Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, reviewed honestly

Who Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection genuinely suits

Guests who want the Ritz-Carlton hotel standard genuinely translated to a small ship: relaxed, residential suite design, unhurried dining, and a pace built around jet-set harbours a big ship can't reach. The hotel branding does the job here, it sets exactly the right expectation for style and service.

When you'd be better off elsewhere

Anyone picturing a sprawling resort ship with big-stage entertainment and a wide choice of venues. These are genuinely small: Evrima carries 298 guests, Ilma and Luminara carry up to 452 to 456. A holiday here is closer to a boutique hotel than a cruise ship.

What the ships are actually like

Three ships now in service: Evrima (298 guests, delivered 2022), Ilma (up to 452 guests, delivered July 2024) and Luminara (up to 456 guests, delivered June 2025). All genuinely new, and all built around casual, unhurried luxury rather than production-style entertainment.

The reputation is three years out of date

If you have a vague sense that this line was a bit of a shambles, that is not unfair, and it is also no longer true. Evrima was due in November 2019 and did not sail until October 2022: a three-year wait across eight separate reschedulings, caused first by the Spanish shipyard's finances and then by the pandemic. Nothing drains the excitement out of a launch quite like that, and the early coverage never really recovered.

The fleet that exists now is a different story. Three ships, all genuinely new, Ilma delivered in 2024 and Luminara in 2025. The Ritz-Carlton name does what it is supposed to here: it tells you accurately what the style and the pace will be, which is a boutique hotel that happens to float rather than a resort trying to be everything.

Judge the fare against that and it makes sense. Judge it against a mega-ship with twelve venues and it never will.

Where Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection sits

Class

Ultra-Luxury, on our ladder from Mass Market through Ultra-Luxury.

A sample sailing

Ilma, 7 nights: Western Mediterranean, Rome to Barcelona, guide price from £7,500pp.

Where Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection boards in the UK

In the UK, Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection sails from Greenwich. Our guide covers who it suits, what actually sails and how to reach it.

Cruises from Greenwich

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See what Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection actually has available

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