The Four Seasons hotel brand will launch its first yacht in 2026. It’s an amazing vessel with a sumptuous Funnel Suite that is an incredible 10,000 square feet and US$45,000 a night.
But that’s not the only revolution.
Despite charging up to US$45,000 for that funnel cabin, Four Seasons Yacht intends to break the mould for luxury cruising. And it’s likely to affect the price of your cruise.
Lines like Regent Seven Seas, Silversea, and Crystal include as much as they can in the price of a cruise, telling clients they can leave their wallets at home. That’s how they charge a high nightly room rate.
But what will mark out Four Seasons is what’s not included like lunch, dinner, alcoholic drinks, and shore excursions.
Yes, you read that right. A room rate on the Four Seasons yacht is US$3,000 upwards and lunch and dinner are not included.
You will get breakfast, non-alcoholic drinks, WiFi, water sports, and activities like kayaks, gratuities, and port taxes. And there is a per suite charge rather than per person.
It’s all part of Four Seasons hotel model – after all, when you stay at a Four Seasons, you pay for the room and you don’t expect much else. And if other lines get the same idea, the price of your cruise will be rising.
New super-rich clients for the Four Seasons yacht
Andrea Zelinski of Travel Weekly, a leading trade website, reported that the CEO of Luxury Cruise Connections Carlos Edery had no doubt his clients would have no trouble with the Four Seasons model. But he did reveal that the yacht would not necessarily be for the traditional cruise passenger.
“The client that travels on Four Seasons Yachts is going to be the client that normally spends US$2,000 to US$3,000 a night on our luxury hotels,” he said. “And it’s typically very similar to the guy that charters or owns their own jet.
“There’s definitely an incredibly growing market for people willing to spend US$10,000 to US$15,000 a night and even more so for the suites. We see it all the time in our hotel business and people renting huge villas for $30,000 a night. I definitely foresee them having a market for it. I just don’t foresee a lot of transition from the luxury cruise industry for those types of high-level suites.”
Norwegian Cruise Lines
On a different level, this week saw more pointers about the way cruise is evolving on pricing when Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced a new “Charting the Course” strategy.
It involves bigger ships – their eight new builds will be bigger than the rest of the Norwegian fleet – and cost controls that will mean better management of resources.
It involves a bold new vision of “Vacation Better. Experience More.” that aims to resonate with the three million guests of Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
The company wants to position itself as a leader in vacation experiences, both at sea and on land. That last point is important as both Norwegian and Royal Caribbean aim to link land to their sea portfolios, whether through land tours, longer port stays or private islands.
Harry Sommer, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings said: “This strategy has already been set in motion with initiatives such as our recent announcement regarding eight transformational newbuilds for our three brands and infrastructure improvements for our private island in the Bahamas, Great Stirrup Cay.
“We will continue to innovate and build on our foundation of success—not just financially, but also sustainably through our Sail & Sustain program.”
See Norwegian Cruise Lines
