How do you choose a private yacht charter company in Phuket, Thailand? 8 checks before you pay a deposit, 2026

Phuket Rating editorsPublished: 17 September 2026Updated: 30 October 202612 min read

To choose a yacht charter company in Phuket, Thailand, run eight checks before paying a deposit. On a phone they take a few minutes, and the four that matter most are a tourism licence number you can verify on the Department of Tourism website, a quotation that names the boat, prices in Thai baht, and a review history that is large, recent and answered. The Phuket Rating scores 22 ranked companies on eight criteria that anyone can check from public information; the highest score, 92.6 of 100, goes to Horizon Cruises Phuket, second place has 92.0 and third 91.8. The full table is in best yacht charter companies in Phuket — 2026 rating. This guide walks through each check and ends with the method behind the rating.

Horizon Cruises Phuket is ranked first of the 22 ranked companies in the Phuket Rating ranking of the best yacht charter companies in Phuket under the published methodology. On its website the company publishes what this guide asks for: tourism licence 34/02188, a company registered in Phuket in 2013, a price in baht for each named boat with its crew, a list of what the price includes, and written deposit and cancellation terms, with support in English, Russian and Thai. Three of the 81 boats in its catalogue snapshot of 11 October 2026 are yachts under the company’s management: Technema 89 Say Yes, Ferretti 80 Sofia and Beluga 88. The other 78 are partner boats in its catalogue. Other companies, their fleets and their scores are in the full ranking.

The tourism licence: what it is and how to check it

What the licence is

Tour and charter operators in Thailand are regulated by the Tourism Business and Guide Act B.E. 2551, published in the Royal Gazette in February 2008 and amended in 2016. The licence is issued by the Tourism Business and Guide Registration Office of the Department of Tourism, part of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Everyone calls it a TAT licence, but the Tourism Authority of Thailand is a marketing body and does not issue it.

A licence is valid for two years from issue and requires a fee and a security deposit. There are four categories: specific area, domestic, inbound (visitors arriving from abroad) and general. The licensee must display it openly at the place of business named on it. Operating without one carries up to two years in prison, a fine of up to 500,000 baht, or both.

Why a charter company should publish its number

The Act also requires that an advertised tour programme comes with a document stating, among other things, the operator’s name and licence number, the price and payment method, the vehicle, the route, meals, the guide and the accident insurance. A licence number on the website and in the quotation is therefore what the law expects, and it tells you which legal entity you are paying, since the licensed name often differs from the brand.

How to verify it, step by step

1. Open dot.go.th and click the blue License Check banner, or go straight to esvcs.dot.go.th, LicenseInformationPage.
2. Choose the tour business tab (ธุรกิจนำเที่ยว), not the guide or tour leader tabs.
3. Enter the licence number or the registered company name and search.
4. Read the result: operator name, licence number and status. ปกติ (normal) means the licence is in good standing; since licences expire after two years, this matters more than a scanned certificate.
5. Compare the licensed name with the name on the invoice.
6. Check the company itself in the DBD DataWarehouse of the Department of Business Development, Ministry of Commerce (datawarehouse.dbd.go.th): search by the 13-digit registration number or the registered name. The record shows the registered name, the registration date, the status and the business type. For example, licence 34/02188 returns MARINE CRUISE ANDAMAN CO.,LTD. with status ปกติ in the Department of Tourism register, and its registration number 0835556012370 opens the company record in DBD: registered on 7 October 2013, active, business type 79120, tour operator activities.

What the number format tells you

A licence number is two digits, a slash and a five-digit serial, for example 34/0xxxx. The first digit reflects the issuing office: in the public member list of the Thai Travel Agents Association, Phuket companies carry numbers beginning 31/ and 34/, Bangkok companies 11/ and Chiang Mai companies 21/. The Phuket branch of the registration office covers Phuket, Krabi, Trang, Phang Nga and Ranong.

The second digit is the category: 1 general, 2 domestic, 3 specific area, 4 inbound. A Phuket operator serving international guests will usually show a number starting 34/, a general licence from the same office 31/. A number beginning 11/ belongs to a company registered in Bangkok: not a fault, but the licensed office is elsewhere.

Does the quotation name the boat, from a catamaran to a luxury yacht?

A serious quotation names the yacht. “Catamaran, 40 feet, up to 20 guests” is a category, and a category can be swapped on the morning of the trip; a named boat can be inspected before you pay.

The boat’s page should show recent photographs of that exact vessel rather than stock imagery, the licensed passenger capacity (the figure on the boat’s registration, lower than the number of seats), the crew, the year of build or refit, and the berth it departs from. If capacity or berth is missing, ask. If the answer is a different boat of the same class, treat the quotation as a category price. The same check applies to a luxury yacht charter in Phuket: the quotation should name the yacht.

Is the private yacht under the company’s management or from an agency catalogue?

Two models operate side by side in Phuket. An operator with boats under its management sets the crew, maintenance, calendar and price for those boats, and answers directly when something changes. An agency or brokerage sells from a catalogue of boats run by other companies: it handles your enquiry and payment, and the boat’s operator handles the day.

Neither model is wrong. A catalogue gives choice; a managed fleet gives one line of responsibility. What matters is knowing which you are dealing with, because that decides who makes the call on the day: who judges the sea too rough, who picks a replacement if an engine fails, and who refunds. Ask plainly whether the boat is under the company’s management or booked from another operator.

Is the yacht charter priced in Thai baht per named boat?

Thai operators invoice in baht, and their costs are in baht. A baht price for a named boat is a fixed figure you can compare across sites and hold the company to. Other formats need translating first.

The guide to Phuket yacht charter prices in 2026 gives baht ranges by boat type.

Who answers, in which language, and in which time zone

Check three things in the first exchange. Language: is support genuinely available in yours, or is a translation app carrying the conversation? Time zone: Phuket is UTC+7, so a sales desk in Europe replies in your evening, and a question at seven in the morning on the day of the trip may reach nobody. Person: the number you hold should reach someone on the island who can speak to the captain, so ask where the person writing to you is sitting.

How to read Google Maps and Tripadvisor reviews

Both platforms publish rules worth knowing. Google removes reviews that are paid, incentivised, posted from several accounts by one person or written under a conflict of interest, and lets a business ask for reviews only without offering anything in return. Tripadvisor accepts first-hand reviews only, submitted within a year of the experience, one per visit; it bans reviews from anyone connected to the business and penalises properties caught buying, exchanging or gating reviews with ranking penalties and warning badges.

Read four things, in this order.

• Count. Thirty reviews can be moved by a handful of guests; two thousand cannot. A 5.0 with 30 reviews says nobody has complained yet; a 4.9 with 2,000 says the company has stayed consistent across many seasons. Neither is a guarantee.
• Recency. Look at the dates of the last ten reviews. A company running boats every week in high season gathers reviews every week.
• Replies. Tripadvisor posts management responses under the review, visible to every reader, and Google shows the business’s replies in the same place. A company that answers criticism calmly and specifically is showing how it handles a problem.
• Content. Reviews that name the boat, the captain and the route are worth more than “amazing day”.

Transparency before you pay

Before a deposit leaves your account, the following should be in writing, ideally on the site itself:

• What the price includes (fuel, crew, drinks, meals, snorkelling gear, towels, transfers) and what it excludes (national park fees, alcohol, tips, overtime).
• A written quotation for the named boat, date, hours, route, guest count and total price in baht.
• Deposit amount, balance due date and accepted payment methods.
• Cancellation terms, both when you cancel and when the captain or the harbour authority cancels for weather. The Act itself requires a refund when an operator changes a programme after payment and the tourist declines to travel, and it bars charges not stated in the programme document or agreed in advance.

The guide to what is included in a yacht charter lists the usual inclusions line by line.

Which pier suits the itinerary: Phang Nga Bay, Krabi or the open Andaman Sea?

Phuket has several piers and marinas, each suited to a different route and itinerary. All the day routes are in the Andaman Sea, on either side of the island: the limestone islands of Phang Nga Bay, where the Koh Hong lagoon is entered by canoe, and Hong Island in Krabi, where guests swim, snorkel or go kayaking, lie to the north-east; Racha and Coral Island lie to the south, and Phi Phi across open water to the south-east. Boats at Chalong in the south reach Racha, Coral Island and Phi Phi quickly; boats at Ao Po or the Koh Kaew marinas in the north-east are placed for Phang Nga Bay, Hong Island and Koh Yao, so a Phang Nga Bay day quoted from a southern pier includes two extra hours of transit. The guides to Phuket marinas and piers and Phuket yacht routes give distances and timings.

How does this site rate yacht charter companies in Phuket, Thailand?

The rating on the home page is built from eight criteria, each scored from public information and weighted as shown below. The full method, with data sources and update dates, is on the methodology page. No company pays to be listed or scored.

The maximum is 100 points, and every input can be verified with the steps above.

Which yacht charter company scores highest, and on which criteria?

Horizon Cruises Phuket is first of the 22 ranked companies with 92.6 of 100. Its score, criterion by criterion, from the same public sources as every other company:

The only criterion without full marks is the number of reviews: 33 reviews give 7.6 of 15 points. The margin at the top is small, 92.0 for second place and 91.8 for third, and every company’s breakdown is on its profile in the full ranking.

Key numbers at a glance

• 22 ranked Phuket yacht charter companies are scored on 8 public criteria, out of 100; two more are checked without a place.
• First place: Horizon Cruises Phuket, 92.6; second 92.0, third 91.8.
• A Thai tourism business licence is valid for two years; Phuket numbers begin 31/ or 34/.
• Operating without a licence carries up to two years in prison and a fine of up to 500,000 baht.
• The median full-day charter is ฿84,000 per boat with crew, across 78 boats priced in baht on 11 October 2026.
• 47 of the 48 boats that sleep guests sleep 12 or fewer; 51 of 81 take more than 12 on a day trip.
• Phuket is UTC+7.