Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has won the job of building a third yacht for Four Seasons. The deal was signed with Marc-Henry Cruise Holdings, the joint owner and operator of Four Seasons Yachts.
The new ship is due in 2031. It will be built at Fincantieri’s Ancona yard in Italy, the same shipyard used for the first vessels in the series. The contract still depends on finance and the usual closing terms. No price was given, although Fincantieri rates the deal as “large”. In its own order scale, that means a value between €500 million and €1 billion.
Known in the trade as Four Seasons III, the yacht will be 207 metres long and have a gross tonnage of about 34,000. It will follow the same all-suite, residential plan used for Four Seasons I. Large terraces and open-air spaces will bring guests close to the sea — but not, one imagines, close to anything as vulgar as a crowded buffet queue.
The order comes after Four Seasons I was delivered in February 2026. Four Seasons II is now under construction and is due to enter service in early 2028. Four Seasons I has 95 suites, room for 222 guests and a one-to-one guest-to-staff ratio. That is not so much a cruise ship as a grand hotel that has slipped its moorings.
The first yacht also launched Fincantieri’s Navis Sapiens program. The system uses artificial intelligence and live data to help crews run the ship more safely and with less waste.
Pierroberto Folgiero, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Fincantieri, said: “This new order marks another significant step in the development of the partnership with Marc-Henry Cruise Holdings LTD that has become a benchmark for innovation in luxury hospitality at sea. The decision to expand the fleet with a third vessel reflects the strength of a long-term industrial vision and confirms the market’s appreciation for a concept that has successfully created a new segment at the intersection of luxury hospitality and advanced shipbuilding. Designed and built at our Ancona shipyard, the vessel further reinforces Ancona’s role as Fincantieri’s center of excellence for ultra-luxury shipbuilding, where innovation, craftsmanship and industrial expertise come together to deliver the highest standards of quality and sophistication.”
For Fincantieri, the deal gives Ancona another major showpiece. It also adds weight to the yard’s claim as a centre for high-end shipbuilding.
For the cruise trade, the message is just as clear. Wealthy guests want more space, more privacy and service that feels made for them. They do not simply want a larger ship with a longer list of attractions. The Four Seasons model places residential-style suites and a high staff-to-guest ratio at the heart of the product.
By 2031, Four Seasons Yachts plans to have three ships at sea. That is a small fleet by mainstream cruise standards. In this rarefied corner of travel, however, success is not counted by how many people can be carried. It is counted by how many must share the view.
By: Bridget Gomes – © 2026.
Read Time: 2 minutes.
Author Bio:
Bridget has never been built for stillness. Of Portuguese heritage, she began as a nurse, tending veterans at the Repatriation Hospital, listening to stories as colourful as the life she was yet to live. It was worthy, steady work, but wanderlust, as always, proved louder than routine.
So, she traded starch for a backpack and disappeared for a year, chasing trains, sunsets and the occasional regrettable glass of wine. She wrote everything down: the dust, the laughter, the missteps, the magic. Those notebooks became a travel blog, then a habit, then a calling.
Eventually, she found Global Travel Media, or perhaps it found her.
Today, Bridget writes with heart, humour and a dash of mischief, still travelling, just now with words.
