It is March. The yacht is in a Palma shipyard, the season starts in six weeks, and the chief stew has asked you for a bar plan and a provisioning list. What you write in the next two days will determine whether you spend the summer making excellent drinks or apologising for the ones you cannot make.
Designing a Season
Work backwards from the itinerary and the guest profile.
- Where is the yacht? A West Med season means aperitivo, rosé and long refreshing drinks. A Caribbean season means rum, tiki-adjacent builds and far more ice. A crossing means shelf-stable everything.
- Who is aboard? Owner trips and charters have different economics. The owner's preferences are non-negotiable; charter guests are unknown until the preference sheets land.
- What is the prep capacity? A programme requiring eight house syrups is a fantasy if you also have three stews and a full interior service to run.
- Build a core list (10-14 classics that must always be makeable), a signature list (6-8 originals), and a zero-proof list (4-6). Everything you provision should serve more than one of them.
Provisioning and Suppliers
- Use established yacht provisioning agents in your main hubs (Palma, Antibes, Fort Lauderdale, St Maarten). They understand yacht paperwork, deliver to the passerelle, and can source rare bottles quickly.
- Build the relationship in the off-season, not the night before a charter. A supplier who knows you will find the owner's bottle; one who does not will send a substitute.
- Order lead times are the killer: rare spirits can take weeks. Wine and spirits ordered "under bond" have their own customs process and their own timeline.
- Provision redundancy in what breaks or runs out: glassware, citrus, ice-machine filters, CO2, bar towels.
The Bond and Duty-Free Spirits
Yachts on international voyages can carry duty-free ("bond") stores — spirits, wine, tobacco — on which duty and VAT have not been paid.
| Concept | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Bonded stores | Duty-unpaid stock, sealed and carried under customs control |
| Bond locker | A dedicated, lockable, controlled store — not the bar shelf |
| Sealing | Customs may seal the bond in port; a broken seal is a serious matter |
| Consumption rules | Bond is broadly for consumption at sea / by the vessel, per the rules of the state |
| Declaration | Bond stock is declared on arrival and must match the record |
The rules vary by country and are enforced by the local customs authority. The bar team does not decide bond policy — the captain and the purser do. Your responsibilities are narrower and absolute: do not open bond stock without authorisation, record every bottle taken out, keep the locker locked and controlled, and never let bond stock leave the vessel. Getting this wrong exposes the vessel and the captain to fines and detention, not just you.
Onboard Notes
- Provision for the weight and the stowage, not just the list. Cases of glass are heavy, and everything must be secured for sea before you leave the berth.
- Owner-owned rare bottles should be recorded with photographs, quantities and locations. A missing EUR 4,000 bottle becomes an investigation.
- Keep the bar plan in the yacht's document system with the specs, the stock list and the supplier contacts. The next bartender is your responsibility too.
- GUEST is governed by IAMI and assessed by approved GUEST Training Providers; Unit 15 is a Specialist module that follows Unit 14. xplor is not an accredited GUEST provider and nothing here awards or counts toward a unit or certificate.