My mom has a boat — it’s a little boat meant for fishing and cruising around Long Island bays. One can sun oneself on the bow and then slide into the water when the sun’s rays get a smidge too hot. All in all, it’s a seaworthy vessel with few affectations. Even though it has an inner cabin, I wouldn’t want to spend the night. The lack of a commode puts me off.

Given the chance, however, I’d certainly take a yachting holiday…just like Prince Charles and Camilla are doing right about now. On their official tour of the Caribbean, they’re traveling aboard one Sir Donald Gosling’s £50 million “superyacht” Leander. According to the Daily Mail, they’ll have a crew of twenty-four hands, two master bedrooms to choose from, a twenty seat dining room, a pool, a gym, and a helipad for those unexpected drop-in visitors.

But is it nice? Eh, I think the innards of the aforementioned superyacht resemble a hotel rather than a home. A good yacht, in my humble opinion, ought to look stately in a subdued way, and being that a yacht is a traveling vessel, it should be comfortable without being fussy.

The picture quality isn’t fantastic — consider that a warning — but the room seems rather resortish to me. I would have gone with clean lines with plenty of whites and blues…predictable, yes, but I’ve always thought boat interiors deserve to look boatish. What’s the fun in waking up in your superyacht if it just look like any old room?

(more…)