It’s 8pm on a Tuesday and the sun is setting over the harbour at St Tropez as I’m rubbernecking along a line of megayachts. The super-rich are showing off in force, all shiny hair, moustache topiary and head-to-toe monogrammed Louis Vuitton as they hang out on the rear decks of their designed-to-see-and-be-seen-on boats. Hundreds of these vessels are moored at the town’s 22-acre marina, backed into tight spots with only inches between them, their sterns positioned to face the harbour-front strip of bars and restaurants. These people might have all the bunce, I tell myself, but even the wealthy aren’t above a pun — my favourite of the voluminous lit-up vessels on parade is the sleek motor cruiser Lady Aga.
Normally, I would be a bit green with envy at these toy-like totems of oligarchs and CEOs, but instead I’m feeling a creeping smugness. For I’ve come from an arguably superior vessel — the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection’s newly launched Ilma, anchored away from the poseurs in the Gulf of St Tropez. I’d be willing to bet even the French Riviera’s most discerning old-money yachters haven’t been having half as much fun, or eating as much incredible food, as those on Ilma’s maiden voyage.
Ilma is the second of Ritz-Carlton’s yachts — Evrima set sail in 2022 and Luminara will debut next year — all designed to lure their wealthy customers who like the concept of a luxury cruise but don’t want to admit to anyone they’ve actually been on a cruise.
Ilma will be sailing around the Med, including St Tropez, until October
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Ritz-Carlton is leading the way in terms of high-end hotel brands breaking into the cruising market, with Four Seasons Yachts and Aman at Sea set to follow in 2026 and 2027.
The idea is to take the best bits of Ritz-Carlton’s hotels and resorts — first-class service, grande dame-level design and world-class restaurants — and put them on the water.
The result is a 47,000-tonne superyacht that’s large enough for 228 cabins (up to 448 passengers) with five restaurants and a spa across ten decks, but not so large you can get lost. There aren’t the buffets, golf simulators or casinos you might find on mainstream lines, no raucous guests posing in ports and pokey yacht cabins with no view either.
We begin our three-night Mediterranean voyage in Barcelona, sailing to St Tropez, where we’ll moor overnight and then move on to Monaco. Ilma’s doing the rounds in the Med until October, before a winter season in the Caribbean and US, but is coming back to Europe next year for Baltic cruises to Stockholm and Reykjavik.
Ilma’s elegant 791ft, midnight-blue physique, with a chiselled-to-a-point bow and sloping stern of balconies, appears tiny from the dock, especially when compared with the girth of P&O Cruises’ Arvia and Marella Cruises’ Marella Explorer 2, the other ships in port that day.
Laura Jackson was on board the maiden voyage
My suitcase is taken off my hands and replaced with a glass of fizz, and a steward offers to show me to my cabin. This is the first inkling of the Ritz-Carlton stamp on cruising: not the carpets, dark ash panelling and chandeliers, but the lifeboat drill, or rather lack of it. A quick tour en route to the cabin drops by a muster station in deck five’s lounge, the Living Room. Later, I must watch a five-minute video on the massive TV in my cabin to get my briefing, but it’s a merciful replacement to the group ones that so often cruelly interrupt your first afternoon on board a cruise ship. Safety first, indeed, just slicker.
By the time we slide out of Barcelona, at 6.30pm, I’ve located all the important stuff: the spa, gym and my own reading nook of preference — a big sofa in the Living Room, near the ice cream parlour and coffee bar. My room, located forward on deck eight, is a Signature Suite. Of the seven room grades, only Terrace Suites are lower, the rest even swankier than mine, leading up to the huge Owner’s Suites, with balconies at the stern. Still there’s bags of space in my cabin, an impressive 429 sq ft.
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The decor has some Jazz Age swagger about it, with a brassy gold and a mink-grey colour scheme, an Oliver Hemming alarm clock, low-slung glass light shades and cupboards with rounded edges. Even the finish on the coat hangers is absurdly silky. My bathroom is spectacular, with double sinks, a marble-clad walk-in rain shower and Diptyque smellies. Space is tight, but there’s a properly sized bath I can stretch out in.
It’s only as I’m working through a dinner of salmon sashimi and miso black cod at the Japanese-themed Memori restaurant that I register that we’re actually moving, slipping through the water towards St Tropez. Other guests — mostly first-time cruisers — report that the rolling of the ship wakes them during the night, but I get an untroubled night’s sleep. Ilma is the quietest ship I’ve been on; the double-glazed floor-to-ceiling balcony doors keep out sounds of water slapping against the hull and there aren’t any ominous creakings or thrumming engines.
“We started by ordering the highest specification, in terms of levels of vibrations and noise reduction,” says Ernesto Fara, president and CFO of Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. “For example, the stabilisers, a series of fins, are fitted with learning technology that responds to different conditions.
“This isn’t stuff that people will necessarily come and thank you for, but we know if we don’t get it right, people will certainly tell us.”
Ilma means “water” in Maltese
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I’m up at 7am the next morning to join the fitness expert and daytime TV star Amanda Kloots’s full-body workout class. I have to google who she is, but the Americans on board are queueing to take a selfie with her, as one of a rotating cast of guest experts (yet to be named) who will join the ship.
It’s such a clear, warm morning that our group decides to exchange the air-conditioned studio to work out on the open-air deck at the bow. Happily the yachts of the super-rich are nowhere near at that hour, which means they miss my sweaty display of leg raises and planks.
For the adventurous, there is a huge marina platform at the rear of the ship from which you can kayak, paddleboard and snorkel when it is anchored. The view of the town from everywhere on board is like a painting: St Tropez’s 17th-century citadel and burnt-orange and yellow buildings are about a quarter of a mile away in the distance, set against a peacock-blue sea. By late morning, the gulf gets a bit too choppy from other boat traffic for my liking, so I wimp out on the water toys, opting instead for the more sedate main pool on deck ten, followed by a spa trip.
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One of the differences between Ilma and her sister ship Evrima is the spa. There are 11 treatment rooms compared with Evrima’s five. Each is named after a shade of blue — a nod to Ilma’s name, which means “water” in Maltese. I choose a midday sauna and steam, followed by a body scrub with a massage, glad of an excuse to be out of the Med’s fierce lunchtime sun (massages from £170).
Ilma is built for pleasure, but it would be possible to work from this ship. I give the free wi-fi an absolute hammering, streaming video and music almost constantly. Because the internet is powered via Elon Musk’s Starlink network, the speeds feel no different from those in south London.
What is most impressive though, is the art. Taking a tour of it all —almost 700 pieces — could occupy several hours. My Living Room reading spot turns out to be beneath Turtle, an original Andy Warhol from 1985, while en route to the spa on deck four I bimble across a David Hockney. Art is also used to help you navigate: the wall of the forward staircase was designed by Chas Colburn around a sunset, with the reds intensifying as you move down the lower decks, while the aft staircase is themed similarly in blue. “The art we’ve selected is never just about decoration — it’s about substance and finding pieces that resonate with our ethos as a company,” says Alejandra Obregon, director of architecture and design. “We’ve grown our collection organically over years, buying from auction houses as well as commissions.”
With all food and drink included while on board, you could, if you wish, live on a Moët diet, although that might mean missing out on some corking meals. Throughout the ship’s restaurants there’s a focus on seafood. Mistral on deck ten becomes my preferred breakfast stop for its king crab scrambled eggs, while the Beach House’s tiger prawn burger and black truffle empanada could keep you going for multiple lunches.
Port Grimaud is about eight miles from St Tropez
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Seta Su Ilma alone is worth booking a sailing for. At the helm is Fabio Trabocchi, whose Washington DC restaurant Fiola holds a Michelin star. Here he’s created an elevated 11-course Italian extravaganza that whistles through a punchy almond gazpacho, lobster ravioli and delicate wagyu ribeye with a bone marrow zabaglione sauce, paired with wines from Italy. It’s the only restaurant incurring an additional fee (£267 with wine).
This being a new ship, there are a few areas still finding their stride. My excursion to Port Grimaud, a village built in the 1960s and about eight miles from St Tropez, is nice enough, with a walking tour and a boat ride before a dinner platter of prawns, whelks and lobster at pretty canal-side restaurant La Table du Mareyeur. But there’s no escaping the recognisable elements of the bog-standard cruise excursion: coach tour, jovial host, one tiny glass of wine.
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One of the advantages of overnighting in port is there is bags of time to see St Tropez independently afterwards. With the last tender (a small transfer boat that takes ten minutes each way) not going back to the ship until 1am, I have plenty of time to wander the old port’s backstreets in search of a slab of tarte tropézienne, the local vanilla cream cake, and pick one of the least touristy-looking bars at the end of the strip for a late-night glass of Provençal rosé. On future voyages, bespoke excursions will be available, but for me there is always merit in exploring on my own with a map.
That all said, Ilma does exactly what it sets out to do — don’t call it cruising, do call it posh yachting. The great and good of St Tropez don’t know what they’re missing.
Laura Jackson was a guest of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, which has seven nights’ all-inclusive from £5,200pp, on a Caribbean itinerary from San Juan, Puerto Rico, stopping in St Kitts, St Lucia and the Grenadines (ritzcarltonyachtcollection.com). Fly to Puerto Rico
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Three more luxury yacht cruises
SeaDream Yacht Club in the Caribbean
SeaDream is unashamedly indulgent
SeaDream runs two decadent 112-passenger ships, mainly around destinations in the Caribbean and the Med, with a crew of 95. There are no balconies — lower-grade cabins are fitted with portholes — so the focus is on the service, food and drink and excursions. It’s unashamedly indulgent, but for balance there’s onboard yoga and t’ai chi classes and a plant-based menu with dishes such as beetroot and squash Wellington and avocado key lime pie. Enjoy it on a pre-Christmas Leeward Islands cruise starting from Antigua and travelling to St Barts, Anguilla and Charlotte Amalie in the US Virgin Islands.
Details Eight nights’ all-inclusive from £3,513, departing on December 14 (seadream.com). Fly to Antigua
Scenic in Antarctica
Scenic Eclipse II lands at Deception Island
ALAMY
Scenic is highly regarded for its river cruise ships but it also has two expedition yachts, Eclipse I and Eclipse II, for up to 228 passengers each. Scenic Eclipse II is a stellar choice of ship for an Antarctic expedition, equipped with a Polar Class 6 hull to handle ice, and two helicopters. Starting from Buenos Aires and going through the Drake Passage, with landings at Portal Point and Deception Island, there are plenty of opportunities to see penguins and whales. You’ll travel with a team of polar experts, and polar jackets and boots are included in the price, while onboard there’s butler service for all passengers, a spa, up to ten restaurants and a veranda for every suite.
Details Twelve nights’ all-inclusive from £14,831, including flights, departing on January 8, 2025 (scenic.co.uk)
Emerald Cruises in the Med
Emerald Sakara offers chic minimalist design
Emerald’s two smart ships, Azzurra and Sakara (a third, Kaia, is expected in 2026), are priced slightly lower than their rivals in the luxury cruise market. You’re not scrimping on the must-haves — even the lowest grade of stateroom, an ocean-view with a window, offers chic minimalist design and ESPA toiletries, and most onboard drinks are included.
Itineraries swing around the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and the Med, typically taking in smaller ports — in the Med that might mean a round-trip from Barcelona taking in Palamos and Castellon de la Plana in Spain and Port Vendres in southern France, in addition to classic calls such as Ibiza.
Details Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £3,945pp, including flights and tips, departing on October 11, 2025 (emeraldcruises.co.uk)
