Renting out entire cruise ships
The newest trend in billionaire yachting is renting out entire cruise ships
Chartering yachts is nothing new — many boat owners rent their mega-yachts out for months at a time to make up for the high costs of ownership.
Chartering cruise ships? Now that’s something different entirely.
Celebrities and the ultra-rich have taken a penchant for renting out entire cruise ships for them and as many as 200 of their closest friends, Bloomberg reports.
“It’s like owning a mega-yacht for a week or two,” Carolyn Spencer-Brown, editor of Cruise Critic, told Bloomberg.
Crystal’s Esprit ship, which the company purchased with the intention that it could be loaned out, can host 62 guests — the perfect size for private cruising, but pales in comparison to the giants from Royal Caribbean, Carnival, or Norwegian Cruise lines, which can host thousands.
A seven-day private cruise with the ship starts at around $500,000 a week.
For comparison, one of the most expensive private yachts in the world to charter, the Triple Seven, only has five cabins and costs $600,000 a week, a number that doesn’t include food, drink, taxes, entertainment, fuel, and gratuity like the cruise does.
It also works out well for the cruise line, as that $500,000 adds up to be more than the company would generate from a single seven-day trip with a full ship of passengers paying $6,250 each.
These are no spur-of-the moment bookings, however, and they don’t interfere with regular sailing schedules. Often, these types of private rentals are planned up to two years in advance.
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The main lounge from the Triple Seven yacht, available for charter for $610,000 a week.
The Crystal Esprit can host your 200 closest friends for seven days on only $700,000.
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