Chartering for the first time
How many cabins a group actually needs
What size yacht do I need for my group?
The short answer
What size yacht do I need for my group?
Count cabins, not berths. A four-cabin catamaran sleeps eight adults comfortably and ten at a squeeze that people regret by day four. Five cabins take ten, six take twelve. Twelve is the hard ceiling on a licensed charter yacht in Thai waters and it is a legal limit, not a comfort one: a group of fourteen needs two yachts, not a bigger one. On a crewed yacht, crew cabins are separate and do not count against your total.
Berths lie, cabins do not
A listing that says a yacht sleeps ten is counting the saloon convertible and possibly a crew berth. Four couples on a four-cabin catamaran is comfortable. Five couples on the same boat means somebody sleeps in the saloon, which is the space everybody else is using until midnight and from six in the morning.
The twelve-guest ceiling
A Thai charter licence covers a yacht carrying no more than twelve guests. This is not about the size of the yacht: an 80 metre superyacht carries twelve guests under charter for exactly the same reason a 40 metre one does. The moment a vessel carries thirteen paying guests it moves into passenger-ship territory with a completely different regulatory regime.
So a party of fourteen charters two yachts and cruises them in company, which many operators arrange as a matter of routine and which is often more fun than one bigger boat would have been.
The layouts worth knowing about
- Four cabins, four heads, on a 42 to 46 foot catamaran. The standard charter layout, and the reason the Lagoon 42 and 46 are everywhere.
- Owner's version, three cabins with one hull given over to a suite. Much more comfortable for six, and useless for eight.
- Five and six cabin layouts from 50 feet up, where a crewed yacht puts the crew in the forepeaks and the bows.
- Master plus four on a motor yacht, where one cabin is meaningfully better than the others. Decide who gets it before you board, not on the pontoon.
In 32 degree heat with high humidity, air conditioning in the cabins matters more than one more cabin. Ask whether it runs all night or only when the generator is running, because the answer decides whether anyone sleeps.
Last checked 6 September 2026. Rates, fees and regulations in this market change every season, so figures on this page are correct as at that date and not afterwards. How the figures are gathered.