Havana/Havana residents have not been able to avoid curiosity. Since this Monday images of the Symphony Docked in the port of the capital, many have not been able to resist browsing, from a distance, one of the most luxurious ships in the world.
The yacht is owned by Bernard Arnault, the French billionaire and president of the luxury group LVMH, best known for Louis Vuitton. Although it is not confirmed that the magnate himself travels inside this impressive vessel whose characteristics make almost any other in its same category pale.
The boat is 101 meters, the largest that Feadship had manufactured in 2015, when Arnault acquired it and the name of its managers – Tim Heywood on the outside and Zuretti Interior Design on the inside – will not sound familiar to ordinary mortals, but they are one of the most awarded and well-known designers of luxury yachts and one of the most sophisticated interior decoration companies in the world. The shipyard, Royal Van Lent, is another of the big names linked to the boat.
Those credentials translate, in practice, into an impressive yacht with capacity for 20 passengers in eight luxury cabins, along with 16 more rooms for the crew – 38 people. The cost of the vessel at the time was estimated at 150 million dollars, but its maintenance is even more overwhelming: it costs between 10 and 15 million dollars annually.
The ‘Symphony’ has six decks, a glass-bottom pool with a waterfall, an open-air cinema on the bridge deck, a private terrace with a sauna and a terrace with a jacuzzi.
He Symphony It has six decks, a glass-bottom pool with a waterfall, an open-air cinema on the bridge deck, a private terrace with a sauna and a terrace with a jacuzzi. There is also an indoor cinema and even a pop-up golf with biodegradable balls, since, in fact, the yacht is also ecological.
It reaches a maximum of 21 knots, but with a 30% reduction in energy consumption, since it has a hybrid propulsion system, which combines traditional engines with modern generators and a bank of green batteries.
“We confiscated it and changed it for a thermoelectric plant,” a Cuban joked on social networks. Another, rather annoyed, wondered if the billionaire had traveled to the Island to catch chikungunya, while one more ironically: “He must have come to learn about the achievements of the Revolution.”
Arnault does not have stores on the Island, although he has flirted from a distance with some incursions. In 2015, in the midst of the thaw, it sponsored several artists at the 12th Havana Biennial, including Anish Kapoor, Daniel Buren, Michalengelo Pistoletto, José Yaque and Shilpa Gupta. In addition, he organized several art talks – artistic conferences – on the eve of the Biennial.
Furthermore, its LVMH brand owns Eminentthe premium Cuban rum launched in 2020 and created by Villa Clara master rum maker César Martí.
The presence of the Symphony puts the finishing touch to a year in which Marina Hemingway was also fascinated by the visit, in June, Lady First, a luxury yacht with the flag of the Cayman Islands, who visited the Island from Miami. Although, in this case, the boat was for rent and it was never known who had paid the $200,000 that its weekly rental costs.
