Dust in Your Agatha Christie Novel: The Orient Express Brand is slated to launch in three years.
Paris-based Accor hotel group plans to launch the Orient Express brand’s superyacht division in spring 2026 with the 722-foot Orient Express Silenseas. While the Orient Express brand is often associated with ultra-luxury mystery thanks to Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express”, the brand’s appeal to luxury travel extends beyond off-rails is increasing.
Accor worked on Orient Express Hotel in Rome and Venice and launched a train offer (not to be confused with Belmond’s existing Venice Simplon-Orient Express) in 2024. Both Orient Express hotels are also slated to open next year.
Brand expansion into cruises will pit Accor against Marriott’s The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collectionfinally set sail in October after years of delays.
Bloomberg First report from Accor on plans to launch Orient Express superyacht division. An Accor spokesperson declined to provide more details to TPG and said more information would be made available later this week.
According to Accor’s statement, the three-masted Orient Express Silenseas will be the largest superyacht in the world and is expected to launch with routes through the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Reservations is expected to go live next year.
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With 54 suites that can accommodate a total of 120 passengers, Silenseas will be a more intimate cruise setting than Ritz-Carlton’s 298-passenger superyacht Evrima. Accor CEO Sébastien Bazin told Bloomberg that due to fewer passengers, fares are expected to be more expensive in Silenseas.
Prices on Evrima during the first season averaged between $700 and $900 per person per night on Caribbean cruises and started at $1,100 per person per night in the Mediterranean, TPG reported back in October. .
The suites on board the Silenseas will average 750 square feet, and the six suites on the top deck can combine to form a 15,230-square-foot presidential suite with private patios.
The public areas will feature two pools, two restaurants, an oyster and speakeasy bar, a pub and a spa. With the eponymous brand, Silenseas is expected to feature extremely detailed builds and services. French architect Maxime d’Angeac, who has worked on Accor’s upcoming Orient Express train and Orient Express hotel in Rome, is also overseeing the superyacht’s interior design.
Accor promises to make the Orient Express superyacht a more sustainable option. Silenseas will not use diesel fuel and instead rely on a hybrid propulsion system that relies heavily on wind power. An engine will also run on liquefied natural gas.
Currently, Accor has plans for a second superyacht to launch around 2027.
