Guide · 5 minute read
For children, book three hours rather than two, choose a boat with a low swim platform and real shade, and keep the route inside the Palm Jumeirah crescent where the water is flat. Children's life jackets are aboard as standard and count towards the boat's guest limit.
Published
Shade first. A shaded aft deck is the difference between a good afternoon and a short one, and it matters more than length or luxury on any boat you are considering.
Then the swim platform. A low, wide platform with a proper boarding ladder is something a seven-year-old can use unaided; a high transom is not. This is the single most useful thing to ask about when choosing a boat for a family.
Then the route. Inside the Palm crescent the water is flat almost every day of the year. Out towards the World Islands it is not. For children under about eight, staying inside the crescent is worth more than the extra scenery.
Three hours is the right length. Two is not enough to anchor and swim, which is the part children care about, and four is longer than most under-tens sustain. Morning charters work better than afternoons in every season — calmer water, cooler deck, and children who are not already tired.
In summer, an 8am start is genuinely pleasant and a midday one genuinely is not. In winter, mid-morning is ideal and the sea is cold for the first few minutes of a swim.
Life jackets in children's sizes are carried on every boat as standard. Tell us the ages when you book so the right sizes are aboard rather than the nearest available.
Children count towards the licensed guest number regardless of age, including infants. That number is a hard limit and a crew cannot exceed it, so give us the real headcount when you enquire.
Crews will ask that children wear jackets while under way and stay off the bow. That is not fussiness — the foredeck moves most and has the least to hold on to.
Rash vests rather than sunscreen alone, hats that will not blow off, and a change of clothes for the trip home. A cool bag of the food they actually eat rather than a catering menu they will not.
One thing worth leaving behind: anything inflatable and unsecured. It goes over the side in the first gust and somebody has to swim for it.
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