A friendly competition is underway between the world’s most luxurious hospitality brands. What about the prize? Command of the high seas, or at least bragging rights.
Following The Ritz-Carlton’s introduction of yacht service in 2022, Four Seasons, Orient Express and Aman are also preparing to set sail with their luxury fleets.
Four Seasons plans to launch Four Seasons I next March, Orient Express’ first ship Corinthian in June next year, and Aman’s Amangati in spring 2027. Four Seasons is building two follow-on ships, the first scheduled for completion in 2027, and Orient Express, with its second scheduled for completion in the same year.
From the world’s largest sail-powered yacht with a seamstress on board, to Michelin-starred chefs and oversized suites, there’s no shortage of luxury amenities. But the biggest draw for guests may be the logo emblazoned on the yacht. In other words, companies are betting that their brands will entice wealthy travelers to venture into the uncharted waters of cruises.
As brands gather their crews and sommeliers to scour the cellars for the perfect champagne for their yachts, the most common question is: why now?
Hoteliers are watching and taking note of the development of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection.
The Ritz-Carlton’s three ships, Everyma, Irma, and Luminara, were launched in 2022, 2024, and 2025, respectively.
Tina Edmundson, president of luxury for Marriott International, the Ritz-Carlton’s parent company, described the service as “a middle ground between luxury cruising and a private yacht, where guests can enjoy the best of both worlds.”
Everyma has 149 suites, while the larger 242-meter (794-foot) long Irma and Luminara have 224 and 226 suites. The latter two were designed in response to guest feedback (Edmundson said the increased number of pools was one caveat).
Since their launch, Ebrima and Irma have mainly circumnavigated the Mediterranean and Caribbean Sea.
“We’re introducing cruising to people who would never have thought of cruising, because they have a perception of what it is, but it’s not what they want,” Edmundson said. “But they want to do it[with us]because it’s The Ritz-Carlton.”
He added that about half of the company’s yacht customers are first-time cruisers, but many are repeat guests of the Ritz-Carlton hotel.
Other hoteliers are also trying to capitalize on guest loyalty. Ben Trodd, CEO of Four Seasons Yachts, said Four Seasons regulars “have great passion for the brand and really want to explore other opportunities.”
Trodt said Four Seasons wants its yachts to feel “like high-end boutique hotels,” comparable to Paris’ Hotel George V and Miami’s The Surf Club. He said the 207-meter-tall (679-foot) Four Seasons I will have 95 suites, with about 100 different configurations that can create suites up to about 10,000 square feet (about five times the size of the average U.S. home).
Trodd said Four Seasons may choose smaller vessels for its second and third yachts and has no plans to rapidly expand its fleet beyond that.
“It’s clear that scarcity is very important when it comes to the true luxury space,” he said.
Aman’s Amagnati will be smaller at 183 meters (600 feet) in length, boasting 47 suites and an interior design inspired by a Japanese ryokan. Japanese elements are also incorporated into the ship’s spa, which features a Japanese garden.
Orient Express, meanwhile, aims to trace its roots to the Corinthian, a 220-meter (722-foot) Art Deco yacht that harkens back to the golden age of travel.
“What we wanted to do was celebrate this era and make travel very appealing,” said CEO Gilda Perez-Alvarado.
“By taking us back to the 1920s, we are also in the process of recovering, preserving and preserving the arts and crafts that were available at the time,” she added.
Assisting in this process is our in-house railway historian, Arthur Mettetal, who holds a PhD in the history of the Orient Express.
“He’s an extraordinary person,” Perez-Alvarado said. “Whenever we look at something new, whether it’s a yacht, a destination, a hotel, we review it with him.”
Despite the attention to period details, the yacht itself is not an antique. The 54-room ship will be the world’s largest sailing ship, with three tilting masts and the ability to pass under bridges into major ports, such as the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge between the Atlantic Ocean and New York City’s Manhattan, according to Orient Express.
Yachts leans towards a core brand identity.
Ritz-Carlton crews follow the same “empowerment principles” they do on the ground, allowing staff to spend up to $2,000 to resolve guest issues without management approval.
Four Seasons will operate two dedicated limousine tenders (small luxury boats) to shuttle guests to and from the yacht, replicating guest limousine service on land.
The Corinthian at Orient Express will feature a speakeasy bar and period-themed black tie dinner. No problem if your guests forget their formal attire. The yacht has its own tailor. “You can inject a lot of fantasy (into the experience),” Perez-Alvarado said.
The cuisine at Corinthian’s eight restaurants and bars is overseen by Yannick Alléno, chef of the 17-star Michelin restaurant empire. Not to be outdone, the Four Seasons I and The Ritz-Carlton fleets (on select itineraries) will invite chefs from each brand’s Michelin-starred restaurants onboard to serve regional cuisine.
As is common in the ultra-luxury hospitality industry, companies talk to guests well in advance of their trip (up to two years in advance, in the case of Four Seasons) to customize their onboard experience.
“We are in the era of hyper-personalization,” says Perez-Alvarado. The initial conversation promotes “minimum service,” which means “we can surprise and delight you because we know exactly how you feel, what your personality, or your alter ego, will be.”
Future itineraries for Four Seasons and Orient Express yachts will follow countless other cruise lines, including yachts from The Ritz-Carlton, sailing the Mediterranean in the summer and moving to the Caribbean in the winter. But representatives stressed that their ships will target hidden gems and hard-to-access ports alongside long-time favorites.
With the addition of a third yacht, The Ritz-Carlton is planning more ambitious itineraries for the winter of 2025 and 2026, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, Alaska and Scandinavia, Edmundson said.
Aman, on the other hand, focuses on private charters and events for Amangati (also offering The Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons and Orient Express as options).
Brand expansion
Luxury brands are leveraging their networks to provide a seamless experience for their guests and keep them within their services.
For example, Perez-Alvarado said that next summer’s Orient Express guests will be able to spend a night in a hotel in Venice (the renovated Palazzo Dona Giovanelli), then travel south to Rome on the La Dolce Vita Orient Express train, before boarding a yacht from the port of Civitavecchia to explore the Mediterranean.
The Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons also allow you to book a cruise while staying at the hotel. Being able to get on and off a yacht to stay in a hotel on land is “a little bit difficult,” Edmundson said. But Ritz-Carlton’s upcoming Asia itinerary could allow it to include places like the Maldives.
Representatives characterized adding yachts to their portfolio as an obvious next step for the ultra-luxury brand. “Four Seasons has been in the private jet space for almost 10 years, and (yachts) were a natural extension of that,” said Trodd.
A pipeline of yachts under construction at shipyards across Europe suggests the brand is bullish about its chances of success.
“Other hotel brands are following our lead, and it’s exciting for us to be the first to do so,” said Ritz-Carlton’s Edmundson.
“There’s a very good camaraderie and a great competitiveness going on with each other,” Perez-Alvarado said. “Everyone was good at sports.”
“The possibilities are huge,” she added. “[This is]probably the best time to be in this industry… from a connection perspective, from a curiosity perspective, from a playfulness perspective, from this multimodal, omnichannel way of traveling.
“It’s a truly magical time, and the ultimate winners are our guests.”
