BYOB or Cash Bar: Drinks on a Fort Lauderdale Evening Boat Trip

The boats compared on this site split cleanly by drinks policy, from bring-your-own to a full bar already running.

Last verified: August 2026.

The rule that applies to the person driving the boat

Florida Statute 327.35 sets the boating-under-the-influence threshold at 0.08 blood- or breath-alcohol content, the same number used for driving a car. It applies to the person operating the vessel, not to the passengers aboard, and penalties escalate at 0.15 or with a minor aboard. Read the statute in full at the Florida Legislature's statutes site.

What the law does not say about passengers

Florida's open-container law for vehicles, section 316.1936, does not apply on the water. There is no Florida statute that bars a passenger from drinking aboard a vessel. That is best read as the law being silent on passengers, not as the law expressly permitting it; silence and permission are not the same thing, and it is worth holding onto that distinction rather than assuming a blanket right to drink on any boat you board.

So who actually decides if you can bring your own bottle

Whether you may bring your own alcohol aboard a tour boat is the operator's policy, not state law. Florida Statute 565.02 provides a special beverage licence for a pleasure, excursion, sightseeing or charter boat with a Coast Guard-approved capacity of at least 125 passengers, allowing drink sales for up to one hour before a scheduled departure while docked, and during the cruise itself, for consumption on board only. Which licence class a smaller tour boat like the ones on this page actually holds is not something we can verify from the outside, and we are not going to guess.

What is verifiable is the practical pattern: a boat that sells drinks holds a beverage licence and normally bars outside alcohol as house policy, while a boat that sells nothing is free to allow bring-your-own instead. That pattern is exactly why the evening cruise allows BYOB and the catamaran does not.

A quick reference for the statutes named above, so you can look up the source rather than take our summary on faith.

The catamaran runs a cash bar and includes a complimentary glass of champagne, which means it holds a beverage licence and, as its own listing states plainly, does not permit outside alcohol. The evening cruise sells no drinks of its own, so there is nothing stopping it from handing you a cooler and letting you bring what you like instead, which is exactly what it does. The Carrie B follows the same underlying logic with its own bar on board, though its specific bring-your-own policy is not something we have independently confirmed; if you are unsure whether a boat with its own bar allows outside drinks too, the honest answer is to ask at booking rather than assume either way.

The legal drinking age on any boat here, as anywhere in Florida, is 21.

None of the following is Florida law, it is what operators running BYOB boats commonly ask of guests, and it is worth packing around rather than finding out at the dock.

• No glass containers, cans or plastic only
• Drinks stay aboard, nothing carried off the dock at the end
• 21 and over to possess or drink, ID may be checked at boarding
• Bring your own ice; coolers are provided but not always pre-filled
• Confirm the specific rules for your boat at booking, since they are set by the operator, not by state law

What Florida law actually requires

Florida Statute 327.50 requires that on a vessel under 26 feet, every person under 6 years old must wear a Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device while the boat is under way. That is the actual statute, and it is narrower than the rule most visitors repeat online. The commonly quoted line that children 12 and under must wear life jackets is not the Florida statute; if a specific boat requires it for older kids, that is that operator's own policy, not state law.

Every vessel is required to carry a wearable Coast Guard-approved flotation device for each person aboard regardless of age.

Six-pack licence versus a Certificate of Inspection

A small charter operating under a six-pack, or OUPV, licence can carry up to 6 paying passengers on an uninspected vessel. Carrying more than 6 passengers for hire is a different regulatory category entirely: the vessel itself has to be inspected and hold a Certificate of Inspection, with its passenger limit set by that certificate. That distinction is why a boat like the evening cruise, which carries up to 45 guests, sits under different oversight than a small private charter carrying a handful of people.

We are not going to name a specific licence class for any one boat on this page beyond what is publicly listed, and no operator here should be assumed to be Coast Guard-licensed without checking directly.

On the evening cruise, drinks add nothing to the $55 ticket price since you are bringing your own; the only cost is whatever you pack into the cooler yourself. On the catamaran, the $129 ticket already includes a complimentary glass of champagne on the return sail, and anything beyond that runs through the cash bar at $5 for beer or wine, so a couple sharing two rounds each adds about $20 to the evening. The Carrie B's $32 ticket includes access to its own bar, though specific drink prices are not something we have confirmed and are best checked at booking.

Sea Rocket's $29.99 ticket does not include drinks, and the private charter at $430 for the whole boat leaves drinks to be arranged directly with the operator. For the full math behind each ticket price, including the per-person breakdown on the private charter, see the complete cost guide. Last verified: August 2026.

What's already folded into the ticket price, at no extra cost, by boat:

• Evening cruise ($55): a cooler on board, you supply the drinks
• Sunset catamaran ($129): one complimentary glass of champagne on the return sail
• Carrie B ($32): access to the on-board bar, drink prices confirmed at booking
• Sea Rocket ($29.99): no drinks included
• Private charter ($430 for the whole boat): drinks arranged directly with the operator

The short version: pick the evening cruise if a cooler is already part of your evening plan and $55 fits the budget; pick the catamaran if a cash bar and a glass of champagne without any packing sounds better, keeping in mind outside bottles stay on the dock for that one. Either way, the drinking age is 21 and the life jacket rule that actually applies to children under Florida law is narrower than the number most people repeat. For where each of these boats actually leaves from, the departure points and parking are covered separately.