There is no better signifier of wealth and luxury than owning one’s own yacht. Unfortunately, most of us plebes laboring for salaries under $100,000 a year know we’ll never so much as set foot on a private yacht, let alone be able to charter one for a spin around the impossibly blue waters of the Maldives. However, if you happen to find yourself among the good people at The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort, they may beg to differ — this year will see the launch of the St. Regis’ new Azimut Flybridge 66 Yacht, the Norma.
Norma is a nod to St. Regis’ founder, John Jacob Astor IV, who purchased the largest private yacht in the world at that time and named it Nourmahal after the princess heroine in Thomas Moore’s poem “Light of Harem.” Astor would later go on to shorten the name to just Norma, before the original boat was passed on to his son and then loaned to the U.S. Navy for World World I. Now, with St. Regis’ new Norma, guests who have managed to score a stay at the Maldivan resort can charter the yacht by the hour, by the day, or overnight. With three passenger cabins aboard, the Norma is perfect for a multi-generational family vacation or a honeymoon adventure.
Available with a starting rate of $1,950 an hour (which is not cheap by any means, but also not disastrously expensive when you consider you’re renting out an entirely private Azimut Flybridge 66 yacht), the Norma offers guests the rare opportunity to sail and explore the islets and pristine beaches of the Maldives, a country made up of 26 astonishingly beautiful atolls spread out over 100 square miles of pristine Indian Ocean.
For more information about the yacht itself, check out Azimut’s website. Bookings for Norma can be made through reservations.vommuli@stregis.com.
