by Fancy a trip to the Galapagos with a luxury add-on to the Bahamas for 10 nights? It’s mine for £136,000. You’ll stay in an Owner’s Suite on a six-star Silversea cruise, with a separate suite thrown in if you need it. Traveling alone? Then how about two back-to-back ultra-luxe Seabourn cruises taking you to Seattle and Sydney with a week on the New Zealand tour, an extended stay in Australia, a week in New York and a week in Dubai – all first class, of course. A snip at £215,000, since you want it.
These are just a few of the recent trips organized by David Walker of The Travel Snob (thetravelsnob.co.uk), who specialize in planning dream holidays for those with cash to splash. We are talking lottery winners, HNW individuals and celebrities. And no, Walker won’t name names.
For cruise fans who appreciate the acres of space a large ship provides and have bonuses to blow and bucket lists to tick off, it can be built. No more going through the breakfast buffet to sizzle or dice that last sausage with the grab-and-go grill that’s been crowding the sun deck all day; tourism for the 1 percent means choosing the best experience available and not looking at the price. Don’t bother packing your suitcase if your cruise doesn’t have a galaxy of Michelin-starred chefs and enough Dom Pérignon to bathe in? You are in luck.
Seven Seas Grandeur, the latest ship in the Regent Seven Seas fleet, boasts a Regent Suite suite offering 412 square meters of unadulterated luxury with a wrap-around veranda offering 270-degree views, unlimited in-suite spa services, in-house caviar service (b’ maybe Twiglets if that’s more your thing), a personal butler and a chauffeured private car in every port, plus unlimited shore excursions and included upgrades for anything you can upgrade. Even the sofa seats 10 comfortably. A 14-night trip from Miami to Barcelona comes in at £65,804 – that’s the person, of course.
If you want to live like royalty, how about Cunard? After all, it was good enough for our late Queen, Winston Churchill, Coco Chanel and Hollywood legends like Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe. The Grand Duplex Queen’s Grill Suite on Cunard’s brand new ship, the Queen Anne, which launches in March 2024, is called Your Private Residence at Sea. It features a sweeping staircase descending into a susptuously appointed living room with 2,249 square feet of space (more than the average four-bedroom home), pillow concierge service, and a private butler on speed-dial to serve your pre-dinner canapés. A 12-night Northern Cape Discovery cruise will launch next summer with your name on it – a steal at just £25,598 staying in the best room.
Knowing that there is a market out there to seriously push the boat out, some of the biggest cruise lines have exclusive “ship-within-a-ship” neighborhoods. Book the huge bling-tinged Suite on Virgin Voyages, for example, and you’re elevated to “rockstar status”, which unlocks access to Richard’s Rooftop, a members-only sundeck and more freebies than you can shake a stick at 24-carat gold shake. at. Or perhaps you’d prefer to check into the Iconic Suite, as part of The Retreat on Celebrity Edge? You’ll enjoy 2,500 square feet of space, a wonderfully quiet private veranda (with a double daybed, of course), cashmere bedding and Le Labo toiletries.
Some of the other cruise lines that attract budget-busting families offer super-sized owners’ suites and family accommodations, such as the Oceania-inspired Disney Wish Tower Suite Moana which has a double height living room and four and a half bathrooms. Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate Family Suite on the new Utopia of the Seas ship includes a built-in cinema, karaoke station, giant tube slide to connect all levels and a “royal genie” (aka Butler) to grant your family’s every wish.
So, that’s your accommodation sorted. Now to make sure you don’t get bored. Cruises are the hottest ticket in cruising right now, offering passengers money-can’t-buy experiences (unless they obviously can) and once-in-a-lifetime vacations. Superyacht Scenic Eclipse II has a submarine and two helicopters on board to ferry passengers to their dreams. Guests have access to previously inaccessible environments, which means you can explore the underwater world of Antarctica more than 900 feet down or jump on your helicopter for a view of the Arctic Circle. Other tours offered by the Scenic group include dinner under the stars at the Unesco site of Angkor Wat and kayaking around the fjords of Chile.
Meanwhile, thanks to their relatively compact size, the two SeaDream superyachts offer trips that larger ships cannot, such as hiking the Crispeen road on the Dutch Caribbean island of Saba, lunch in Mustique or sport fishing off the coast of Mayreau, the least inhabited. island if the Grenadines. And then there are the curated adventures and experiences from Explora Journeys – perhaps the best in luxury cruising. A one-on-one conversation with a NASA astronaut, a private viewing of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, or learning to pilot a racing yacht in the Caribbean?
If you can dream it, you can be pretty sure that there is a luxury cruise that can become a reality. Dust off your platinum card and take a deep breath…
