Long associated with adult lounging or being hedonistic playgrounds; superyachts have been typecast into a one-dimensional view. Yet, peel back the glitzy ads and splashy photos of the young and the beautiful on deck, and you actually have a sublime setting for families.
Chartering with children can be a vastly rewarding experience for all. Children are notorious for being curious, restless, high energy, and radiant. Rather than being cooped up in a resort destination or crammed into a city; with a superyacht, you gift them lashings of open space, a new location every few days, and a wild coastline brimming with freedom and imagination. With AvYachts, family yacht vacations don’t have to remain an unobtainable dream.
Planning a family sojourn on a superyacht takes a little extra care and consideration, but these ideas for planning a dream family escape are sure to get you started.
Creating a Space
For groups of friends chartering the seas, everyone will want lashings of room to claim as their own, an outdoor bar, and enough bottles of champagne and adrenaline toys to get the heart racing. Families will be seeking something different. Picking the right facilities, design, and layout of the superyacht you choose to summer on will dramatically impact comfort and ensure calm waters ahead.
Endless Entertainment
Family superyacht spaces should know how to pack a punch. Depending on the age of the children you need to start piecing together a wish list that offers communal decks with pools, swim platforms for easy access to the sea, film, and video, water toys and games for the beach. Yacht adventures can be taken a step further; families can bring marine biologists, tutors, and nannies onboard to help kids embrace fascinating facts about their newfound surroundings.
A Great Layout
When it comes to life at sea; superyachts are all about making memories. Families should be seeking yachts that have cozy communal spaces so that they can spend time together. Yachts that boast outdoor cinemas under the stars, child-sized cabins that are close to the master quarters and a warm design ambiance as opposed to a boat decked in silk carpets, crystal and glass – all these factors turn a stuffy summer into something so much more relaxed.
Connecting the Dots
Once you have the ideal superyacht and a string of dream destinations, you can start connecting the dots. An imaginative crew can make all the difference. The perfect blend for a sublime summer onboard a yacht is an enviable mix of time on the water and well-marked day trips to stop cabin fever setting in.
Out on the Ocean
The ocean can easily become a liquid playground. Snorkeling trips, pirate play, kayaking and marine life watching are activities that never get old. For those days when the water can lose her luster – then families and the crew can plan elaborate themed dinners, can hunker down with a pile of board games and can lose hours to movie marathons with homemade popcorn and ice-cream from the chef. You could even arrange a pizza making evening for some family fun in the galley.
Stepping Ashore
Pick your ports of call wisely – beautiful beaches, ease of access to the city, museums, aquariums, and days out hiking and cycling can all be accommodated when spending summers on a superyacht. Being on a yacht gifts glorious access to secret spots – island hop and find deserted stretches of sand for family barbeques, crab races, and cave exploration.
The words summer and superyacht slot together beautifully; for families willing to think outside the box – the world can quickly become your oyster and the ocean a gold mine of memories.
Delightful Destinations
American Beauty
Nowhere captures sweet innocent fun like sailing around New England – spacious, clean sand beaches, wide-eyed tales of whaling, and quaint little towns crammed with eateries and ice-cream are seemingly pulled straight from a children’s picture book.
Beautiful Bimini
Beyond the white picket fence of Americana, the sun-kissed gateway to the tropical nature of the Bahamas can be embraced in Bimini. Ernest Hemmingway himself fell in love with this slip of perfection, and it makes an idyllic spot for teaching your youngsters how to cast their first lines, planning exciting dolphin swimming trips, and feeding sting rays at Honeymoon Harbor.
Cool Cuba
While some may be hesitant at the idea of navigating Cuba with kids, aboard a yacht charter, it makes for a great destination. The spirit of family life runs thick in the veins of Cuban culture, and children are welcomed with open arms. The cobbled streets, baseball games and pirate fortresses of Havana are a great place to start, before moving on to the untouched beaches and pink flamingos in Cayo Coco.
