Gulet Cabins Explained: Master, Double, Twin & Triple (2026)

The two questions that decide whether your gulet week feels like a holiday or a logistics exercise are: which cabin am I in? and who am I sharing it with? This guide walks through the five cabin types you'll see on a Turkish gulet, their actual dimensions and quirks, and how to allocate them fairly when you're booking for a group.

The five cabin types

Master suite

The full-beam aft cabin. Always the biggest — typically 3.5–4.5 m wide, with a king-sized double bed, two wardrobes, and a private bathroom large enough to stand and turn around in. Headroom 2.0–2.2 m. Often the only cabin with a proper desk or vanity. On modern gulets sometimes has a small private window onto the aft deck.

Cost premium: the master typically goes to whoever organised the trip, the senior couple, or whoever paid first. Some captains charge a master supplement (€200–€500/week extra) on larger gulets.

Double cabin

A standard couple's cabin. Bed is 1.4–1.6 m wide (smaller than a European king), usually athwartships rather than fore-and-aft (so you sleep across the boat, not along it). Headroom 1.8–2.0 m at the bed, less under the side decks. Private en-suite with shower and head.

Best for: any couple. The doubles are the workhorses of the charter gulet fleet — most boats have 3–4 of them and they're sized identically.

VIP double

A bigger double, typically forward (in the bow). The bow shape gives a V-berth that's narrower at the foot than the head — sleepers' feet point toward the bow point. Often has a small "anteroom" before the bed, used as a dressing area. Headroom and bed width comparable to master.

Note: the VIP forward cabin is the most motion-prone on the boat at anchor in swell — the bow rises and falls more than the stern. Couples prone to motion sensitivity should request mid-ship or aft.

Twin cabin

Two single beds, typically separated by a small bedside cabinet. Beds are 0.8–0.9 m wide each. Same overall cabin footprint as a double, so the floor space is tighter once two suitcases are open. Private en-suite.

Best for: siblings, friends, parent + older child. Avoid putting a couple in a twin — the cabins are not laid out to push the beds together easily.

Triple / quad / family cabin

Three or four berths in one cabin, usually a double bed plus a bunk above (Pullman berth) or two singles plus a bunk. Tight by adult standards but workable for families. Headroom on the upper bunk is ~0.7 m — adults knock their heads. Better suited to children up to about 12.

Found mostly on 6-cabin gulets configured for families and on the largest 8-cabin gulets. Always confirm with the captain whether the upper bunk is fixed or removable — some gulets convert the same space between triple and twin depending on the season's bookings.

Cabin location and how it affects sleep

The position of your cabin matters more than people expect:

• Aft (stern): master suite + sometimes a double. Quietest — far from the anchor chain at night and from the galley early in the morning. Best for light sleepers.
• Midships: typically 2–3 doubles. Least motion at anchor. Often the coolest cabins because they're below the saloon and not directly under the sun-heated deck.
• Forward (bow): VIP double and sometimes one more cabin. Most light thanks to opening hatches, but also most motion, most anchor noise, and warmest in summer because the bow deck bakes in the sun.

If anyone in your group sleeps lightly or gets seasick at anchor in swell, push them midships or aft.

En-suites: real expectations

Every cabin on a charter gulet has its own bathroom. The bathroom will be small — typically 0.8–1.1 m² — with a marine "wet shower" (no separate cubicle; the whole space gets wet when you shower, then dries). A marine vacuum toilet. A small sink. Adequate hot water for shorter showers; not adequate for back-to-back 20-minute showers across the whole crew at 7 am.

Two practical tips:

1. Coordinate shower times. The boat's water heater holds 60–100 litres — enough for 4–5 hot showers in a row, then needs 45 minutes to recover.
2. Ventilation matters. Bathrooms have small portholes or extractor fans; in August the en-suite humidity is the second biggest complaint after AC noise. Crack the porthole or run the fan when in use.

Air conditioning

AC is standard on modern Turkish gulets — but it runs only while the generator is on (typically 22:00–07:00 and 12:00–14:00). A few new builds run AC 24/7 from a battery bank or shore power. Confirm with the captain before booking if you have anyone who genuinely cannot sleep without AC.

The other heat factor is opening hatches. Cabins with an overhead hatch are dramatically cooler at night than cabins with only a porthole — the hatch is the chimney that lets warm air rise out. Avoid the cheapest non-hatch cabins on July/August bookings.

How to allocate fairly

For a typical group of 8–12 on a 5–6 cabin gulet, the unwritten rules are:

1. Master to organiser or senior couple. Whoever did the planning gets the prize cabin. If multiple equal-status couples, draw lots.
2. VIP forward to the lightest sleepers (counter-intuitive but true — the forward cabin has the most natural light and the most motion, but light sleepers wake naturally with light, and motion diminishes once asleep).
3. Mid-ship doubles to couples with kids in adjacent cabins. You want a small child within earshot at night, not three cabins away across the bilge.
4. Twin cabins last — they have the least usable floor space. Friends sharing a twin should be the ones most familiar with sharing space (siblings, college friends).

If you want this codified before the trip: print the gulet's deck plan, hand it round at the planning dinner, and let people put their names down. The captain will ask for the final allocation a week before embarkation.

What to ask the captain

Three specific questions before booking:

1. Which cabin has the largest bed? (Master sometimes has a queen, sometimes a king — they're not equivalent.)
2. Do all cabins have AC, opening hatches, and an en-suite head that flushes consistently? (Yes, the last one matters.)
3. What does the rotation look like if we want couples to swap cabins mid-charter? (Most captains are happy to arrange a mid-week deep-clean if it makes group dynamics work.)

Browse cabins on the MaviSail vessel directory — every listing includes a cabin plan and dimensions where the captain has supplied them.