When Boat Lagoon Yachting staged the Asia premiere of the Princess Y95 at Singapore’s ONE°15 Marina Sentosa Cove, it was highlighting only the start of the superyacht’s story in Southeast Asia. Another hull was delivered to Phuket in time to be the star of this year’s Thailand International Boat Show.
And there’s more to come, with Boat Lagoon Yachting also confirming a third order for a Y95, which will add to the 400-plus Princess yachts it has sold in Southeast Asia since the dealership was founded in 1994. In fact, some of the region’s growing family of Princess yacht owners were among the first to see the Y95 in local waters at its Asia premiere.
“The three Princess Y95s were purchased even before the model debuted in our region, which is why we were really thrilled to introduce it in Singapore,” says Vrit Yongsakul, Boat Lagoon Yachting’s founder and Group Managing Director “We’re very confident in the Southeast Asia market for luxury yachts in the 95ft category, as we’ve seen particularly high movement at the upper end of the market.”
Vrit’s confidence is well-founded. The three Y95 orders followed the dealer’s two sales of the X95, the yacht that pioneered a new generation for Princess as the British builder shelved its M Class of superyachts (30M, 35M, 40M) to make way at its South Yard in Plymouth for production of the two new 95 sister models.
The Y95 and X95 both share the same hull design and lower deck layout. On both, the interior of the main deck almost reaches the bow and contributes to the models’ extra-long flybridge or ‘superfly’.
The X95 features a closed skylounge with a reversed windscreen. Meanwhile, the Y95 offers an open flybridge as well as a raised Pilothouse that has a traditional raked windscreen. However, the flowing, forward-raked lines of the hard-top superstructure tip their hat to the aggressive styling of the X95, one of the shipyard’s first collaborations with Pininfarina.
The Italian styling studio continues to be part of the shipyard’s ‘triangle’ of design collaborators along with the Princess Design Studio and Olesinski, the builder’s long-time naval architecture partner based in Cowes. Pininfarina’s work is particularly evident on the Y95’s hull lines, which provide a flowing side profile and frame the largest hull windows ever installed in a Princess yacht.
Outdoor Fun
The Y95 starts aft with a conventional-looking swim platform, but it’s home to an enormous, 1,000kg-capacity transformer platform that can be used to deploy a 5m-plus tender and toys, or provide a wide stairway to the water or dock.
The transom may be a garage. Or, like the Singapore hull’s covered beach club, it can contain an angular couch and a small table that faces a wetbar with a television mounted on top.
External stairs lead to the large cockpit at the aft, which is also accessible by remote control via a 5m-long telescopic passerelle. The cockpit has a C shaped sofa that faces forward and a choice between a large dining table made of teak or a coffee and chairs. There are also two types of wet bar options in the forward port corner.
Stairs to port lead to the flybridge, which is among the yacht’s most impressive areas. The yacht in Singapore features a central jacuzzi by the stairs and there’s still plenty of space aft for chairs, sunbeds or even a tender if an owner wants to include a crane integrated into the flybridge superstructure.
On the starboard side, a fixed C shaped sofa with a foldable dining table is an option. A wet bar with a drawer refrigerator and electric barbecue is located to port.
Forward is a raised twin-seat, three-screen helm station to starboard that’s flanked to port by L shaped companion seating, a cosy area neighboured by doorways to two other zones.
Aft of the companion seating is a low door to a side passage that leads to the foredeck, which has integrated sunpads in front of the pilot house and a couple of steps down to a wide, sunken sofa that offers nice views over the bulwarks but otherwise feels part of the crew’s working area.
Meanwhile, a sliding companionway door by the upper helm leads down to the impressive main pilot house, where a central captain’s chair faces a five-screen console and is flanked by a chart table to starboard and a portside L-shaped sofa fitted with a sliding table. The main deck’s guest lobby is reached via stairs on the starboard side.
Interior Comfort
The interior is usually entered from the cockpit aft. The large lounge is immediately noticeable for its large windows, and exquisite joinery, which can be made in walnut or oak. It can also be configured with either a large C-shaped couch or L-shaped sofa at port, and a long cabinet or facing sofa at starboard. A retractable 65in UHD 4K LED TV and Naim audio system provide entertainment.
A large, oblong dining table is located forward. It can accommodate up to 10 people. Princess also offers this area with an L-shaped bar by the port door to the galley and a round dining table to starboard, where the hallway leads forward to the lower-deck stairs, day head and the full-beam owner’s suite.
The master can make the most of the widebody design by placing two hanging cabinets in front of a long curved sofa, and then a coffee-table. On the starboard side, you could also include some loose chairs or builtin furniture.
Each side of this bedroom features a large one-piece glass window. A vanity desk built into a cabinet with drawers on the port side offers a lovely view.
Portside is a walk-in wardrobe, and starboard is a bathroom with twin sinks and a enclosed toilet. All guest bathrooms are available in granite, quartz or marble.
The four lower deck guest cabins are led by a full-beam VIP in the middle. It is similar to the master suite, except that the integrated cabinet is on starboard while the furniture options are on port. Both the walk-in-wardrobe and twin-sink bath are similar to the ones in the master, but they are located aft. They provide a buffer from the engine room and the bed.
On either side of this lobby, there are two mirror-image guest cabins. Each has a hanging cabinet and an en suite bathroom. The bow cabin is the only one with an aft facing bed. It also has a larger bathroom, more storage, and a vanity desk compared to two identical guest rooms.
Meanwhile, the spacious crew area is just forward of the beach club and includes an en-suite captain’s cabin, bunk cabin and a shared bathroom.
The Journey Continues
The Y95 is an ideal yacht for long cruises around Southeast Asia and Boat Lagoon Yachting is ideally placed to support journeys between Singapore and Phuket, where the dealer has its head office and international-standard service facilities at Phuket Boat Lagoon.
It’s a trip the yacht can comfortably cover without refueling, as her twin 2,000mhp Man V12 engines and well over 13,000 liters of fuel give her a range of about 1,000nm at an economical cruising speed, although she can reach 22-24 knots if needed.
“Owners have idyllic sailing waters in Singapore, but with a large-capacity yacht like the Y95, they can easily cruise up to the beautiful Andaman Sea coast off Thailand and other destinations such as Phuket or Phang Nga Bay where the yachting conditions are perfect,” Vrit says.
The first Y95 in Southeast Asia is a big, beautiful and powerful Princess, yet she’s just the start of a story with at least another two chapters.
www.boatlagoonyachting.com
www.princessyachts.com
The original version of this article appeared on yachtstyle.co
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