Blue Cruise Turkey: Gulet Routes, Cabin or Private Charter

Cabin charter or private charter: which suits you

Cabin charter means you rent one cabin on a gulet with other passengers aboard, which suits couples, solo travellers and small parties who want the sailing without paying for a whole boat. Private charter means sole occupancy of the vessel for your group, with the itinerary arranged around you. The trade-off is straightforward: cabin bookings cost less per person but put you among strangers, while a private charter gives you the boat and the route but needs enough people to justify it.

Blue Cruise Bodrum sets out the two models plainly, listing private gulets in size bands from 2–4 cabins up to 9 and more, and cabin itineraries with regular departures from Bodrum, Marmaris, Fethiye and Antalya. It also notes that private charters into Greek waters are capped at 12 people, a limit worth knowing before you plan an island route.

Farout Cruises runs its shared boats on fixed weekly slots, which shape your travel dates more than anything else. Its cabin cruises leave on Saturday or Tuesday depending on the route, so a blue cruise usually anchors the trip rather than filling a spare day.

Where blue cruises start: Bodrum, Marmaris, Göcek, Fethiye and more

The classic departure ports cluster along the south-west coast, and matching the port to your resort saves a transfer. Bodrum and Marmaris are the two main bases, with Bodrum serving the Gulf of Gökova and Marmaris the Hisarönü–Symi–Rhodes runs, while Göcek and Fethiye serve the Lycian coast eastwards. Further east, Kaş, Demre, Olympos and Kemer appear as start or end points on shorter legs, and if you plan to spend land days at the eastern end, see our Olympos guide for what to do ashore. See our Gulet Cruise Turkey guide for the wider picture of how these voyages work.

If you are staying in Fethiye, Ölüdeniz or Hisarönü, Fethiye is your natural port and the boat saves you a road transfer. Bodrum and Marmaris work best for travellers based in those resorts, and Göcek suits anyone already in the Dalaman area. Kaş and Demre open up the Kekova stretch without a long drive west first.

For a day on the water rather than a multi-night voyage, the same coastline has shorter options covered in our Boat Trips in Turkey guide, including Suluada Island out of Adrasan. Those day boats are a different purchase from a gulet cruise: fewer decisions, less commitment, no cabin.

Route lengths: short hops versus a week on the water

Cruises sell by nights, and the range is wider than most people expect. Farout lists cabin cruises of three days and two nights, four days and three nights, seven days and six nights, and eight days and seven nights, which means you can bolt a short leg onto a resort stay or commit to a full week. Short runs work a single stretch of coast; the longer seven- and eight-night itineraries are the ones that link several bays and towns.

Blue Cruise Ltd's shared cabin boats sail Saturday to Saturday for a full week, with air-conditioned eight-cabin gulets, full board as standard and en-suite cabins allocated first come, first served. If you want a set weekly rhythm and don't mind fixed dates, that format is simpler to plan around than a pick-and-mix itinerary.

The Fethiye–Olympos and Kekova runs

Farout runs the Fethiye–Kekova–Fethiye loop over seven days and six nights, departing on Saturday, and the shorter Fethiye–Kekova, Fethiye–Demre and Kaş–Fethiye legs over three days and two nights, departing midweek. The Olympos–Fethiye and Olympos–Ölüdeniz legs start from the Olympos and Kekova end, which suits anyone based around Olympos or Kaş.

Kekova is the draw on this stretch, and the source itineraries name it, Ölüdeniz and Demre rather than promising specific ruins or swim stops. Treat the named bays as the frame and ask Blue Cruise Ltd or Farout for the actual stop list, since a gulet's day-by-day plan can shift with weather and berth availability.

Marmaris routes and Greek island add-ons

Marmaris is the base for routes that combine Turkish bays with the Dodecanese. Blue Cruise Bodrum lists a Hisarönü–Symi–Rhodes itinerary among its boutique routes, available as cabin or private charter, alongside a Classic Blue Cruise through Gökova. The Greek leg is the reason to pick Marmaris over Fethiye: you get two countries in one voyage without changing boats.

The Greek waters limit matters here. Private charters into Greece are capped at 12 guests, so a large group chartering a bigger gulet will stay in Turkish waters unless it splits across boats or books a cabin itinerary with guaranteed departures instead. Check that cap early if the island stop is the point of the trip.

On land, the same Marmaris peninsula has the Bozburun Peninsula for a Turkey jeep safari day before or after your sailing dates, which fills a transfer day without another night aboard. It is a road day rather than a sea day, so don't schedule it against an embarkation morning.

Bodrum and the Gulf of Gökova routes

Bodrum serves the Gulf of Gökova, the long inlet east of the town that appears in the standard route lists and gives you a string of quiet bays without crossing into Greece. It is the natural choice if you are based in Bodrum or want a Turkish-only itinerary with no passport formalities. Gocek and Fethiye itineraries sit on the other side of the same coastline and are usually booked from Dalaman arrivals instead.

Bodrum also has the biggest spread of boat sizes, with Blue Cruise Bodrum listing private gulets from 2–4 cabins through 5–6, 7–8 and 9 or more, so a family group and a couple can book through the same port. The trade-off is that the larger the boat, the less it feels like a private sailing and the more it behaves like a small floating hotel.

What a day on board looks like: bays, swimming and meals

A gulet day is built around anchoring, swimming and eating rather than covering distance. Blue Cruise Ltd describes the routine as relaxing in secluded bays, swimming in clear water, and eating Turkish food prepared by the crew, with full board included on its cabin charters. Watersports and swimming feature in the companies' descriptions of the coastline, though the specific equipment on your boat is worth asking about directly.

Meals are usually part of the package on cabin charters, but the detail varies by operator and boat. Blue Cruise Ltd states full board as standard on its shared eight-cabin gulets; confirm the same for any other boat, and ask whether drinks are extra, because that is where a cheap-looking week can quietly add up.

What a gulet cruise costs, and why the price varies

Expect the price to swing by an order of magnitude between a shared cabin and a private luxury charter, so treat any single figure as a starting point only. Blue Cruise Ltd has listed private hire in Turkey from £10,000 per week and shared cabin places from £1,099 per person, with Croatian private charters from £15,000 per week. Goolets has quoted weekly private charter bands of about €20,000–30,000 for standard gulets, €30,000–50,000 for deluxe and from €50,000 for ultra-luxury. Those are Blue Cruise Ltd's and Goolets' own published figures from the periods their sites describe, not live quotes, and the lira equivalent of a euro or pound rate moves constantly.

Three things drive the gap: boat size and cabin count, the level of fit-out and crew, and whether you are buying one cabin or the whole vessel. A private charter spreads the weekly rate across your group, so a full boat of twelve can cost less per head than a deluxe cabin place. Ask for a written quote in the currency you will pay in and confirm what the deposit covers before you commit.

Booking from the UK: ATOL cover and flight-inclusive packages

If you book from the UK, the flight-inclusive question matters more than the boat. Blue Cruise Ltd is ATOL-bonded and offers flight-inclusive gulet holidays, issuing an ATOL certificate that lists what is protected, which you should check against your booking. Package protection only covers what appears on that certificate, so a cruise booked separately from flights sits outside it.

Sailnstay advertises a six-night blue cruise package in pounds, which shows how a UK operator can bundle the sailing with other elements rather than selling a bare cabin. Compare the total against a cabin-only quote plus your own flights before deciding which is better value for your dates.

How a blue cruise fits into a wider Turkey trip

The neatest plan is to pick the port nearest your resort and make the cruise the middle of the trip, with land days either side. A Fethiye or Ölüdeniz stay pairs with a Fethiye departure; a Bodrum or Marmaris base pairs with Gökova or the Greek islands; a Kaş stay pairs with the Kekova and Demre runs. That way the transfer is short and you don't lose a day travelling to the boat.

Allow a buffer day before embarkation rather than flying in the same morning. Saturday departures are common, so a delayed flight that lands you in Dalaman on Friday night is far easier to absorb than one that lands two hours before you are due on deck.

Which blue cruise should you book?

Book a cabin if you are a couple or solo traveller on a set budget and happy with fixed departure days; book a private charter if you have a group, want the route tailored and can fill the boat. Then choose the port that matches where you are staying, and count the nights before you compare prices. Check current rates and departure dates directly with Blue Cruise Ltd, Farout or Blue Cruise Bodrum, since published figures date quickly.