Group trips in Hurghada: private charter or shared booking
Updated October 1, 2026 · 8 min read
For most groups, shared seats are cheaper and simpler: the yacht trip to 3 islands with dolphins, snorkelling and lunch runs eight hours and costs from €44 per person, rated 4.7 with 8,267 reviews – no other Hurghada listing has more reviews. A private charter makes sense from a certain number of participants: the luxury private yacht with optional lunch and drinks costs €367.48 per group up to eight – with a full group that’s €45.94 per person. What decides isn’t the trip, but what the price is quoted for: per person or per charter.
When six, twelve or thirty people travel together – for a family reunion, with friends, a club or a workplace group – the question usually gets asked the wrong way round. People ask “which trip should we choose”, but it isn’t the trip that decides the price – it’s the booking format. The same island, the same reef and almost the same boat cost different amounts depending on whether you sit with strangers or buy out the whole trip.
Three formats, not two
Shared seats. You buy places and the boat sails full. It’s the cheapest way onto the water, and the least flexible: departure time, route and fellow passengers are all fixed.
Small group. The phrase “small group” appears directly in the description of only some listings, and that’s where you need to look for it, not in the photo.
Private charter. The boat or vehicle is yours alone. But “private” doesn’t mean “price per boat”: in some private listings the starting amount is quoted per group up to two people, in others per person.
| Trip | Duration | from | Rating | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange Bay Yacht, Snorkel, Breakfast, Lunch & Drinks | 5 hours | €29.75 per person | 4.7 with 769 reviews | groups watching everyone’s budget |
| yacht trip to 3 islands with dolphins, snorkelling and lunch | 8 hours | €44 per person | 4.7 with 8,267 reviews | large groups where everyone has their own budget |
| private speedboat adventure with fruit and pick-up | 2 hours | €104.50 per group up to 2 | 4.7 with 830 reviews | a couple, not a group |
| luxury private yacht with optional lunch and drinks | 4 hours | €367.48 per group up to 8 | 4.9 with 11 reviews | a group of up to eight |
| luxury private yacht trip with lunch and activities | 7h 30m | €1,160.47 per group up to 10 | 5.0 with 4 reviews | a group of up to ten with a bigger budget |
The last two rows have collected few reviews – 11 and 4. That doesn’t make them bad, but it doesn’t confirm anything either: read the reviews yourself before buying out the whole boat.
Where the saving is worked out
The temptation is obvious: divide the private charter’s price by the number of participants. That works – but only if the price is quoted per charter, and only up to the stated number of seats.
Let’s work it out on two private yachts. The four-hour yacht costs €367.48 per group up to eight. If there are eight of you, that’s €45.94 per person. The shared yacht to three islands costs €44 per person and runs eight hours. So with a full group, the private boat works out at almost the same amount per person – for half the time, but with your own schedule and no strangers aboard. If there are four of you, the same yacht works out at €91.87 per person, and the comparison turns the other way.
The second yacht costs €1,160.47 per group up to ten and runs 7h 30m. With ten participants, that’s €116.05 per person – more than two and a half times the shared yacht for almost the same time. Here, a private charter isn’t bought for the saving.
And the two-hour private speedboat adventure costs €104.50 per group up to two. You can’t divide that sum by six: the stated number of seats is two. For a group that’s not an option, however tempting the figure next to the word “private” looks. We covered this sum in detail in our piece on the private speedboat and the group price.
See the private yacht for up to eight
The second condition for a fair comparison is to compare at equal duration. A private trip of two hours from €104.50 and a shared day of eight hours from €44 are not comparable: in one case you’re paying for time and freedom, in the other for a long day with lunch included. Bring both baskets to the same date and the same length before concluding that someone is overcharging.
Third comes capacity. Don’t divide the price by however many people you think fit in the photo. The stated number of seats is the limit: eight people for one yacht, ten for the other, two for the speedboat. If the boat holds eight people and there are twelve of you, that’s already two trips and two bills.
Nobody publishes volume discounts
Tiered prices along the lines of “cheaper from ten people” don’t exist among the Hurghada listings. That doesn’t mean you can’t negotiate – it means group terms aren’t published anywhere and exist only in the operator’s reply to your enquiry. Any group-discount figure quoted to you before such an enquiry came from nowhere.
So for a group, the order is reversed from the usual one: first a message to the operator with the number of participants and the date, then the booking. Not the other way round.
What to ask before booking a group
- What the price actually covers – per person or for the whole trip, and how many seats are included.
- The maximum number of participants for the chosen option, and what happens if you’re two more.
- How much notice is needed. A private trip and a bus for thirty people aren’t planned overnight.
- Who pays and how. One payment for everyone or each person separately – this decides who carries the risk if someone cancels.
- What happens if two people don’t turn up. Whether the total is recalculated, and up to what point.
- How many transfer vehicles and how many hotels are covered. A group of twenty rarely stays in a single hotel; how transfers around the city are arranged is covered in our piece on getting around Hurghada.
- What happens in strong wind. Postponement, a refund or a changed programme – for a group this costs more than it does for two people.
Get the answers in writing and keep them. For a group this isn’t a formality: arguing on the jetty when there are twenty of you is too late and pointless.
When a private charter isn’t the answer
When interests within the group differ. A bought-out boat doesn’t satisfy everyone: the person who wanted to snorkel and the person who wanted to lie on the beach end up in the same place at the same time. Sometimes two shared trips on different days work better than one private charter.
When the group is large but budgets differ. A private charter is paid in full regardless of who has how much money. Shared seats let everyone decide for themselves – and that saves the trip more often than saving ten euros a head.
When someone finds moving around difficult. A private boat doesn’t mean easy boarding: the gangway, platform and shore access on a private speedboat can be just the same as on a shared one. We don’t consider any option accessible without the operator’s confirmation; what to ask is listed in the guide for travellers with reduced mobility.
When it’s a long-distance trip. For Cairo and Luxor, it’s not the type of boat that matters but the bus and the road: the Cairo and Luxor options differ far more in duration than in price.
In brief
Up to eight people, compare properly: at equal duration, a private speedboat can work out cheaper than shared seats – but only if the starting price is per boat. From ten people, start with a message to the operator, not with the basket. And in every case, work it out for one date, one duration and one number of participants – otherwise you’re comparing wording, not offers.
Which vessel suits which purpose is covered in our comparison of speedboat and yacht; the full range of sea trips is in the island trips section.
Our recommendation
Most groups suit the yacht trip to 3 islands with dolphins, snorkelling and lunch: eight hours from €44 per person, rated 4.7 with 8,267 reviews. Everyone pays for themselves, nobody risks the whole sum, and it’s easier for one person to cancel than to rearrange a bought-out boat.
See availability for the three-island yacht
For a group of up to eight that wants its own boat and its own schedule: the luxury private yacht with optional lunch and drinks, €367.48 per group up to eight, four hours. With a full group that’s €45.94 per person; with four, €91.87.
For a small group watching everyone’s budget: the Orange Bay Yacht, Snorkel, Breakfast, Lunch & Drinks – five hours from €29.75 per person, rated 4.7 with 769 reviews.
See the five-hour Orange Bay yacht
Who a private charter doesn’t suit: a group with different budgets, and a group of more than ten. A bought-out boat is paid for in full, and the stated number of seats is a limit, not a wish.
