Maltese Falcon Med Caribbean Cruises December 2025

Published on Dec 8, 2025, 6:51 pm CST

8 min read

Luxury hospitality group Jumeirah is moving its highest end guests from shore to sea by adding the iconic Maltese Falcon sailing yacht to its Jumeirah Prive collection, with Maltese Falcon Mediterranean Caribbean cruises scheduled to begin from Antigua in December 2025. The 88 meter, three mast Perini Navi yacht will sail as a 12 guest charter platform, linking classic Mediterranean yachting grounds in summer with Caribbean islands in winter under a Jumeirah branded service model. For ultra high net worth travelers and the advisors who plan their trips, the new product turns what has been a charter broker staple into an extension of an existing hotel relationship, with corresponding expectations on price, privacy and lead time.

In practical terms, the change is that Jumeirah Prive has taken one of the world's best known sailing superyachts and wrapped it in the same curated, invitation led framework it uses for Jumeirah Thanda Island and other ultra exclusive properties, creating a branded path into seven figure itineraries that span both the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.

What Jumeirah Is Launching

According to Jumeirah's own announcements and supporting trade coverage, Maltese Falcon will make its inaugural voyage under the Jumeirah Prive banner in December 2025, departing from Antigua in the eastern Caribbean. From there, the yacht will settle into a seasonal rhythm, with winters focused on Antigua, the Bahamas, Saint Martin and St Barth, and summers built around the Balearic Islands, the French Riviera and Monaco, Italy's Amalfi Coast and Sardinia, plus the coasts of Croatia, Montenegro, Greece and Turkiye.

Instead of selling individual cabins, the yacht is positioned squarely as a full charter experience for up to 12 guests, similar to the way Jumeirah Thanda Island is sold as a single key private island that sleeps up to 18 people. Jumeirah is promising to handle the onboard culinary program, wellness and spa offering and overall guest journey, layering its existing "warm Arabian hospitality" narrative on top of a vessel that already has a long track record in the charter market.

Background, Jumeirah Prive's Ultra Private Play

Jumeirah Prive is the group's answer to the top end of the private villa and island market, where buyers are not booking rooms or even multi bedroom suites, but entire properties. The collection launched around Jumeirah Thanda Island, a more than 12 acre private island in Tanzania's Shungimbili Island Marine Reserve that is sold on an exclusive use basis to families and groups, with everything from helicopter transfers to marine activities bundled around the stay.

Bringing Maltese Falcon under that same umbrella effectively extends the template across continents. A traveler might, in theory, spend a week at Jumeirah Thanda Island in the Indian Ocean, connect via hubs such as Dubai and Europe, then board the Maltese Falcon for a Mediterranean or Caribbean week with a similar level of privacy and staff to guest ratio, rather than stitching together unrelated hotel and yacht products. For Jumeirah, it is a way to retain its wealthiest clients across more of their annual travel spend.

Inside The Maltese Falcon

Maltese Falcon is an 88 meter sailing yacht delivered by Perini Navi in 2006, famous for its three rotating carbon fiber masts and DynaRig sail system, which can be set or furled in minutes from the bridge. Industry directories consistently list capacity at 12 guests in six cabins, typically described as a full beam master suite, a VIP suite on the upper deck and four double cabins that can be combined into larger suites if needed.

The interior is built around a three deck atrium that frames the central mast structure, with an indoor outdoor main deck lounge, a dedicated massage room or spa area and a well equipped fitness studio, refit most recently in 2023. More playful hardware includes an outdoor cinema set up that can project films onto a sail, plus a circular main deck bar that can be split between interior and exterior service.

On the water, Maltese Falcon carries the expected arsenal of toys for this tier, including towable inflatables, personal watercraft, motorized surfboards or JetSurf style boards, kayaks, stand up paddleboards and snorkeling or dive gear, all backed by a crew of roughly 18 to 19 people depending on the season. Third party charter brokers currently quote weekly base rates from about €490,000.00 (EUR), roughly $530,000.00 (USD) at recent exchange rates, for exclusive use in high season, before taxes, fuel and gratuities.

Jumeirah is not publicly advertising a separate price sheet for Jumeirah Prive sailings, but there is no indication that the charter economics will shift meaningfully away from those established market rates. The realistic expectation is that existing charter pricing will be layered with Jumeirah's soft product and guest relations rather than discounted for wider access.

Itineraries And Connections

For summer, Jumeirah and its partners are steering Maltese Falcon into familiar West and East Mediterranean loops, from Balearic Islands hops out of Palma, to French Riviera and Monaco itineraries built around Nice or Cannes, to Amalfi Coast and Sardinia routes that often use Naples, Olbia or Cagliari as access points. Further east, the yacht will range along the coasts of Croatia and Montenegro in the Adriatic, and among Greek and Turkiyean islands in the Aegean and Eastern Med.

In winter, the focus shifts to the Caribbean, with embarkations and calls around Antigua, the Bahamas, Saint Martin and St Barth. For most guests flying commercial, this will mean long haul business or first class flights into hubs such as London, Paris, Frankfurt, New York or Miami, then regional links into VC Bird International Airport in Antigua and other island airports, or a mix of scheduled and private aviation. Here, the Jumeirah tie in may be less about airport proximity and more about concierge style hand holding and possible hotel stays on either side of the charter.

Travel planners will need to treat the yacht's embarkation time as a hard cutoff and work backwards, building at least one night of buffer on land for commercial routings and being explicit about weather and misconnect risk in peak storm or holiday periods. Unlike a big ship cruise that can sometimes wait or reassign cabins, a single charter yacht has far less flexibility once a week's slot begins.

Who This Product Really Fits

On paper, Jumeirah is talking about "wealthy customers," but in practice this is firmly ultra high net worth territory, the same bracket that books private islands, long horizon villa buyouts and multi generational safaris. A 12 guest, seven night charter that starts in the mid six figures before extras quickly becomes a million dollar decision once flights, transfers, provisioning and on the ground stays are layered in.

That said, for families, friend groups and corporate or philanthropic circles already used to chartering large yachts through brokers, the Jumeirah Prive structure may simplify choices. Instead of working through multiple intermediaries for lodging, yachts and experiences, they can lean on a brand they already know from Dubai, London or the Maldives and extend that relationship into the Med and Caribbean. For travel advisors, especially those embedded in the Jumeirah ecosystem, this is another high value product to suggest when clients start talking about "doing something different" at sea.

Booking And Planning Considerations

The first operational reality is lead time. Maltese Falcon has long been a trophy charter, and high summer Med weeks and festive Caribbean slots are typically reserved well in advance. Advisors who think clients may be interested should start soft sounding for 2026 and beyond, not just the December 2025 launch window, and be honest about limited flexibility for last minute switches once a contract is in place.

Second, advisors will need to align the yacht's charter calendar with Jumeirah's land inventory and with airline schedules. That may mean pairing a Maltese Falcon week with a stay at one of Jumeirah's European city or beach hotels before or after, or with a routing via Dubai that gives guests time at flagship properties there before they continue to the embarkation port. It will also mean building in contingency plans, such as backup helicopter or yacht transfer options in case of missed commercial connections.

Finally, buyers should assume that the normal charter rules apply. That includes substantial advance deposits, stricter cancellation policies than typical hotel bookings, and explicit responsibility for add ons such as fuel, docking fees and special provisioning. Jumeirah's marketing language around "elevating the onboard journey" does not change the underlying reality that this is a bespoke yacht charter first, with hotel style touches layered on.