The Croatian cruise brings the superyacht lifestyle up close

(CNN) — With yacht designers pushing the envelope on superyachts being snapped up by the uber-wealthy, several fleets in the Adriatic are taking a different tack by offering luxury offerings on older vessels at discounted prices. Point.

And these charters aren’t the only way to travel to the One Percent lifestyle for less.

The Croatia-based superyacht Freedom began life as a cabin cruiser, cruising Croatia’s postcard islands with 18 passengers and up to 40 guests, which can be privately chartered for approximately $1,500 per week. With private cabins for rent and often meals on board, cabin cruisers have long been a popular cruise option in Croatian waters.

The space in the former cabins has been converted into an on-board massage suite, cinema and wellness area with sauna and steam room.

And the four-story ship has a fitness room, a sun deck with a hot tub, a plunge pool and a bar. A fleet of water toys is also available for guests, including an inflatable slide, electric foil surfboard, inflatable kayaks, SUP, Seabob and water scooter. And 11 crew members serve guests.

Charter rates for Freedom’s first superyacht start at €80,000 (about $82,000) per week (excluding food and alcohol, which add about 30% to the total price). Do the math, and if you can gather 21 of your closest friends, you can sample the island-hopping lifestyle of a superyacht that costs you a week on some luxury cruise ship.

And the Liberty isn’t the only cabin cruiser getting a makeover in the Adriatic.

Visiting the Adriatic coast is one way to get a taste of the superannuation lifestyle without blowing your entire vacation budget. Cruise experts offered CNN Travel other ideas, but it’s not stratospheric in terms of price for travelers looking for something to splurge on.

But first, Freedom’s latest creation.

Yachting is going full throttle when the pandemic hits.

The Liberty’s transition from cabin cruiser to luxury charter was immediate, says Mirtic, thanks in part to a voracious appetite.

While other travel businesses were at a standstill, the cruise business in Croatia and elsewhere continued to grind to a halt, Mirtici said. And owners of cabin cruisers in Croatia came to Goleta to accommodate people observing social distancing and asked to be booked with private groups to travel with others in their bubbles.

And Mirtic believes that the trend of cabin cruisers to bring a more luxurious experience to Croatian waters will happen over time, with the pandemic helping to speed things up.

“Ship owners were making more money[with private charters during the pandemic]than with cruises, the tips were bigger than the total ship booking client, the cruise ships were more high-end,” Mirtici said. “It was more fun for everyone.”

Prices for Freedom charters are set to rise to 100,000 euros (about $102,000) for the 2023 season, which runs from late April to late September.

However, the International Council of Maritime Industry Associations defines a superyacht as being over 30 meters (approximately 98 feet) in length. That means freedom is qualified by size — if not perhaps other criteria, like Sichess.

What refurbished cabin cruisers are — and aren’t.

Siches called Freedom a “workhorse” designed to make money.

And even if a yacht like the Freedom has an upmarket market, the yacht won’t command the fees of a “modern 50-meter yacht” because it doesn’t meet the high standards of “high-end design,” according to Sichs. Rich looking in superyacht charter.

Mirtič disagreed.

“If you build a 50-meter superyacht, it costs around $50 million, so Liberty is not a superyacht off the books,” Mirtic said of the ship, which cost more than $4 million to build in 2019.

But it has all the features of a superyacht, plus you can take more people, he says, citing passenger amenities and space.

Because Freedom was originally built as a cabin cruiser, not a superyacht, and is only chartered in Croatian waters, the vessel does not have to adhere to the 12-passenger/six-cabin restrictions common in the larger industry.

Now, according to Mirtic, Gooleets fields weekly requests from captains who want a free “copy and paste” (all 15 yachts in the Gooleets portfolio are privately owned and operated).

“The owners are saying 50,000 euros per week for a private charter of their yacht seems very high. When we were calling from Monaco, we were afraid of customers who wanted to have such a yacht but the price was too low,” he says. “It was really funny.”

The market for these boats will never be prosperous, says Mirtichi.

“They’re businessmen and people with new money who have a lot of money but don’t want to spend $500,000 a week on a charter just to show off,” he says.

The golets will deliver the 49-meter (160-foot) Ohana and Crystal and the 48-meter (157-foot) Bella in 2023. Not all Liberty Superyacht services will have weekly charter rates for 2023. Crystal starts at 55,000 euros (about $56,000) per week, with room for up to 38 guests in 19 cabins.

A charter in its own place

“When you charter a yacht for around €100,000 a week, you either get an older yacht that can be closer to 30 or 40 metres, but the Freedom is nowhere near 48 metres,” he said. “And there’s a huge opportunity on a small boat that can only accommodate up to 10 guests.”

A small yacht in that price range with a cinema, massage room and all the water toys that superyacht charter guests want is unlikely, he says.

“(Liberty) has a high capacity for people, a low cost per person and a large amount of amenities on board,” Watney said, and can offer more than customers can currently hope to find elsewhere in a yacht charter for the same price.

Which brings us to other ways travelers can get good value on private accommodation.

Saving money on superyacht charters is one thing.

If you’re looking for other ways to save money on a superyacht charter, there are options, Siche says.

For starters, the farther you get from a South of France charter — a weekly starting superyacht charter costs around $250,000 per week before meals and alcohol — the less expensive the yacht charter tends to be, Sichess says.

“Turkey is more expensive. It doesn’t have as many super yacht berths, but it has cleaner water than the south of France,” he says. “The Emerald Coast is a great place to sail.”

The south of Italy where you’re going is going to be dirty for a superyacht charter, Siches said, pointing to Sicily and southern Sardinia.

“Owners are more willing to negotiate during those times of the year because it’s typically a slower time,” she said.

Greece and Croatia also have much lower VAT (value added tax) on ship charters compared to France, Italy and Spain, she said.

More savings strategies

And there are other “tricks” to consider, Hatcher says.

“If you start with a Turkish charter and leave and enter Greece on a foreign boat that is not a Turkish boat and does not have a Turkish flag, you can leave the country and touch a foreign port and avoid VAT,” she said.

Similarly, Hatcher said that chartering a boat in Albania to skip the Ionian Islands and back to Albania is a way to avoid paying Greece’s additional VAT because Albania is not in the EU.

“Furthermore, if you start with a Greek charter and leave Greek waters and call Albania or Turkey, Greek VAT is completely waived,” she says.

Outside of Europe, Hatcher points to coins in an undoubtedly valuable pastime as elsewhere in New England charters. But pay attention to your port of origin.

“Only charters starting in Rhode Island and Maine are zero tax,” she said. “If you start in New York or Massachusetts, you have to pay state sales tax on charter fees.”

You can charter in Newport to tour places like Nantucket, Block Island, Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.

And if you’re wondering if there are actually people looking to charter a superyacht who are worried about saving money at the same time, Mirtich says he’s banking on it.

“There’s a large segment of people who have money and want to be part of a cruise ship, but they want to be smart about it,” he said.

“Not everyone wants to spend $500,000 a week on vacation.”

Top Image: Croatian Ship Freedom (Goolets)