How many people can a day-charter catamaran take?

The number comes from the boat's certification rather than from how many can sit down, and day-charter boats in these waters are commonly capped at around a dozen passengers plus crew. Ask for the certified figure before you count your group. Turning up thirteen-strong for a twelve-passenger boat means somebody is not going, and the skipper has no discretion about it.

Is a catamaran actually better than a monohull for a day out?

For a group, on a day trip, yes. It does not heel, so people can move around, eat and sleep on deck. It has two or three times the flat area for the same length. It draws less, so it can sit closer in over a sand patch. Under sail it is less engaging and in a marina it costs more per night, but neither of those matters on a day charter.

What does a day cost?

A mid-size catamaran with a skipper for a day typically runs from the low four figures in the shoulder months to a good deal more in the first three weeks of August, before fuel, food and any mooring fees. Divided across ten or twelve people it usually lands somewhere between a large restaurant bill and a night out per head, which is the comparison most groups are actually making.

How far ahead do I need to book for August?

Think in months. Catamarans are the scarcest class in the Balearic day-charter fleet relative to demand, because every group of ten wants one and there are far fewer of them than there are monohulls. For the first three weeks of August, February or March is not early.

Can we bring our own food and drink?

Usually yes, and it is much cheaper than catering. Expect a ban on glass, a limit on how much ice the fridge can cope with, and a cleaning clause with teeth. If someone in the group is going to arrive with a crate and a sound system, clear both with the operator at booking rather than at the passerelle.

Catamaran day hire for a group on Ibiza

Past about eight people, a catamaran stops being the extravagant option and becomes the sensible one: flat decks, no heeling, shade for everyone and a shallow enough draught to sit close in. What it costs per head, where the real limits are, and the one piece of paperwork worth insisting on.

Ten people on a monohull for a day is a manageable amount of misery. Everyone is in the cockpit, half of them are in shade and half of them are not, the boat leans, and there is one toilet. Ten people on a catamaran of the same length is a different activity: two hulls of deck, a flat trampoline forward, a table under a hard top, and somewhere to be when you have had enough of everyone else.

That is the whole case, and on Ibiza it is sharpened by the fact that the two days most groups want — Formentera and the west coast at sunset — both involve sitting still for hours rather than sailing.

Where the crossover is

Group	Monohull	Motor yacht	Catamaran
4–6	Best value by a distance	Fast, expensive per head	Overkill
6–8	Workable, tight at lunch	Good if you want range	Starts to make sense
8–12	Uncomfortable all day	Costly, and the deck is small	The right answer
12+	No	No	Check the certified cap first

The number that matters is the certified passenger count for commercial day charter, which is set by the boat’s paperwork and is commonly around a dozen. It is not negotiable at the pontoon and it does not flex because one of you is a child. Get it in writing before you promise anyone a place.

The day, as it actually runs

Board at the marina, 09:30–10:00. On a catamaran this is a proper berth with a passerelle rather than a jetty scramble, which is one reason handover is slower and calmer than on a small boat.
Provision aboard. Ice, water and shade go on first. The fridges are small relative to the number of people.
Passage out, 45 minutes to two hours depending on base and destination. From Ibiza town, Formentera. From Sant Antoni, the west coast and the islets.
Anchor or take a buoy for four hours. This is the day. A catamaran’s shallow draught lets it sit closer in over sand than a monohull can, which matters more than it sounds where the sand patches are small.
Back with time in hand. Big boats are slow to berth and the fuel queue in season is real.

The flat turquoise shallows of the Es Freus channel between Ibiza and Formentera, a channel marker buoy standing in clear water with no boats in sight. — Shallow water, and a boat that draws about a metre. This is the combination that makes the crossing worth doing on two hulls.

The licence question

Chartering commercially in these waters requires the boat to hold the right authorisation, and the rules around it are taken seriously here. Boats operating without one do exist, they are usually the cheap quote, and the consequences land on the day: an inspection at the pontoon that stops the trip, with your money somewhere else entirely.

Ask the question plainly — does this boat hold a current charter licence for these waters, and is the skipper employed or contracted under it. A legitimate operator answers immediately. Anyone who becomes vague about it has told you what you need to know. This is separate from, and more important than, the deposit conversation covered in what a charter deposit covers.

What is not included, almost always

The skipper, on many contracts, charged as a day rate on top.
Fuel. Two engines, and a day that includes a crossing, is not a trivial number.
Food and drink, unless you have specifically bought a catered day.
Mooring or buoy fees in controlled zones, which on the Formentera side are charged per day by length band and get expensive for a wide boat, because catamarans are frequently charged on beam as well as length.
A hostess, which for twelve people on a long day is worth more than most people expect and is priced accordingly.

Add those up before comparing quotes. The gap between two catamaran prices is usually a gap in what is bundled, not in the boat.

A rigid inflatable tender pulled up on the pebbles of a small cove below low cliffs, its bow line ashore. — The tender is how twelve people get ashore for lunch. Ask whether one is aboard and whether the skipper will run it.

Which base

For a catamaran the choice narrows. The deepest supply is in Ibiza town, and that is also the base with the shortest run to Formentera and Es Freus. Sant Antoni has fewer and smaller boats and is the right side of the island for a sunset day. Santa Eulària has the calmest handover and the longest transit to anywhere southern; the trade-offs are laid out in chartering from Ibiza town or Santa Eulària.

Berth availability is the hidden constraint. A wide boat needs a wide berth, and there are fewer of those than there are catamarans wanting them, which is part of why the class books out so far ahead.

The mistake to avoid

Do not book the biggest boat the group can afford and then fill it. Book for the number of people who will actually be aboard, and spend the difference on a skipper who knows where the sand is and a hostess who deals with lunch. On a twelve-person day, the two things that decide whether it was a good day are shade and whether anyone had to organise anything. Neither of those is a function of length.