Why a private yacht in Puerto Vallarta costs what it does
If you looked at a quote and thought — wait, that is what it costs at home; I expected Mexico to be less — this page is for you. Nothing is wrong with your maths. Here is what is behind the number.
The bay is small. The number of vessels large enough and well kept enough to carry an occasion is smaller than visitors expect. Many of the finest yachts here are privately owned, chartered rarely and selectively, and reached by relationship rather than by listing.
Scarcity is real, and it shows in the price. It is also why choosing well is a job, not a search.
Two quotes for the same afternoon can differ by thousands of dollars, and the boat is rarely the reason. What differs is what is inside the number. Here is how to read one.
Tax.
A quote is either inclusive of 16% IVA and issued with an official invoice, or it is not. Ask. Mine always is.
Card payments.
Charging a customer a surcharge for paying by card is not permitted in Mexico, and you may still see it on invoices. With me there is no surcharge line, because the cost of accepting your card is already inside the number.
The marina.
There is a fee at the marina gate. Elsewhere you may be asked to bring cash for it. Here it is paid, and it is included.
Catering.
This is where quotes diverge most. Mine is prepared by private chefs, cold courses made fresh the same morning, delivered to the dock to the minute, boarded and set before you arrive. It is not inexpensive, and it is the difference between a meal and a platter of something from the supermarket.
The bar.
"Open bar" can mean a bottle of the spirits no one will drink. A properly stocked bar, with the labels you would choose at home, belongs in the number before you board, not on a receipt after.
The yacht itself, prepared.
Every vessel I send you on has been upgraded for your day: proper towels, amenities, kids' equipment when there are children, water toys when the occasion calls for them, the catering and drinks carried aboard. Most of it I bring and board myself.
Crew.
How many, and whether service is included or expected.
The person at the dock.
I meet every guest at boarding and again when the yacht returns. It sounds like a small thing until you have stood in the wrong marina looking for a boat with a slip number on a WhatsApp message. Some of the companies selling charters in this bay do not live in it. I do. For larger groups I am often on board, quietly making sure the day runs as it was composed.
When I quote, everything above is inside the number.
Not because it makes the price smaller; it does not. Because the invoice should match the conversation, and the day should match the invoice.
One more honest thing. This is a small bay with a young charter culture. What makes a day here extraordinary is not the marble in the saloon. It is water that is warm all year, the whales from December to March, a beach with no road to it, and a captain who has read this swell for twenty years. I compose around those. What I cannot compose around, I tell you before you decide.
If you are comparing quotes, send them to me. I will tell you what is inside each — including my own.
— Oksana
private yacht in Puerto Vallarta costs
