Guide · 6 minute read
To rent a yacht in Dubai you send four things — the date, the rough timing, how many guests and what the day is for — and get back which boats are free and what each costs. A 25 percent deposit holds the date, the balance is paid on the day, and no licence or experience is needed because every boat comes with a captain.
Published
Almost everyone starts by choosing a boat and then discovering it is the wrong size. Start at the other end. Count the guests honestly, including children and infants, because the number on a vessel's licence is a hard limit and a captain cannot exceed it by one.
Then decide the hours. Two hours is a sunset run with no swimming. Three includes an anchor stop. Four or more is a proper day with lunch aboard. Those three shapes cover almost every charter that leaves Dubai Marina.
A serious quote names the boat, its length, its licensed guest number, the hourly rate, the minimum hours and what is inside the rate. If a quote is missing any of those, ask before you compare it to another one — a low headline rate with fuel and marina fees added afterwards is not cheaper.
Check whether the price is per boat or per person. A private charter is priced per boat. A shared cruise sold per seat is a different product and the two numbers are not comparable.
Twenty-five percent is the normal deposit in Dubai and it holds a specific boat on a specific date. Nothing holds without it, and at weekends between October and April a verbal hold is worth very little — sunset slots are the most contested hours in the calendar.
Get the cancellation terms at this point rather than later. Ours move the deposit to a new date if you cancel more than seven days out, and retain it inside seven days. Terms vary between operators and the difference matters more than a hundred dirhams on the rate.
You should receive a berth number, a map pin, the captain's name and an arrival time. If you have not received those by the evening before, chase them — the Marina has a lot of pontoons and finding the right one at 17:45 with twelve guests is not a good start.
Arrive fifteen minutes early. Charter time runs from when the boat leaves the berth to when it returns, so being late costs you water time rather than pushing the finish back. Shoes come off at the gangway, the safety brief takes two minutes, and then you go.
FAQ
Check a date
Leave the date and roughly how many of you there are and we will come back with the boats that are free and what each costs. No deposit at this stage.