12 EYEBROW from both the hospitality sector at Accor and from the luxury world for our partners at LVMH, the main challenge was tackling the subtleties that differentiate luxury sailing yacht from a hotel. There are the regulations, the operation of the crew, the time at sea – we had to find the right way to balance what we knew about hospitality on land and the constraints you face on a ship. But we did overcome them by finding the right partners with the right skills, because at the end of the day, everything is done as part of a team.” The pressure only intensified, however, once the brand launched and officially ordered its first ship – Orient Express Corinthian. “When you mature a project, you suddenly realise that you have a ship that needs to be delivered in three years,” explains Vautier. “You need to think about itineraries, excursions and partners. There’s a deadline, and when you don’t have that inertia from an existing brand with all the contacts already in place, you have to work very fast. Delivering on that required us to focus the right energy in the right places but we were able to overcome challenges thanks to our small, but very efficient, team.” The debut of Orient Express Corinthian is now drawing close after the many years of development. Reservations for the first sailings opened in March 2025 and the maiden voyage is scheduled for June 2026. The vessel will be the world’s largest sailing yacht, measuring 220 metres in length. But the cruise line aims to capture the feeling of being onboard an exclusive, luxury yacht. “We want guests to feel the emotion of being onboard a sailboat and to discover the energy of that experience,” says Vautier. The yacht will feature one immediately noticeable innovation – vast sails. Vautier has been involved in designing the sails since 2014 while working as a naval architect for shipbuilder Chantiers de l’Atlantique. “Size is key,” explains Vautier. “Orient Express Corinthian isn’t your typical KEYNOTE Photo: Macha Kontchakova - Frontline Studio Orient Express Corinthian is being built at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in France
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