On a crewed charter yacht, you sit back and relax. The chef prepares your meals, drinks are blended, and the boat is kept clean. All you need to do is relax and enjoy it. The crew will do everything to do with the ship. Think of it as an all-inclusive resort.
On a Captain only charter, the yacht comes with a captain. He/she will take care of the boating aspect of things. He will drive the boat, anchor, and moor the boat. He will do all the daily checks and do the worrying if the wind picks up.
Your duties on a captain only are everything else, cooking, cleaning, and all aspects of day to day vacation life. Think of it as renting a vacation apartment with cooking facilities.
On a bareboat, everything is up to you; you have no outside help at all. You get to charter your destiny. It’s not as daunting as it may sound. In areas like the British Virgin Islands, the whole area is set up to make bareboating as easy as possible. You will need to be able to either anchor your boat overnight or pick up an overnight mooring.
I have spoken to bare boaters who have visited the BVI for a week vacation every year for 12 years and never anchored a boat in their life. They always use moorings and, therefore, didn’t need to learn how.