How the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection Wants to Reinvent the Cruise Game

The first trip aboard a Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection ship is still almost two years away, but the hotel brand has just revealed more details about how its plans could re-energize an industry better known for massive vessels and overcrowded ports than understated elegance and neutral color palettes. First announced in 2017, and scheduled to launch in late 2019, Ritz-Carlton Yacht Voyages will feel a little bit like vacationing aboard a superyacht, if you happened to have a friend with a private, 298-passenger ship with a Michelin-star chef running one of the five restaurants on board.

The idea, says the line’s managing director, Douglas Prothero, is to bridge the gap between yacht charters, small-ship cruises, and resort-style vacations. “This is really more like Ritz-Carlton Reserve,” he said during a panel discussion at the Seatrade Cruise Global conference this month. “We’ll spend more overnights in port—it’s a slower pace, more typical of what you'd do on a superyacht,” he said, compared to the pace of a larger cruise ship. “And [there’s] free Wi-Fi!”

“We expect some folks who have never taken a cruise to look at this and picture themselves doing it,” Prothero said, while ticking off the islands that his ships will visit, like Bequia and Carriacou.

While Ritz-Carlton hasn’t released all the details of their upcoming itineraries, some of the line’s trips will include St. Maarten to Barbados; Valletta to Athens; a Rome round trip, including a stop at the Monaco Grand Prix; and a Barcelona to Palma de Mallorca trip. Later in 2020, the ship with sail from Boston to Montreal, and it’ll also do a round trip from Reykjavik that goes north of the Arctic Circle.

Ritz-Carlton has previously said in a statement that “the first of three” yachts “is scheduled to take to the sea in November 2019,” and the line is also promoting a Christmas Voyage to St. Barths and St. Maartin, as well as a New Year’s Voyage that’ll hit Antigua, Jost van Dyke, and Tortola.

Despite the fact that the first trips are still many months away, some Ritz-Carlton loyalty program members will be able to book as early as May. Cruise experts expect them to sell out quickly, despite the anticipated all-inclusive, $5,600-a-week price tag. “They’re opening it to Marriott’s loyalty members first,” says cruise expert Linda Allen, “so very little [space] will be left when sales open to the general public.” Allen predicts that, as more Ritz-Carlton ships are launched, it’ll be easier to get aboard. “I think it will model after Viking Ocean Cruises,” she said. “As the rest of the ships come out then inventory will open up.” So far, Ritz-Carlton has at least two more yachts on order, for delivery in 2021 and 2022.

But that may not be it for the brand, which may eventually have “six or eight ships,” Prothero said during an interview at Seatrade. “We’ll always be able to fill them,” he said. “And we’re already exploring other projects in the maritime industry,” he added. “We’ll find our way toward the unusual.”