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AK Yachts

<a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/4509" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="SuperYacht Times (Company)">SuperYacht Times</a> catches up with the Italo-American CEO and founder Francesco Galli Zugaro, of <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/6639" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Expeditions (Company)">Aqua Expeditions</a>, the boutique cruise company, during a break in his globe-trotting schedule. &nbsp;<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/219298/image/large-20f892b2ebaefe7b20fd632d2993305a.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/219298">The yacht charter and cruise ship experiences could not be more different. The largest cruise ships carry thousands of guests on fixed itineraries to popular and often overcrowded destinations. Even the smaller and more exclusive vessels cannot compare with luxury yacht charters offering a more intimate and personalised service, high-end cuisine and customisable itineraries.One person who is trying to narrow the gap with his own unique brand of expedition cruising is Francesco Galli Zugaro. In 2007 he set up <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/6639" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Expeditions (Company)">Aqua Expeditions&nbsp;</a>as a luxury cruise line offering one-of-a-kind trips to some of the world’s most ecologically and culturally significant destinations.His first vessels were custom designed by international architects for cruising the Peruvian Amazon and the Mekong river in Cambodia and Vietnam. Created with modern luxury and comfort in mind, these award-winning boats changed the landscape of river cruising for select groups of what Galli Zugaro calls “affluent explorers”.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/219385/image/large-aab6438965eaed2202c313bb35bfcd87.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/219385">Then in 2019 <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/6639" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Expeditions (Company)">Aqua Expeditions</a> branched out into coastal cruising and acquired 60-metre Titan, the explorer superyacht converted from a former Royal Navy survey vessel. With the help of Dutch designer <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/43" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Cor D. Rover Design (Company)">Cor D Rover</a>, Titan was refitted into the 15-suite pocket cruise ship <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/142" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Blu60.4m (198'2&quot;)Brooke Marine Ltd.1968">Aqua Blu</a> for plying the pristine coastline of East Indonesia.The latest addition to the <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/6639" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Expeditions (Company)">Aqua Expeditions</a> fleet is the former 50-metre superyacht&nbsp;Dr No No, now rechristened <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/151" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Mare49.77m (163'3&quot;)CRN1998">Aqua Mare</a>. Launched as Pestifer by <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/12" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="CRN (Company)">CRN</a> in 1998 with exterior lines by <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/135" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Studio Scanu srl (Company)">Paolo Scanu</a> and interior design by <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/67" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Zuretti Interior Design (Company)">Francois Zuretti</a>, her interior was refurbished and two spacious staterooms added to the original five-cabin layout during a 2021 refit. <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/151" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Mare49.77m (163'3&quot;)CRN1998">Aqua Mare&nbsp;</a>is currently in South America preparing for her maiden voyage with charter guests to the Galapagos in the spring.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/223542/image/large-432cea82fd3f443e9131f3a82c4429d9.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/223542">Why did you decide to make the transition from river to coastal cruising?&nbsp;It was a natural evolution. I started up <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/6639" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Expeditions (Company)">Aqua Expeditions</a> with the intention of providing luxury expeditions to remote corners of the world, and it just happened that river cruisers were my first foray into building and owning my own vessels. So if you have a look at the map now we have five vessels operating on two iconic river systems, the Amazon and the Mekong, as well as the waters of East Indonesia and the Galapagos. Our demographic is not the typical cruise ship client; none of our guests plan to go on big cruise ships. They are affluent explorers who want to witness firsthand these remote, unspoiled sanctuaries away from the crowds, but without sacrificing the creature comforts they expect to find in world-class hotels, such as the fine dining and one-to-one service. <img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/219401/image/large-08c01963a04bf38e8750322be7ba2057.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/219401"><a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/142" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Blu60.4m (198'2&quot;)Brooke Marine Ltd.1968">Aqua Blu</a>, your first ocean-going cruiser, was repurposed from the explorer yacht Titan. Why refit rather than build new?&nbsp;The river cruisers –&nbsp;Aria Amazon, Aqua Mekong and Aqua Nera – were custom designed and built to suit a very specific purpose and navigation on inland waterways. But for ocean cruising there was no need to build new necessarily and I started travelling the world looking for the right pre-owned platform. I wanted something with 10-15 cabins more typical of the very big superyachts, but that would have meant a massive capital investment and a major refit.&nbsp;With help from my broker, I came across Titan in Genoa and thought she had the makings of a cruise ship. She had the steel hull, RINA, SOLAS and ISM classification, long range and a high interior volume of 1300 GT. There were already 11 cabins and the owner’s stateroom could be split up into three extra guest suites, and the icing on the cake was that the original Royal Navy vessel was called HMS Beagle after the ship that took Charles Darwin around the world and to the Galapagos. <img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/223543/image/large-cca1271f567f60d3e7288061ecb4a2c5.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/223543">We did a yard survey followed by six months of negotiations that caused a lot of grey hairs. The main difficulty was that I was buying from an owner whose purpose for having a yacht in the first place was recreational, whereas I was coming at it from a business perspective. The two sides don’t always meet eye to eye, but I persevered and eventually we were able to strike a deal.She made the voyage to Singapore on her own and then spent six months at the ST Marine shipyard. I’d met <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/43" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Cor D. Rover Design (Company)">Cor D Rover</a> in Taiwan at the <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/119" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Horizon Yachts (Company)">Horizon shipyard</a> and hired him to redesign the owner’s suite, while my wife Birgit, the director of <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/6639" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Expeditions (Company)">Aqua Expeditions</a>, looked after the interior décor. We also flew in a team to completely overhaul the four original <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/2156" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Lister Blackstone (Company)">Lister Blackstone</a> 8-cylinder engines.&nbsp;<a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/142" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Blu60.4m (198'2&quot;)Brooke Marine Ltd.1968">Aqua Blu</a> entered into service at the end of 2019. She’s permanently based in Indonesia and alternates between Komodo National Park, the Spice Islands and the archipelago of Raja Ampat in the Coral Triangle, home to some of the most diverse underwater habitats in the world.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/219387/image/large-831b98bf826d6b63a4c860652ff8601a.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/219387">Then came <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/151" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Mare49.77m (163'3&quot;)CRN1998">Aqua Mare</a>, formerly Dr No No and a very different kind of yacht from Titan. Talk me through the rationale behind her acquisition.I had asked <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/43" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Cor D. Rover Design (Company)">Cor D Rover</a> to design a brand new 45-metre yacht, but then the Covid-19 pandemic came along and I wanted to get back to market quicker, so we started scouring the used market online and my son came across a video of Dr No No by David Seal. Typically a 50-metre yacht is under 500 GT, but at 640 GT Dr No No had the kind of interior volume I wanted. Within an hour or so I was on the phone to the broker and two weeks later met the owner in Turkey where we struck a deal and the yacht went into the <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/4857" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="AK Yachts (Company)">AKYacht</a> shipyard for refit work. My wife oversaw the interior refurbishment, the formal dining room was converted into an extra suite so we now have seven cabins for 16 guests, and the hull was repainted exploration grey. We took delivery last November and her maiden voyage as a cruise ship to the Galapagos is scheduled for the coming May. It’s been a record-breaking effort, but we like to move quickly on these projects and I’m very happy with the results.&nbsp;The yacht market is bouncing back strongly from the knock-on effects of Covid-19. What has been the impact of the pandemic on&nbsp;<a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/6639" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Expeditions (Company)">Aqua Expeditions</a>?Some things I’ve been able to control, others not. It was a sign of our financial strength that we went ahead with two new additions to the fleet over the last 12 months: <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/151" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Mare49.77m (163'3&quot;)CRN1998">Aqua Mare</a> and our new Amazon cruiser, Aqua Nera. &nbsp;But I can’t do anything about the travel restrictions. I can try and innovate, but I’m not going to turn my ships into floating restaurants or anything like that. The fundamentals of our niche are still as valid today as they’ve always been, because there isn’t another company operating luxury cruise ships of the same size and nature as ours.&nbsp;My feeling is we’re going to see a lot of revenge cruising in the coming months from adventure seekers that have put off that bucket list trip until later in life and are realising that now might be the right time. <img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/219393/image/large-6f0e75df23037ddaf11ae4f578bd96f1.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/219393"><img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/219389/image/large-5305ad5b61d5eb2121e23b00947d9fe5.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/219389"><img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/219388/image/large-ad3eb3e3ab6fffd1217aab75a9b32c42.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/219388">In terms of demographics, is there any crossover between your guests and the clientele for large yacht charters?There is some commonality and I think that may grow as we see a younger clientele emerging. The average age of our guests is around 55, but during Covid we’ve definitely seen the rise of a younger group. The first charter of <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/142" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Blu60.4m (198'2&quot;)Brooke Marine Ltd.1968">Aqua Blu</a>, for example, was a group of friends from the Middle East who were all in their 30s. For the Galapagos we’re getting requests from families with younger kids, and we’ve dropped the minimum age from 7 to 5 across our fleet. So we’re getting a younger clientele who are into nature, wildlife and the outdoors.&nbsp;You also have to remember that it’s very complicated taking a charter yacht to the Galapagos, for example. The owner and a naturalist have to be on board, you have to have a full hull inspection to ensure you don’t bring in invasive species, and you’re required to follow a set itinerary. That’s enough to put off most yacht owners, so there is definitely a market for high-calibre yachts that can be chartered on site.&nbsp;The majority of our business is through cabin bookings, which is very rare for vessels like <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/142" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Blu60.4m (198'2&quot;)Brooke Marine Ltd.1968">Aqua Blu&nbsp;</a>or <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/151" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Mare49.77m (163'3&quot;)CRN1998">Aqua Mare</a> that would typically cost around 250,000 euros per week plus APA (Advanced Provisioning Allowance) to charter. Our guests know exactly how much they pay from the start and I think that transparency is appealing.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/219400/image/large-68687789044b178ec55b1eb8a5365a8e.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/219400">What’s the next step for&nbsp;<a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/6639" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Aqua Expeditions (Company)">Aqua Expeditions</a>?At 48 I still have enough energy to grow the brand and build on our reputation. I have my work cut out and I spend a lot of time scouting new destinations. For example, I was recently in Zimbabwe looking for opportunities on Lake Kariba. I’ve also explored the Kimberley coast in Western Australia and the Seychelles, even the Med and the Caribbean, because our guests are also going there and it’s very hard to find a superyacht that you can charter by the cabin. There are still lots of river cruising opportunities, but do they have wildlife and nature, is it a year-round season, and are they easily accessible by air? You need to tick all the right boxes.&nbsp;This article was originally published in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.superyachttimes.com/yacht-news/superyacht-times-issue-40-published" target="_blank">Issue 40 of SuperYacht Times newspaper</a><a href="https://www.superyachttimes.com/yacht-news/superyacht-times-issue-40-published" target="_blank">.</a> To read more stories like this one and to never again miss another issue of the SuperYacht Times newspaper, <a href="https://shop.superyachttimes.com/report/the-superyacht-times-subscription" target="_blank">subscribe here</a>.

SYT exclusive interview with the founder and CEO of aqua expeditions

SYT catches up with the CEO and founder of Aqua Expeditions, the boutique cruise company.