This question arrives in our inbox almost daily, usually phrased apologetically. There are only two of us, is that too few? There are eighteen of us, is that too many? We are six adults and four children, does that count as ten?
The short answer is that there is no minimum. A private charter is private whether two people book it or twenty do. But the honest answer is more useful than the short one, because group size genuinely changes what the day costs per head, what the boat feels like, and which vessel makes sense. Here is how it actually works.
Is there a minimum number of people?
No. You can charter a boat in Malta for two people, and plenty of couples do.
What confuses people is the difference between a private charter and a shared cruise. On a shared trip you buy a seat, so the operator needs a certain number of passengers to run the boat at all. On a private charter you are booking the whole vessel and its crew for the day. The price is for the boat, not for the seats, and the boat costs the same to run whether it carries two guests or fourteen.
That is the crucial bit of arithmetic, and it cuts both ways. Two people get exceptional space, total privacy and a crew focused entirely on them. They also carry the full cost of the boat between them. Twelve people get a busier deck and a much lower cost each.
Neither is better. They are different trades, and which one suits you depends on what you are actually buying.
What does a small group of two to four actually get?
A great deal of space, and a quality of day that is difficult to buy any other way.
On a catamaran designed for a dozen or more guests, a group of four has the run of the whole boat. The foredeck nets, the shaded cockpit, the bathing platform, all of it. Nobody is negotiating for a sunbed. You can spread out, nap, swim off the back, and never once feel that you are sharing.
The itinerary becomes genuinely fluid too. With four people you can change your mind at eleven o’clock and go somewhere else. With eighteen you cannot, because eighteen people have eighteen opinions and a plan has to hold.
Couples chartering privately are also usually doing it for a reason: an anniversary, a proposal, a milestone birthday, a last day of a honeymoon. The crew can shape the day around that in a way that is simply not possible with a full boat. We have written separately about how proposal and anniversary charters are planned, and the mechanics apply to any small-group occasion.
The trade is cost per person, and it is a real one. A day charter split between two people is a considered purchase rather than a casual one. Most couples who book it treat it as the centrepiece of the trip rather than one activity among several, and price it accordingly.
If the number is the obstacle, there are two sensible levers: choose a smaller vessel, which lowers the base price, or choose a half-day or evening slot rather than a full day. An evening charter is a shorter commitment at a lower cost and catches the best light of the day, which is not a bad consolation.
Where does the per-person cost start to make sense?
Somewhere around six to eight people, for most groups.
The maths is straightforward. If the boat is a fixed price, doubling the group roughly halves the cost each. Going from four to eight makes a bigger proportional difference than going from twelve to sixteen, because you are dividing by a larger multiple at the small end of the range.
This is the point where guests who were comparing a private charter against a ticketed group cruise often find the numbers converge. At two people, a private charter is clearly the premium option. At eight or ten, the gap narrows considerably, and you are getting a private boat, your own route, your own timings and no strangers for something much closer to the price of seats on a crowded cruise. Our guide to when to charter also covers how season affects the figure, which matters as much as headcount.
Six to ten is also, in practice, the most sociable number on a boat. Everyone can hear everyone. The group stays as one conversation rather than splitting into factions at opposite ends of the deck. Food and drinks are easy to organise. It is the size most of our regular repeat bookings land on, and not by accident.
What changes with larger groups of twelve or more?
The cost per head keeps falling, and the character of the day changes.
A large group is a party rather than an outing, and that is often exactly the point. Birthdays, hen and stag celebrations, extended family reunions, company days out. There is energy in a full boat that a quiet charter does not have, and for the right occasion that energy is the whole reason for booking.
What you give up is flexibility and space. Deck space per person shrinks. Getting everyone in and out of the water takes longer. Lunch needs to be organised in advance rather than improvised. Departure times need to be held firmly, because a group of eighteen will lose forty minutes to stragglers if you let it. And the itinerary has to be agreed beforehand, because spontaneity does not survive contact with a large group.
None of this is a problem, but it does mean the day needs more planning. For groups of this size we ask for the shape of the day in advance rather than on the morning: where you want to swim, whether you want food on board, what time you genuinely need to be back. Corporate groups in particular tend to have a fixed end time, and our corporate charters are built around that constraint.
There is also a hard ceiling. Every vessel has a licensed passenger capacity and it is not negotiable. If your group exceeds the capacity of a single boat, the answer is more than one boat sailing together rather than squeezing, which is what our flotilla charters exist for.
Do children count towards the number?
Yes, for licensing and capacity purposes a child occupies a place the same as an adult, including infants on most vessels. That is a safety regulation rather than a pricing decision, and it is worth checking before you assume a family of two adults and four children counts as a party of two.
In terms of how the day feels, children take up less deck space and considerably more attention. A group with several young children usually wants shorter passages, more time at anchor, and shallower, calmer swimming spots. That is an easy day to plan and a very pleasant one, but it is a different day from the same headcount of adults. Our guide to family charters goes into how those days are usually structured.
Which boat suits which group size?
The vessel matters as much as the number, and the two decisions should be made together.
Two to six guests. A smaller catamaran or a monohull sailing yacht. You get an intimate, properly nautical feel and a lower base cost. A monohull under sail heels and moves more, which most people enjoy and a few do not.
Six to twelve guests. A mid-size catamaran is the sweet spot. Wide, stable, level under sail, with a large shaded cockpit and a proper bathing platform. Enough deck to spread out, small enough to stay one group.
Twelve or more. A larger catamaran, or a motor boat if speed and range matter more than sailing. Motor boats cover distance faster, which is worth considering if you want Gozo and Comino in one day with a big group.
The whole fleet is set out here with capacities, which is usually the quickest way to narrow the choice.
So what number should you aim for?
If you are assembling a group and the number is genuinely flexible, eight to ten is the answer most of the time. It is the point where cost per person becomes comfortable, the boat still feels spacious, the group stays one conversation, and the day retains enough flexibility to change course on a whim.
But that is an optimisation, not a rule. Two people on a private catamaran with the whole Maltese coastline to themselves is one of the better days you can have in the Mediterranean, and we run those every week. Twenty people celebrating properly on a full boat is a different and equally good day.
The only genuinely wrong answer is not asking. Tell us your number, your dates and roughly what you want from the day, and we will tell you which vessel fits and what it costs, without steering you towards a bigger boat than you need. Get in touch and we will work backwards from your group rather than forwards from our fleet.