Cruise Control
I saw a handful of great new charter yachts today at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, and though they were all different sizes and styles, they all had one thing in common: Offering tons of features designed to let you take even more control of your charter yacht vacation.
The first yacht that fits this trend from my list today is the new 37-meter motoryacht that’s part of the fleet at Sunseeker Charters, the second one ever built and the first one to be displayed in the United States. On its sundeck, there were retractable biminis (sun shades) as well as air conditioning misters that you can control yourself, without having to ask the crew, through a remote control system. Very nifty, and something I haven’t seen before.
Next, I toured the 164-foot motoryacht Newvida to get a look at its much-promoted Crestron entertainment system, which I first told you about here on the blog back in March when I learned about it from management company Fraser Yachts Worldwide. I spent about a half-hour with Capt. Dan Verhoff going through all the services this system offers, and let me tell you, it’s really cool. You can control everything from this keypad, including the televisions, music, window shades and climate control (which is available on some other yachts), but this boat takes things up a notch by integrating the high-tech remote into the crew service. Let’s say you want to order a bottle of wine from the yacht’s cellar. You can scroll through all the available bottles on this remote in your cabin, right down to descriptions of the wines and pictures of their labels, then press a button and have it delivered. Spectacular!
Right next to Newvida on the dock was the 111-foot Sudami, also part of the fleet at Fraser Yachts Worldwide. It wasn’t as high-tech as Newvida, but its designers applied the same concept–complete guest control–when building the private service area that’s adjacent to the master cabin. It has a small refrigerator as well as laundry machines in case you want to serve yourself or wash some delicates without the crew knowing. What a fabulous little way to maintain your privacy and still have everything you need onboard.
There are a few yachts on my to-see list for tomorrow from other major fleets that I am told fit this same design trend, of offering charter guests as much control as possible over small and large things alike. I think the trend is great. Crew are there to serve, of course, but sometimes you just want to get up and grab a Diet Coke for yourself, or order a bottle of wine, or have the sun shade opened immediately when crew might be otherwise occupied.
All of these design features make doing so possible–and that’s the beauty of yacht charter at its best. Anything is possible. If you can dream it, there’s likely a yacht out there offering it.