Sunsail Flotilla vs The Moorings Skippered Charter: An Honest Comparison
Written by Gediminas Vengrauskas - licensed Coastal Skipper, ICC, VHF. Updated August 2026.
Key takeaways
A Sunsail flotilla means you sail your own yacht along a set route with other boats, behind a lead crew. You still need a licence and a sailing CV - or you pay extra for a skipper.
A Moorings skippered charter in Greece is not their headline "Skippered Charter Package" - that runs only in the Caribbean. In Greece it is a bareboat with a hired skipper at $380 a night, and his food is not included.
The two brands are related: Sunsail's own skippered page calls The Moorings "our sister company".
In Greece they barely overlap on the chart. Sunsail's flotilla sails from Lefkas in the Ionian; The Moorings' Greek bases are Athens and Corfu.
Flotilla is the right answer if you can steer and you want company. A skipper is the right answer if nobody aboard wants the responsibility.
A private skipper sits between the two: no fixed route, no fleet branding, and a day rate of €180-220 rather than the €326 that $380 works out at today.
The short answer
Book a Sunsail flotilla if you hold a licence and want other crews around you. Book a Moorings skippered charter if you want a professional at the helm and the reassurance of a large fleet behind you. The flotilla gives you a planned route, a berth reserved every night and a lead crew on the radio - but you are still the skipper, and the paperwork is still yours. The Moorings puts a qualified skipper on your bareboat for $380 a night in Greece, roughly €326 at the European Central Bank reference rate of 28 August 2026, and in the Mediterranean you feed him and give him a cabin. These are answers to two different questions: do you want to sail, or do you want to be sailed?
What is a Sunsail flotilla, exactly?
You charter your own yacht and sail it yourself, but you travel with a group of other Sunsail boats along a route the company has planned. A lead crew - a skipper, a host and a technician, on their own yacht - runs a briefing each morning, sails ahead to the next stop, and helps everyone moor when they arrive.
Sunsail's own page sets the daily rhythm out plainly: briefing at 08:30, leave when you like between 10:00 and 11:00, three to four hours of sailing, 10 to 20 nautical miles. On Mediterranean bases you board at about six in the evening on day one.
The social side is the point, not a bonus. Beach barbecues, a punch party, an end-of-week regatta. If the idea of eating dinner with fourteen strangers sounds like a holiday, this is your product. If it sounds like work, it is not.
What is a Moorings skippered charter, exactly?
Here is the detail most comparisons miss. The Moorings sells two different things under the word "skippered", and only one of them exists in Greece.
Their Skippered Charter Package - skipper, skipper's food and Wi-Fi bundled into one price, with skipper profiles you can read before you choose - runs in the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, Belize and St Martin. Nowhere in the Mediterranean.
In Greece you get Bareboat Charter with Skipper. You book a bareboat, then add a skipper as a pre-paid extra. No profile, no choosing: an experienced Moorings skipper is assigned to you. He needs a cabin - an interior one if the boat has a spare, the forepeak only if that was agreed when you booked - and in Mediterranean destinations his provisioning is not included and must be arranged separately.
Are Sunsail and The Moorings the same company?
Not the same, but not strangers either. Sunsail's skippered-charter page describes The Moorings as "our sister company" and links straight across to it. In practice they are positioned differently: Sunsail leans social and sail-it-yourself, The Moorings leans premium and let-us-handle-it.
That matters when you are comparing quotes, because you are not really shopping two independent suppliers against each other. You are choosing between two shelves in the same shop.
Do you need a sailing licence for each?
For the flotilla, yes. Sunsail requires a completed sailing resume and a licence to take a yacht out without a skipper, and a flotilla boat is a bareboat with company. If nobody in your group holds one, Sunsail's own answer is to hire a skipper - which quietly turns the cheaper product into the more expensive one.
For The Moorings with a skipper, no. The skipper's qualifications cover the boat. That is the whole point of the product, and it is the same reason people book me. I wrote out which Greek papers actually get accepted, and which do not, in this guide to chartering in Greece without a licence.
Where can you actually do each of these in Greece?
This is the practical fork, and it decides more bookings than price does.
Sunsail flotilla in Greece: Lefkas only. Sunsail runs three Greek bases - Athens Zea, Corfu and Lefkas - and on their destination page only Lefkas offers a flotilla quote. Athens and Corfu are bareboat. The Lefkas base also closes between November and April.
The Moorings in Greece: Athens and Corfu. No Lefkas base at all.
So the choice is partly a choice of sea. Lefkas puts you in the Ionian: short hops, flat mornings, a breeze that arrives in the afternoon and goes away for dinner. Athens puts you in the Saronic and, if you push out, the Cyclades - bigger water, and the Meltemi in July and August. I have written a day-by-day Saronic week if you want to see what that looks like in practice.
One honest wrinkle about Lefkas: it is not near Athens. An Ionian week starts about four to five hours by road from Athens airport, so you fly to Preveza or Aktion instead. Nobody's website puts that in the headline.
What does each one cost in 2026?
Sunsail publishes no flotilla price on its flotilla page - you build a quote. I am not going to invent one, so treat the flotilla column below as a blank you have to fill in yourself.
The Moorings does publish, in US dollars, on their Greece cost page. Their figures were last updated in April 2026 and are "starting from" prices, which means the cheapest boat on the cheapest date. Converted at the ECB reference rate of 28 August 2026 ($1.1643 to the euro):
Greek bareboat, seven days, two people: from $3,059 (€2,630) in low season to $19,499 (€16,750) in high season.
High season by party size: two people from $3,400 (€2,920), four from $4,500 (€3,865), eight from $11,000 (€9,450).
Skipper: $380 (€326) per night, plus his food. Their skippered-charter page quotes a worldwide range of $190-$380 a night, so Greece sits at the top of it.
Fully crewed, captain and chef: $27,749 to $36,999 (€23,830-€31,780) a week.
My own published rates, for comparison: a skipper is €180-220 a day, and a Greek charter yacht through the partner fleets I work with runs €2,500-4,500 a week, with €200-400 for fuel and harbours and €150-250 for end cleaning. I own no boats; I book them from licensed charter fleets, and I say so on every page.
What does a week actually add up to for four people?
A fair comparison has to name what is left out, so here it is stated twice.
Athens, high season, Moorings bareboat plus their skipper. Boat from $4,500 (€3,865) plus seven nights of skipper at $380 (€2,285) is about $7,160, or €6,150. That figure does not yet include fuel, mooring fees, end cleaning, the skipper's food, or the gratuity their page says is expected.
The same week booked through me. Yacht €2,500-4,500, skipper €1,260-1,540, fuel and harbours €200-400, cleaning €150-250 - about €4,110-6,690. That range does include fuel, harbours and cleaning. It does not include your food or my food, and there is no gratuity built into it.
The gap is smaller than it first looks, because those two totals are not measuring the same things. At the bottom of my range I am clearly cheaper; at the top we are close. What differs is what the money buys: a fleet with bases, spare parts and a duty phone, or one named captain who answers his own phone. I have broken my own week down line by line if you want the full arithmetic.
Mooring fees are worth a separate warning, because both brands quote them and the numbers do not match. Sunsail says €30-80 a night in Greece; The Moorings says town quays are typically €10-30 and private marinas can pass €50-100 in high season. Both add that catamarans attract a surcharge of roughly 50-65%. Budget toward the top of whichever range you are given.
What is included - and what quietly is not?
Sunsail's flotilla package is generous on paper: yacht, lead crew, one tank of fuel, gas and water, dinghy and outboard, all clean linen including bath and tea towels, snorkelling fins, the first morning's breakfast, the punch party, and end cleaning. Not included: food and drink, Wi-Fi, beach towels, the security deposit, snorkel and mask, and children's life jackets - bring your own.
Read two of those lines together, though. "Guaranteed mooring at each stopover" is included; "mooring and marina fees" are not. The berth is reserved for you. The bill is still yours. That is not a trick, but it catches people out.
On a Moorings bareboat with a skipper you are buying a person, not a package. Their page is admirably blunt about what he will not do: no cooking for the group, no cleaning for the group, no emptying bins, no childcare, no booking your taxis or dive trips. He navigates, handles the dinghy, keeps the deck safe, refills gas and water, and briefs you. Everything else is your holiday to run.
Which one suits families with children?
Flotilla wins on paper, and often in practice. Other children on other boats, a set route so the days are predictable, and Sunsail adds an activities coordinator on dedicated family flotillas in Greece - though their inclusions list narrows that to the Meganissi flotilla on selected Lefkas dates, so check the week you actually want. Short 10-20 mile hops suit small attention spans.
The catch is that you are still responsible for the boat while being responsible for the children. Mooring stern-to in a crosswind with a four-year-old on deck is a different job from mooring stern-to alone, and that is the moment parents remember.
My own view, bias admitted: for a first family week I would rather see a professional on board than a lead crew two hundred metres away on the radio. What that feels like day to day - meals, cabins, privacy - is in what it's like having a skipper on board.
Which gives you more freedom over the route?
The skipper, easily. A flotilla route is fixed, weather permitting, because a lead crew has to reserve berths for every boat in the group. You can dawdle, swim and take the scenic line between stops, but you cannot decide on Wednesday that you would rather go somewhere else entirely.
With a skipper aboard - The Moorings' or mine - the itinerary is a conversation each morning. If the wind is wrong for Hydra, we go somewhere it is right for. That flexibility is the single biggest practical difference between the two products, and it rarely appears in either brochure.
Where does a private skipper fit between the two?
Somewhere in the middle, and I would rather say that honestly than pretend I beat both on every measure.
What a big brand gives you that I cannot: a base in the marina with a technician on it, a spare boat if yours breaks on day one, a call centre, and a name your travel insurer has heard of. If that safety net is what lets you sleep, book Sunsail or The Moorings and enjoy it. That is a sound decision.
What I give you that they do not: the same captain from the first email to the last line ashore. I carry a Coastal Skipper licence valid internationally for vessels to 24 metres and up to 12 passengers, plus ICC and VHF, and six years of sailing behind me - not decades, and I am not rounding it up. I work the Saronic, the Cyclades, the Ionian and Dalmatia, and I book boats from the same class of licensed fleets the big names use. For the wider comparison - bareboat, flotilla, skippered and cabin charter side by side - I set all four out here.
So which should you book?
Sunsail flotilla - you hold a licence, you want the Ionian from Lefkas, and the social side appeals rather than appals.
Moorings bareboat plus skipper - you want Athens or Corfu, you want a professional aboard, and a large fleet behind the booking is worth the premium to you.
Moorings fully crewed - you want a chef as well, and €23,830 or more for the week is inside your budget.
A private skipper - you want one named captain, a route you set each morning, and published day rates you can check before you write to anyone.
There is no wrong answer in that list. There is only the question of which one you would actually be relaxed on.
FAQ
Is a Sunsail flotilla the same as a skippered charter?
No. On a flotilla you skipper your own yacht; the lead crew sails a separate boat and supports the group. On a skippered charter the professional is on your boat, with you, responsible for it.
Do I need a licence for a Sunsail flotilla?
Yes. Sunsail requires a completed sailing resume and a licence to charter without a skipper, and a flotilla yacht is chartered on those terms. If nobody aboard qualifies, you add a skipper at extra cost.
How much does a Moorings skipper cost in Greece?
$380 per night on their own Greece cost page - about €326 at the ECB reference rate of 28 August 2026. In Mediterranean destinations his food is not included and must be arranged separately.
Are Sunsail and The Moorings the same company?
They are related. Sunsail's skippered-charter page refers to The Moorings as "our sister company". They are marketed as separate brands with different emphases.
Can I join a Sunsail flotilla from Athens?
Not at the time of writing. Sunsail lists three Greek bases - Athens, Corfu and Lefkas - and only Lefkas carries a flotilla option. The Lefkas base also closes from November to April.
Where does the skipper sleep, and do we have to feed him?
He needs a berth of his own. The Moorings assigns an interior cabin where one is free, and the forepeak only if that was agreed at booking. In the Mediterranean you provision for him too, either by pre-paying or by feeding him aboard.
Which is better for a family with young children?
A flotilla offers other children, predictable days and an activities coordinator on Sunsail's dedicated family flotillas in Greece. But you are still the skipper. If handling the boat and the children at the same time sounds like too much, a skipper is the safer choice.
Is a private skipper cheaper than either?
Usually, though not always, and the comparison is rarely like for like. My published rate is €180-220 a day against €326 for a Moorings skipper in Greece. What the higher price buys is a fleet, a base and a call centre - real things, if you want them.
About the author
I'm Gediminas Vengrauskas, a Lithuanian licensed captain. I hold a Coastal Skipper certificate valid internationally for sail and motor vessels to 24 m and up to 12 passengers, 12 nautical miles offshore, day and night, plus ICC and VHF. I run skippered weeks in Greece and Croatia, deliver boats along the coast, and take people out for day sails from Athens. SailCurrent is one man, not an agency - which is why every price here is published rather than quoted on request.
If you want a straight answer about which of these suits your crew - including "book the flotilla, it's the better fit" - tell me who is coming and when, or look at what a skippered week in Greece or a captain for your own boat actually involves. I read every message myself and reply within 24 hours.
Sources checked 31 August 2026: Sunsail's flotilla page and The Moorings' guide to Greek charter costs. Prices on both are "starting from" figures and change without notice - check them before you budget.
