Can I take a one-way trip during my boat rental?
Updated on: 26/05/2025Some people want to rent a boat for a one-way trip, meaning they board at one location and disembark at another. This is sometimes possible, but let’s be clear from the start: in Europe, we strongly advise against it for two main reasons:
- This option is very rarely offered: rentals in Europe are usually from Saturday to Saturday. However, a one-week “one-way” rental will inevitably overlap with the following week due to the time required to return the boat (or with the preceding week if the boat must be taken to a departure point other than the usual port). So rental companies often simply refuse to offer one-way rentals. This means that if you want to do a one-way trip, you significantly limit your options: so even if an offer is available, you won’t get the best boat—you’ll take whatever is available for a one-way trip...
- Since this is rare, it is expensive: 1) you must pay a skipper to return the boat to the departure base after your rental (or from the usual base to your departure point, depending on the direction of your one-way trip), 2) you must pay for the day(s) during which the boat cannot be rented normally before or after your rental, 3) you must pay for fuel for the duration of the delivery
- In addition to being rare and expensive, this arrangement is problematic: either the check-in inventory or the checkout will take place outside the usual rental base, so it will be handled by the skipper in charge of the delivery (and not the rental company). So either the welcome and orientation will be less thorough, or the checkout will be rushed, which can be problematic if there was damage during the rental.
- This is risky: 1) In the event of an accident or unforeseen circumstance before your rental, it will be impossible to find a one-way replacement solution, as this type of rental is so rare, whereas with a standard rental, it is much easier to find a replacement boat. 2) Between your reservation and the day of departure, the rental company may well be tempted to “cancel” your one-way rental if they have a customer ready to book a standard rental that won’t overlap with another consecutive week. 3) If your rental starts at an unusual port, the boat may very well arrive late for the start of your cruise.
- But above all, there’s no point: a one-way trip won’t make your cruise any better or let you see more beautiful sights. A standard cruise with departure and return at the same location isn’t a round trip at all—it’s an itinerary where you can stop at new anchorages and ports every day!
Important note: what we’ve just said applies to Europe and the Mediterranean, where rental periods are fairly standardized (Saturday to Saturday). In the Caribbean and, more generally, in exotic destinations, rentals can start and end on any day. So one-way trips are easier to organize (since rental companies don’t impose the Saturday-to-Saturday restriction), although they remain a relatively expensive, unreliable, and risky option. Nevertheless, here are some examples of possible one-way trips:
- In Polynesia, it’s common to do a one-way trip from Tahiti to Bora Bora: expect a surcharge of a few hundred euros for a skipper to sail the boat back.
- In the Caribbean, the one-way trip from Martinique to Grenada is sometimes requested, allowing you to enjoy the Grenadines for a week without having to do too much sailing. Expect a surcharge of around €2,500 (skipper’s pay, flight and accommodation for the skipper-convoyer, fuel, and the inability to rent out the boat during the return convoy).
Good deals: Some large charter companies operating in multiple ports occasionally offer special ONE-WAY / TRANSFER deals at low prices. These typically arise in fairly rare situations where they need to return a boat from one base to another. In this case, you are the skipper, so the price will be very attractive and you will obviously have no delivery fees since you are doing a favor for the rental company.
However, there are some downsides to this type of one-way offer:
- they are rare, so it’s up to you to adapt to the dates that suit the rental company.
- Sometimes, the distance to be covered can be long (e.g., a rental company that wants to return a boat from Kos to Athens over the course of a week involves a lot of sailing for the person handling the delivery, leaving little time to enjoy the anchorages along the way).
- This remains risky from a logistical standpoint: if the boat were to be damaged or become unavailable shortly before your rental, it would be impossible to find an alternative one-way solution. You would then simply be refunded.
