Guides
A whole-boat charter anchored alone in a Maddalena cove — the kind of quiet bay where a retreat week finds its rhythm.
Every season, a handful of yoga teachers, breathwork facilitators and wellness leaders send me the same email: could I run my retreat on one of your boats? The short answer is yes, and it is simpler than most people expect. Here is exactly how hosting a retreat on a yacht works, what we take care of, what stays yours, and what it takes to hold a week.
To host a retreat on a yacht, you charter a whole crewed catamaran for the week and fill it with your own community. One boat with six ensuite cabins sleeps up to twelve guests; when a group is larger than that, we sail a flotilla of two or more boats together rather than shrink it. Naveo handles the sailing, the crew, the food aboard and the route. You bring your people and your programme, set your own price, and keep the margin. Nothing is fixed until you want it to be.
The boat, and how many it holds
Our retreats run on catamarans, and that matters more than it sounds. A catamaran sits flat at anchor. It has a wide deck to gather on, a shaded cockpit big enough to feed everyone at once, and cabins split across two hulls so nobody feels on top of anyone else.
The catamaran we run most retreats on has six cabins, each with its own bathroom: twelve guests in comfort, plus the crew in their own quarters forward. A smaller four-cabin boat takes eight if your group is more intimate. And when a community is bigger than one boat can hold, we do not cut the guest list or shorten the days. We add a second catamaran and sail them as a flotilla: the same anchorages, the same beaches, everyone back around one long table for dinner ashore.
That flotilla is also where the numbers start to work in your favour. Most retreat leaders bring more people than a single boat holds, and scaling up is what turns a week into a real profit rather than a break-even labour of love. So we grow the fleet to match the group: two boats, three, even more, all sailing as one. Picture a community of twenty-four across a pair of boats, and thirty or more across three, everyone in the same anchorages and around one long table ashore each night.
What Naveo handles, and what you bring
The split is clean, and it is the reason leaders with no sailing background run beautiful weeks with us.
What we take care of
The boat and the crew: a skipper, and a host chosen and trained for exactly this kind of week. Provisioning and the food aboard, with breakfasts and lunches served on deck, fresh and local, built around wherever we have anchored that day. The route, the timing, the weather calls, the safety. If a bay is too exposed for a calm morning practice, we quietly move to one that is not. You never touch a line or a chart unless you would like to.
What you bring
Your community, and your retreat. The teaching, the intention, the shape of the days: that is yours, and we build the week around it. Want a slow start with a long practice before anyone eats? We anchor somewhere still and get you ashore early. Yoga and movement happen on land, on a quiet beach or a flat stretch of shoreline at golden hour, dinghy ride included, never on board. Between sessions there is swimming off the back steps, paddleboards, a dinghy run to a village for dinner, and a great deal of nothing, which for most retreat guests is the entire point.
One more thing we bring to the table: a selection of the best experiences ashore, ready to fold into your week if you want them. A long lunch at a family vineyard, a hike to a hilltop at golden hour, a boat-to-table dinner on the sand, a thalasso afternoon to reset midweek. You don't have to take any of them, but they are there, and we curate the week together, matching what's ashore to the retreat you are building.
You lead the retreat. We run the boat. That single split is what lets a first-time sailor host a flawless week at sea.
How the money works, and why you keep the margin
This is the part most leaders want to understand first, so I will be plain about it. The boat is one fixed charter price for the week: from around €19,000 for an eight-guest catamaran, and roughly €25,000 for a twelve-guest one, varying by boat, destination and season. You charter it from Naveo. Then you sell your retreat to your own people, at your own price, under your own terms.
Divide the boat across your guests, add your programme fee on top, and the difference is yours. Your guests book with you, not with us; we stay behind the scenes as the operator. On a full boat, most leaders more than cover their own place and earn a genuine margin on the week. We do not take a cut of your ticket price. We charter you the boat, and what you build on top of it is your business.
How to book, in five steps
None of this is complicated. Here is the whole path from idea to sailing.
1. Start with a conversation
Tell me who your community is, roughly how many, and what kind of week you have in mind. We talk through destinations, dates and which boat fits. Every week we run begins with this conversation.
2. Choose your boat and your week
Pick your catamaran and your dates: a Saturday-to-Saturday week in Sardinia and Corsica, Greece, Croatia, Turkey or Sicily. If you are not yet sure how many guests you will fill, start with one boat and add a second later as it sells.
3. Put down 25% to hold it
A 25% deposit and one simple agreement with Naveo commit that boat and those dates. They are yours; the balance falls due closer to sailing. You do not need every guest signed up to hold the week: the deposit does that.
4. Fill it with your people
Now you sell. You set the per-person price, you keep the margin, and your guests book directly with you. We give you the photography and the practical detail to build your own page: where you are sailing, what is aboard, and what a day actually looks like.
5. We run the boat; you lead the retreat
You arrive to a provisioned boat, a warm welcome and a crew who have done this many times. From there, you teach and we sail. The sea sets the pace, and your only job is the retreat you came to lead.
Why a week at sea, and not a villa
A retreat on the water does something a villa cannot: it moves. The view changes every morning, the group draws close, phones lose their signal, and by the third day the week has found its own rhythm. Sardinia and Corsica in one week is our flagship route for exactly this, but every coast we sail rewards a group that slows down together.
Ready to take your community to sea? Get in touch and plan your retreat.
Common Questions
How many guests can I bring?
A six-cabin catamaran takes up to twelve guests, each cabin with its own bathroom, plus crew in their own quarters. A smaller four-cabin boat takes eight. If your community is larger we add boats and sail them as a flotilla rather than cut the guest list, so twenty-four across a pair and thirty or more across three.
How does the money work?
The boat is one fixed charter price for the week, from around 19,000 euro for an eight-guest catamaran and roughly 25,000 euro for a twelve-guest one, varying by boat, destination and season. You charter it from us, then sell your retreat to your own people at your own price. We take no cut of your ticket.
What is included in the charter price?
It is half-board. The boat, the crew, provisioning, and breakfasts and lunches aboard are all in. Dinners ashore and the week's excursions sit outside it, and those experiences are optional; you decide whether to add them.
Do I need sailing experience to host?
No. We take the boat, the crew, the route, the timing, the weather calls and the safety. You never touch a line or a chart unless you would like to. You bring the teaching and the shape of the days, and we build the week around it.