How to Choose Who Organizes Your Bachelor(ette) Party in Cartagena

Updated: September 8, 2026 · by Marta Fernández, founder of CABÚ Viajes, local operator in Cartagena de Indias (RNT 215668) · Rated 5.0/5 on Google with 14 reviews — see the Google Maps listing.

In short: to choose well who organizes your bachelor(ette) party in Cartagena, check five things before paying anything: that they have an active RNT, that they tell you the specific name of the house and the boat, that the quote is itemized, that the deposit is partial and comes with a contract, and that there's a person in the city who answers on the weekend you're there. This guide explains how to verify each one and what answers are a bad sign.

This page isn't a list of "the best operators." It's the checklist we'd use ourselves if we had to hire someone else, written by someone who operates in Cartagena and has seen groups arrive with reservations that didn't exist. It works the same whether you end up hiring CABÚ or anyone else: the questions are the same.

If you already have one company in mind, this page is the framework for deciding; the step-by-step check — finding their licence in the public registry, verifying the vessel, and the 8 questions worth asking in writing before you pay — is on how to verify a Cartagena operator.

1. Verify the RNT before anything else

In Colombia, anyone who sells tourism services is required to be registered with the National Tourism Registry (RNT) and keep it active. It's the equivalent of asking for a tax ID. An operator with an RNT has a registered company, an address and legal accountability behind it; an Instagram profile with no RNT has none of the three.

How to verify it, in two minutes:

1. Ask for the RNT number in writing, over WhatsApp or email. A serious operator sends it without hesitating and sometimes already has it on their website.
2. Go to Colombia's official National Tourism Registry portal and search by number or by company name.
3. Check three things: that it appears, that the status is active, and that the name matches whoever is charging you.

That third point is the one almost nobody checks and the one that prevents the most problems: some people show the RNT of a different company. CABÚ Viajes' RNT is 215668, under the name CABÚ Viajes, based in Cartagena de Indias.

Bad sign: "we don't need it because we're small," "I'll send it later," or a number that doesn't show up on the portal.

2. They tell you the name of the house and the name of the boat

This is the fastest test there is for telling apart someone who operates from someone who resells. Ask: what's the house called? and which boat is it, what length, and what year?

Someone who contracts directly answers with a name, sends you real photos, tells you what street it's on and tells you the flaw (that the pool is small, that the third bedroom has no window, that the boat is fast but you get splashed). Someone who resells answers with a category: "premium 5-bedroom colonial house," "40-foot luxury yacht."

It's not that reselling is wrong. It's that if they don't know the name, they won't be able to fix it either when the house isn't the one in the photos.

Bad sign: photos that appear on other accounts, "I'll confirm the house a week before," or refusing to give the address until you pay.

3. Demand an itemized quote

A serious bachelor(ette) party quote distinguishes between fixed group costs and costs that scale per person. That's the difference between understanding what you're paying for and trusting blindly.

Fixed for the group (costs the same for 10 as for 14)	House, boat, transport, chef, decoration, coordination
Scales per person	Meals, drinks, beach club and club entries, individual tours

Which is why — and this surprises a lot of people — not being given a per-person price before they know how many of you there are isn't a bad sign: it's the correct one. The per-person price of a bachelor(ette) party drops sharply between eight and fourteen people, because the expensive part gets split among more of you. Anyone who gives you a per-person figure without asking how many you are, what dates and how many nights, is either making it up or leaving out the expensive parts to add them in later.

What the quote should say in writing:

• Name of the house, number of bedrooms and beds, and exact address or area.
• Name of the boat, length, capacity, how many hours and how far it goes (Rosario Islands, Cholón and Bahía de los Vázquez are not the same thing).
• Which meals are included and which aren't. A private chef at the house is usually quoted separately per service.
• Transport: airport, transfers between stops, and who pays for the boat's fuel.
• Taxes, dock fees and island entry fees. They're real and show up either way: better that they show up upfront.
• What happens if it rains, if the sea closes, or if someone cancels.

4. How to pay: partial deposit, contract and invoice

The norm in Cartagena is a 30% to 50% deposit to lock in the house and boat — the two scarce resources — with the rest due before or on arrival. In exchange for the deposit, you should receive a document stating what you're booking, for which dates and under which company's name.

Bad sign, and this is the one that costs the most money: being asked for 100% upfront, to a personal account, with no contract, no invoice, and without having been told the name of the property. It's the exact pattern of the boat and house rental scams that repeat every high season.

5. Who answers at eleven on a Saturday night

Everything's fine until something isn't: the boat runs late, the house has an electrical problem, someone gets sick, the club doesn't honor the reservation. The question to ask before hiring anyone is simple: is there a person in Cartagena, with a name and a phone number, who will answer me that weekend?

An operator who lives in the city can get to the dock in twenty minutes. An international platform opens you a ticket. Both models exist and both have their audience; it just helps to know which one you're buying.

The four types of people who can organize your bachelor(ette) party

Type	How it works	When it makes sense	Main risk
Local operator	Contracts directly with the city's houses, boats and providers	Groups of 8 or more, with a boat and house involved	Limited capacity on peak dates: book ahead
Reseller agency	Sells a package operated by someone else and charges a commission	When you want a single invoice and don't mind the markup	Doesn't control what it sells; slow to react when something fails
International platform	Marketplace with automated bookings	Standalone, low-cost activities	No one in the city; ticket-based support
Informal contact	Someone you know who "handles everything"	Small groups who already know Cartagena	No company, no RNT and no recourse if they disappear

The six warning signs

1. They don't give an RNT, or the one they give doesn't show as active on the official portal.
2. They don't give names: not of the house, not of the boat, not of the company doing the billing.
3. They ask for 100% upfront to a personal account.
4. They won't put in writing what's included and what isn't.
5. Urgency pressure: "only two spots left," "the price goes up tonight."
6. Reused photos: the same house appears on several different accounts under different names.

Just one of the six is already reason to ask for more proof. Two together, look elsewhere.

When CABÚ isn't your best option

In the interest of honesty, and because this guide is useless if it only pushes you toward us: if it's four people who already know Cartagena and just want a couple of restaurant reservations, they don't need an operator, not ours or anyone else's. Handle it yourselves on WhatsApp and you'll come out ahead.

We're also not the option if what you're after is the lowest possible price regardless of which house or which boat: some operators run cheaper because they contract old boats and houses that aren't the ones in the photos, and that's not where we compete.

Where it does make sense to call us is when you're a large group, there's money from several people involved, there's a boat and house to book months in advance, and nobody in the group wants to spend the month before chasing down providers in a city they don't know.

Keep reading

• Bachelor party in Cartagena de Indias
• Bachelorette party in Cartagena de Indias
• How much a bachelor(ette) party in Cartagena costs
• House rentals for bachelor(ette) parties
• How to get to Cartagena from Mexico
• About us

Frequently asked questions

Verified facts and sources

Vetting an operator in Cartagena comes down to three things you can check yourself, for free, in public registries. Here is where:

• National Tourism Registry (RNT). Every tourism provider in Colombia must hold an active RNT. Search it free by name or tax ID in the public RNT database, run by Confecámaras. If an operator does not appear, or the registration is suspended, they are not licensed to sell to you.
• Recreational boats cannot legally be chartered. Colombia's Maritime Authority has been explicit: in Cartagena, vessels registered as recreational or sport craft may not be rented out. Only vessels registered for commercial passenger transport may. This is the single most common illegality in bachelor and bachelorette party boat rentals. Source: Dimar.
• Boats may only depart from authorized points. Per Dimar, only nautical clubs, marinas and the La Bodeguita tourist pier are authorized for passenger departure and landing in Cartagena. If you are told to meet at a beach or an informal dock, treat it as a red flag. Source: Dimar.
• The vessel must be registered in Sitmar. Dimar requires registration in the Sitmar platform to authorize departure of passenger and recreational vessels in Cartagena. A boat without it should not be sailing with you aboard. Source: Dimar.

Verified September 2026. CABÚ Viajes, local operator in Cartagena, RNT 215668.

The five pages that answer the rest

All of it is open on the site, with no form in the way:

• The number, now: the budget calculator — people, nights and level, and it returns the per-person price with the breakdown.
• Which house and which boat fit a group of 6, 12 or 18: by group size.
• Which day each thing goes on: the 3, 4 and 5-night itinerary, with the five mistakes groups repeat most.
• If someone offers you a fixed package: what it must include before you can compare it.
• How to pay without risking the deposit: deposit, invoice and what goes in writing.
• If you want somebody local running it on the ground: what a Cartagena concierge covers, and what it costs per day.