For some reason, I can't quote a previous post, but this is in response to the statement(s) about trip insurance. Basic trip insurance is quite restrictive, and my Wife and I do not purchase it. We do sometimes purchase "Cancel for any reason" insurance. Yes, it is more expensive, but not prohibitively so. We planned a very expensive trip to Tanzania about six months ago, and I have some minor health issues that may be a problem if anything changes in Tanzania, disease-wise, so we bought a good insurance plan. We can literally cancel for ANY reason, even if we just decide, "nope, we don't want to go anymore". The poilcy cost less than 10% of the overall cost of the trip, which seems very reasonable given the coverage. IMHO, if a trip is expensive enough that it would be a hardship if you lost the cost, then good trip insurance is worth the expense.

Regarding charter companies refunding fees, I would be surprised if they could do that financially. I'm by far no expert, but I would think that in most cases, when you use a charter company you are not renting the boat from the boat owner, the charter company is, and you are paying the charter company. So, the charter company still owes something to the owner, even if you cancel. We have sailed the BVI 9 times in the past 15 years. The first time, we chartered through TMM, one of their boats and a skipper they provided. Every trip since has been chartered directly through the owner of the boat, three different boats over this time period. We thankfully have not had to cancel any trips, but truly feel that if we had to cancel, we would get some sort of noticeable refund, or a credit towards future travel, and this would be done quite easily. The fewer fingers in the pie, the better. Just my $0.02 worth.