It can seem to a casual observer that in the cruise industry, ships only ever get bigger. Case in point: Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas, with a capacity of 5,610 passengers, recently made its maiden voyage, joining its sister ship, Icon of the Seas, in holding the title of the world’s largest cruise ship. But a less talked-about movement is taking place in its shadow: a surge of ocean liners that are compact and sumptuous enough to be branded as yachts. It’s a fairly fungible term, to be sure, but in a cruising context, “yacht” is generally used for opulent vessels holding fewer than 500 passengers.
Many of these newer small ships operate under the auspices of luxury travel brands like andBeyond and Ritz-Carlton. Both Four Seasons and Orient Express plan to launch their first ships next year, while Aman’s Amangati is scheduled to set sail in 2027. And they’re attracting passengers who’ve historically avoided cruises. Jack Ezon, the founder of the travel planning agency Embark Beyond, says that 78 percent of the clients his company has booked on the Ritz-Carlton’s ships have never cruised before.
Even if these passengers are new to cruising, many are not new to yachts, says Stacy Fischer-Rosenthal, president of Fischer Travel. One client, she said, is planning to spend about $340,000 for a week in the nearly 10,000-square-foot Funnel Suite of the Four Seasons I. Why not just charter his own yacht? Fischer-Rosenthal says that most don’t tend to have suites that large.
While the suites may be amply sized, the relative smallness of the vessels has its own set of advantages. Some cities, like Nice and Cannes, mindful of over–tourism, have placed size restrictions on the vessels they allow to dock. In other words, these yachts can visit ports that larger ships can’t access.
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