In the hotel-branded yacht race, the four major players have each chosen a different language. Ritz-Carlton went for scale and operational depth. Four Seasons went for residential intimacy and a Christina O silhouette. Orient Express went for sailing romance and Maxime d’Angeac interiors. Aman, true to character, has gone for silence.
The brand’s first yacht — a 183-metre vessel currently in build at T. Mariotti’s facility in Italy, designed by the Dutch yacht studio Sinot — is the quietest project in the segment. Few photographs have been released. Itinerary details remain undisclosed. The yacht does not yet have a confirmed name, though the working title Project Sama (meaning “tranquillity” in Sanskrit) has appeared in the brand’s communications. Delivery is now expected in 2027, two years later than the original 2025 target.
This restraint is wholly consistent. Aman has built thirty-plus properties since Amanpuri opened in Phuket in 1988, and the brand has never in its history communicated about an opening before it was ready. The yacht is being treated the same way.
What is known
The vessel is a joint venture between Aman and Cruise Saudi, the cruise development arm of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The 183-metre length, 23,000 gross tonnes, and six-deck arrangement have been confirmed. So has the suite count: 50. This is roughly half the suite count of Four Seasons I (95) at a vessel that is 50 percent larger, which means the suites themselves average around 100 square metres — among the most generous in the entire luxury cruise market.
T. Mariotti is the shipbuilder, in joint venture with Neptune. The vessel is the yard’s first dual-fuel newbuild. Interior and exterior are by Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design, the Dutch studio best known for the hydrogen-powered superyacht concept Aqua. Aman has committed to managing the entire process — design, build, operations — directly, which is unusual for a hotel-brand vessel and entirely typical for Aman.
The known onboard amenities include an Aman Spa with Japanese garden, an informal all-day restaurant, additional international dining concepts, a club and lounge, two helipads, and an expansive beach club aft offering direct water access. Each of the 50 suites has a private balcony.
What Aman has not yet shared publicly: the name, the precise launch date, the itineraries, the pricing, or virtually any visual material. The brand has a clearly stated reason for this — a yacht is not opened until it is ready, and Aman defines “ready” more strictly than most.
Why this matters
Aman’s positioning in the broader luxury landscape is unique. The brand commands, by some measures, the highest average daily rates in hospitality. Its existing properties — from Aman Tokyo to Amanyara to Amanjena — are widely regarded as the most exclusive in the world. The brand audience is not the same audience that books Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons. Some overlap, certainly, but Aman has cultivated a distinctly more discreet, design-led, and frequently more affluent traveller.
When that audience steps onto a yacht, the expectations are different. The 50 suites of Project Sama, at roughly 100 square metres each, are large by any cruise standard but reasonable by Aman’s land standards — the suites at Aman Tokyo or Amanpuri occupy similar volumes. The vessel will feel, to a guest who knows the brand, like a logical extension of the land properties rather than a different category of experience.
Vladislav Doronin, Aman’s chairman and CEO, has been explicit about the ambition. The brand is not entering the cruise market. It is, in his stated language, “creating a whole new category in on-the-water discovery.” Whether that distinction holds in practice is the question every Aman customer will assess when the yacht arrives.
What this signals about Saudi
The Cruise Saudi partnership is its own subject. Saudi Arabia has invested aggressively in cruise infrastructure as part of Vision 2030, and the Aman joint venture is the highest-profile single hospitality deal in the kingdom’s cruise programme. Aman has separately announced multiple Saudi land properties — in Riyadh, AlUla, and on the Red Sea. The yacht is part of the same strategic alignment: Aman becomes the brand for ultra-luxury experiences in Saudi territorial waters, with Cruise Saudi providing the operational and regulatory framework.
For travellers, the practical implication is that the yacht is likely to spend meaningful time in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, alongside more traditional Mediterranean itineraries. Aman has experience in regional Indonesian waters through its Phinisi sailing programme based out of Komodo, but Project Sama is an entirely different proposition.
When and what to expect
Delivery is scheduled for 2027. The official name will be announced closer to launch. The first season’s itineraries will be revealed when Aman judges they are ready to be revealed.
In an industry that has spent the last four years sprinting to launch ships, Aman has chosen the opposite cadence — and for the Aman customer, that is precisely the point.
Explore the brand on the official website.
Source of image: amanatsea.com
