104 105Asia-Pacific Boating September/October 2015 Asia-Pacific Boating September/October 2015

SPOTLIGHT – Princess 88 MY –SPOTLIGHT – Princess 88 Motor Yacht –

ASTONISHINGLY RESOLVED INSIDE AND OUT, THERE ARE PLENTY OF BIG-YACHT FEATURES AT THE TOP END OF THE BRITISH BUILDER’S FLYBRIDGE RANGE.

By Nick Burnham

WHISPER WITH QUIET CLASS

106 107Asia-Pacific Boating September/October 2015 Asia-Pacific Boating September/October 2015

SPOTLIGHT – Princess 88 MY –

AN ODD QUESTION PERHAPS, but can a yacht simply be too good, so well resolved that it begins to lack character? If any builder is going to square the circle and create something that meets itself coming the other way it is Princess Yachts International, a member of the Möet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) family. So relentless is the builder’s R&D, so overarching in its quest for perfection that its products sometimes run the risk of being honed like an over-used

bar of soap into something amorphous, bland even. It’s not an accusation that can be levelled at the exterior of the Princess 88 Motor Yacht.

At the top end of the yard’s ‘flybridge’ range – only the 98 stands between this and the M Class division of 30 to 40 metre yachts – the 88 has the length to carry off the increasingly vertiginous topsides that mark 21st Century boatbuilding. With a similarly elongated superstructure that appears two-thirds dark tinted glass it may not shout with attitude, but it does whisper with quiet class. Despite missing out on M Class nomenclature, there are plenty of proper big-yacht features to be found on deck.

Twin stainless-steel anchors linked to separate capstans poke through the stem rather than sitting on deck rollers. A spacious bow cockpit increases alfresco options and aft our test boat sports the optional transom garage that will house a jet ski, lifting the potential water toy capacity to three (with the hydraulic bathing platform and flybridge crane). The crew loses a little of the mess area and the Captain’s double-berth cabin becomes one with a pair of single bunk beds as a result, however.

Big boat features continue on the top deck. In addition to that flybridge crane, our test boat sports a Jacuzzi under a large hard top as well as the standard fit wet bar. The helmsman sits centre stage forward, flanked by a pair of L-shaped seats for his appreciative audience, the full plethora of engine and navigational instrumentation rising at the touch of a button from the console in front of him. It’s very James Bond.

It’s inside that things can get a little ubiquitous, not that there’s anything wrong with the layout. Designed from the outset as a crewed yacht, at the forward end of the main deck the Princess 88 has a separate wheelhouse linked to the galley – gently tweaked on this yacht for the Asian market with a very neat Miele induction hob that features a wok recess and an over-sized fridge. A foot-operated electric sliding door grants access to a saloon lit superbly by those huge windows so big that they feel more like glazed walls. There is even an optional hydraulic side balcony adjacent to the eight-person dining table and reached via a pair of glass sliding side doors, perfect for a romantic aperitif.

The lower level is split four ways – massive full-beam master cabin aft (its en suite stretching almost the full beam and including a hip bath), twin guest cabin to port, double to starboard and a VIP guest cabin in the bow – also all with en suite.

Perrin & Rowe basins, stitched leather drawer pulls, back-lit feature panels, and Vi-spring mattresses – there’s no faulting the execution either. It avoids being a bit ‘leather ’n walnut’ bland because this particular Princess 88 has been ‘Hermès-ed’ at the Owner’s request.

A world-renowned French fashion house, Hermès traces its roots back to the early 19th Century when it began as a harness workshop for the carriage trade before evolving into saddlery and then clothing and bags – always to the highest quality. Today Hermès reaches into all aspects of fashion and design, and it is to this company that Princess turned to create a special interior. It’s a very welcome lift, bringing a

A standard Princess 88 main saloon. Princess worked with Hermès to create the interior of the test boat.

108 109Asia-Pacific Boating September/October 2015 Asia-Pacific Boating September/October 2015

SPOTLIGHT – Princess 88 MY –

fresh look and style to everything from the free-standing furniture and lamps right down to the cushions and throws.

It adds a final flourish to what have sometimes been overly conservative interiors. The horse motif panel at the head of the saloon perhaps falls into the ‘love it or hate it’ category, but bland it is not, and it is an interesting link to Hermès beginnings.

The sheer integrity of Princess build quality never seems to falter,

something that becomes evident the moment the twin MTU 12V 2,000 M93 engines are started and the nose is pointed south towards the English Channel. The walk-in, full-height engine room of the Princess 88 is a long way away from the lower wheelhouse, but even so this is an impressively quiet machine.

Three multi-function displays take pride of place on the console just ahead of the helmsman. The outer two are navigation – configurable but

typically showing the radar display on one and the chart plotter on the other. The centre screen is ship management – gauges usurped in favour of this iPad-like single flat touch screen that currently shows virtual engine instrumentation, but can be set to access or show whatever you like. There’s another on the bulkhead behind. It’s very 21st Century and makes helm panels of just a decade ago look prehistoric.

Clear of the breakwater I pile on the revs, bow lifting in sympathy with virtual tacho needles. You sit a long way forward and close to the screens, which is confidence inspiring when you’re in command of circa seventy tonnes at 20 knots pushing out a wake so big that it has its own radar signature – a jagged inverted orange V showing behind us on the Raymarine Hybridtouch display.

Even at this speed the sound meter barely breaks 70dB(a), the yacht rock steady and mercifully free of creaks and groans as it ploughs its impassive furrow along the coast. For all the designer flair of the Hermès tie up, for all the big boat features, huge glazing, hydraulic side balcony and other concessions

to modern living this is Princess in its element – actually getting out there and going boating.

Elements of the Hermès fettling of this particular Princess may be an acquired taste for some, but this is the surface dressing, the gloss applied to owner specification, so if you don’t like it you can change it. But it does lift an otherwise ultra-conservative interior.

Away from the glitz and the glamour, there is zero doubt that underpinning this new look are the same core attributes of strength and integrity that have fortified the marque’s 50-year rise to its current prominence – one area of relentless honing that will never be unwelcome. www.princessyachts.com

PRINCESS 88 MOTOR YACHT

LOA 88ft / 26.82m

Build GRP

Compliance RCD B 24 persons

Displacement 67 tonnes

Beam 20ft-9in / 6.3m

Engines Twin MTU 12V 2000 M93, 1,800hp shaft drive

Fuel 11,000 litres

Water 1,500 litres

Performance

RPM Speed (knots) Fuel burn (LPH) Noise (helm - dBa) Range (with 20% reserve)

1,000 10 58 60 1,517nm

1,400 12 172 66 614nm

1,800 16 345 67 408nm

2,200 22 555 68 349nm

2,450 26 673 71 340nm