First Impression: Icon

Date toured: May 2010

Icon is a 205-foot motoryacht from Icon Yachts in Holland, the first build in what the company hopes will grow into a successful line. Though two sisterships are under construction as of this writing, Icon remains the only one of these yachts on the world’s waters. That makes her unique in the charter market, a true one of a kind.

She launched in fall 2009 and cruised in the Caribbean that winter with the shipyard's owner aboard, but is only now becoming available for charter in advance of the summer 2010 Mediterranean season, according to Chief Stewardess Dani Bolderson, who led my tour of the yacht. Icon received a good reception from brokers at the May 2010 charter yacht show in Genoa, Italy, with several unusual design features inspiring a lot of talk on the docks.

The most impressive of those unusual features is what Bolderson called Icon’s “beach club.” It’s all the way aft on the yacht’s bottom deck, where most yachts have a lazarette for stowing tenders, water toys, and crew gear. Aboard Icon, this space is reserved for guest use. You walk down the corridor between the four guest cabins and come to a large, open space with comfortable seating, a television, a bar, a gymnasium, a guest bathroom with shower, and a scuba gear room. Beyond that, where the yacht would normally “end,” the entire stern folds out to become a massive swim platform at water level.

“Our sundeck is smaller than what you find on other yachts our size,” Bolderson said, “but here in the beach club is where guests would be spending their time.”

Indeed. I noted that the fourth deck on the yacht, which is technically the sundeck, is quite small with just a couple of sofas for observation under way. It’s an interesting vantage point given Icon’s size—I was looking down upon the 214-foot Feadship motoryacht Trident as well as the 197-foot CMN motoryacht Cloud 9—but it’s definitely not what I think of as a typical motoryacht top deck, which is usually full of sun pads, a hot tub, and the like.

Those things are instead found one level down on the bridge deck, whose aft spaces include a hot tub, chaise lounges, a bar, and sunpads for guest use. Generally, this outdoor space would connect to some kind of indoor sky lounge, but aboard Icon, the bulk of the bridge deck’s interior is reserved for crew use. The guest sky lounge is instead on the second deck, one level up from the main deck (and two levels up from the beach club). This second deck also has a large observation lounge forward that I found quite comfortable (it's shown in the photo at the top of this page). “In bad weather cruising,” Bolderson said, “this observation lounge is a warm and dry place to be with a great view and a 60-inch television screen.”

A hidden stairway leads from the observation lounge to the master suite on the main deck. That master is also unique in that it is designed with spaces separated by four doors along a corridor, as opposed to being one big, open room. Two of the doorways open to reveal his-and-her closets, the third doorway leads to the master bathroom, and the fourth leads to the master sleeping area (shown in the photograph at right).

The design, to be honest, felt a little strange to me because it was so different from what I see aboard most other yachts. But Bolderson explains that there is good reason for it.

“I’ve been on boats where you open a door to the master, and the guests can be walking naked from the bathroom, and it’s all wide open,” she says. “There is no chance of that happening aboard Icon.”

There’s also no chance of anyone seeing the master cabin from the guest areas farther aft on the main deck, as still more doorways separate the spaces. Sub-foyers are designed almost like airlocks, ensuring complete privacy with doors on either side. The main salon (shown in the photograph below) is amidships on Icon’s main deck, while the formal dining room is aft—an opposite layout than what is typically found aboard motoryachts.

“I like it better this way,” Bolderson told me. “In the salon, there’s more privacy if we’re in port. Who wants to watch a movie with people looking at you from the quay?”

Interesting fabrics are used in this part of the yacht, from the black leather that covers the flooring in the lobby to the stingray leather that stretches across the dining room table.

I also noticed that black leather covers the main staircase in the middle of the yacht—which also made me realize that Icon was designed without an elevator. That is worth noting on a four-deck yacht of this size, with guest spaces on every deck. Charter guests will have to be comfortable traversing stairs.

Icon is part of the charter fleet at Camper and Nicholsons International. She takes 12 guests with 16 crew at a weekly base rate of €425,000 in the Mediterranean. Any reputable charter broker can tell you more or help you book a week onboard.—Kim Kavin