NYC boat rental recommendations for private birthday party?

March 20, 2015 7:36 PM

My partner is turning 40, and since our plans for a European vacation aren't panning out we're hoping to spend a similar chunk of change on a boat rental for a booze cruise, sailing around New York harbor for several hours. I'm looking for tips and recommendations.

We'll probably have somewhere around 40-50 people, at a guess. That meets the minimum amount for some of the bigger yacht cruises I've seen online, but I'm not sure if being on a big boat with a small crowd would seem too weird. Our crowd is lively but not out of control. We'll definitely want to pick our own music. We're not rich but are willing to spend a fair bit of money on this excursion. We don't want to share a boat with other partiers.

More generally I'm interested in hearing from people who have done a similar thing - anything I should look out for in selecting rentals? Anything you wish you had known beforehand? Any good resources besides Yelp and Google to help me find a boat?

posted by whir to Shopping (3 answers total)

At times we rented a small yacht to go around the hudson for private romantic excursions (so no parties) it would be just the two of us and the crew which I think consisted of 3 crew members. As I recall it would run us about 12k for 4 hours.

Things we wish we knew before hand is that there are apparently a ton of rules for boats and when they can depart and what area they can tour during what time.... and these rules change depending on the day you go. Like once we went on day that had some sort of macy's parade or something so the captain had to keep the boat out of certain areas. So you pick the day make sure you find out in advance if there are going to be any events or things that might be limiting. I wish I could remember the charter company we used. It may have been this one.
posted by manderin at 8:28 PM on March 20, 2015

I should mention that there are many different types of yachts and some are much more luxurious than others. There are yachts for 50 people that you can rent for under 5K for 4 hours.
posted by manderin at 12:49 AM on March 21, 2015

Response by poster: As it happens we didn't find a boat rental that made sense, but we're going to book a big party at this floating restaurant-on-a-boat. It's a moveable feast!
posted by whir at 9:25 PM on April 3, 2015