Full steam ahead

Cruise tourists are loyal customers. 91 percent of all international passengers who have already taken a cruise say they want to set sail again.

According to a recent survey conducted in the nine leading cruise markets (CLIA, 2022), 72 percent of all travelers who have never been on a cruise ship are open to the idea.

One segment of the travel industry is just beginning to take off on the world’s oceans: the luxury segment.

Even the Pirate would think twice about that

The luxury yacht Silenseas, one of the many new vessels currently under construction or in the planning stages for the luxury segment, looks like a cross between a modern sailing yacht and a warship.

Rendering: Orient Express Silenseas © Martin Darzacq

The 220-meter yacht (the term “cruise ship” is off-limits in this segment) features 54 suites with an average size of 70 square meters.

When it comes to service, cuisine, and entertainment on board, there’s hardly a wish left unfulfilled. Guests with aspirations to become singers can use a professional recording studio and launch their next career on the world stage while sailing the seven seas.

“Hybrid” is the watchword here as well: The three rigid sails, each with a sail area of 1,500 square meters and attached to 100-meter-high masts, can propel the ship when wind conditions are favorable.

Otherwise, the ship’s engines run on liquefied natural gas, an abbreviation—LNG—that we are all familiar with by now.

Built by the French shipyard Charters de l’Atlantique in Brittany, the luxury yacht is a project of the Accor Group and part of the Oriental Express luxury segment, making it a logical addition to the group’s portfolio of hotels and luxury trains.

The floating luxury resort, free from all the mundane and troublesome concerns of life on land, will set sail for the first time in 2026.

A Breath of Fresh Air from Monaco

While the Monaco marina is home to an impressive selection of grand private motor yachts, Pierre Casiraghi—eighth in line to the throne of Monaco—considers the trend toward such superyachts to be a mistake.

From his perspective, these boats are almost exclusively about the interior and not about innovation. The experience at sea on these boats is like staying in an apartment with an ocean view, but it has nothing to do with the experience of wind and waves—which is what attracts most sailors like him.

Pierre Casiraghi’s passion lies with classic wooden sailboats and sailing regattas such as the Vendée Globe or the Ocean Race, where high-tech equipment is key, but the skipper’s assessment of the prevailing weather conditions ultimately determines a successful finish.

The son of Caroline of Monaco uses his network of contacts to support Team Malizia, whose name is derived from Francesco Malizia, who was described as a rascal, or a sly fox, who in 1297, disguised as a Franciscan friar, asked to be admitted to the fortress of Monaco and, using the sword he concealed beneath his habit, captured the fortress for himself and his Grimaldi family.

Boris Herrmann is the skipper of the Malizia. A native of Oldenburg who lives in Hamburg, he has inspired many non-sailors to follow his sailing races on YouTube or other social media channels, or to read about his experiences in the book *Alone Between Heaven and Earth*. We couldn’t put the book down and even read the acknowledgments at the end carefully.

The Opposite of Luxury

Racing across the oceans in racing yachts like the Malizia, with their sails and foils, is the opposite of the luxury offered by a superyacht like the Silenseas. The food on board the Malizia does not consist of meals prepared by Michelin-starred chefs but is essentially dry rations.

Since every extra kilo of weight must be avoided, the skipper has only a captain’s chair and a sort of hammock at his disposal. On board, sleep is possible only in 45-minute intervals at most, and despite using the best equipment, there is almost always something that needs to be patched or repaired, even in rough seas.

A race we must win

That is the motto of the Malizia, which supports environmental protection initiatives and research projects during its voyages. Pierre Casiraghi and Boris Hermann also used the Malizia to take Greta Thunberg across the Atlantic to New York for the UN General Assembly.

We are all aware that increasing environmental pollution and alarming amounts of plastic are posing a growing threat to marine life. Recycling plastic that has been fished out of the oceans is a good thing, but preventing it from ending up there in the first place would be much better.

There’s a little bit of a sailor in all of us

When you watch people by the sea, you notice their gaze—as they relax and watch the waves play, their eyes repeatedly scanning the horizon. Whether it’s the Adriatic, the Baltic, the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, or the Pacific—the sea symbolizes adventure. It promises freedom and a different kind of life.

You don’t need a boat to do this—you can experience that feeling of freedom just a few meters from shore while swimming in the ocean.

“A society without ships is a society without dreams.”

said the French philosopher Michel Foucault.

The chance to dream is what makes the sea irresistible. Just feeling the wind and the salt water on your skin and in your hair is enough to lift your spirits—especially since many so-called paradises along the oceans are far from being paradisiacal.

Port cities are strategically important and often the subject of fierce competition, especially when they lie along major trade routes—as the city of Odessa is currently learning the hard way.

Page after page of adventure

Many adventure novels—from *Moby-Dick* and *Robinson Crusoe* to Jules Verne’s *20,000 Leagues Under the Sea*—are set at sea or on the coast.

If you’ve already read all the classics, you might want to pick up Marietta Navarro’s *Über die See*. It’s a thrilling novel about the female captain of a container ship, which Denis Scheck highly recommends in this video, among other places.

Dörte Hansen’s novel *Zur See* ranks high on bestseller lists across the German-speaking world. The book, which tells the story of a sailor’s family on a North Sea island, is the highly anticipated sequel to *Mittagsstunde*, and everyone is talking about it; whenever you walk through the ICE train, you’re bound to run into someone who’s reading it.

Dörte Hansen’s dry, subtle narrative style is a delight and depicts the changes that tourism brings to a North Sea island.

Both books are perfect for enjoying the gray, cold winter months—after all, who wants to go to the North Pole in the freezing cold? Not even Prince Harry could bring himself to do that.

A Beacon in the Magazine Market

A large number of new magazines are launched only to be discontinued after just a few issues. The magazine *mare*, founded by Swiss marine biologist Nikolaus Gelpke, has been a success on the market since 1997.

He was encouraged to launch a magazine on marine topics by Elisabeth Mann Borgese, a dedicated advocate for the law of the sea and the daughter of Thomas Mann.

The sea, its marine life, and the people who live with and from the sea are the focus of these reports: The topics covered range from a fishmonger in Tokyo to submarine builders in Ukraine, and from icebergs to tax havens.

Incidentally, the accompanying TV show, mareTV, celebrated its 22nd anniversary yesterday, February 1. The ocean and the topics related to it remain fascinating.

#Advertisement #ProductPlacement #IndependentRecommendation #BecauseWeLoveIt

Photographs © GloriousMe