Private boat
Private boat tour Rhodes: why the fare covers the boat, not the seat
The first thing to know about a private boat tour Rhodes listing is the one thing the headline number never says: the fare is for the boat and the party on it, not for each person aboard. Three listings on this site are sold that way — $740 for four hours from Stegna, $797 for six hours of sea kayaking around Symi, and $1,218 for five hours from Faliraki with up to twelve guests. Set beside the twelve per-person listings here, which run from $26 to $145, those numbers look wild. Divided among a family or a group of friends they stop looking wild almost immediately. This page does that arithmetic in the open, says which listings are private and which only look it, and is honest about what the descriptions do not state. What we will not do is promise you calm water, an empty bay or anything swimming past the boat.
Private listings, at a glance
- Our pick
- $740Stegna tour: Private Boat Tour with Swimming and Snorkeling — 4 hours, new this season, and the only listing here whose own title says private
- How the fare works
- Per boat, not per personA private boat is chartered with its crew; the number on the listing covers the party, so the cost each depends on how many of you there are
- Private listings here
- Three of fifteenThe other twelve are sold per person and you share the deck with whoever else booked
- Largest party named
- Up to 12 guestsRhodes: BBQ Cruise with Snorkeling & Drinks at $1,218 — 5 hours, the only listing that states a maximum
- Longest of the three
- 6 hoursSymi: Sea Kayaking Tour with Picnic Lunch and Snorkeling at $797 — kayaks rather than a deck, with a picnic lunch on the beach
- Reviews so far
- None of the threeAll three are new listings this season. That is an absence of evidence, not a bad record — the other twelve carry 8,189 reviews between them
- Where they start
- Stegna, Faliraki, SymiNone of the three leaves from the same pier, and none of them starts in Rhodes Town
- Cancellation
- Free cancellationnamed on the listings on this site
Quick answer
The short answer. A private boat tour Rhodes listing is priced for the whole boat. Our pick is $740 for four hours out of Stegna, the only one here that calls itself private in its own title. The BBQ cruise at $1,218 takes up to twelve guests over five hours from Faliraki, and the Symi kayaking day at $797 runs six hours. Divide any of those by the size of your party before you compare them with the per-person listings, which start at $26.
The number on the listing
Per boat, per party, per day — not per person
Almost every message we get about a private boat tour Rhodes listing starts the same way: that cannot be right. It is right, and it is not the same kind of number as the one next to a shared cruise. When you book a seat on the six-hour catamaran day at $71, you are buying one place among many and the operator fills the rest. When you book a private boat, you are buying the boat, its crew and its hours, and the operator sells it once. The fare does not change because there are two of you instead of eight.
That is the whole of it, and it explains the shape of every private boat tour Rhodes fare on this site. Per-person listings here run from $26 to $145. The private ones run from $740 to $1,218. There is no listing in between, because these are two different products rather than one product at two prices.
So the comparison you want is not one fare against another. A private boat tour Rhodes listing is compared by dividing its fare by your party and setting that against a per-person fare. Six people on the four-hour private boat at $740 are paying about $123.33 each for the day; four people are paying about $185.00 each; two people are paying half the listing between them and would almost certainly be better served by a shared cruise. Do that division first, with your actual number of travellers, and the decision usually makes itself.
One caution about a private boat tour Rhodes booking, because it is the sort of thing that spoils a day. The listings state a duration and, in one case, a maximum party size; they do not spell out every term of the charter. If the number of people in your group is near the edge of what a boat takes, that is a question for the booking page rather than for us. We would rather send you to check than invent a limit that no operator wrote down.
The three private listings
What each one is, and what its fare covers
Durations and fares are read off the live listings. The last column is what the operator states — nothing is added.
| Listing | Hours | Fare for the boat | Starts from | What the operator states |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stegna tour: Private Boat Tour with Swimming and Snorkeling | 4 h | $740 | Stegna | A private boat, swimming and snorkelling, a personalised pace |
| Rhodes: BBQ Cruise with Snorkeling & Drinks, Max. 12 guests | 5 h | $1,218 | Faliraki | Up to 12 guests, Ladiko Bay and Anthony Quinn Bay, BBQ and drinks on the way back |
| Symi: Sea Kayaking Tour with Picnic Lunch and Snorkeling | 6 h | $797 | Symi | Sea kayaks to St. George Disalonas Bay, a swim, a picnic lunch on the beach |
Which of the three
They share a pricing model and almost nothing else
Calling all three a private boat tour Rhodes listing is a convenience of language; they are three quite different days. The Stegna listing at $740 is the literal case: four hours on a modern boat from the east coast village of Stegna, swimming and snorkelling stops, and a pace the operator describes as personalised. It is our pick here because it is the one that promises the thing people mean when they ask for a private boat — the boat is yours for the afternoon.
The second private boat tour Rhodes listing, the BBQ cruise at $1,218, is five hours from Faliraki with a stated maximum of twelve guests, swimming at Ladiko Bay and Anthony Quinn Bay, and a BBQ with drinks on the scenic return. A capped party of twelve is what makes it feel private; the description does not use that word, so neither will we beyond describing how the fare is built.
The Symi kayaking day at $797 is six hours and is not a deck at all. You paddle sea kayaks to St. George Disalonas Bay, swim, and eat a picnic lunch on the beach. It is priced for the party like the others, and it asks something of you that the two boat listings do not, which is that you are willing to paddle for a good part of the day.
None of the three carries a rating yet. All three went on sale this season, and a private boat trip Rhodes travellers book from a brand-new listing is a judgement about the description rather than about a crowd of reviews. If that is uncomfortable, the shared listings on this site have 8,189 reviews between them, and the six-hour catamaran day at $71 alone accounts for 2,483 of those.
Every trip, current fare
Every listing on this site, private boats last
The twelve per-person listings first, then the three whose fare covers the boat. Cost per hour is the fare divided by the listed duration, so for the last three it is a cost per hour for the whole party.
| Tour | Length | Price | What is included | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhodes: Dolphin Watching & Marine Biologist Snorkel CruiseOur pick · marine biologist | 3 h | $102 | A marine biologist on board, a snorkel stop at Stroggyli | $34.00 | 4.8 · 993 |
| Rhodes: All-Inclusive Catamaran Cruise with Lunch and DrinksThe most reviews on this site | 6 h | $71 | Catamaran, swimming stops, buffet lunch, unlimited drinks | $11.83 | 4.8 · 2,483 |
| Rhodes: Anthony Quinn, Ladiko and Caves All-Inclusive CruiseThree bays in three hours | 3 h | $56 | Three bays, sea caves, sofa seating and an open bar | $18.67 | 4.8 · 1,857 |
| Rhodes: Boat Tour with Snorkeling, Gourmet Buffet & Open BarCaique, buffet and open bar | 6 h | $97 | A traditional Greek caique, gourmet food and an open bar | $16.17 | 4.7 · 625 |
| Rhodes: Anthony Quinn Bay & Sea Caves Snorkeling CruiseShortest listing here, rated 4.9 | 2.5 h | $45 | East coast beaches, hidden caves, swimming time | $18.00 | 4.9 · 508 |
| Rhodes: Fishing Trip, Snorkelling, BBQ, & Professional GuideFishing, a swim, food on board | 5 h | $70 | Fishing with locals, a swim, fresh food on board | $14.00 | 4.8 · 445 |
| Rhodes: All inclusive Catamaran Escape with Lunch & DrinksCatamaran day with lunch | 6 h | $68 | The Cherry Catamaran, east coast beaches, snacks and lunch | $11.33 | 4.7 · 378 |
| Rhodes: Stand-up Paddle Adventure with Snorkeling & Sea CavePaddleboards, rated 4.9 | 4 - 5 h | $97 | Guided paddling, a sea cave, a small group, all levels | — | 4.9 · 264 |
| Rhodes: Sunset Catamaran Cruise with Snack, Fruits & DrinksEvening sailing, three hours | 3 h | $51 | Evening sailing, fresh fruit, drinks, the horizon | $17.00 | 4.7 · 234 |
| Rhodes: Dolphins, Snorkeling and Alimia Island BBQ LunchLongest day, with an island stop | 7 h | $145 | A marine biologist, time on Alimia Island, a beach BBQ | $20.71 | 4.8 · 234 |
| Rhodes: 6-Hour Snorkeling and Swimming Cruise With SnacksLowest fare on this site | 6 h | $26 | A wooden boat, three stops, music on board | $4.33 | 4.2 · 165 |
| Rhodes: Guided Snorkeling Adventure on a Full-Day Boat TripGuided snorkel day, newest reviews | 7 h | $63 | A guided snorkel day at sea, suitable for all ages | $9.00 | 5 · 3 |
| Stegna tour: Private Boat Tour with Swimming and SnorkelingPrivate boat, priced per boat | 4 h | $740 | A private boat from Stegna, swimming stops, your own pace | $185.00 | New |
| Symi: Sea Kayaking Tour with Picnic Lunch and SnorkelingKayaks, priced per party | 6 h | $797 | Sea kayaks, St. George Disalonas Bay, a picnic lunch | $132.83 | New |
| Rhodes: BBQ Cruise with Snorkeling & Drinks, Max. 12 guestsUp to 12 guests, priced per boat | 5 h | $1,218 | Up to 12 guests, Ladiko and Anthony Quinn Bay, a BBQ | $243.60 | New |
When a shared boat is the better buy
The case against booking privately, made honestly
A private boat tour Rhodes booking is not automatically the better day, and a page that only sold upwards would be lying to you. If there are two of you, the arithmetic is brutal: $740 split two ways is more than three times the per-person fare of almost anything else here, and the shared listings are not grim places. The six-hour catamaran at $71 is rated 4.8 across 2,483 reviews. The three-bay cruise at $56 is 4.8 across 1,857. The 2.5 hours at $45 are rated 4.9 across 508 reviews. Those are crowds of satisfied people, not a compromise.
There are also things a shared listing gives you that a private boat tour Rhodes charter does not. A marine biologist rides the three-hour trip at $102 and the seven-hour Alimia Island day at $145, which is a specialist you are unlikely to get on a private hire at any price on this island. The guided snorkel day at $63 runs seven hours with a guide in the water. A fishing trip with locals at $70 is exactly the kind of thing that works because somebody else organised it.
Where a private boat tour Rhodes booking wins is not luxury, it is control. Your own party on deck, no stranger’s schedule, a swim that lasts as long as your children want it to last, and the freedom to be slow. For a family of five or six, or two couples travelling together, that is often worth more than the difference in the fare — and for a party of eight it can simply be cheaper than eight separate seats on a premium cruise.
The honest rule of thumb: count your party, divide the private fare by that number, and compare the answer with $71 or $97. If the division lands anywhere near those fares, take the boat. If it lands far above them and you do not specifically want the deck to yourselves, book a seat and spend the difference on the rest of the holiday.
Before you charter
Six things to check on a private listing
Each of these is answerable from the booking page, and none of them is answerable by us.
- Divide before you compare
The fare covers the boat. With six aboard, $740 works out near $123.33 each; with two aboard it does not work out at all.
- Check the party size the operator states
Only one of the three names a number: up to 12 guests on the BBQ cruise at $1,218. For the other two, ask before you pay.
- Look at where it starts
Stegna, Faliraki and Symi — not Rhodes Town. Getting to the pier is part of your day and is not included in the hours.
- Match the hours to your party
Four hours at $740, five at $1,218, six of paddling at $797. The last one is a workout as well as a day out.
- Accept that new listings have no reviews
All three went on sale this season. Judge them on how specific the description is, and on the operator answering your questions.
- Free cancellation
Named on the listings on this site. On a charter tied to one date and one crew, that is the single most useful line on the page.
Want the shared boats instead, compared on hours, fares and what is on board?
Compare all fifteen listings→Common questions
Common questions about a private boat tour Rhodes booking
Is the price per person or for the boat?
For the boat and the party on it. That is why $740, $797 and $1,218 sit so far above the per-person listings, which start at $26.
How many people can come?
Only the BBQ cruise at $1,218 states a number: up to 12 guests. The other two listings do not say, so ask the operator before booking.
Which private boat tour Rhodes listing is the shortest?
Four hours, on the Stegna listing at $740. The BBQ cruise runs five hours and the Symi kayaking day six.
Why do none of them have ratings?
All three are new listings this season. No reviews yet is not a poor record; it is simply no evidence either way.
Do they leave from Rhodes Town?
No. They start from Stegna, from Faliraki and from Symi. Build the journey to the meeting point into your plan.
Is a private boat worth it for two people?
Usually not on price. Divided two ways these fares sit far above every shared listing here; from about five or six travellers the arithmetic changes.
Go deeper
