Four Seasons rewrites the very concept of luxury travel. The prestigious hotel chain’s new proposal harks back to the golden age of rail transportation-when the Orient Express revolutionized the canons of travel by transforming it into a unique journey-translating the concept to the sea.
The new horizon is called Four Seasons I, and it is the hotel chain’s first yacht that has defined contemporary luxury.
Four Seasons yacht: a revolutionary project
The project was born in 2019 and involves three key players: Fincantieri, which handled the construction; Tillberg Design of Sweden (TDoS), which signed the aesthetic identity; and Foreship, a Finnish company of the RINA group, which instead handled the engineering side. This leading excellence trident was called upon to reconcile aesthetics and safety in an ambitious design. Foreship recounts that the task was “to transform an ambitious aesthetic vision into a concrete and safe nautical reality,” especially with regard to never-before-experienced innovative elements such as the spectacular funnel suite spread over four decks, a glassy, curved volume that required almost surgical precision work.
TDoS, for its part, revealed the initial brief: “Christina O meets James Bond”, an image that tells of classic glamour, vintage yacht proportions, but with the transparency and theatricality of contemporary architecture. The result is an object that seems suspended between past and future, with full-height glazing, nearly 360 degrees of transparency, and a silhouette that recalls the great yachts of the 20th century while remaining radically modern.
On board, the feeling is that of entering a parallel world. Le 95 suite, all with sea views, are designed as private residences: ocean-facing beds, deep terraces, materials such as anigré, parquet, Brazilian quartzite, and thatched marqueterie. The suites are equipped with a private veranda, walk-in closet, double sinks, bathtub and shower, a Four Seasons bed, and even a transparent Bang & Olufsen television designed not to interrupt the sea view, the real protagonist.
Four Seasons yacht: the gastronomic proposal
Curating the food and wine offering for the sea debut was Christian Le Squer, three Michelin stars at the Four Seasons George V in Paris, who served a sea bass line-caught with truffle and potatoes and a caramelized onion tartlet with Parmesan ice cream, among others. All accompanied by iconic bottles, including a Château d’Yquem 2019 served with a saffron dessert. The experience is not a one-time affair, as the yacht hosts a chef-in-residence program from the world’s top Four Seasons hotels.
Wellness is equally central: La Mer treatments, cryotherapy, sauna, a custom “sandstone” colored Technogym fitness area, sunrise yoga on deck. Here, too, everything is designed to make you forget that you are on a ship.
Four Seasons is attracting an audience that until now had always avoided ships. Ritz-Carlton already has three yachts, Aman will launch its own in 2027, but Four Seasons seems to have found a unique formula: one that combines absolute privacy to cinematic aesthetics.
Four Seasons yacht: scheduled routes
The routes confirm this ambition. The 2026-2028 calendar is an atlas of desires: Mediterranean in summer, Caribbean and Bahamas in winter, 130 destinations in more than 30 countries. And the prices tell a lot about the positioning.
Among the more affordable options-as affordable as such an experience can be-is the Lesser Antilles 3-night trip, from Philipsburg to St. John’s, with prices starting at. $12,200 per suite. It is the ideal gateway for those who want to try the concept without committing to a full week. Another surprisingly low-budget proposal is the Grand Atlantic featuring from 8 nights, from Las Palmas to Philipsburg, which starts at $18,000.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are routes that are more challenging on the economic front. The Istrian Riviera from 7 nights, from Dubrovnik to Fusina, goes up to $60,600 per suite, while the Grand Mediterranean featuring Egypt from 14 nights, departing and returning to Athens, starts at $60,600 and is the longest and most immersive experience in the entire catalog.
In between, there are a series of routes that best tell the identity of the project. The Rivieras featuring Capri & Viareggio, 7 nights from Valletta to Monte Carlo starting at $31,600 per suite, is a concentration of Mediterranean glamour. The Greek Isles featuring Mykonos & Göcek, 7 nights from Istanbul to Athens starting at $26,300, unites worlds and cultures in a journey that seems written by a filmmaker. And the Costa Rica featuring Papagayo & Bahia Golfito, 7 nights starting at $22,900 per suite, takes the concept of luxury to wilder territories, including forests, bays and tropical wildlife.
The Four Seasons I offers what no other seaside product can deliver by expertly combining privacy and impeccable aesthetics. It is an experience that, like the Orient Express, turns travel into a ritual. It is not about getting from A to B, but about experiencing everything that happens in between.
