Weddings, incentives and New Year
Christmas and New Year in Phang Nga Bay
How much more does a New Year yacht charter in Phuket cost?
The short answer
How much more does a New Year yacht charter in Phuket cost?
Christmas and New Year are a separate market inside the peak season. Operators publish a distinct festive rate above the high-season rate, impose a minimum charter length that is usually seven and sometimes ten nights, and are largely booked out by the previous spring. The conditions are excellent, which is the reason for all of it: late December is dry, settled and around 30 degrees. If those dates are fixed, book roughly a year ahead, and expect the terms to be less negotiable than at any other point in the calendar.
What changes over the festive fortnight
| High season | Christmas and New Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | The published high-season rate | A separate festive rate above it |
| Minimum length | Often 3 to 5 nights | Usually 7, sometimes 10 |
| Booking horizon | 2 to 6 months | 9 to 12 months |
| Flexibility on dates | Reasonable | Effectively none |
| Cancellation terms | Standard | Often harder |
Why the bay in particular
New Year on the water in Phang Nga is genuinely good: flat anchorages, a warm evening, and fireworks going up off the resorts along the coast, seen from an anchorage rather than from a crowd. It is the one night of the year when being at anchor a mile offshore is better than being ashore.
Phi Phi over New Year is the opposite proposition. The anchorages are full, the town is very busy and the crossing back on the first of January is not a morning anyone enjoys.
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.