RITZ CARLTON COMPANY ANNOUNCES FIRST PAIR OF CRUISE SHIPS

The prestingious Ritz Carlton hotel company is making waves after announcing it's first tentative foray into the cruise business. The chain has announced a plan for two new super luxury yachts, later to be followed by a third, and all built to a similar design. These vessels are set to debut in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively.

And for sure, the specifications are impressive enough. Just 298 passengers will be accommodated in 149 all balcony suites. All restaurants will be bespoke, open seating venues, and there is no plan for a buffet venue of any kind on board. The ships will feature an aft facing infinity pool, a marina complete with kayaks and other sailing toys, and a helicopter pad.

The initial artists renderings show a sleek, black hulled vessel, ideal for the seven to ten night Mediterranean and Caribbean itineraries that Ritz Carlton is looking to offer. With a great brand name behind them, this formidable trio of luxury super yachts will offer some serious competition to the likes of Crystal and Seadream in particular, and may well make the entire luxury industry reconsider it's position on newbuilds.

Details of shipbuilding yards are to be announced next week. But, while Ritz Carlton is justly famed for its upscale, upmarket hotel chain, it will find that running a series of deluxe cruise yachts at sea can be a very different proposition, and actually quite a difficult transition. The company is quite obviously land minded in its business approach and rationale. And, as others have found in the past, that does not always translate to a smooth progression.

The Ritz Carlton cruise venture will need a strong, experienced managment team and, to be honest, it is difficult right now to see where that might come from. They will need key, well experienced staff in charge of the hotel department and food and beverage departments and, again, I have to wonder where the requisite experienced people will be drawn from. Getting those absolute cornerstones in place and working fundamentally is absolutley key to any company, and even more so to a deluxe operation. For such a prestigious brand, it has to be right from the very start.

Still, none of these are insurmountable problems, and no doubt Ritz Carlton will conduct due diligence on the salient maritime aspects of what sounds like a very exciting proposition. It looks as if the luxury market is about to gain a little more lustre, and that's no bad thing in the end.