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.
Both the Y95 and X95 share the same hull and the same 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’.
While the X95 is notable for its enclosed skylounge fronted by a reverse windscreen, the Y95 has an open flybridge and a raised pilothouse with a traditionally 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 can be either a garage or, as in the case of the Singapore hull, a covered beach club containing an angular sofa and a table facing a wet bar topped by a fitted TV.
External stairways lead to the large aft cockpit, which can also be accessed by a remote-controlled 5m-long, telescopic passarelle. The cockpit is fitted with a wide, forward-facing C-shaped sofa and offers owners the choice of a large teak dining table or a coffee table and loose chairs. Other options include two styles of wet bar 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.
The area covered by the hard top is dominated by a dining table with room for 10 chairs, although another option for the starboard side is a fixed C-shaped sofa and a foldable table. To port is an elegantly designed wet bar featuring a sink, hob, electric barbecue and drawer refrigerator, while guests can park themselves on a couple of bar stools.
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. Starboard stairs lead down to the guest lobby on the main deck.
Interior Comfort
Typically, though, guests will enter the interior from the aft cockpit. Immediately notable for large windows and typically exquisite Princess joinery in oak, with walnut as an option, the large lounge can be laid out with a large L-shaped or C-shaped sofa to port and either a facing sofa or long cabinet to starboard. Entertainment is provided by a retractable 65in 4K UHD LED TV and a Naim audio system.
Forward is a large, oblong table offering dining for 10. 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.
Making the most of a widebody design in the forward third of the yacht, the master starts with an entrance flanked by two hanging cupboards before a long, curved sofa and a coffee table, although the starboard side can otherwise include a couple of loose chairs or built-in furniture.
Each side of the bedroom has a massive one-piece window, with the port side offering a nice view from a vanity desk integrated into a long cabinet with drawers.
The bed is placed centrally and faces forward to a TV on a bulkhead flanked by two doors; portside to a walk-in dressing room and starboard to a twin-sink bathroom with a shower and an enclosed toilet. All guest bathroom floors are offered in marble, granite or quartz.
The four guest cabins on the lower deck are led by an impressive full-beam VIP midships, where the bedroom area is much like the master suite except the integrated cabinet is to starboard and the furniture options are to port. Both the twin-sink bathroom and walk-in wardrobe are similar to those in the master but are located aft, offering a buffer between the bed and engine room.
Forward on either side of the lobby are mirror guest cabins, each with a hanging cupboard and en-suite bathroom forward. The bow cabin has an aft-facing bed and, compared to the two identical guest cabins, a larger bathroom and more storage space, plus a vanity table.
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
This article was first published on yachtstyle.co
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