Aruba Party Cruise On A Catamaran

What Is An Aruba Booze Cruise On A Catamaran?

An Aruba booze cruise is a shared catamaran sail, usually two to three hours, built around an open bar, music, and a coastal sunset run rather than snorkeling or dining. Every party-oriented trip in this category is a genuine catamaran, prices run from $50 per person for the shortest tropical sunset sail to $199 for a lobster dinner version, and drinks are included on all of them. It is a floating bar crawl with a sail attached.

The format is simpler than most visitors expect. You board at a Palm Beach or Oranjestad pier, the crew casts off, the bar opens, and the boat runs the leeward coast while music plays and the sky turns. Some versions stay pure party: the Banana Adventure Catamaran Tropical Sunset Sail, from $50 per person and rated 5 across 141 reviews, covers the Palm Beach to Eagle Beach coast over about two hours with drinks, snacks and one-way hotel pickup included. Others blend the party frame with snorkel stops or a full meal, which is where the price ladder starts to climb.

The distinction matters when you are comparing listings. A two hour sunset sail with an open bar is a party product. A four and a half hour turtle snorkel with a barbecue is a family product with drinks attached, even though the bar is open on both. If the point of your evening is music and cocktails with a group of friends, the short coastal sails are the ones built for it, and the longer trips will feel like a detour.

One thing worth clearing up before you browse: Aruba has party boats that are not catamarans at all. The Octopus Aruba happy hour sunset sail that shows up in island listings runs on a trimaran, and Jolly Pirates and Flagship run schooners. None of those are bookable on this site, and none should be confused with the catamaran sails compared below. Every vessel in this article is a catamaran per its own listing. For a broader look at how these boats stack up against every other format on the water, the Aruba boat tours compared guide breaks down the full field.

Which Catamaran Party Sails In Aruba Are Worth Booking?

Three catamaran party sails stand out in Aruba: the budget-friendly two hour tropical sunset sail from $50 per person aboard the Banana Adventure catamaran, the mid-range coastal sunset sail with appetizers from $92 per person carrying a 4.5 rating across 2,407 reviews, and themed nights like Salsa, Sunsets and Mojitos at Sea from $75 per person with a 4.9 rating from 48 reviewers. Each suits a different crowd and price point.

The budget pick is straightforward. The Banana Adventure Catamaran Tropical Sunset Sail runs roughly two hours from MooMba Beach Bar on Palm Beach, drinks are included, cancellation is free, and at from $50 per person it is the cheapest party sail in the category. Its 5 rating sits across 141 reviews, a modest but real pool, and the trip lists no snorkel stops, which keeps the focus on the bar and the coastline.

The mid-range workhorse is the Aruba Sunset Catamaran Sail with Appetizers and Open Bar, from $92 per person, rated 4.5 across 2,407 reviews, departing Piet's Pier Bar along the Palm Beach coast. That review count is the largest of any party-oriented sail on the island, which tells you it is a well-trodden product rather than a hidden gem. Appetizers plus an open bar over two hours make it the safe default for a group that wants reliability over novelty.

The wildcard is Salsa, Sunsets and Mojitos at Sea, from $75 per person, rated 4.9 across 48 reviews, departing the Pelican Nest Seafood Grill pier. It is one of two trips in the category with a built-in theme, and the small review pool means the 4.9 should be read as a strong signal from a modest number of guests rather than a mass verdict.

For groups that want the party energy plus something to actually do, the crossover option is the Aruba Catamaran Snorkel Sail with appetizers, slide and swing, from $76.93 per person over about three hours from the Hotel Riu Palace Antillas. It lists four stops, Malmok Beach, Boca Catalina, Arashi Beach and Tres Trapi, which is the deepest stop list of any party-adjacent sail here, and it carries a rope swing, a water slide, an open bar and appetizers. It has no reviews yet, so there is no rating to lean on, but the format is exactly what a mixed group of swimmers and drinkers needs. Check availability

How Much Does An Aruba Party Cruise Cost?

Shared party catamaran sails in Aruba run from $50 per person for the two hour Banana Adventure tropical sunset sail up to $199 per person for the champagne and lobster dinner versions, with most options clustered between $59 and $92 per person. Private party charters are priced per group instead: from $1,800 for up to 15 guests on a private sunset catamaran, and from $2,500 for the rope swing and water slide charter.

The spread inside the shared category is mostly explained by food and duration. The two-hour bottom rung belongs to Banana Adventure's tropical sunset sail, from $50 per person, while Delphi Watersports' Dolphin catamaran sunset starts at $59, includes snacks, and carries a rating of 4.6 across 899 reviews. Add a meal and the price climbs quickly, past the $109 Caribbean dinner and live music sail up to the $172 four course and $199 lobster dinners, though those are dinner cruises first and party sails second.

Private charters change the math entirely because the price is per group, never per person. The Private Sunset Catamaran Adventure Cruise with Open Bar is from $1,800 per group for up to 15 guests, though the flat rate covers the whole boat rather than one seat on a shared dinner sail. The Private Catamaran Adventure Cruise with Rope Swing and Water Slide is from $2,500 per group for up to 15 guests and includes a meal, drinks and snorkel gear. For a fuller private-charter breakdown across the whole island, see the private catamaran charter guide.

What Does The Open Bar Actually Include?

On every party-oriented catamaran sail listed here the drinks are included in the ticket price, and the listings describe the bars as open bars with local beer, rum punch, cocktails and soft drinks in varying combinations. No listing in this category publishes an item by item drinks menu, so the exact brands and cocktail list are a detail to confirm on the booking page. What is confirmed is that you will not be paying per drink on board.

The standard picture, assembled from the listing descriptions, is a crewed bar serving beer, a rum punch or cocktail of the day, and non-alcoholic options. The three hour dinner sail with open bar from Piet's Pier Bar, from $137 per person and rated 4.8 across 456 reviews, describes local beer, cocktails, house wine and sparkling wine alongside juices and sodas, which is the widest stated spread in the party category. The cheaper sunset sails describe drinks without naming labels.

Two practical caveats are worth setting expectations with. First, an open bar on a two hour sail is a modest number of rounds in practice, since boarding, safety talk, and the sail itself eat into drinking time; nobody is treating the open bar as a bottomless contest. Second, tipping the crew is customary in cash on Aruba boats and is generally not bundled into these ticket prices, so bring small bills. The tipping on an Aruba catamaran guide covers the amounts and etiquette in detail.

Are There Age Limits Or Drinking Rules On Board?

Aruba party sails are not automatically adults-only: most shared sunset and snorkel catamarans welcome families, and no listing in this category publishes a blanket drinking age or minimum age policy, because those rules are set per tour and per operator. The listings state free cancellation and inclusions individually, so for specific age limits, ID requirements and alcohol rules on a given sail, the booking page is the authoritative source and should be checked before you pay.

Open bar and age limits are set tour by tour, so check the listing for the exact rules that apply before you book your sail. In practice the family-friendly two hour sails carry a mixed crowd, and the Salsa, Sunsets and Mojitos sail is one themed sunset option. If a genuinely adults-only evening is the goal, the adults-only catamaran cruise guide identifies which products actually restrict ages rather than just attracting an older crowd.

The other rule worth knowing before you board concerns sunscreen, and it is island law rather than tour policy. Aruba prohibits the import, sale and distribution of sunscreens containing oxybenzone, in force since July 1, 2020, with fines up to Afl. 10,000 per violation, and mineral formulas with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide are the recommended choice for anything involving the reef. The law names oxybenzone only, so do not assume other chemical filters are banned. The official Aruba code of conduct for visitors also asks visitors not to feed marine life or touch coral, which applies on every snorkel stop a party sail makes. A plain-language summary of the oxybenzone sunscreen rules is worth a read before you pack.

Where Do Party Catamarans Depart In Aruba?

Most party catamaran sails depart the Palm Beach piers in Noord, with Piet's Pier Bar, Pelican Pier, De Palm Pier, MooMba Beach Bar and the Delphi Watersports beach in front of the Hyatt Regency all serving as meeting points, while the Spronk dinner sails and the lobster trips depart from Oranjestad, at the dock behind Lucy's Retired Surfers Bar and Renaissance Marina. Your hotel location should decide which sail you pick more than the price does.

If you are staying in the high-rise strip, nearly every two hour party sail is a short walk away. The Piet's Pier Bar departures sit between the Barcelo and the Hyatt, Pelican Pier is behind the Holiday Inn on J.E. Irausquin Boulevard, and MooMba Beach Bar, the Banana Adventure departure point, is on the same boulevard at number 230 in Noord. Cruise passengers docking in Oranjestad face roughly a 15 to 20 minute taxi ride to the Palm Beach piers, a transfer worth weighing against the Oranjestad-departing options; the catamaran tours for cruise passengers guide works through that trade-off with pier by pier timing.

What Does A Party Sail Day Actually Look Like?

A party sail day starts with check-in and a safety briefing at the pier, followed by departure into the calm leeward water with the open bar running for the whole trip. You make a slow coastal pass by Palm Beach or Eagle Beach as the light drops and return to the same pier roughly two to three hours later, with sunset sails listing no snorkel stops and crossover trips adding a swim stop in the middle.

The rhythm of the evening is set by the coastline. The leeward west coast is sheltered water, which is why these trips can serve drinks on a moving deck at all, and the northeasterly trade winds that build through the afternoon usually ease toward evening. The Banana Adventure sail runs Palm Beach to Eagle Beach, and Eagle Beach was named the number one beach in the Caribbean and number four in the world in the 2026 Travellers' Choice Awards, with Palm Beach at number six in the Caribbean, so the scenery is not filler, it is half the product.

For the crossover trips, the middle of the trip changes. The Snorkel Cruise with Open Bar and Light Lunch, from $69 per person and rated 4.7 across 469 reviews, departs the Delphi beach and lists the Antilla Shipwreck and Boca Catalina as stops. The Antilla is a 398 foot German cargo ship scuttled by her own crew in May 1940, lying on her port side in up to about 60 feet of water with parts as shallow as 15 feet, and it is the stop that gives Aruba snorkel sails their reputation.

Between those two formats sits the Arusun Catamaran Sail with Snorkeling, from $63 per person, rated 4.8 across 2,683 reviews, which lists the Antilla, Boca Catalina and the Palm Beach coast over about two and a half hours with drinks and snorkel gear included, departing the Aruba Watersports Center on J.E. Irausquin Boulevard. It trails only the Dolphin Catamaran Snorkel Sail in sheer review volume, and the price undercuts most of the pure sunset trips while adding two real snorkel stops.

When Is The Best Time For A Party Sail?

The best sea conditions for an Aruba party sail are December to April for reliably dry, steady weather, and September to November for the calmest water of the year, while hurricane season formally runs June 1 to November 30 even though Aruba sits south of the main belt and takes direct hits only rarely. For the flattest water on any given day, morning departures beat afternoon ones because the trade winds build through the day.

Since it is late October, you are arriving at the tail end of hurricane season and into the calmest-water window, which is the quiet sweet spot: fewer crowds than the December to April peak and the flattest leeward water of the year. The trade-off is that sunset sail schedules can vary by date and season, so check the live listing before you book, so check which weekdays your chosen trip actually sails before building an evening around it.

Timing within the day matters less for party sails than for snorkel trips, because you are drinking rather than diving, but the wind pattern still applies. If your group is prone to seasickness, an earlier departure on calmer water is the safer bet, and the seasick on an Aruba catamaran guide has the practical countermeasures. Exact sunset times shift through the year and no official table exists, so the sunset time by month guide is the reference to use when planning a departure window.

What Should You Bring On A Party Catamaran?

Pack a valid ID, since the bar is open and crew may check ages, plus cash for crew tips, reef-safe mineral sunscreen, a towel, and a light layer, because towels are rarely provided on Aruba catamarans and the return leg after sunset can be breezy. The open bar covers the drinks, so the only thing you should plan to buy on board is essentially nothing, and check-in typically opens about 30 minutes before departure.

The sunscreen point deserves one more emphasis because it is the item people get wrong. An oxybenzone product bought at home may technically be an illegal import in Aruba, and a mineral zinc oxide or titanium dioxide formula is what both the law and the marine park ethos favor, since several party-adjacent stops including Mangel Halto sit inside Parke Marino Aruba, the marine park created in 2018 covering four protected areas totalling about 60 square kilometres. No marine park user fee has been confirmed; such fees appear only as a possible future income source in park plans.

Footwear is the other frequent miss. You will board barefoot or near it on most catamarans, so flip flops that slip off easily beat anything laced. For the full checklist, including what not to wear, the what to bring on an Aruba catamaran guide is the deep version. Aruba Catamaran Tours keeps that checklist and every pier guide on this site current so you do not have to reconcile operator pages yourself.

Picking The Right Party Sail For Your Group

Pick by group type, not price alone: pure party groups belong on the $50 to $92 two hour sunset sails, mixed crowds of drinkers and swimmers on the $63 to $77 crossover trips with snorkel stops, and celebration groups on the $109 to $199 dinner versions or the from $1,800 private charters. Then weigh track record, because 2,407 reviews against 48 is a real difference.

For a bachelor or bachelorette group, the private charter route deserves the arithmetic again: $1,800 per group for up to 15 guests is a boat with no strangers, and the rope swing and water slide version at $2,500 per group includes a meal on top. For couples, the salsa and mojitos night at $75 per person is the most distinctive evening in the category. For a family with teenagers, the crossover snorkel sails with drinks for the adults and stops for the kids are the honest fit, and the Aruba catamaran tours with kids guide picks those out.

Whatever you choose, book the sunset sails early for high season dates, since several of these sunset sails have drawn hundreds of reviews apiece. Free cancellation applies across the shared trips listed here, so locking a date costs you nothing but the planning.

Common Questions About Aruba Party Cruises