of the tools that turns a yacht charter from a beautiful week at sea into a week designed around the people actually on board. Take your time with it. Ask everyone travelling for their input. Be specific where it matters and do not worry about having every detail of the holiday planned. That is where your charter broker and crew come in.
At Otium Yachts, we work with our guests before the charter to understand not only where they would like to go, but how they would like their time on board to feel.
Explore the Otium Yachts fleet or contact our charter team to start planning your next yacht charter.
