Most boats show you the coast. A catamaran lets you swim it.
Shade when the sun turns, a trampoline net strung over the water and a ladder down the stern. Reviews of the catamarans people actually board, from the Blue Lagoon off Malta to the Isla Mujeres run out of Cancun, with what a seat costs before the extras.
The four catamaran days that fill up first.
One out of Palma, one under the Santorini cliffs, one across the Blue Lagoon and one running for Isla Mujeres. What a seat costs, and what the people who boarded came back saying.
01The Balearic long one5-Hour Catamaran Cruise with Lunch & SwimFive hours out of Palma with lunch cooked aboard and two swim stops. The day the rest of Mallorca gets planned around.
02Santorini after fiveCatamaran Tour with BBQ Dinner, Drinks, and MusicOut under the caldera wall with dinner off the grill on the back deck. Book the late departure, not the early one.
03Malta, blue waterBlue Lagoon, Beaches & Bays Trip by CatamaranAcross to Comino for the Blue Lagoon and the bays either side of it. The water is the reason, so go on a calm forecast.
04The Cancun crossingCatamaran with Open Bar, Snorkeling and LunchSails up for the run to Isla Mujeres, a snorkel stop on the reef, open bar on the way back.
Lunch aboard, a snorkel stop, or the run out at sunset.
Almost every catamaran ticket is one of three days. A long one with food cooked on board, a half day anchored over something worth swimming into, or two hours of golden hour with a drink in your hand. The cheapest sunsets and the best lunches are rarely the same boat.
Six coastlines that keep a catamaran fleet busy.
The Balearics and the Costa del Sol, the Cycladic calderas, the reef off Cancun, the Algarve grottoes, Hawaii and the Florida panhandle, and the crossing to Saona. Each one has a boat that leaves most mornings.
Spain is where a catamaran afternoon stops costing money.
Nowhere else puts you on a sailing catamaran for the price of two coffees. Malaga, Barcelona and Valencia all run short afternoon and sunset trips in the teens, while Mallorca keeps the long lunch days. Three kinds of Spanish sailing, and what each one starts at.
The catamarans more people board than any others.
Every catamaran we have reviewed →Every boat on this page has been sailing the same route for years, which is why the review counts run into the thousands. Start here if you only have one free morning.
1
5-Hour Catamaran Cruise with Lunch & Swim
Spend five hours aboard Magic Catamarans from Palma, sailing toward Portals Vells or Cala Vella. You get two swim stops, snorkeling gear with a refundable deposit, a barbecue buffet, soft drinks, Mallorcan wine, sangria, and music. Choose a 10 AM or 3:30 PM departure. The route depends on wind and sea conditions.
from $69
Read our review →
2
Catamaran Sailing Trip with Sunset Option
from $16
3
Ecological Catamaran Dolphin Whale Watching
from $41
4
Daytime or Sunset Catamaran Cruise with Music
from $15
5
Catamaran Tour with BBQ Dinner, Drinks, and Music
from $93
6
Blue Lagoon, Beaches & Bays Trip by Catamaran
from $62
7
Catamaran Dolphin Watch Cruise with Snorkeling
from $44
8
Coastline and Benagil Caves Tour by Catamaran
from $35
Santorini fills its catamarans twice a day.
The caldera is a drowned volcano with hot springs at the waterline and a red beach nobody reaches by road, so the boats go where the buses cannot. The morning departures are cheaper and emptier. The late ones cost more because you are paying for the sunset and the dinner that comes with it.
Every Greek catamaran day →
What a seat on a catamaran actually costs.
Every reviewed cruise sorted by its per-head starting price. The gap between a Spanish sunset and a Great Barrier Reef day is a factor of ten, and both are worth it for different reasons.
Short afternoon and sunset sailings, mostly Mediterranean, usually with one drink and no food.
The standard full day: two or three swim stops, lunch cooked aboard, drinks included.
Reef days out of Cairns, small-group caldera boats and the trips that cap the passenger list.
Charter the catamaran instead of buying a seat on it.
Every private catamaran charter →A charter is quoted for the boat, not the person, so it only makes sense once there are enough of you. Split four ways it is a splurge. Split twelve ways it often lands under the price of a shared ticket, and you choose the anchorages.
50′ Luxury Yacht. Private Full or Half Day Catamaran Snorkel, & Beach Experience
$1,595 for the boat, seats 12
$133 each, split evenly
Lagoon 39ft Private Catamaran 5hr – El Cielo Full Experience
$2,200 for the boat, seats 15
$147 each, split evenly
Private Catamaran from Cancun to Isla Mujeres for up to 13 People
$899 for the boat, seats 13
$70 each, split evenly
Every figure above is for the whole catamaran, not a seat on it. Split it by the number aboard. The cheapest catamaran on the site to take over for a day: $500.
Wind, swell and the small print that decides a catamaran day.
Catamarans are wide and stable, which is exactly why operators keep sailing in chop that would cancel a smaller boat. The sea still decides. Mornings are calmer almost everywhere, the Aegean meltemi and the Caribbean trades both build after lunch, and a cancelled sailing is usually rebooked rather than refunded. Read what "open bar" covers before you board, because on some boats it starts after the last swim stop.
Three islands that a catamaran reaches better than anything else.
Ferries get to all three. The catamaran is what people book anyway, because the crossing is the point and the boat has a bar, a net to lie on and somewhere to jump in from.
Isla Mujeres
Eight miles of open water off the Cancun hotel strip, and the reason every catamaran in the marina points the same way each morning. Boats stop on the reef first, then run for the sandbar at the island's north end, and the bar opens once the snorkel gear is back aboard. Almost every ticket includes the crossing, lunch and the return, so the differences are group size and how long you actually get ashore.
- 1Catamaran with Open Bar, Snorkeling and Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 2,848 reviews
- 2All Inclusive Isla Mujeres Catamaran★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,232 reviews
- 3Isla Mujeres Catamaran Tour with Snorkel, Open bar and Transport★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,275 reviews
Saona Island
The trip is usually a catamaran one way and a speedboat the other, which is the bit worth checking before you pay. Sailing out takes the morning and runs past the natural pool, a waist-deep sandbar a mile offshore where the boats tie up and lunch happens. Going back by speedboat takes forty minutes, so the catamaran leg is the part you are buying.
- 1Catamaran Boat to Saona Island with Buffet Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 3,822 reviews
- 2Saona Island small group and relax – luxury catamaran★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 605 reviews
- 3Saona Island Catamaran Tour with Food & Open Bar★★★★★★★★★★ 3.5 · 380 reviews
Ile aux Cerfs
The east-coast lagoon is shallow and flat, so the sail out to the island is the calmest crossing on this page. The BBQ is cooked on board and eaten at anchor off the beach, and the boats that include the Grande Riviere Sud Est waterfall detour spend an extra hour doing it. Trou d'Eau Douce is where most of them leave from.
- 1Catamaran Cruise to Ile Aux Cerfs with BBQ Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 925 reviews
- 2Catamaran Day Cruise to lle aux Cerfs with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 438 reviews
- 3Ilot Gabriel: Catamaran Cruise & BBQ Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 139 reviews
By where the boat leaves from
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