The Yacht Insider: The (Almost) Million Dollar Charter
Inside the world's most expensive yacht for hire.
May 20, 2008
One week's vacation for a dozen people onboard the 230-foot Martha Ann will cost about $926,000.
What is being billed as the most spectacular new motoryacht of the summer season-and perhaps for all of 2008-left the Lurssen shipyard in Germany this week bound for a berth in Antibes, France. Her immediate future? Offering charters to 12 discerning guests at a weekly base rate of 600,000 euro.
Yes, you read that correctly. One week's vacation for a dozen people onboard the 230-foot Martha Ann will cost about $926,000 based on the conversion rate as of this writing-and that doesn't include food, fuel, or crew gratuity. This rate makes Martha Ann the most expensive charter yacht available in the world for 12 guests. It's about $77,000 per person total, or about $11,000 per person, per day.
What do you get for that many Benjamins? Martha Ann's master cabin is reportedly 1,400 square feet, and she has a circular glass elevator to transport guests among five of her six decks. There are seven wet bars for enjoying a drink, a gym with no fewer than four ellipticals plus other machines, and a hot tub so big it's being called a "swim spa/lap pool" that holds 4,000 gallons of water.
Fort Lauderdale (Fla.)-based International Yacht Collection snagged Martha Ann as the new belle in its charter fleet, where she dwarfs the next-largest yacht by a full 66 feet LOA (you'd have to tack an entire express yacht or sportfisherman onto the back of a 164-foot megayacht to achieve the same total length). Interestingly, Martha Ann's is the second price standard that IYC has set in the Mediterranean for charters this summer. The company also turned heads when it announced a 155,000-euro-per-week rate for the new Hakvoort Perle Bleue, putting the eight-guest, 124-footer in the same price range as some 12-guest, 157-footers.
An IYC insider told me the company is "swamped" with requests for Perle Bleue bookings by discerning charterers who understand quality construction. And Martha Ann is already booked for charters beginning in June.
It seems there remains, indeed, a movable ceiling in the market that caters to millionaires and billionaires who want the newest and "best" yachts-whether for charter or for sale.
