Seasonal · 8 minute read
A Christmas yacht charter in Dubai costs what any other December day costs — AED 750 an hour for the 48ft, AED 1,400 for the 62ft — because 25 December is not a public holiday in the UAE and the marinas run normally. What changes is availability: the fleet is usually committed by the third week of November, and the middle of the day is the slot everyone wants.
By Roshan Shriwastav · Published
It costs what a Tuesday costs. 25 December is a working day in the UAE, the marinas operate, the crew are on their normal roster, and the rate card does not move: AED 750 an hour for the 48ft carrying twelve, AED 1,050 for the 55ft carrying sixteen, AED 1,400 for the 62ft carrying twenty-two, AED 3,200 for the 85ft carrying thirty-five, with crew, fuel and marina fees inside every figure.
This surprises people who have priced Christmas anywhere else. It is worth stating plainly because it changes what to compare: two quotes for the same boat on 25 December should differ only in catering, not in the charter.
The one date in this fortnight that does move is 31 December, which is a different market entirely and covered in booking a boat for New Year's Eve.
Late December on this coast is the best weather of the year. Daytime air is twenty-three to twenty-six degrees, humidity is low, and the sea is around twenty-two — cool enough that a swim is a decision rather than a default, warm enough that most people make it anyway.
Mornings are flat. The wind here builds through the afternoon far more often than it drops, so a 10am departure on 25 December is close to glass and a 3pm one usually is not. For a family charter with children aboard, that difference matters more than the hour of the light.
It also gets genuinely cool after sunset in December — closer to eighteen degrees offshore with wind over the deck. A Christmas evening charter needs layers in a way a Christmas lunch charter does not.
For eleven months of the year the sunset slot is the one that sells out and the middle of the day is the one nobody wants. On 25 December it inverts, because the charter is standing in for a lunch.
So the booking advice inverts too. If the day is flexible and the hour is not, ask for 11am to 3pm early. If the hour is flexible, a Christmas sunset charter is both easier to get and, in late December, spectacular — the sun is down before six and the coast lights up while you are still out.
More than people expect. A cake, a catered lunch, decorations, a small tree, a Bluetooth speaker and presents are all ordinary requests and none of them is a problem. Crew will help carry it all down the pontoon, which is worth knowing before you plan the load.
What does not come aboard: fireworks, sparklers, open flame of any kind, and anything that ends up in the water. Candles on a cake are the one exception and are handled by the crew rather than by you.
Alcohol is permitted on a private charter and stays on the boat. The rules are the same in December as in June and are set out in alcohol on a yacht in Dubai.
Two workable approaches, and the cheaper one is not worse. Catering aboard is arranged in advance and priced per head; the menus and what they cost are in yacht catering menus and costs.
The alternative is bringing lunch. A charter is not a restaurant and there is no rule against arriving with cool boxes — for a family group on 25 December it is frequently the better call, because you already know what everybody eats. Soft drinks, water and ice are aboard as standard either way.
The one thing worth arranging rather than improvising is the table. On the 48ft and 55ft, twelve to sixteen people eating a proper lunch is a logistics question; on the 62ft and 85ft it is not.
December is the easiest month of the year for this. There is no heat to manage, the mornings are calm, and the water is cool enough that nobody stays in it long.
Life jackets in child sizes are aboard on request and should be asked for at the enquiry rather than on the pontoon. Everything else about chartering with children — what ages work, what to bring, where they sit — is in yacht charter with children in Dubai.
The third week of November is the honest deadline for choice. After that, the day is still bookable and the boat may not be the one you wanted.
The enquiry needs a date, a rough headcount and the hours you have in mind. A quote comes back with the boat, the total and the deposit that holds it — the same sequence as any other charter, on a day the rest of the fleet is quietly full.
No. It is a normal working day in the UAE, so marinas, crew and charter rates all run as usual. Nothing about the day changes the price of a boat.
The same as any December day: AED 750 an hour for the 48ft, AED 1,050 for the 55ft, AED 1,400 for the 62ft and AED 3,200 for the 85ft, with crew, fuel and marina fees included.
Twenty-three to twenty-six degrees, low humidity, sea around twenty-two. Mornings are usually flat and the wind builds through the afternoon. It is among the best weather of the year here.
Yes — food, a cake, decorations, a small tree and a speaker are all ordinary. Fireworks, sparklers and open flame are not permitted, and candles on a cake are handled by the crew.
Usually by the third week of November for a specific boat and a midday slot. The date itself stays bookable later; the choice does not.
Lunch is the one everybody asks for and the one that goes first. Sunset is easier to get, the sun is down before six in late December, and the coast lights up on the way in.
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.
WhatsApp only — messages and calls