What to Provision for a Catamaran Cruise, and Who Takes Care of It

Provisioning means loading water, food, and everything else you might need at anchor before you set sail. On a week-long catamaran cruise, quantities are worked out per person and per day, onboard storage has its limits, and some items are better bought locally than shipped from home. That leaves one question generic checklists never ask: who takes care of it, depending on whether you sail bareboat, with a skipper, or on a fully crewed cruise. Here is the complete list for a week onboard, category by category.

The Complete Provisioning List for a Week Onboard

For a week onboard, the provisioning list breaks down into categories: water and drinks, pantry staples that last the whole week, fresh food for the first few days, and non-food items. This list is built for 7 days onboard; for a shorter or longer stay, scale the quantities up or down rather than looking for a dedicated list, because none exists.

Water and drinks (the first item on the list, even before food)

• Still water, to supplement the water produced or stored onboard
• Hot drinks: coffee, tea
• Juice, soft drinks, drinks for sundowners

Pantry staples for the whole week

• Starches: pasta, rice, semolina
• Canned goods: vegetables, fish, meat
• Basic condiments and spices
• Oil, salt, sugar

Fresh food for the first 2 to 3 days

• Meat and fish to eat quickly
• Delicate fruit and vegetables
• Dairy products

Non-food items

• Toiletries
• Cleaning supplies: sponges, dish soap, trash bags
• Reusable shopping bags, useful for purchases made once you arrive

This boat shopping list covers a standard week. You then top it up locally, base by base, as explained further down in this article.

What Determines the Quantity to Bring Onboard

Three factors change the whole calculation: the number of people actually onboard, the length of the stay, and what the boat has available for storing food.

Use the number of people confirmed at booking, not the boat’s maximum capacity: a catamaran advertised with ten berths does not always carry ten people on a cruise. Length of stay matters just as much: the list above is built for 7 days, to be scaled up or down for a weekend or a fortnight. Finally, the storage equipment onboard sets how much fresh food you can bring versus canned goods, a fridge and, depending on the base and the boat, a freezer compartment, to confirm with your advisor. For a longer voyage, provisioning follows very different benchmarks (autonomy counted in months): this article focuses on the one to two week charter cruise, the most common format at Sailoe.

How Much Food to Plan per Person and per Day

The simplest approach is to think in categories rather than specific dishes, and to eat the most perishable food first.

Four categories cover the essentials of food onboard: fresh items for the first two or three days (meat, fish, delicate vegetables), starches and canned goods that last the whole week, snacks for low-energy moments underway, and basic condiments to season without thinking about it. Keep the simplest meals for days with a bit of chop, and save more elaborate cooking for evenings at a calm anchorage. There is no reliable universal quantity guideline for a week of charter cruising: the figures that circulate usually come from a very different use case, such as a round-the-world voyage, where autonomy is measured in months rather than days. For the category-by-category detail, see the list given earlier in this article.

To help you picture it, here is a benchmark for a typical crew of 4 people over 7 days. Only the drinking water line rests on a solid, sourced figure (detailed just below): for the other five, no serious public source gives a reliable benchmark for a week of charter cruising, since the quantities depend too much on the group, the destination, and the length of the trip to fit into a single number.

Item	Benchmark for 4 people, 7 days
Drinking water (bottles or packs)	About 60 to 80 litres in the tropics, or 2 to 3 litres per person per day, adjusted for heat
Breakfast	Depends on the group’s habits: coffee or tea, cereal or crackers, needed for every morning
Starches	Depends on the number of meals planned onboard and the share of meals eaten ashore
Protein (meat, fish, eggs, legumes)	Depends on the number of meals and the boat’s storage capacity, see the storage section below
Fresh fruit and vegetables	To calculate mainly for the first 2 to 3 days, the rest is topped up locally
Drinks, other than water	Depends on the group’s habits: juice, soft drinks, sundowner drinks

The drinking water benchmark comes from official hydration guidelines: the European Food Safety Authority sets a total daily intake of about 2 litres for women and 2.5 litres for men, food included, while France’s national food, environmental and occupational health safety agency recommends drinking 1.5 to 2 litres a day for adults, adding 0.5 to 1 litre a day above 30 degrees Celsius. This drinking water, loaded in bottles or packs, stays separate from the boat’s tank water and watermaker, whose total consumption is much larger and covered in the next section. For the other five items, it is best to rely on the base team: they know the local shops and can help size your provisioning before you arrive.

Water, a Category of Its Own

Water remains the first item to plan for, even before food. The drinking water loaded in bottles or packs (benchmark above) stays separate from the boat’s tank water and watermaker, whose total consumption is much larger: it also covers cooking, showers, and washing up. The quantities per person and per day for all these uses, as well as how the onboard watermaker works, are covered in a dedicated article: see our article on a catamaran’s fresh water autonomy to find out more.

What to Buy Locally and What to Bring With You

Part of your provisioning is prepared before departure, and another part is bought once you arrive, base by base.

Dry goods, specific condiments, and anything you are unlikely to find easily once you arrive are best prepared before departure. Fresh, local produce, on the other hand, is better bought at the base: it is often cheaper, spends less time in transit, and lets you discover local products. In Guadeloupe, for example, the Pointe-à-Pitre market is a good place to top up on fresh, local produce once you arrive. Every base, Seychelles, Corsica, French Polynesia, Brittany, has its own places to restock, a local market or a small supermarket, to scout out once there or ask your advisor about before departure.

Fridge Space and Onboard Storage

Storage space onboard is limited: organising your provisions by category and keeping an eye on packaging prevents waste and unwelcome surprises.

A fridge comes with most catamarans, and a freezer compartment may be added depending on the base and the boat, to confirm with your advisor before departure. This storage capacity directly sets how much fresh food you can bring compared with canned goods and shelf-stable products. Store your provisions by category rather than loose: it makes it easier to track what is left over the week and avoids rediscovering a forgotten item at the back of a locker. In the tropics, Seychelles and the Caribbean especially, removing cardboard packaging before bringing provisions onboard lowers the risk of bringing pests along with them, a habit shared by many crews rather than a rule imposed on you.

Who Handles Provisioning Depending on Your Charter Type

The answer changes completely depending on whether you sail bareboat, with a skipper, or on a fully crewed organised cruise, and this is the question generic checklists never ask.

On a bareboat charter, provisioning is entirely up to you: from choosing what to buy to doing the shopping itself, whether before departure or once there. With a skipper, they know the base’s restocking points and can point you in the right direction, but provisioning is most often still something you handle yourself, to confirm with your advisor when you get your quote. On a fully crewed organised cruise, provisioning is handled by the crew as part of the service, which considerably simplifies your preparation, also to confirm at the quote stage depending on the destination chosen.

At the Seychelles base, the local team that welcomes guests on arrival can also, on request, arrange provisioning in advance: an option specific to this base, which does not necessarily apply to the other four.

On certain charter types, provisioning is included in the onboard kitty, often called the APA (Advance Provisioning Allowance), the budget that also covers fuel and mooring fees: how it works and how much it costs is detailed in our article on the budget of a catamaran cruise .

Charter type	Who plans the list	Who does the shopping
Bareboat	You	You
With skipper	You, with the skipper’s advice on where to restock	Most often you, to confirm at the quote stage
Organised cruise, full crew	The crew	The crew

To compare the three charter types and request a quote tailored to your destination, head to our catamaran charter page.

Common Questions About Boat Provisioning

What Is Provisioning?

Provisioning refers to all the supplies, fuel, and equipment loaded onboard before departure, meant to keep the boat running and to cover the crew’s and passengers’ comfort and food needs. The term applies just as much to a cruising catamaran as to a commercial vessel, in a broader sense than simply the boat’s shopping list.

What Is the Difference Between Provisioning and Restocking?

Provisioning covers everything needed to run the boat and live onboard: water, food, fuel, equipment. Restocking more specifically refers to taking on fuel, or, in a broader sense, replenishing supplies for a group or crew. In everyday use, the two terms overlap heavily once you are talking about shopping before a catamaran cruise.

What Provisioning List Do You Need for a Boat?

It mainly depends on the number of people onboard and the length of your stay. The complete list for a week onboard, organised by category (water and drinks, pantry staples, fresh food, non-food items), is detailed earlier in this article: refer back to that section to adjust it to your crew and your itinerary.

Can You Top Up Provisioning Once You Arrive?

Yes, every base has local restocking points, markets or small supermarkets depending on the destination, as mentioned earlier for Guadeloupe. It is often the best option for fresh, local produce, which travels poorly and is generally cheaper bought locally than brought from home.

Who Does the Shopping on an Organised Crewed Cruise?

On a fully crewed organised cruise, the shopping is handled by the crew as part of the service: you do not need to worry about it. The exact details depend on the destination and are confirmed at the quote stage with your Sailoe advisor.

To plan your trip and receive a quote tailored to your destination and the charter type you choose, contact the Sailoe team.