Context
Superyacht entertainment
A yacht is the most demanding room in this business, and the reason has nothing to do with the guests. No wing to disappear into, no stage, no second chance to fetch something from the van, and a saloon nine metres end to end.
The practical case
Everything fits in hand luggage
This is why a magician works on board where most entertainment does not. No flight case, no rigging, no power draw, no crew time to load anything. He arrives with what fits in a jacket and a small bag.
For a captain or a chief stew that is the whole conversation. There is no tender run for equipment, no deck space lost, and no item on the day sheet beyond a guest arrival.
How it usually runs
Three shapes an onboard booking takes
An evening aboard at anchor
Drinks on the aft deck, close-up through the group, and a seated set in the saloon after dinner. The most common version, and the one the format was built for.
A charter guest evening
Booked by the charter broker or the yacht itself as part of the week's programme, usually mid-charter when the guests have run out of things to do.
A dockside owner's event
Alongside during a show week or a regatta, with fifty or sixty guests moving between the deck and the quay. Close-up handles the flow better than anything requiring a fixed position.
Discretion
Nobody who was on board appears anywhere
No photography without the owner's or the principal's explicit consent, no names anywhere, no social media, and no discussion of the guest list afterwards. That is the standing arrangement rather than a premium option.
It is also why this page shows no photographs of the guests he has worked for. The pictures on this site are ones he is free to use, and there are far fewer of those than there are evenings.
The private version has its own brand
Corporate charters, owner's events with a business guest list, and yacht-show hospitality are booked through VIP Magician. Purely private ultra-luxury bookings run under his other name, Millionaire Magician.
Same performer, different model: this one is a fee with travel quoted on top, the other is all-in. Unsure which you want? Ask, and you will be pointed to the right one, including when that is the other one.
What you are booking
- Duration
- Two to four hours aboard, or a single seated set after dinner
- Guests
- Six to sixty
- Space required
- None. A saloon, an aft deck or a beach club all work
- Crew support
- None. Nothing to load, stow, power or rig
- Cruising grounds
- Western Mediterranean, Adriatic, the Gulf, and the Caribbean in season
- Discretion
- No photography or naming without the principal's written consent
- Travel
- Flights, transfers and accommodation are quoted separately from the fee
Questions worth asking before you book
Does he need to stay on board?
Almost never, and he would rather not. A hotel ashore keeps a cabin free and keeps the evening clean. On a long passage or a remote anchorage it is sometimes the only option, in which case crew accommodation is fine.
Can he perform while under way?
Yes, and it is a good use of a slow afternoon leg. Sea state is the only limit, and it is the same limit that applies to dinner service.
Who normally books this?
The charter broker, the yacht manager, the chief stewardess, or an owner's assistant. All four are used to working the same way, and none of them need to explain the setting to him.
Can he perform in a language other than English?
He performs in English or Dutch. On an international guest list, mentalism carries further than close-up because almost none of it depends on language.
From the floor
The same act, other settings
What a booking looks like once the venue stops being a ballroom. Same hands, different constraints.
-
A gala hall, seen from the back -
Black tie, and the middle left open -
At the table, leaning in -
Set for dinner, nobody in yet -
Dubai, during the reception
Where and when
Send the cruising ground, the dates, and roughly how many guests. Availability in the Mediterranean season is the constraint, so early is better than detailed.
Most enquiries are answered the same day.