I have sailed Ilma for seven nights in the Mediterranean in September 2025 — Cannes to Civitavecchia — and have spent considerable time aboard Evrima during her first two operational seasons. I have not yet sailed Luminara, who delivered in mid-2025 and entered service in late 2025. The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection is now operating as a three-hull fleet, and the operational shape of the line is clearer than it has been at any point since the original Evrima delivery was delayed from 2020 to 2022.
What follows is the state of the three ships in 2026, the Forbes Five-Star designation that Ilma received in February 2026, the ownership and debt structure that closed in early 2026, and how the collection sits versus its luxury-cruise rivals.
The three ships
Evrima delivered from Astilleros Hijos de J. Barreras in Vigo in October 2022 — roughly thirty months later than the original 2020 contract date, after a build that ran through the COVID disruption and through the Hijos de J. Barreras bankruptcy in 2021 (the build was completed at the same yard under new ownership). She entered service on 7 October 2022 with a maiden out of Barcelona. Specifications: 190 metres LOA, 25,000 GT, 149 all-suite accommodation for 298 guests, with a crew of approximately 250.
Evrima is the smallest and most intimate hull in the collection. The space-per-guest ratio is the highest of the three (roughly 84 GT per guest, against 105 GT for Ilma and Luminara, though Ilma’s larger absolute footprint contains more public-space programming). She feels closer to a private superyacht than to a cruise ship, which is the original design intent — the AAA Tilberg Naval Architects design was explicitly modelled on charter superyacht geometry.
Ilma delivered from Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire in September 2024 and entered service on 8 October 2024 with a maiden out of Civitavecchia. Specifications: 241 metres LOA, 47,000 GT, 224 all-suite accommodation for 448 guests, crew of approximately 360. The Saint-Nazaire build was clean — French naval architecture and yard practice produced a hull on time and on contract after the painful Evrima delivery from Vigo. The on-board product is meaningfully different from Evrima — more public space, more dining venues, and a larger expedition marina at the stern.
Luminara delivered from Chantiers de l’Atlantique in May 2025 and entered service on 14 July 2025 with a maiden out of Monaco. Specifications match Ilma — same 241-metre hull form, same 47,000 GT, with 226 suites for 452 guests. The differentiator is the suite product itself: Luminara has the largest suites and the most generous balcony footprints in the collection, with most cabin geometry refined from Ilma’s learnings. The public-space programming includes the same dining concepts as Ilma with one new addition (Beach House by Eric Ripert, a casual seafood deck venue at the stern marina).
The Forbes Five-Star designation
In February 2026, Forbes Travel Guide announced the introduction of a yacht category in its Star Awards and awarded Ilma the first-ever Five-Star Yacht rating. This is the most consequential industry designation the collection has received and the most consequential rating Forbes has issued to a passenger vessel in the publication’s history.
The methodology is the same as Forbes’ hotel ratings: anonymous inspector visits across multiple service touch-points, evaluated against a points-based standard for service consistency, physical product quality, dining quality, and guest-experience signature moments. Inspectors visit twice per rating cycle. The Five-Star designation requires a points threshold that, in the hotel context, is achieved by approximately three percent of properties Forbes reviews.
For a yacht, the standard had to be developed bespoke — there is no historical Forbes precedent. The methodology disclosed in the announcement extends the hotel framework with weight on expedition-team capability, marina operations, and shore-excursion management. Ilma cleared the threshold; Evrima and Luminara received Five-Star Recommended designations, the tier below Five Star.
The commercial value of the designation has shown up in the booking data through the first quarter of 2026. The collection’s commercial team confirmed in March that Ilma’s forward booking pace is up roughly twenty-eight percent year-over-year, with the most pronounced gains in the entry-tier Terrace Suite categories that previous bookings had moved more slowly.
The 2026 deployment
The three ships split itineraries by region.
Evrima holds Europe for the summer — Greek isles, Croatia and the Adriatic from May through October. The seven-night Greek isles loops out of Piraeus are the highest-occupancy itinerary in the collection. Evrima’s smaller scale makes her the most viable hull for smaller Greek-island ports that cannot accept Ilma or Luminara.
Ilma runs the Caribbean for the winter 2025-26, then crosses to the Mediterranean for summer 2026 — French Riviera, Italian coast, and the western Mediterranean rotation through to October.
Luminara is the line’s Asia ship for 2026 — Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines through summer 2026, then transitions to the Mediterranean for autumn. The Asia deployment is the collection’s most ambitious geographic stretch to date and the test of whether the Ritz-Carlton brand resonates in the Asian luxury-cruise market that historically has been thin.
The ownership and debt structure
The collection’s commercial structure is more complicated than the marketing surface suggests. Marriott International licenses the Ritz-Carlton brand to a Lyrah Yachts subsidiary, which contracts hospitality operations to Ritz-Carlton-managed hotel-and-yacht ops teams. The hulls themselves are owned by Lyrah, which is majority-funded by Cruise Saudi (a Saudi Public Investment Fund subsidiary) following a 2024 transaction that took out the previous Oaktree-backed Douglas Prothero ownership.
The collection completed a debt refinancing in early 2026 that resolved a covenant-waiver situation that had been ongoing since 2024. The refinancing extended maturities and brought in additional equity from Cruise Saudi; the line is now targeting profitability in 2027 with a roadmap to consistent positive EBITDA from 2028.
The relevance of this for prospective guests: the brand and operating standards are stable, and the operational backing for the three-hull fleet is now well-capitalised. The collection has not committed to a fourth hull; the order book is at three ships through 2028.
The on-board product
Service register is recognisable Ritz-Carlton — the same hospitality DNA as the brand’s flagship hotels, transferred to a marine context. Crew-to-guest ratio of roughly 1:1.2 across all three hulls. Inclusive of beverages, gratuities, butler service, in-suite minibar restocking, Wi-Fi, and access to the expedition marina equipment (paddleboards, kayaks). Shore excursions are unbundled.
The dining program on Ilma and Luminara runs to eight venues: Memorī (signature Asian by chef Drew Deckman), Talaat Nam (Asian small plates), S.E.A. (seafood, by Eric Ripert), Beach House (Ripert’s deck venue, Luminara only), Ocean View (main dining), Mistral (Mediterranean small plates), the Living Room (lounge dining), and the Marina Grill (deck casual). Evrima’s smaller footprint reduces the venue count to six. The Ripert relationship is the collection’s signature culinary anchor and reads consistently across the fleet.
Suite product is genuinely yacht-scale. Entry-level Terrace Suite on Ilma is 30 square metres including balcony. The Owner’s Suite is 110 square metres with a 30-square-metre veranda. The Loft Suites on the stern are 86 square metres on two levels.
Where the collection sits
For prospective guests choosing between Ritz-Carlton, Aman at Sea (2027), Four Seasons Yachts (2026), and the contemporary luxury-cruise lines (Silversea, Regent, Explora), the operative differences are:
Versus Aman at Sea (when she delivers in 2027): Ritz-Carlton has the operational track record now; Aman will not for at least eighteen months after delivery. Aman’s per-night rates are projected meaningfully higher (USD 7,000-8,000 entry tier versus Ritz-Carlton’s USD 1,400 entry tier).
Versus Four Seasons Yachts: Four Seasons I entered service in March 2026 with 95 suites for 190 guests — meaningfully smaller and more intimate than Ilma or Luminara, comparable to Evrima. The Four Seasons service register is different but recognisably hotel-translated to ship.
Versus Silversea Nova-class: comparable on suite product, less inclusive (Silversea includes one excursion per port), different service register. The Nova hulls are larger.
For the 2026 booking decision: Ilma in the Mediterranean is the highest-confidence pick; Evrima in the Greek isles is the most intimate experience; Luminara in Asia is the most distinctive itinerary but the least-proven on-board product (early days).
Standing Questions
- Who actually owns and operates the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection?
- It is operated under license by Spanish company Cruise Saudi-backed Lyrah, with Ritz-Carlton (a Marriott International luxury brand) providing the brand, service standards and hospitality operations. Marriott does not own the hulls. The ships were ordered by predecessor parent Oaktree-backed Douglas Prothero and have moved through ownership changes since; the current debt structure was refinanced in early 2026.
- What is the difference between the three yachts?
- Evrima (190 metres LOA, 25,000 GT, 149 suites, 298 guests) is the smallest, oldest and most intimate — closest to a private superyacht in feel. Ilma (241 metres LOA, 47,000 GT, 224 suites, 448 guests) is meaningfully larger with an expanded marina and more public-deck programming. Luminara (same dimensions as Ilma, 226 suites, 452 guests) is the most recently delivered and has the largest suites and most expansive deck areas. All three are technically yacht-rated rather than cruise-ship-rated.
- Where does each ship sail in 2026?
- Evrima: Greek isles, Croatia and the Adriatic for the summer 2026 season. Ilma: Caribbean for the winter 2025-26, then Mediterranean for summer 2026 including French Riviera and Italian coast itineraries. Luminara: Asia — Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines — through summer 2026, transitioning to the Mediterranean for the autumn.
- What does a booking actually cost?
- A seven-night Mediterranean voyage on Ilma in September 2026, entry-level Terrace Suite, books at approximately USD 9,800 per person double. Evrima runs roughly 12 percent below Ilma on per-night rate for comparable cabins. Luminara prices comparable to Ilma. Owner's Suites on all three hulls exceed USD 35,000 per person on seven-night sailings.
- What is the Forbes Five-Star designation actually worth?
- The 2026 Star Awards introduced a yacht-specific category and awarded Ilma the inaugural Five-Star designation — the first time Forbes has rated a passenger vessel at Five Stars. The methodology requires the same standards Forbes applies to hotels: service consistency, quality of physical product, dining quality, and guest-experience signature moments. Forbes does not publish point scores but the designation places Ilma in the top tier of any Forbes-rated property worldwide.
