STCW Certification Price Data
Everyone asks the same question before their first STCW Basic Safety Training course: is this a fair price? Here's what we've been able to document — how much it costs today by provider, and how that price has actually moved since 2011.
For what the course actually covers and how revalidation works, see our full guide to STCW certification.
Has the price actually gone up?
Yes, in nominal terms — but only modestly, and the regions we can track don't mix currencies well enough to plot on one shared line. We keep each in its native currency rather than force a misleading conversion.
UK · GBP
5-day STCW Basic Safety Training
Shaded band = published low–high range. Dashed segment = one end is an estimated figure, not a documented price.
US · USD
5-day STCW Basic Safety Training
Shaded band = published low–high range. Dashed segment = one end is an estimated figure, not a documented price.
Europe · EUR — Bluewater, one provider, both years
Cleanest comparison5-day STCW Basic Safety Training at the same school, 15 years apart — no regional blending, no currency conversion, and neither point is an estimate.
Shaded band = published low–high range. Dashed segment = one end is an estimated figure, not a documented price.
Europe / Australia, 2017
$900–$1,880 (mid $1,390)
Single reference point, not enough of a run to plot as its own trend line. workonayacht.com, Jan 2017.
Global, 2026
$1,000–$1,800 (mid $1,400)
Single reference point, not enough of a run to plot as its own trend line. yacrew.com, 2026 — includes location variation.
View trend data as a table
| Year | Region | Price range | Quality | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | UK | £550–650 | estimated | Industry knowledge only — no citable published price list from this period. |
| 2011 | US | $895 | documented | Screenshots of International Yacht Training Fort Lauderdale's site, June 2011 — both its STCW 95 Basic Safety Training course page and its official price list (dated 3 June 2011) independently show $895 (€614). |
| 2011 | EU (Bluewater) | €1,050–1,099 | documented | Screenshot of bluewateryachting.com, June 2011 — €1,099 (Antibes) / €1,050 (Palma). |
| 2017 | US | $900–1,000 | documented | workonayacht.com, Jan 2017. |
| 2024 | UK | £700–1,000 | documented | Dockwalk / Yachting Pages, 2024. |
| 2024 | US | $900–1,000 | documented | Dockwalk, Nov 2024. |
| 2025 | UK | £719 | documented | UKSA — "from £719". |
| 2026 | UK | £700–1,000 | documented | Range persists into 2026; a separate budget/blended tier around £300–£600 also exists. |
| 2026 | US | $969–1,299 | documented | MPT $969 · Seven Seas Prep $995 · PYT USA $1,299. |
| 2026 | EU (Bluewater) | €1,295 | documented | bluewateryachting.com, 2026 course calendar. |
What it costs right now, by provider
5 schools with a real, documented 2025/2026 price for their standard STCW Basic Safety Training course. Shown side by side in USD-equivalent so they're comparable on one chart — native currency and course scope shown alongside, since they're not all quite the same product.
Bars shown in USD-equivalent for comparison (GBP converted at ≈1.30). Native currency shown next to each bar — UKSA's figure is a “from” provider-floor price, not a mid-market average.
View provider data as a table
| Provider | Course | Days | Price | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PYT USA | STCW Basic Safety Training | 5 | $1,299 | Fort Lauderdale, US |
| MPT | STCW Basic Safety (4-module bundle) | 5 | $969 | Fort Lauderdale, US |
| Seven Seas Prep | STCW Basic Training (2-day blended) | 2 | $995 | Fort Lauderdale / Orlando, US |
| UKSA | STCW Basic Safety Training (from) | 5 | £719 (≈$935) | Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK |
| Bluewater | STCW Basic Safety Training | 5 | €1,295 (≈$1,425) | Antibes, France / Palma, Spain |
Where should you actually train?
Price is only half the decision, especially for new crew who are also trying to build a network. The two cheaper options on the chart above — UKSA and MPT — make a useful contrast for reasons that have nothing to do with the sticker price.
UKSA · Isle of Wight, UK
The most affordable UK option, and UKSA has its own onsite accommodation, which helps if you're arriving without anywhere else to stay. The trade-off is location: Cowes isn't a short hop from a major city, and getting there means a ferry crossing from Southampton. It's a fine choice if you're already UK-based or don't mind the trip, but you won't be around much of the wider superyacht industry while you're there.
Fort Lauderdale, US · e.g. MPT
Competitively priced (MPT's $969 is the cheapest standard 5-day course we track) and it puts you in the middle of the industry itself — crew agencies, yacht management companies, and crew hangouts like Tap 42 and Waxy's are all a short walk away. That proximity matters most for new crew: it's a lot easier to meet people already working on boats, or run into someone you already know, when you're training in a hub the industry actually operates out of.
Given the two sit close in price, proximity to the industry is a reasonable tie-breaker if you're not already tied to a specific region.
What the data shows
Nominal STCW prices have risen only modestly over roughly fifteen years. The two cleanest comparisons in this dataset — same provider, both ends real, no currency conversion needed — both land in the same place: IYT Fort Lauderdale's $895 in 2011 became a $900–$1,000 US typical by 2026 (roughly +20%), and Bluewater's Antibes/Palma price moved from about €1,075 in 2011 to €1,295 in 2026 (also roughly +20%). Widely-cited UK inflation figures put cumulative CPI growth well above that over the same stretch, which means in real terms the certificate has been flat to cheaper. That's a useful thing to know before assuming a quote is high just because it's higher than something you heard years ago.
How we built this
- Currencies are never mixed.UK figures stay in GBP, US figures stay in USD, Bluewater's figures stay in EUR — each plotted as its own chart rather than converted onto one shared axis. Converting old GBP or EUR prices to today's exchange rate would distort the trend, since both were worth meaningfully more against the dollar in 2011 than they are now.
- Estimated vs. documented is marked, not hidden.Only the 2011 UK point is a soft estimate — a hollow marker and a dashed line show it's an anchor based on general industry knowledge, not a citable published price list. The 2011 US (IYT) and Bluewater points are different: real archived screenshots of each school's own site from that time, so they're marked “documented” like every other point, even though we couldn't independently re-fetch them live from this environment.
- STCW refresher training only became mandatory on 1 January 2017 — the tail end of the Manila Amendments' five-year transitional period. Before that date, crew generally weren't renewing STCW on a fixed cycle, so the market (and the pricing history available to research) for revalidation-specific courses barely existed pre-2017. Every figure on this page is for the standard, initial Basic Safety Training course specifically, not a revalidation/refresher variant, so the trend isn't distorted by that shift.
- Course scope varies— most rows are the standard 5-day Basic Safety Training, but Seven Seas Prep's figure is a 2-day blended (online + practical) equivalent and MPT's is a bundled 4-module discount price. UKSA's is a “from” floor price, not a mid-market average. We note this on each figure rather than treating them as identical products.
- This is a separate, hand-compiled datasetfrom our main course comparison table — it's a small, purpose-built price-history sample, not a live feed, so it won't update on the same weekly cadence as the STCW courses we track for booking. Always confirm current pricing directly with a provider before booking.
Frequently asked questions
Has STCW Basic Safety Training gotten more expensive?
In nominal terms, only modestly — roughly 20–40% at the mid/upper end since 2011, on the data we've been able to document. That's below widely-cited UK inflation over the same period, so in real terms the certificate has been flat to cheaper, especially at high-volume US schools. MPT's 2026 price still sits inside the same $900–$1,000 band quoted back in 2017.
Why do UK and US prices show separately instead of one line?
Because they're in different currencies. Converting 2011 GBP to USD at today's exchange rate would distort the trend — the pound was worth meaningfully more against the dollar in 2011 (~$1.55–1.60) than it is now (~$1.30). We keep each region in its native currency and let the two speak for themselves rather than force a misleading single line.
Is the 2011 data point reliable?
It depends which one. The UK 2011 figure is a soft estimate — flagged accordingly on the chart (a hollow marker, dashed line) — because it reflects general industry knowledge rather than a citable published price list. The US (IYT Fort Lauderdale, $895) and Bluewater (€1,099/€1,050) 2011 figures are different: they come from real archived screenshots of each school's own site from that time, so they're marked "documented" like every other point, even though we couldn't independently re-fetch them live.
Why is UKSA's price shown differently to the other schools?
UKSA publishes a "from £719" floor price rather than a flat rate, so it's the cheapest entry point at that school, not necessarily what most students pay. The other schools' figures are closer to a typical price for the standard course. We show both the native currency and an approximate USD conversion so you can compare on one chart, but the underlying pricing structures aren't identical — see each provider's own page for the real figure.
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