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What, exactly, can you get if you're willing to spend $1 million for a single week's vacation? There's always the top few floors at a Parisian hotel (with a team of private butlers, of course), or the super suite at Atlantis Resort & Casino in the Bahamas (with plenty of gambling chips included in the budget), but they've been done to death, don't you think? Indeed, if you're going to drop the GDP of a small country on a single week's holiday, you should be able to experience something exquisitely exciting, something rarefied and unique—say, the world's newest, biggest and most expensive luxury charter yacht.
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Alysia , launched in September by the Greek yachting mogul Andreas Liveras, is the stunning new 280-foot sistership to Annaliesse , which has been dropping jaws in the Mediterranean and Caribbean since she splashed in 2004.
Alysia will charter for the same base rate that Annaliesse has been garnering during the past year: 661,500 euros a week, or about $820,000 at presstime. |
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Add to that the additional charter fees for food, beverages, dockage, filling the yacht's nearly 250,000-gallon fuel tanks, and tipping the 34 crew members who attend to your private party of 36 guests, and you'll easily spend a million bucks without even entering a single Lalique boutique on St. Thomas.
The master suite aboard Alysia is decadent, at more than 1,300 square feet with 180-degree panoramic windows for watching the world go by as you cruise (that is, if you want to remain in the California king-size bed instead of venturing out onto your own private deck for a cup of white-glove delivered coffee in the morning). The bathroom in this suite is done entirely in white Afion marble with a jacuzzi tub for two amid the separate his-and-her amenities. |
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And, just to ensure you feel entirely at peace, your bodyguard can be comfortably housed in the adjacent twin cabin. You and your guests can use the elevator to explore the five guest decks aboard, which include a sundeck with barbecue, bar, and eight-person jacuzzi, as well as a main deck saloon featuring a grand piano and lusciously plump sofas for congregating over conversation. Truth be told, though, most of your guests will probably make a mad dash for the lower deck, whose entire midsection is devoted to a spa |
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It includes a gymnasium with the latest workout equipment, a day nursery for the little ones, a beauty salon for hair and nails, a massage room, separate facial treatment and hydrotherapy suites, a main spa area with another large Jacuzzi, a mud bath suite, and his-and-her saunas and steam rooms. |
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Depending on your mood after an afternoon of beautifying your body, you can choose to have the crew set up a formal seven-course dinner on the main deck, inside the dining room at the twin oval tables that seat eighteen guests apiece, or you can request, say, a Caribbean-themed steel-drum affair up on the bridge deck, whose open-air aft section also has twin tables that seat all 36 guests. |
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It's a lovely spot to share stories and linger, letting the breeze cool you as the sun sets in a secluded harbor. You should have plenty of wine no matter how late you choose to imbibe, as Alysia 's climate-controlled cellar holds more than 500 bottles. |
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By day, of course, you'll want to enjoy all the toys Alysia offers. For your guests who enjoy the outdoors, there's the top-deck helicopter pad (it's BYOH for sightseeing, though), a pair of 25-foot dayboats for fishing, scuba diving or simply cruising around, a 12-foot tender that's great for water skiing or wakeboarding, four Wave Runners, a Laser sailing dinghy, kayaks, wind surfers, 15 sets of scuba gear—including three underwater cameras—for adults (and three sets of gear for children), and a pair of scuba scooters for going deep under power. |
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If you've got friends who prefer to sit inside the yacht's air-conditioned lounging rooms, they can enjoy watching movies on the cinema's 100-inch screen with overhead projection and surround sound systems, or perhaps sharing drinks and playing poker in the bridge deck's bar and gaming area. |
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Alysia 's maximum speed is 18 knots, meaning you can easily show her off by arriving at a few different islands during your weeklong vacation—say the prime see-and-be-seen marinas on Sint Maarten, Anguilla and St. Barthelemy, or across the pond in Antibes , Cannes and St. Tropez. |
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Alysia will no doubt be plying the world's waters along with Annaliesse for many years to come, but as this is her inaugural cruising season, she's currently the hot yacht to charter.
Better book now. That $1 million-a-week price tag surely won't last long.
Written By Kim Kavin, editor of www.CharterWave.com |
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