Paying guest to help the finances

[sveinutne]

I am playing with the idea of retiring early, maybe in two years time. Then I would like to buy a sailboat I can live on and also take some paying customers along the way to finance the show. I hear that a lot of people are doing this in the carbine, but I was planning to start in Croatia and Greece during the summer and in the Red sea during the winter for the first years, then maybe move to the Maldives or other nice places.

Some people say that it is a lot of regulation, so one should not do commercial transport of people, but find others ways of doing it. Some recommend that the paying guest register in a club or organization before been transported, then no commercial licenses are needed. I do not know what is right, but I would like to know what I need to do and what sort of licenses I should get. I have been looking at Sun Odyssey 54 ds with 5 cabins. Then I could have three double cabins for the guest and some private space.

[atoll]

many countries are very protective about their tourism,and only allow local vessels with local crew to operate the charter,egypt,and greece especially,in turkey you can buy a charter licence,which is about $5000 for the season.

[beneteau-500]

Croatia only allows a certain number of change of guests on your vessel and as a non eu citizen and croatia entering the eu next yr your time limited and if you go to Egypt then with have high insurance costs that may change your mind as a few yachts dropped out this yr for the vassgo yacht rally

[sveinutne]

Thank you for your answer. This was very useful information. If I have to consider Greece and Croatia as a lost place, Turkey got a lot of nice places, so that is still an option during the summer. I was hoping to do some diving around Sharm el-shakh during the winter. If I have to go all the way to the Maldives, it will be a long travel every spring and fall. Then maybe it is better to stay in the Maldives?

[Richard5]

How is this different than having non-equity shareholders?

If I were to do this, I would solicit in my home country and have those shareholders, er, "guests" meet the boat for a specified amount of time.

[atoll]

there were a number of foreign vessels doing dive charters out of port sudan,sudan is more relaxed about foreign operators in their waters.

[David M]

You have to check with the specific countries you are interested in regarding the carrying of passengers for hire.

Many people have come up with clever schemes in order to try to get around the laws of various countries regarding passengers for hire only to get in trouble when the authorities discover what they are doing or someone turns them in, quite often by legitimate charter companies located in that same country. Charter companies are always looking for others doing illegal charters or what appears to be an illegal charter.

It is a tough business to be in because of the competition and I don't think many make money doing this causally as a side line job to make some extra cash. Who wouldn't like to get paid to go sailing?

A couple years ago I looked into getting a weekend job doing skippered charters for a sailing club in the Bay Area. They were only offering $15/hour which was not worth my time....apparently it is for others.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Richard5

How is this different than having non-equity shareholders?

If I were to do this, I would solicit in my home country and have those shareholders, er, "guests" meet the boat for a specified amount of time.

i guarenntee in egypt if you are regularly on the reef diving with guests you will get rammed and probably sunk!,they have very large dive boats! and take competition very seriously even amongst different egyptian dive companies,a foreign vessl wouldnt stand a chance

[sveinutne]

The people I have met have been working in the Carrabin, like the BVI, so there might be the reason for that. I do not know the regulation there, but that might be just as good as any other place. It was really helpful to get to this website with so many knowledgeable people. I have been thinking about this for some time but most people do not know this restrictions.

[sveinutne]

So I need to find the places where I as a Norwegian citizen can get a work permit and a charter license. And the place should be warm and nice. I guess I am not the first to look for this, so maybe there is already some list of such places?
I guess it should not be so different from any other foreigner to the country. Any links or ideas what places I should investigate.

[Zanshin]

The French Caribbean islands are, for the most part, Departements Etranger (can't find the accents on this keyboard) and thus you may live and work there as a citizen of an EU member state.

Note - many others have had the same idea, so the markets are tough.

[sveinutne]

Thank you Zanshin, then maybe the BVI got the same conditions?

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by sveinutne

Thank you Zanshin, then maybe the BVI got the same conditions?

Doubtful - the Brits kept the colonies as colonies. The French made them part of France (well, the ones they wanted to keep ).

[sveinutne]

In Wikipedia the real Franch Caribbean is limited to Guadeloupe and Martinique. This is a very limited place to do charter. Maybe it is OK to visit Dominica and other place one might sail by on a trip as long as no passenger leaves the party or new passenger enter the boat?

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by sveinutne

Maybe it is OK to visit Dominica and other place one might sail by on a trip as long as no passenger leaves the party or new passenger enter the boat?

I dunno about Dominica (or anywhere else!) - but that rings half a bell for some countries. But probably not all.

My suspicion is that folks who have done the leg work (to find out where) and are legally doing what you intend would not be offering up the info for free (I wouldn't!). IMO on some things legal is the best way to proceed, and this I think is one of those things - primarily for the commercial benefits (higher rates and can openly advertise). Downside is likely on cost, including on getting the vessel coded / equipped / licensed for charter.

As a headstart / shortcut you could try Googling up folks who run charters in a country that could be viable to include other countries and see whether anyone else is doing the same as you intend.