First Impression: Reverie

Date toured: December 2007

Launched from the Benetti shipyard in 2001, the 230-foot motoryacht Reverie is not just one of the biggest charter yachts in the world, but also one of the biggest motoryachts ever built in Italy. She has seven full decks along with quarters for 32 crew members, all of whom are onboard to serve just 12 charter guests.
     Given these jaw-dropping facts, you won’t be surprised to learn that Reverie commands one of the highest base rates in the world: $700,000 in the Caribbean and 550,000 euros in the Mediterranean, according to the captain I met onboard. With typical 25-percent expenses factored in, that’s at least $70,000 per person, per week.
    The yacht is on its second owners, who bought Reverie about four years ago. With that deal came an agreement to continue offering one annual charter for a friend of the first owner, but it wasn’t until summer 2007 that Reverie entered the charter market proper as part of the Cavendish White fleet.
     By the time I got onboard in the Caribbean a few months later, she was beginning her first full winter charter season—with the head chef and chief stewardess over in England to meet with upcoming charter guests. “This is a Christmas and New Year’s charter, so it’s necessary,” second stewardess Vicki Psathas told me. “There are lots of parties, including one for 120 people on New Year’s Eve. We want to get it right.”
     Reverie is one of the few charter motoryachts in the world that can handle an event of that size. She has a spectacular two-level sundeck, part of which is on the same level as an enclosed observation lounge with a 180-degree view. I thought the observation lounge might be a nice place to sit and read a book, but Psathas told me that guests actually tend to use the room for spa treatments, such as manicures.
     “Five of our stewardesses are also certified spa therapists,” Psathas says. “We do body wraps, facials, pedicures, massages. We don’t have a beautician onboard right now, but we do have a hair salon [see photo above]. So we are looking for someone.”
     One entire deck, called the owner’s deck, is devoted to the primary charter guest’s comfort. It even has doors in the corridor that close off the crew completely, so that you won’t be bothered if you want silence. Three cabins are on this owner’s deck, so your closest friends or family can stay with you near the private sunpad and hot tub area forward, or in the owner’s saloon aft with its two flat-screen TVs and Sony PlayStation games. To give you an idea of the sheer size of these spaces, I found the bathrooms on this deck to be bigger than entire cabins I’ve seen onboard other luxury motoryachts, The master shower alone was about 5 feet long by 4 feet wide. 
    The dining room onboard Reverie is extremely formal, so much so that the crew told me it gets less use than the more casual outdoor dining areas. Also popular is the bistro across from the formal dining room. It features a teppanyaki bar and pizza oven.
     “Kids love it here, and some adults like the bistro as well,” Psathas says. “The chef will do pancakes here for the kids, so they can watch him cook in the morning.”
     Reverie also boasts a full conference room on the bridge deck with a television and a white board for presentations. “We once had a guest on for two and a half months,” Psathas says, “and he had to conduct business every day. This room worked fine.”
     I found it interesting that Psathas mentioned seasickness when showing me the four guest cabins with queen-size beds on the bottom deck. “She’s a bit top-heavy, and we don’t have zero-speed stabilizers,” she said of Reverie. “So we sometimes get a bit of a strange roll, and this is a good place to come if you’re feeling seasick. There are big windows, and you don’t feel a thing.”
     Another detail worth noting is that given the sheer scope of the onboard operation, there are two captains instead of one. They rotate three months on, three months off, so ask a reputable charter broker to make sure the captain you desire will be onboard during your chosen charter dates.—Kim Kavin