The Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection launched its third luxury sailing ship – the Luminara – earlier this year.Edgardo Contreras/The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection
What does luxury mean at sea? That’s a concept being reinvented over the next couple of years with new vessels and a few far-flung itineraries. Travellers who swear they’d never step on board a cruise ship may not realize how customized the top end of the market is about to become.
A State of the Cruise Industry report for 2025 from the Cruise Lines International Association notes a year-over-year increase in luxury cruising since 2021, and the industry group predicts growth will continue. By 2028, the report states, 1.5 million people are expected to book a luxury cruise experience. It also notes travel agents forecast the biggest growth in cruising will be in the highest end of the sector.
In August, many of those high-end cruise providers turned up at Virtuoso Travel Week, a luxury travel conference, to promote their new vessels.
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Instead of oversized floating malls, think sleek superyachts, some with one-to-one guest-to-staff ratios, Michelin-star dining and luxury brands you never expected to see on the water.
Earlier this year, the Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection launched its third luxury sailing ship – the Luminara – after kick-starting the five-star hotel at sea idea in 2022 with its first ship, Evrima. On the new ship, all 226 staterooms are actually “state-suites” with grand living areas, walk-in closets and marble bathrooms with large tubs. Amongst the usual distractions on board – spa, five restaurants, top-deck pool – is an art collection with originals by Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder and David Hockney. Celebrities from Martha Stewart to Kendall Jenner to Naomi Campbell have been posting about their sailings.
Four Seasons I launches in spring 2026, in Malaga, Spain.The Four Seasons
Four Seasons Yachts enters the waters in spring 2026 with the launch of its first ship, Four Seasons I – a 95-suite, 200-passenger vessel – in Malaga, Spain.
“It’s not a cruise, it’s a yachting experience,” marketing specialist Leslie Lefkowitz immediately points out when the word cruise is used to describe the adventure. The yachting experience will have a one-to-one staff-to-guest ratio and will not be all-inclusive, a departure from many cruises, but it’s a change that makes it more like a hotel. Breakfast is included and while there are 11 on-board restaurants, Lefkowitz says many will want to explore fine dining in each port. “Four Seasons guests don’t want to be told where to eat and when.” She adds that excursions are not chosen from a set list but created on request: “It’s very curated, very customized, as if you are going on your own.”
The biggest stateroom on Four Seasons I is the 10,000-square foot, four-storey Funnel Suite on the top deck, inside what looks like the ship’s exhaust stack (it’s not a functioning funnel and instead of steel, the suite is wrapped in glass).
Aqua Lares is Aqua Expeditions’ newest yacht, maxing out at 40 passengers and launching in early 2026.Aqua Expeditions
If the Mediterranean and Greek Isle itineraries feel a little too been there done that, then consider where Aqua Expeditions is sending its new 15-suite ship.
“We’re putting the first luxury superyacht in East Africa,” CEO and founder Francesco Galli Zugaro explained.
Aqua prefers to send its high-net-worth passengers into “biodiversity hot spots,” Zugaro added.
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Its intimate river and ocean ships (the largest has 20 suites) sail the Mekong in Vietnam and Cambodia, the Peruvian Amazon, throughout Indonesia and New Guinea. For him, it’s not just the luxury furnishings or gourmet meals on board that make Aqua’s cruises worth booking, but the destinations they explore.
Aqua Lares is the newest yacht, maxing out at 40 passengers and launching in early 2026. “It’s a passion of mine to take guests to the Aldabra group of islands, it’s the outer island group at the Seychelles, it’s basically the Galapagos of East Africa,” Zugaro said, going on to describe the wildlife he found while scouting the ports himself: giant tortoises, whale sharks, vibrant coral reefs – and historic towns and villages along the coast of Tanzania.
The Orient Express Corinthian unfurls its sails in summer 2026 in the Mediterranean before heading to the Caribbean.ORIENT EXPRESS
Rail enthusiasts take note: Even the Orient Express is heading to sea. Not to be confused with Belmond’s Venice-Simplon-Orient Express luxury trains, the historic “Orient Express” brand is now owned by multinational hospitality group Accor S.A. Earlier this year it launched grand rail journeys through Italy (La Dolce Vita Orient Express), then opened a hotel (Orient Express La Minerva in Rome, another opens in Venice later this year) and – in summer 2026 – Orient Express Corinthian unfurls its large sails to power a 54-suite yacht in the Mediterranean before heading to the Caribbean.
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CEO Gilda Perez-Alvarado calls it “a golden thread between the assets.”
“People are booking eight to 10 days of Orient Express travel. They’re combining the hotel and the train, starting next year they are combining the train, hotel and yacht,” Perez-Alvarado said in an interview.
She promises the yacht will blend the art deco romance the storied train is known for with modern necessities. The ship will also include new decor from historic companies that outfitted the 1920s trains, such as French glassmaker Lalique.
Hotel group Aman’s Amangati sets sail in the Mediterranean in summer 2027, with 47 suites and a maximum of 94 passengers.SINOT Yacht Architecture & Design./SINOT Yacht Architecture & Design
Not to be outdone, the ultraluxe hotel group Aman launches Aman at Sea in summer 2027, bringing its reputation for architecturally stunning accommodations in remote settings to the ocean. The sailing yacht is dubbed Amangati and sets sail in the Mediterranean with 47 suites and a maximum of 94 passengers. Interiors and spa will be Japanese inspired and, befitting its clientele, the ship has two helipads. Aman-brand junkies are already booking it for private charters.
