Two people on a boat built for fourteen feels extravagant, and in pure cost-per-head terms it is. A half-day private charter at $1,450 works out at $725 each for a couple. A seat on a shared group tour is a fraction of that.
So here is the honest version: for most couples, on most days, the sensible choice is the two-hour private sunset cruise at $900. It is the cheapest way to have a boat entirely to yourselves in Turks and Caicos, and it is the trip couples come back and write to us about.
Whether you want the longer charters depends on three things, and we will go through all of them.
The maths, laid out
| Option for two people | Duration | Total before tax | Per person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private sunset cruise | 2 hours | $900 | $450 |
| Private half-day boat charter | 4 hours | $1,450 | $725 |
| Private sunset luxury yacht cruise | 2 hours | $1,700 | $850 |
| Private full-day boat charter | 7 hours | $2,500 | $1,250 |
| Private half-day luxury yacht | 4 hours | $2,500 | $1,250 |
Add 12% government tax to each. Full prices are on our rates page.
Look at that table as cost per hour rather than cost per person and the picture changes. The sunset cruise is $450 an hour for the whole boat. The full day is $357 an hour. The longer you stay out, the cheaper the boat gets — which is exactly backwards from how most people think about it.
When a private boat for two is clearly worth it
You are marking something
Proposals, honeymoons, anniversaries, a fortieth birthday. The private sunset cruise exists for this and it is the single most requested trip we run for couples. Two hours, nobody else aboard, the light going over Grace Bay, and a crew who will stay out of the frame when you need them to and take the photograph when you want one.
Tell us in advance if you are proposing. We have done it often enough to be genuinely useful about timing, and we will not put a stranger’s camera in your way.
One of you does not love boats
This comes up more than people admit. On a shared tour you are committed: you go where the group goes, for as long as the group goes, with twenty strangers. If one of you starts feeling unwell an hour in, there is nothing to be done.
On a private charter you tell the captain and the boat turns for calmer water, or heads in early, or anchors so you can swim it off. That flexibility is worth real money to anyone who has spent a bad hour on someone else’s schedule.
You want to actually see each other
It sounds soft, but it is the most common thing couples say afterwards. A group tour has a soundtrack, a timetable and a guide with a microphone. A private charter has whatever you want in it. Some couples ask for music the whole way. Others ask for none at all.
When a shared tour is the better buy
We run private charters only, so this is not a sales line: if your priority is seeing as many snorkelling sites as possible for as little money as possible, and you do not mind company, a shared group tour does that well. The reefs are the same reefs.
Book private when the day matters more than the sights. Book shared when the sights matter more than the day.
How couples get more out of the money
- Take the sunset cruise, not the half day. Two hours in the best light for less money. If you then want more water time, your resort’s free snorkelling covers it.
- Go full day with another couple. Four people on the $2,500 full-day charter is $625 each for seven hours, a chef-prepared Caribbean lunch and the Caicos Cays. That is better value per hour than almost anything else on the island.
- Pick the boat, not the badge. The luxury yacht is worth the extra $1,050 if you want shade, a bathroom and somewhere cool to sit. If you plan to be in the water, the standard boat is the same water.
- Go midweek. Less traffic at the sandbars, and the popular stops are quieter.
What a couple’s day actually looks like
On a half day, realistically: pickup from the beach in front of where you are staying, twenty minutes out to a sandbar for a swim, an hour or so snorkelling a reef, a stop at Little Water Cay or a quiet beach, and back. Rum punch throughout. You will be in the water perhaps half the time.
On the sunset cruise: out along Grace Bay as the light drops, drinks on deck, the resorts going gold on the shoreline, and back in the dark. No swimming, no schedule, nothing to do.
Couples who book both tell us the sunset was the one they remember.
Common questions
Is there a minimum number of guests?
No. Two people can book any of our charters. The base price is the base price whether there are two of you or six.
Do we pay less because there are only two of us?
No — you are chartering the boat, the captain and the crew, and those cost the same regardless. It does mean you get the most space of anyone we take out.
Which is more romantic, the boat or the yacht?
The yacht has an air-conditioned interior, shaded deck seating and a bathroom, which matters on a hot afternoon. For a two-hour sunset, most couples find the standard boat perfectly good and put the difference toward dinner.
Can you arrange flowers, champagne or a photographer?
Champagne is already included on the half-day yacht charter. For anything else, ask — tell us what you are planning and we will tell you honestly what we can and cannot organise locally.
What time is the sunset cruise?
It follows the sunset, so it moves through the year. We confirm your exact start time when you book. Two hours on the water, every time.
