Dubai Marina Dinner Cruise: Mega Yacht with Buffet

A three-hour dinner cruise through Dubai Marina on a multi-deck mega yacht, from AED 149, with an international buffet, live entertainment and the towers lit on both sides of you. Dubai Marina is built around a man-made canal of roughly three kilometres, walled on both sides by high-rises. The promenade gives you one angle on it. Sailing down the middle gives you all of them.

The boat

This is a multi-deck motor yacht rather than a traditional wooden dhow, which is the main thing that separates it from the cheaper Creek cruises. The lower deck is air-conditioned and laid out with tables. The upper deck is open, with seating and standing room along the rail. Most guests eat downstairs and then move up for the return leg through the Marina, which is when the skyline is at full strength.

What is served

An international buffet opens roughly forty-five minutes after departure: Arabic mezze, salads, grilled meats and fish, rice dishes, a live station that changes night to night, and desserts. Vegetarian options are available at every station and all meat served on board is halal. Soft drinks, water, tea and coffee are unlimited and included. Alcohol is not part of this package and is available to buy on board.

The route

• Departure from Dubai Marina, down the canal past the residential towers and Marina Mall
• Out through the Marina mouth towards Bluewaters Island
• Views of Ain Dubai, the JBR beachfront and the Palm Jumeirah shoreline
• Return through the canal with the towers fully lit

Where to board

Worth reading before you travel. Dubai Marina has several boarding points, and the pier for a Marina cruise is not the same for every operator or even every sailing. Your confirmation gives the exact pier and the boarding window, so use that rather than a general address, and allow extra time for parking at the Marina on a weekend evening. Boarding opens thirty minutes before departure and the boat leaves on schedule.

Practical notes

• Smart casual dress. The upper deck gets breezy between December and February, so bring a layer.
• Family friendly, and the buffet format works well for fussy eaters. The open deck needs supervision with toddlers.
• The Marina is sheltered water and the yacht moves slowly, so seasickness is very unlikely.
• Wheelchair access to the lower deck is possible but has to be arranged in advance.
• Hotel pickup is available across most of Dubai as an optional extra.

Which sailing to pick

Departures run nightly and the time of year changes the evening more than the boat does. Between November and March the upper deck is where you want to be for all three hours. In the hotter months the air-conditioned lower deck earns its keep and most guests only go up once the sun is fully down.

Sunset departures sell out first, particularly Thursday to Saturday. Book several days ahead if you want the shift from daylight to lit skyline rather than arriving after dark, because that transition is the best part of the sailing and it is the first thing to go.

Getting the photographs

Almost everyone on board is trying to shoot the skyline and most of the results are disappointing, for reasons that are fixable. The deck is moving and the light is low, so your phone holds the shutter open and the towers smear. Brace your elbows on the rail rather than holding the phone out, and take the shot on the return leg through the canal when the boat is travelling slowest.

The best window is the twenty minutes after sunset, when there is still colour in the sky and the building lights are already on. Full darkness is harder: the towers turn into bright stripes against black and the contrast is beyond a phone camera. Wipe the lens before you start, because sea air leaves a film on it that softens everything.

Shared cruise or private charter

These two get compared constantly, so here is the honest split:

For two to four people the cruise is the better value by a wide margin. Once you are six or more, a private yacht charter starts to land in the same range per head, and you choose the route and the timing.

Other ways onto the water

In Downtown, the Dubai Fountain lake ride is a thirty-minute abra trip for a fraction of the price. For the opposite end of the day, a sunrise balloon flight is as far from a night cruise as Dubai gets.

Planning your visit? Read our guide: Dubai dinner cruise: Marina compared with the Creek.