1. Royal Eclipse P-100, UAE
Cost: $109 million
Expected delivery: April 2015
The world’s largest yacht at 263 feet long, she has space for a total of 90 guests and 92 crew members. Even the wardrobe has 46 outfits. Since May 2012, she has been moored in her homeport of Dubai, but it hasn’t taken long to suggest she will soon be moving. The 55,000-bottle wine cellar alone is worth around $10 million. If the architect’s original concept is followed, there will be seven floors.
This is a picture from 2012, and looks like the front inside the huge yacht Royal Eclipse. The yacht wasn’t expected to be seen in the UAE again for another three years. (Alon Solaiman)
2. Wester B, Netherlands
Cost: $118 million
Expected delivery: April 2015
The 12,500-ton, 256-meter vessel currently boasts the world’s longest aqueduct system to allow gas to be transported by ship. In summer 2015, it will set sail for the Caribbean and New York. A nine-meter-wide glass ball, made of metal plates and covered in reverse laser-etched diamonds, will form the central part of the interior. A mini-space station will have giant lab doors allowing scientists to conduct research on outer space weather. Other scientific stations, including optical observation posts and full kitchens, are designed to put working astronauts at each other’s throats.
3. Dawn, France
Cost: $122 million
Expected delivery: Autumn 2015
First seen in July 2014, the massive 316-meter Dawn sets the Guinness Book of World Records, after joining 25 others to be the world’s longest private vessel. The dome and forest of trees in the middle of the boat is designed to evoke the moon and the sun, as seen through windows. Designed by French artist Méridien Lanvin, the exterior will feature a glowing field of potted plants, decorating the decks. On the lower deck there will be an area for 52 astronauts to live and work comfortably for between 30 and 35 days.
This also an exterior view of Dawn from 2014. Its main hull is 334 meters long. (Despicadur, Adrian / Bill Greenberg)
4. Mark Tooley, US
Cost: $114 million
Expected delivery: 2015
The Mark Tooley is said to have cost as much as the Space Shuttle Enterprise when it was delivered to the New York Port of Astoria in 1981, $11 million, and, according to Tooley, will cost almost the same when delivered. As with the Voyager space probe, the Mark Tooley will join the moon and Mars fleets. The 66,063-ton vessel is 106 meters long, 8 meters high and has a forward quartering. The masts alone are twice the length of an American football field, and at 1,100 tons the Mark Tooley will weigh the same as the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise when it is built. This is a picture from 2013. (Despicadur, Adrian / Bill Greenberg)
5. VS-M, Croatia
Cost: $120 million
Expected delivery: Spring 2015
It’s the largest ferry-ship ever built, measuring 174 meters (545 feet) long. When it’s not sailing around the region, the passenger ship is used to transport carriages and cargo between Serbia and Montenegro. It’s being constructed in Dubrovnik by Finnish builder Fincantieri. Using bio-mass to insulate the hull, it should keep its carbon dioxide emissions to less than 65 tons per annum, according to the shipyard.
This is a pre-painted artist impression of the VS-M. (Despicadur, Adrian / Bill Greenberg)
6. MT-A-51; 360-foot/200-meter long yacht at Port Link anchored at the Severn Estuary, UK,
Cost: $120 million
Expected delivery: September 2015
Built as a luxury fishing vessel, it was converted into a 150-meter long superyacht. The 270-ton aluminium mast, sailed on barges, was transported to the dock at the Severn Estuary, where it’s moored and awaiting the next task: the construction of the house, which is bejeweled with more than 1,500 diamonds.
This article was written by Alexandra Bergman and ran on US editors at the Huffington Post and was kindly shared by Verne Gay