The Telegraph
Some 140 years after its first trailblazing luxury train chugged out of Paris’s Gare de l’Est bound for Constantinople, the Orient Express is having something of a rebirth.
Arguably the most interesting in a flurry of announcements from the brand is the launch of Orient Express Silenseas, a new collection of yachts that are a collaboration between three French giants: global hospitality group Accor, luxury goods titan LVMH and shipbuilders Chantiers de l’Atlantique.
The finished product looks like the lovechild of the fanciest superyacht and the most elegant sailing boat.
The first yacht to be completed, Orient Express Corinthian, which at 220m long (772ft), with three 100m-hight sails, is the world’s largest sailing yacht, won’t be taking paying guests until 2026, but the first images of its interiors have been released.
Luxury hotel groups such as Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons and Aman have all announced launches of luxury yachts this year.
But while they may be fabulous, they are smallish cruise ships, not yachts. Evrima, for example, the first in the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, offers 224 suites.
Then there’s Four Seasons, chose first « yacht », when it launches in 2026, will have 14 decks and 95 suites. Sith just 50 cabins, Aman at Sea, which launches in 2027, is the closest of the offerings to a superyacht and also in scale to the 54-suite Orient Express Corinthian. But what Orient Express Corinthian has that none of the others do is sails?
There’s something much cooler and more adventurous-seeming about a great big yacht with sails than all-bling one with just an engine. This is something that hasn’t escaped Jeff Bezos, who spent $500 million on his three-masted boat Koru, which at 127m (417ft) was the world’s largest sailing yacht – until now.
Inspired by the golden age of the French Riviera, Orient Express Corinthian has been designed by French architect and designer Maxime d’Angeac, who has also worked on a new Orient Express train that will launch in France around the same time. The two will combine on certain itineraries.