Blue II

Blue II was known during construction as Project Lombok, and she was meant to go a long way. Turquoise Yachts built her in Istanbul to ice class 1B, so that high-latitude voyages, even the Northwest Passage, were on the table, and fitted a diesel-electric drive that meets the strict IMO Tier III emissions limits. The silhouette is the surprise: André Hoek, better known for classic sailing yachts, gave her lines borrowed from the old steamships and finished them with a rounded canoe stern, so from a distance she looks like a vessel from another era.

The arrangement inside is unusual too. Rather than one owner's suite and a run of smaller cabins, there are two master suites. One sits on the upper deck with a wide arc of windows; the other is on the main deck next to the wellness area. Four more guest cabins are below, one of which converts from twin to double. For two couples travelling together, or two families splitting the cost, nobody draws the short straw.

Indoors, Hoek Design worked alongside Vickers Studio, while the decoration was left to Dols Home: teak details and a classic mood updated with modern comfort, far from the white-gloss look of most new motor yachts. In the wellness rooms you find a sauna and a steam bath next to the fitness machines. A hydraulic swim platform lowers to the water, and the two tenders, the larger a 9.5-metre Novurania, are stowed under the deck rather than parked in view.

Her pace is gentle. She is built for steady cruising with very long range (around 6,500 nautical miles at 11 knots), which in the Mediterranean translates into calm passages between Sardinia, Corsica, the Italian coast and Monaco without rushing.

She is ideal for travellers who like character, a sauna after a swim and quiet dinners rather than a dance floor. She is not the right pick for a group that wants to cover a lot of coast at speed or spend the week partying on the sun deck: Blue II is about the journey, taken slowly.