The 149-suite ship "Evrima" from The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, which has six dining establishments, six bars, and a tonne of extravagant hotel amenities, has just returned from its first Mediterranean journey. This is what life is like on board.

Doug Prothero, CEO, and founder of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection explains that one of the best things about yachting is that you always have complete control, whether you're docked or at anchor. The yachting lifestyle is one where we may "create stuff up as we go along."

On the third deck of the brand-new Evrima, we are enjoying iced tea at the Marina, an indoor-outdoor establishment perched 10 feet over the lake. The boat is docked in Alcudia Bay, off the northeastern coast of Mallorca, Spain, and is given its name from the Greek word for "discovery." Prothero refers to the area, which is dotted with sun loungers, as "the beach," as there are stairs that lead to a platform from which visitors can jump right into the water.

He is describing how the itineraries on Evrima are organized by The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, a new joint venture run by Marriott International, the owner of Ritz-Carlton, and Prothero's marine investment firm, The Yacht Portfolio. Every all-inclusive voyage (with five-, seven-, ten-, and twelve-night itineraries) spends at least two days at anchor, giving passengers the option to stay at sea and relax or take a small tender boat to the closest port, in this case, Alcudia, Spain, where some tourists visited the Old Town and one group of golfers even went ashore for a 7 a.m. tee time.

The resort will be relocated, declares Prothero. There will never be a Ritz-Carlton in this location. But it does at the moment.

How the Ritz-Carlton Yach Collection is reinventing the cruise game https://t.co/N7qhFQix2S pic.twitter.com/SOiaHgzsOr CNTraveler

— Life On Autopilot (@LifeOnAutoPilot) March 15, 2018

The previous evening, on October 14, we departed from Barcelona Cruise Port for Evrima's eagerly anticipated maiden voyage. With 220 guests, a small group of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection corporate staff, 245 Ritz-Carlton ladies and gentlemen (as the brand refers to those working on board), 1,800 bottles of Moet & Chandon, and one Travel + Leisure editor, we set sail from Barcelona (me). Some visitors had reserved the initial inaugural voyage, scheduled for February 5, 2020, and had been anticipating this day for three years. Due to a shipyard bankruptcy, a pandemic, and other supply chain delays, it had to be delayed eight times. Yes, I did see passengers who had repeatedly changed their travel plans; one of them showed me eight confirmation emails as we sipped martinis in the Observation Lounge on deck 10.

The honeymooners who booked this trip in January 2022 because it left exactly a week after their wedding didn't know there were delays, nor did the woman in her 30s who I accompanied on a four-hour shore excursion filled with tapas and insights into Palma, Mallorca's Gothic architecture, nor the woman whose husband had surprised her with a 50th birthday celebration aboard the Ritz-Carlton yacht she kept sending him art.

Everyone stopped worrying about the ups and downs leading up to our voyage once the ship departed Barcelona. We concentrated on our destination. On Evrima, it was Saturday night.

With Jacqueline Barney, vice president of global marketing for The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, I was headed to the Evrima Room, the fourth-deck main dining room that serves three meals every day. I choose the charred octopus, heirloom tomato risotto, and a lemon tart adorned with little meringues and sugar-spun decorations. All the fish and seafood served on board are procured locally from ports every three days. On the 623-foot-long Evrima, there are five additional eating options in addition to 24-hour in-room dining: The Sven Elverfeld Afloat restaurant, named S.E.A., is modeled after the chef's three-star Michelin restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton, Wolfsburg, Germany, and is located on deck six. Talaat Nam is an indoor-outdoor southeast Asian restaurant that is physically wrapped around S.E.A., and Mistral is an outdoor Mediterranean restaurant, located on deck eight. I asked about 20 ladies and guys which restaurant they preferred, and Mistral came out on top. One of the six pools on board, the pool in the middle of Mistral serves as the venue's main point (besides the sea, which Prothero jokes are the largest pool). Except for the carefully curated 120-bottle reserve wine list, a selection of premium spirits, and the seven-course tasting menu at S.E.A., which starts at $285 with wine pairings, all food and beverages are included in the sail price.

By 10:30 p.m., we left the Evrima Room to find out where people were hanging out. We started by going to the fourth-deck Living Room, where a jazz trio was warming up. Local artists will often swap in, and there are six musicians on board, plus a DJ. Currently, they perform in a variety of settings, such as a jazz trio and a pop group. Most of them, according to guitarist Craig Stuart, had never met before meeting in Santander, Spain, where the ship was being constructed, in July to rehearse for a month.

On board, there are six restaurants and six bars, so almost every area seems bustling without being overcrowded. We moved from the Living Room to deck 10, where the snug Humidor, a 404-square-foot space furnished with a The Macallan cart, Davidoff cigars, and a variety of reserve-list whiskies, was, I'm sorry, poppin' off.

People gathered around as the bartender, OJ, who developed a devoted following during our time on Evrima, strained my Negroni into a coupe, covered it with glass, and pumped in smoke, purely for the spectacle — and to add a smoky je ne sais quoi to my nightcap. The Observation Lounge had a similar energy. Even the Spa Terrace on the ninth deck, one of Prothero's favorite areas because "you can see the front of the ship when we're moving, so the vista is great," had a sparse population in the whirlpool. The following morning, I returned for a deep-tissue massage in one of the five treatment rooms and a luxurious siesta in the indoor-outdoor relaxation area. I didn't spend much time on the Spa Terrace, but I did return.
I spent the night on my private balcony, covered in a Frette robe and mesmerized by the rhythmic foaming and curling of the waves of the Balearic Sea against the ship. My 429-square-foot Signature Suite had plenty of room to spread out, including a sitting area, a dining table, a king-size bed, a full tub, and a double vanity in the bathroom. From the entry-level Terrace Suites to the 1,000-square-foot Owner's Suite with a private whirlpool, there are various room options available. The 149 guest rooms all have their own balconies. The Owner's and View Suites, which make up six rooms, are still being finished, so for the time being, the two-story Lofts, with 81-square-foot terraces, are the best accommodations available on board.

Each suite has a personal concierge, but I rarely used mine because I had daily schedules made (and placed on The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection app) that included things to do on the boat, such as sunset stretching and meditation on deck nine. In spite of this, their remarkable knowledge really impressed me when I met concierges, cooks, the two-person wine crew (pro tip: always befriend the somms), and experts in shore excursions. Theo Lakkas, a food-and-beverage manager who opened Budapest's Matild Palace, a Luxury Collection, and I discussed the industry of luxury hotels. From Stephen Starr's team, executive chef John Suley entered the discourse and skillfully inserted a line from "The Wolf of Wall Street." I learned about head sommelier Sebastian Pacheco's plans for the reserve wine list; he wants to add to the already extensive variety by purchasing a highly sought-after case from each port city. The last time I went to the Napa Valley vineyard in 2019, he was working there. He was from Francis Ford Coppola's Inglenook in Rutherford, California.

Rafaella Vitale, a London-based art advisor with Sotheby's training, is enthused over the private excursions she's already organized with guests and the mini-auctions she'll organize for each voyage. I sipped Ruinart sparkling rosé from the bottle the three of us were sharing while I watched Pacheco and Vitale bounce ideas off each other for art-and-wine events they could put on during a forthcoming transatlantic journey. After Evrima's christening on November 5, the transatlantic cruise will depart from Lisbon, travel to Tenerife, Spain, spend seven days at sea, and then arrive in Bridgetown, Barbados. For the transatlantic and Caribbean voyages, Vitale will have Lynn Perotti, the Bahamian artist behind the ship's forthcoming rotating art show, on board.

Over cappuccinos with Mark Lockwood, senior vice president of cruise hotel operations—who, incidentally, was present the first time I saw Evrima and witnessed my remarkably cool reaction—I shared my findings regarding who founded the renowned Mandarin Oriental hotel in London and whether they were from (now-defunct) Crystal Cruises or Seabourn. He informed me that they looked through 41,000 applications before bringing on board the 245 women and men (doing the math, we get that 0.59% of those applicants currently work for Evrima). About half of those 245 are from the world of high-end cruising, while the other half are from the field of luxury hotels. That is how a hotel concept is introduced to the sea.

Prothero emphasizes that the hotel industry is significantly dissimilar from the cruise industry. "We spent more than a year and a half just finding out how the formula needed to change."

As if the traditional light-blue Ritz-Carlton key cards, Frette robes, Diptyque bath products, and signature oils in the spa used at each of the 103 Ritz-Carlton hotels worldwide weren't already clear enough that this vessel is, in fact, a luxury hotel at sea, the most obvious sign came on our second evening. Anthony Capuano, CEO of Marriott, who zoomed in for the event, said that the ship hosted the "first-ever Marriott Bonvoy member celebration at sea." Much like it would on land, The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection participates in the Bonvoy program. An initial redemption of 180,000 points saves you $1,000, and you may then keep redeeming at a clip of 90,000 points for each $500 of savings. Guests can earn five points for every $1 of their cruise fee, and they can redeem points, however, there are some restrictions.

After making the transatlantic journey, Evrima will spend five months in the Caribbean, stopping in picturesque ports in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Barbados, and other islands. The yacht will then make its way back across the Atlantic to the Med in mid-April. The majority of 2022 trips have already been reserved, and at the time of publication, 2023 excursions are around 60% booked. High demand is not a concern, though, since The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection is building two additional ships, Ilma and Luminara, each with a 456-passenger capacity, which will debut in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

While Ritz-Carlton is now the first upscale hotel chain to operate a ship of this size, Four Seasons and Aman are both building ships of comparable sizes. The same Swedish firm that developed Evrima, Tillberg, has just announced that a 679-foot, the 95-cabin yacht will be arriving in 2025. It will experience Mediterranean summers and Caribbean winters, similar to Evrim. Aman and Cruise Saudi will work together to construct a 50-suite yacht that will tour the Middle East in 2025.

Halfway through the seven-night first voyage, which came to an end on October 22 in Nice, France, I disembarked in Mallorca. The Marina, which is only accessible when the ship is at anchor and loaded with floating platforms and a variety of water toys like paddleboards, sailboats, kayaks, and snorkeling equipment, opened up when Evrima anchored off the coast of St. Tropez. It's called yacht FOMO, OK? So, during my layover in London, I texted Barney to ask for images of the Evrima anchored off St. Tropez. I could already envision how my morning would go on board: espresso on my balcony, perhaps a mimosa at the Marina, and a soak in the whirlpool on the ninth deck. For the day, I would move leisurely, land whenever I chose, and most likely make things up as I went. I've heard that's what living on a yacht is all about.