Imaging spending a week or two cruising along endless blue oceans, spending your days sunbathing on the deck of a beautiful ship alongside your friends or family, and using your nights to indulge in some fantastic cuisine while watching the distant lights of passing towns flickering in the distance.
Well, imagine no more! Gulet cruises are an absolutely fantastic way to spend your next holiday. Basically, you’ll hire a beautifully crafted boat with a warm and inviting interior design alongside a group of close friends or family members whom you’d like to share a trip with. In fact, gulets can accommodate up to 12 people, though 6 is a more reasonable number.
Each gulet will have designated luxury bedrooms, with each usually sporting either a double-bed or two singles. While storage cupboards, en-suite bathrooms, communal areas, and possibly even a bar (depending on which boat you decide to go with), will be present, it’s on the deck of the ship where you’ll probably want to spend most of your time.
Speaking of home comforts, select models also feature a Jacuzzi, massive bath tubs, or even saunas, but these features tend to be restricted to the higher-end options.
While renting a gulet isn’t particularly cheap, it might be surprisingly more affordable than you would expect. For anywhere between 850 and 1,200 euros (with variation based on options and the type of boat you’re hiring, of course), you can spend a week on one of these magnificent cruise ships, idly watching the horizon move steadily by while forgetting about all the silly things we stress about at home.
In terms of dining, whenever you charter a gulet, a crew and chef will be factored into the cost that you pay. This means that you don’t need to worry about preparing food; each night, you’ll sit with your friends and family on the upper deck, enjoying a broad range of cuisines prepared by the ship’s staff.
Any time you are on a private cruise like this, you’ll be able to enjoy the economy menu; however, if you’re willing to splash out a little more, you can opt to add more fish, cold dishes, appetizers, and salads to the menu. Paying between 210 and 280 euros for an economy menu isn’t unreasonable, while more luxurious alternatives will obviously increase the price depending on the number of options and the quality of the food being offered.
On rare occasions, you’ll also eat on land when the ship is docked; however, this will definitely be more of an exception than the rule, so it’s well worth considering investing a little more into your menu to ensure that you have an enjoyable dining experience every night.
Whether you’re jumping into the turquoise seas, having a drink of the deck and watching the world go by, receiving a massage from a trained professional off the coast of a country you never thought you’d be able to visit, or simply reconnecting with old friends or loved ones that you haven’t had the chance to properly spend time with in years, renting a gulet is an incredible experience and a fantastic way to spend your next holiday.
