Private Boat Charters To St Barts: What The Six Available Listings Cost And Include

Only six bookable boat products currently serve St Barts through this site, and five of them are private charters. That single fact shapes everything about planning a day on the water here: there is no menu of half-day shared cruises, no jet ski session, no fishing trip, and no sunset sail to pick from. What exists is a small set of private boats departing St Martin and Sint Maarten, one per-person group day trip that runs 12 May to 31 August 2027, and a marine reserve whose rules every one of those boats must follow. Timing matters with so few options on the water, so check the month-by-month guide to St Barts weather before you lock in a charter date.

The headline prices look steep at first glance, from $1,947.52 to $4,816.09 per group. Read as per-boat figures for groups of eight or ten, the arithmetic lands in a very different place, and that comparison, along with what each listing quietly excludes, is what this guide works through. The research here comes from the listings themselves, the reserve authority's published rules, and official climate and event sources, and every figure printed below appears on one of those pages.

What Does A St Barts Private Boat Charter Actually Cost?

A private charter to St Barts costs between $1,947.52 and $4,816.09 per group, never per person, across the five listings on this site. The lowest is the full-day Anse Marcel charter for up to 10 guests; the highest is the overnight catamaran for up to 4. Two listings add fees on top: 40 EUR per boat plus 5 EUR per guest in dock fees, and unspecified customs clearance fees.

The five private listings split into three formats. The Love Boat Sxm full-day charter from Marina de l'Anse Marcel takes up to 10 guests for about 8 hours, from $1,947.52 per group. Paper Boat Charter runs two separate listings that are easy to confuse: an 8 hour motor charter for up to 8 guests from $2,100 per group, and a 7.5 hour sailboat charter, also up to 8 guests, from $2,000 per group. Seven Marine's Nikki Beach trip from Cole Bay, Sint Maarten takes up to 15 guests for 6 to 8 hours from $2,120 per group. Zephyr's overnight catamaran, departing the Quai 58 pontoon in Grand Case, takes only 4 guests for 2 days, from $4,816.09 per group.

Divided across the stated maximum headcount, these numbers shift considerably. Split across the maximum number of guests each boat carries, the per-group prices translate into per-guest sums that can sit near the shared day's per-person rate; the larger the group, the closer the two options land. Those are sums, not quoted rates: the operator charges the group, and the per-guest figure is only as good as your boat actually filling.

Notice the last row. The one non-private product, the Boomerang group day from the Dinghy Dock Bar in Simpson Bay, is priced per person at $189 plus a US$20 per person government fee, and it only operates 12 May to 31 August 2027. A full group on the Anse Marcel charter, spread across its 10 guest maximum, lands in the same neighbourhood as the shared rate before fees, and the per-person arithmetic is the honest way to see that. That is the real trade a larger group weighs.

Private Charter Or Shared Day Trip For St Barts?

A private charter suits groups of six or more who want to set the itinerary, since the per-guest arithmetic approaches the $189 shared rate at higher headcounts. The shared Boomerang day suits smaller parties and solo travellers, but only runs 12 May to 31 August 2027, caps at 40 passengers, and meets in Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten rather than offering your own schedule.

The shared tour is a fixed product: about 7 hours, meeting at the Dinghy Dock Bar, with lunch, alcoholic beverages, snorkelling equipment, paddle boards, life jackets in adult and child sizes, floating noodles and a lily pad listed as included. Gratuities, towels and private transportation are excluded. Its 8 reviews sit at 5.0, a pool too small to treat as a rating claim, though the reviews exist and are uniformly positive on the listing.

The private listings invert that package. Paper Boat's 8 hour motor charter includes a fuel surcharge, unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks, a professional guide, snorkelling equipment and a giant floating mat, with lunch and gratuities excluded. It is the one listing on the roster with a rating solid enough to quote: rated 5.0 across 17 reviews. The sailboat version, a separate listing from the same operator, includes an open bar and snacks and is new, with no reviews yet. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before is listed on the sailboat; free cancellation is listed on the motor charter too.

Which of the three above fits depends less on price, since they sit within about $150 of each other per group, and more on boat type and departure point. The Anse Marcel charter is the largest-capacity option at 10 guests and the lowest from-price. The two Paper Boat listings depart from different premises: the motor charter from Marina Anse-Marcel, the sailboat from Saint Martin with the departure detail stated on its listing.

For groups still weighing the wider question of whether the crossing justifies a full day, the guide to whether a St Barts day trip is worth it works through the trade-offs, and how many days you need in St Barts covers the overnight case that the Zephyr catamaran exists for.

What Is Included On Each St Martin Charter Listing?

No two inclusions lists match. Paper Boat's motor charter is the most complete at sea, with a fuel surcharge, unlimited drinks, guide and snorkelling gear included. The Anse Marcel charter covers soda, fuel, snorkelling gear, a paddle board and a floating mat. The Nikki Beach trip adds round-trip private transfer and an open bar, but excludes customs clearance fees.

Reading the exclusions matters as much as reading the inclusions. The Anse Marcel charter excludes dock fees at St Barthelemy, stated as 40 EUR per boat plus 5 EUR per guest, and the inflatable slide. The Zephyr catamaran includes breakfast, lunch and dinner but excludes lunch in Gustavia and crew tips, which the listing notes are customarily 15 to 20 percent. The Nikki Beach trip excludes gratuities and customs clearance fees without stating their amount.

"Not stated" is not the same as "not included." The sailboat listing simply lists an open bar and snacks, and anything beyond that is unstated rather than refused. The same discipline applies to fees: the only confirmed extra charges are the government fee on the shared day, the dock fees on the Anse Marcel charter, customs fees on the Nikki Beach trip, and tips where the listing names them. No other mooring or reserve fee in euros has been confirmed on an official page, so none is printed here.

Budgeting therefore means starting from the from-price and adding only what the listing names. On the Anse Marcel charter, a group of ten should mentally add 40 EUR for the boat and 5 EUR per guest at the dock. On the catamaran, a tip of 15 to 20 percent of the charter price is the customary figure the listing itself suggests, which on a $4,816.09 booking is a real line item to plan for rather than discover.

Half Day Or Full Day: What Formats Exist From St Martin?

There is no half-day product. Every private listing runs about 8 hours, 7.5 hours, or 6 to 8 hours, plus the 2 day overnight catamaran, and the shared day runs about 7 hours. The format choice is really full day versus overnight, not half versus full.

This surprises people who have chartered elsewhere, where a morning half-day is a standard product. The reason is partly geography: the boats depart St Martin and Sint Maarten, cross to St Barts, and stop at places like St Jean Beach and Gustavia, as the Anse Marcel charter's listed itinerary does, so the crossing itself consumes a chunk of the day. A half-day format would leave little time on the St Barts side.

The overnight option is the outlier. Zephyr's catamaran takes up to 4 guests for 2 days from the Quai 58 pontoon in Grand Case, with all three main meals included except lunch in Gustavia. Its 3 reviews sit at 5.0, too few to treat as a rating claim. The refund window is also stricter than the day charters: a full refund applies up to 6 days in advance, compared with free cancellation listed on the day trips and a 24 hour cutoff stated on the sailboat.

For readers deciding between a day trip and staying over, the comparison of St Barts as a day trip or an overnight lays out both sides, and the one day in St Barts itinerary shows what a single day can realistically hold.

Which Marine Reserve Rules Affect Your St Barts Charter?

The reserve caps speed at 5 knots, bans jet skis, seabobs, electric surfboards and any thermal or electric propulsion device, and prohibits taking coral, plants, shells or crustaceans, wearing gloves in the water, feeding animals, bringing dogs, dumping waste, and touching protected species such as turtles or coral. Your charter captain navigates these rules; you follow them in the water.

The Réserve Naturelle covers five zones including the bays of Colombier and Fourchue, which is exactly where boat tours tend to head, since Colombier is one of the beaches you can only reach by boat in St Barts. The authority's published rules state the 5 knot limit for reserve waters including bays and the band within 100 m of islets, per the reserve authority's regulatory zones page.

Two practical consequences follow. First, the device ban is why no jet ski product exists anywhere in this roster, and why any offer of one around the island should be treated with suspicion. Second, the buoy system shapes where your boat anchors: ecological mooring buoys are advised for vessels up to 20 tonnes and 25 m, with stays capped at 96 consecutive hours, and anchoring outside buoy zones is authorised only in Colombier and Fourchue bays. The rest of the planning pages sit on St Barthelemy Tours.

For swimmers, the rules that matter most are the ones about gloves and touching. Snorkellers on any of these charters should keep hands off coral and turtles, both because it is banned and because it is the right thing to do. The reserve also marks 23 dive sites with a red square crossed by a white diagonal. More background is in what the marine reserve in St Barts is, and snorkellers can pair this with where to snorkel in St Barts.

When Should You Book A St Martin To St Barts Charter?

Book by the calendar, not just the clock. Hurricane season runs 1 June to 30 November with a peak from mid-August to mid-October, the shared boat only runs 12 May to 31 August 2027, and mid-March 2027 brings the St Barth Bucket Regatta, when Gustavia's harbour fills with superyachts. Free cancellation is listed on the day charters, which lowers the risk of booking early.

The climate record supports the booking logic. Meteo-France's 1991 to 2020 normals for the St Barthelemy station show average monthly highs from 28.5 C in January to 31.7 C in September, and rainfall from a low of 38.4 mm in February to a high of 135.6 mm in October, with an annual total of 891.3 mm. October is the wettest month on the record; February the driest. None of that predicts any particular week, but it explains why the shoulder months carry the pricing and availability patterns they do.

The hurricane season definition, 1 June to 30 November with peak activity mid-August to mid-October, comes from the US National Hurricane Center's published climatology. The shared boat day's operating window, 12 May to 31 August 2027, overlaps the season's start by nearly three months; that is stated here as a calendar fact, not a weather prediction. The event calendar adds two anchors: the Music Festival's 43rd edition runs 8 to 18 January 2027, and the Bucket Regatta is mid-March 2027, with the organisers' own page showing two different start dates, which is why only "mid-March" is safe to print.

A fuller month-by-month breakdown is in the best time to visit St Barts and St Barts weather by month.

How Do The Five Private Charters Compare Head To Head?

Head to head, the Anse Marcel charter is the cheapest private option at $1,947.52 for up to 10 guests, followed by the Paper Boat sailboat at $2,000, the Paper Boat motor charter at $2,100, and the Nikki Beach trip at $2,120, while the catamaran stands apart at $4,816.09 for four guests across two days with meals included, so capacity and format matter more than the small spread between the day-charter prices.

That framing surprises readers who stop at the headline numbers. The Nikki Beach trip's $2,120 from-price looks mid-pack until the 15 guest maximum is applied, and the catamaran's $4,816.09 looks like the outlier until you remember it buys two days with three meals a day. Comparing the per-group price against your realistic headcount, not just the stated maximums, is the honest method, and the table below lays out what each listing states.

←→

Review standing differs sharply and should be read honestly. Only the Paper Boat motor charter carries a pool large enough to quote, at 5.0 across 17 reviews. The Anse Marcel charter and the catamaran each have 3 reviews at 5.0, the Nikki Beach trip has 5 reviews at 4.8, and the sailboat listing has none yet. Small pools are information, not a verdict either way.

Departure points also differ, and that matters for where you are staying. The Anse Marcel charter and the Paper Boat motor charter leave from the Anse Marcel marina area on the French side; the Nikki Beach trip from Cole Bay on the Dutch side; the catamaran from Grand Case; the sailboat from Saint Martin as its listing states. Anyone based on the Dutch side should weigh the transfer, which only the Nikki Beach listing includes as round-trip private transfer.

What Does A Private Charter Day Around St Barts Look Like?

A typical private day crosses from St Martin in the morning, spends the middle of the day at anchor off beaches such as Colombier or St Jean and in Gustavia, and returns by late afternoon, roughly filling the 6 to 8 hour window every day-charter listing uses. The itinerary is yours to shape with the captain, which is the core difference from the shared product.

The Anse Marcel listing names St Jean Beach and Gustavia as its stops. Colombier and Fourchue sit inside the reserve's simple protection zones, where the rules above govern anchoring and swimming. On the Paper Boat motor charter, the floating mat and snorkelling gear set the rhythm: anchoring, swimming, drifting, eating when the group chooses rather than when a shared schedule dictates.

The shared day, by contrast, publishes a fixed shape: meeting at the Dinghy Dock Bar in Simpson Bay, about 7 hours out, lunch and drinks aboard. The St Martin to St Barts day trip guide covers that crossing in detail for readers weighing it against a charter, and St Barts private boat charters compared with catamarans adds the sailing-boat angle.

One honest note on sea state: conditions between St Martin and St Barts vary, and no listing or operator promises calm water. The reporting in how rough the sea is between St Martin and St Barts covers what is and is not known without predicting any particular crossing.

Whichever of the three core day formats you lean toward, the same decision applies: a larger boat from Anse Marcel, the well-reviewed Paper Boat motor charter, or the newer sailboat at the lower from-price. All three list free cancellation, which makes holding a date while you finalise headcount a low-risk move.

Common Questions About St Barts Private Boat Charters