Today
Between 1997 and 2008 there was a massive growth in the number, size, and popularity of large private or Super luxury yachts. This was in the 24 to 70 meter size range. Luxury yachts, megayachts, or superyachts typically have no real home port as such, although a yacht must be registered in a port of the country to which flag state it is registered in. Popular flag state registrars for large yachts are Cayman Islands, Marshall Islands, Isle of Man, British Virgin Islands among others. (Many times the yacht will have never been to these ports.) They are particularly bountiful in the Mediterranean in summer and the Caribbean Sea in winter. Many can be chartered (rented) for sums of up to 1 million Euro for a week. There may be up to 1500 Large yachts available to Charter in a season in the Mediterranean. (Yachts that go back and forth between the Caribbean and Mediterranean in the winter and summer are said to be doing the Milk Run.) The arrival of large commercial ships that have been specially outfitted to take multiple Large yachts across the Atlantic ocean have created a much larger Charter market in the Caribbean than ever before. Yachts will dock in a port of choosing while the crew does maintenance work and waits for owners or guests to arrive. The vessels then will do short cruises with the owners and/or guests aboard. Typical destinations in Spain and the French and Italian Rivieras include Cannes, Antibes, St. Tropez, Monte Carlo, Portofino, Porto Cervo, Puerto Banús, Puerto Portals and Palma, Majorca, although increasingly luxury yachts are cruising in more remote areas of the world. Antigua is one of the main ports in the Windward Islands of the Caribbean] and hosts a Charter Show at the beginning of the winter season.
While the demand for new luxury yachts has slowed somewhat since 2009, 2011 has seen a small rebound with launches from many of the top yards. The latest launch, M/Y Eclipse, built by Blohm + Voss for Russian businessman Roman Abramovich is the largest yacht in the world., though by 2014 it will be outranked by a project measuring more than 590 feet (180 meters) that is under construction at Lurssen. Luxury boat building and yacht charter companies are predominantly based in the United States and Western Europe but are also increasingly found in New Zealand, Asia and Eastern Europe.
Read more about this topic: Luxury Yacht
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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