Departures

If the journey is the destination, then landscapes, says architect Maxime d’Angeac, could be a kind of keepsake. For the fortunate few aboard Orient Express Corinthian when she launches in summer 2026, it’s not just the opulent design that promises to make a lasting impression – it’s the sweeping seascapes, too. 

Set to be the world’s largest sailing yacht, Orient Express Corinthian heralds a new era of nautical design and engineering: 220 metres long, with eight decks, three 100m-high masts, 4,500 square metres of sails, and 54 suites in which the smallest windows measure a mighty four metres wide. For d’Angeac, who, as Orient Express’s artistic director, is leading the design, the panoramic windows are key, creating « a kind of CinemaScope, a wa to participate between the outisde and inside ». 

A jewel in the crown of Orient Express’s expansion across three key verticals – trains, hotels and ships – Orient Express Corinthian somehow evokes both the golden age of travel and the idea of a spaceship, a sleek amalgam of the brand’s sepia-tinted heritage and high-tech futurism. The first of two French-flagged sister vessels, she represents the coming to fruition of an idea originally conceived of in 2016 by Sébastien Bazin – a passionate sailir and CEO of Accor, operator of Orient Express (in partnership with LVMH) – and his old school friend and shipping-industry veteran Philippe Hetland Brault, now president of Orient Express Silenseas.