Buy a seat on the boat, or take the whole boat.
How many hours you get, how many people share the deck, and whether the skipper, the fuel, the drinks and the lunch are already in the price. Reviews of the yacht charters and cruises you can book today, from a two hour marina loop to a full day at anchor.
Five yacht days that show what the money buys.
A two hour marina loop, a sunset between two continents, a full day at anchor with a grill going. Same activity, five very different prices.
01The two hour tasterDubai: The Luxury Yacht Tour with Live BBQ OptionDubai Marina at cruising speed with a live BBQ option on the aft deck. The cheapest honest way to find out whether you like being on a boat.
02The sunset slotIstanbul Bosphorus Sunset Cruise on Luxury YachtThe Bosphorus between Europe and Asia as the light goes orange. One sailing a day on most boats, and it is the one that fills.
03The full day at anchorLuxury Catamaran Day Trip with Meal and Open BarA catamaran across the Santorini caldera with a meal, an open bar and long enough at anchor that swimming is the point.
04The whole boatLos Cabos Luxury Sailing, Snorkel and Lunch CruiseLos Cabos under sail with snorkelling gear and lunch aboard, on a hull small enough that the crew learns your name.
05The family dayIsla Mujeres Luxury Sailing: Adults Only or Family FriendlyIsla Mujeres by sailing catamaran, with an adults only deck if that is the version of the day you want.
Six cities where chartering a yacht is a normal afternoon.
Marinas deep enough that you choose the hull, the hours and the price instead of taking whatever is left on the pontoon. Each one runs a different kind of day.
In Mexico the yacht is usually yours for the whole day.
Cabo, Cancún and Puerto Vallarta sell the hull rather than the seat, with the crew, the fuel, the food and the bar folded into one number. That is why the prices here look steeper than the Gulf, and why they stop looking steep once you divide by six.
Two skylines where an hour on a yacht costs less than dinner.
Dubai Marina and the Bosphorus run big shared boats to a timetable, half hourly in high season, which is the only reason a seat on a superyacht deck lands at $15. Same hull, same view, a fraction of a private charter.
The yacht charters more travellers board than any others.
Every yacht charter reviewed →Boats that run full every week of their season, with what a place on each one costs and how long you are actually on the water.
1
Dubai Marina: Luxury Yacht Tour with Breakfast or BBQ Option
Cruise Dubai Marina to Bluewaters Island, Ain Dubai, JBR, Palm Jumeirah, and Burj Al Arab aboard a shared yacht. Choose a morning breakfast trip or a longer sunset sailing with BBQ, soft drinks, air-conditioning, WiFi, and space on deck for photos.
From · $15
Read our review →
2
Tenerife: Eco-Yacht Whale and Dolphin Watching and Swimming
from $13
3
Dubai: The Luxury Yacht Tour with Live BBQ Option
from $19
4
Dubai Marina Yacht Tour with Optional Breakfast or BBQ
from $25
5
Hurghada: Luxury Cruise Trip to Orange Bay with Lunch
from $53
6
Dubai: Luxury Sunset Yacht Tour with Snacks and Drinks
from $21
7
Dubai: Mega Yacht Dinner Cruise with Buffet
from $82
8
Hurghada: 3 Islands, Dolphins & Snorkel Yacht Trip w/ Lunch
from $47
Per boat or per head, and what the price has already paid for.
Three numbers decide what a yacht day costs you, and the size of the boat is none of them.
Per head
A shared departure, a fixed sailing time and a seat from $13. The cheapest way onto the water, and the busiest deck once you are there.
Per boat
194 of the charters here are quoted for the whole hull, starting at $99. Split between six people that is regularly cheaper than six seats.
What is included
Skipper and fuel almost always. Drinks, lunch and snorkelling kit only when the listing says so, which is exactly why the open bar and BBQ lists exist.
Wind and weather
A charter called off for weather is refunded or moved, never sailed anyway. Put the boat early in the trip so a blown out afternoon has somewhere else to go.
Crewed, private or under sail: three ways to get the deck to yourself.
The busiest family on this site. A crewed motor yacht when the skyline is the point, a private hull when the guest list is, a sailing yacht when you would rather hear the water than the engines.
What a day on a yacht actually costs.
Every per person charter on the site in three bands. Whole boat quotes are counted separately, because dividing one by an unknown number of friends is guesswork.
Two and three hour marina loops, Bosphorus sunsets and Gulf cruises with a drink already in the price.
The full day at anchor: catamaran crossings, a snorkel stop and lunch cooked on the aft deck.
Small groups, private hulls and crewed boats where the day is built around your list rather than the timetable.
Three things that only start once the engine goes off.
A ferry moves you. A charter stops, drops the ladder and opens something cold. What the crew does at anchor is the whole difference in price.
The open bar aboard
An open bar on a charter usually means beer, house wine and a couple of spirits poured by the crew from the moment the lines are off, not a cocktail list. It is worth reading which: on the Gulf boats it is soft drinks and tea, in Cancún it is tequila from the first mile. Where it is included the boat almost always sails full, and where it is a paid extra the deck stays quieter.
- 1Luxury Catamaran Day Trip with Meal and Open Bar★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 3,678 reviews
- 2Mega Yacht ALL INCLUSIVE Yelapa Waterfall & Snorkeling Adventure★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,515 reviews
- 3Dubai: Instagrammable Yacht Tour with Drinks & Ain/JBR Views★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,494 reviews
The swim stop
The swim stop is the reason to pay for a longer charter. A three hour boat with a stop gives you perhaps forty minutes in the water; a full day gives two anchorages and time to dry off between them. Ask where the boat anchors rather than how long it sails, because a swim stop in a sheltered bay and one in open swell are not the same afternoon.
- 1Tenerife: Eco-Yacht Whale and Dolphin Watching and Swimming★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 15,619 reviews
- 2Tenerife Los Cristianos: Whale and Dolphin Eco-Yacht and Swim Stop★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,375 reviews
- 3All-Inclusive 2 Day/1 Night Halong Luxury Cruise, Meals, Cave, Kayaking,Swimming★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 668 reviews
Lunch cooked on the deck
A BBQ charter means the crew lights a grill on the aft deck while the boat sits at anchor, and lunch happens on the water rather than back at the marina. It stretches a half day into a real one. Tell the operator about anything you cannot eat when you book: on a boat with one grill and no shop, dietary requests are a provisioning decision made the night before.
- 1Dubai Marina: Luxury Yacht Tour with Breakfast or BBQ Option★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 21,528 reviews
- 2Dubai: The Luxury Yacht Tour with Live BBQ Option★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 13,665 reviews
- 3Dubai Marina Yacht Tour with Optional Breakfast or BBQ★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 7,126 reviews
Sunset is the slot everybody wants, so it sails first.
One departure a day on most boats, timed so the sun drops while you are out in the middle with nothing in the way. In Istanbul that is the Bosphorus, in Santorini the caldera rim, in Lisbon the mouth of the Tagus.
Every sunset cruise →
Four yacht days that will not wait for you.
Most of the water can be sorted from a marina bar the night before. These four run on a single departure, a single hull or a season that closes, and none of them cares when you land.
- 01Istanbul Bosphorus Sunset Cruise on Luxury YachtThe sunset sailing is one departure a day and the light does not wait, so the good boats close out days ahead.
- 02Luxury Catamaran Day Trip with Meal and Open BarThe caldera catamarans run a season rather than a calendar, and the afternoon crossing is a single sailing on most hulls.
- 03Isla Mujeres Luxury Sailing: Adults Only or Family FriendlyA whole boat takes one group per slot. When the slot is gone there is no second sailing to squeeze onto.
- 04Tenerife: Eco-Yacht Whale and Dolphin Watching and SwimmingWhale charters follow migrations, and Cabo, Tenerife and Iceland all keep different months. Turn up outside them and the boat is still lovely and empty.
By hull, by hours, by what is on board
The charter season moves around the world all year. Follow it.
Greece
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