Dust of your Agatha Christie novels: The Orient Express brand is slated to hit the seas in three years.
Paris-based hotel conglomerate Accor plans to launch a superyacht division of the Orient Express brand in spring 2026 with the 722-foot Orient Express Silenseas. While the Orient Express brand is often associated with ultra-luxurious mystery thanks to Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” its grip on luxury travel beyond the rails is on the rise.
Accor is already at work on Orient Express hotels in Rome and Venice and rolling out a train offering (not to be confused with Belmond’s existing Venice Simplon-Orient Express) in 2024. Both Orient Express hotels are also slated to open next year.
Expanding the brand into cruises would put Accor face to face with Marriott’s Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, which finally set sail in October after years of delays.
Bloomberg first reported Accor’s plan to launch an Orient Express superyacht division. An Accor spokesperson declined to provide additional details to TPG and said there would be further information provided later this week.
The three-masted Orient Express Silenseas would be the world’s largest sailing superyacht, Accor claims, and is expected to launch with routes traversing the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Reservations are expected to go live next year.
With 54 suites able to accommodate a total of 120 passengers, the Silenseas would be a more intimate cruise setting than Ritz-Carlton’s 298-passenger Evrima superyacht. Because of the smaller passenger count, expect rates to be more expensive on Silenseas, Accor CEO Sébastien Bazin told Bloomberg.
Rates on the Evrima during its first season average between $700 to $900 per person per night on Caribbean sailings and start at $1,100 per person per night in the Mediterranean, TPG reported back in October.
Suites aboard the Silenseas will average 750 square feet, and six suites on the top deck can combine to form a 15,230-square-foot presidential suite with a private terrace.
Public areas will feature two swimming pools, two restaurants, an oyster bar and speakeasy, a cabaret and a spa. Given its namesake brand, the Silenseas is expected to feature extremely detailed buildouts and service. French architect Maxime d’Angeac, who already works on Accor’s upcoming Orient Express train and Orient Express hotel in Rome, is also overseeing the interior design of the superyacht.
Accor promises to make the Orient Express superyacht a more sustainable option. The Silenseas will not use diesel fuel and instead rely on a hybrid propulsion system relying primarily on wind energy. An engine will also run on liquefied natural gas.
Already, Accor has plans for a second superyacht to debut sometime in 2027.
