Where we actually go

The Mediterranean: the French Riviera, the Amalfi Coast, Greece, and Corsica and Sardinia are the four milk runs, all in peak season with warm sea and every restaurant open. July and August are the hottest, busiest and most social weeks, with the best DJs and events. Norway is at its best under the midnight sun. In the southern hemisphere the Whitsundays, Fiji and the Kimberley are in their dry-season peak.

June and September if you want warm water and open restaurants without the crowds or the heat; our own pick. July and August if you want the party, the events and the younger crowd, and can take the heat. We would not talk anyone out of any month in season: being on the water is always the point.

The Caribbean and the Bahamas are in peak season, with St Barths at New Year the single most sought-after week in yachting. Sydney Harbour has New Year's Eve and the Sydney to Hobart start. The Maldives, the Red Sea, Dubai and Abu Dhabi have their winter sun, and Antarctica is in its short summer window.

A couple of hours a day, four at most, is comfortable. Larger yachts can move early or overnight so guests wake somewhere new; smaller yachts with fewer crew often cannot, because crew-hour rules are strict. One overnight crossing of about eight hours fits a one-week charter, two do not. The French Riviera to Corsica, Sardinia or Portofino is a one-week trip; the Riviera to the Amalfi Coast needs two weeks.

Generally yes. Croatia and Turkey in particular are much cheaper than the French Riviera, so you can charter more space and cabins for the same budget. The Riviera has the more modern fleet; Croatia has older boats, sailing yachts and gulets; Greece has many catamarans. Crews in the east are usually local and in the west international.

Somewhere with short distances and sheltered water: the British Virgin Islands or the Exumas in the northern winter, the Whitsundays or Croatia in the northern summer, and the Amalfi Coast or the Ionian islands of Greece for a first Mediterranean week. Every itinerary we offer can be done as a family week or a party week; it is a matter of where you anchor and what you do ashore.

In more than 50 destinations worldwide: the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and Bahamas, Australia including Sydney and the Whitsundays, the South Pacific including Fiji, French Polynesia and New Zealand, the Maldives, the Red Sea, the Middle East, Norway, Antarctica, Indonesia and South America. Ahoy Club is based in Sydney with offices on the Côte d'Azur, in Fort Lauderdale and on Capri, and its own yachts MISCHIEF and CORAL OCEAN cruise Australia, the South Pacific and the Mediterranean.