Corporate Boat Hire Istanbul — AV, Catering & Event Planning

Send the actual booking through Corporate Events — that page runs the live proposal. This guide is the homework: it walks your events person through boat size, AV, food and invoicing so the request arrives already half-planned. The reason companies put their event on the water is simple once you have seen it — the deck is yours alone, the skyline beats any function room in the city, and the evening runs to your brief instead of a public-tour clock.

We have hosted company days on the Bosphorus since 2001, and most of them sit on the same fleet that takes families out at the weekend. The trick is never treating a corporate enquiry as one-size boat hire; we match the boat and the service to what the day is actually for.

Most company formats sit well on a boat, but four come back to us again and again. Team days work because the water flattens the org chart — once everyone is on deck the titles fade and people actually talk. We see it most clearly with the mixed-department groups who barely know each other at boarding and are swapping numbers by the return leg.

Client evenings are the second: a private sunset run with dinner does more for a relationship than a steakhouse ever will, and visiting partners remember it. Launches are the third — the skyline behind a product gives marketing footage a function room cannot, and the press tend to show up for a boat. The fourth is the year-end party, where the novelty does the heavy lifting; people forget the hotel ballroom by January but talk about the Bosphorus night for years.

Because our bigger boats have an enclosed, heated lower deck, none of this is summer-only — a December awards night runs perfectly well with the windshields up. We also handle the quieter formats regularly: end-of-project dinners, a board meeting that rolls into a sunset cruise, and incentive trips for the people a company most wants to keep.

Food runs from a standing-reception spread to a full plated dinner, and we plan it with your events person rather than handing you a fixed menu. For a drinks-and-canapés evening the Turkish mezze table does the work — börek, hummus, sigara böreği, grilled vegetables, smoked-salmon bites, cheeses and olives. As a rough guide, allow 12–15 pieces a head for 30 people standing over two hours; the galley scales from there.

For a seated dinner the usual shape is three courses: a shared cold-mezze start, a main the guests choose between (sea bass, chicken, or a vegetarian pilav), and dessert. Halal, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free are all standard with 48 hours' notice — give us the count and the galley plans for it. Drinks come as a soft package (juice, soft drinks, water, Turkish tea and coffee) or with alcohol added (beer, wine, rakı, spirits, and champagne if there is a toast).

A branded cake for a company anniversary or a team milestone is a common ask and easy to arrange. We do not allow outside caterers aboard for safety and licensing reasons, but our kitchen will build a bespoke menu around what your HR or events lead has in mind.

Yes — we carry a proper AV kit for events that need speeches, awards or a launch. The basic package is two clip-on wireless mics, a handheld wireless mic, a Bluetooth speaker rig good for up to 60 guests, and a laptop cable so a presenter can plug straight in.

Step up to the full package and you add a 100-inch retractable screen with an HDMI projector for slides or video, a second speaker cluster on the larger boats, and LED uplighting in your brand colour. If the event needs to be streamed — a board meeting with people dialling in, a global all-hands — we bring in a dedicated technician through a partner AV firm and run it as a hybrid setup.

Signal is not the problem: there is solid 4G/5G the length of the strait. The one thing we insist on is locking the AV list seven days out, because every kit has to be rigged and tested on the specific boat you have been assigned — not a sister vessel.

We issue a proper Turkish fatura with the VAT broken out, exactly as the tax office requires, so the cost clears an expense system without a fight. Companies booking from overseas also get an English proforma alongside it for their internal processing. The payment timing lands in the written proposal once the boat class, headcount, catering and AV are signed off, and regulars who book us often can set invoice terms under a service agreement.

The cancellation terms are plain: full refund 14 days out or more, half between 7 and 13 days, nothing inside 7 days — except weather, which is always rescheduled at no cost. A signed confirmation holds the date. For anything over 50 guests we ask for a short written brief so the boat, the food and the logistics are pinned down properly, then you move the live booking to Corporate Events where the proposal flow lives.

The fleet runs from small gulets at 12–20 guests up to purpose-built event boats that take 100. A party of 10–20 on a gulet or motor yacht gets the boutique feel — close enough that the whole group is one conversation. At 20–50 the mid-size event boats come into their own, with an indoor saloon (heated or cooled by season) and plenty of open deck with proper seating.

Past 60 we usually suggest a larger boat or a two-boat plan. The two-boat format is a quiet favourite for companies that want departments or client groups kept apart for the first stretch, then merged for dinner or the awards — the boats moor alongside and become one room. Over 100 guests means chartering a commercial tour vessel or running several boats together, and that needs 30 days' notice to set up cleanly.

Every boat meets Turkish maritime authority (UDH) safety rules, carries valid passenger insurance, and stocks life-saving gear for its full capacity — the same standard our weekend family sailings run to.

It starts with a message — email info@goldensunsettour.com, WhatsApp +90 544 898 98 12, or the contact form. Give us the date or a range, a rough headcount, the type of event, and anything specific on catering, AV or dietary needs. You will have a detailed proposal back inside 24 hours: boat options, pricing, a sample menu, and whether your date is free.

Approve it and we issue the confirmation documents and a payment schedule tied to your event. The fine detail — run sheet, final numbers, menu sign-off, AV list — gets worked through with your events manager or PA in the week before. On the day the boat is open for boarding 30–45 minutes early so there is time for a welcome drink, to meet the crew, and to test any AV before guests arrive.

An event coordinator stays aboard for the whole sailing to keep the timing right and handle anything unplanned. To start, talk to our corporate events team.