This gives an entirely different meaning to phrases we, the non-millionaires of the world, must be familiar with – phrases like “everything must go” and “half off everything.” One of the world’s greenest and most innovative superyachts is for sale at half its estimated value.
Luminosity is all these things, while also a megayacht-shaped deadweight on the taxpayers right now – and, we assume, Benetti themselves. It’s been abandoned in Montenegro since 2022, where it became stuck weeks after delivery to the second owner, whose name ended up on the list of international sanctions.
As of this moment, Montenegro is footing the bill for the skeleton crew and regular maintenance, which, as a rule, is usually about 10% annually of the original value of the vessel. Luminosity is estimated to have cost over $270 million, so that would be some $27 million per year just to keep it in top shape. It’s a lot of money to pay for a boat you don’t own, as the Montenegro officials must be thinking right now.
Photo: Benetti Yachts
Luminosity for sale for the second time
No wonder, then, that it’s been listed for sale for the second time since it was completed and, in a twist of painful irony, without being sailed once except for sea trials. Bluewater Yachting holds the listing with an asking of €135 million, or approximately $146 million at the current exchange rate.
The last time Luminosity was on the market in 2019, it was asking a more impressive €225 million ($243.4 million) in keeping with its achievements and reputation, though that too was below the $270 million estimated value. The fact that the original owner refused delivery just weeks before it was scheduled to happen must’ve played a part in the price reduction.
This time, it’s the sanctions that are driving the price down – almost to half the estimated value.
Photo: Benetti Yachts
Russian billionaire Andrey Guryev (who also owns Alfa Nero, another taxpayer money-pit) bought Luminosity from Benetti, after Kuwaiti billionaire Kutayba Yusuf Ahmed Alghanim refused delivery. According to rumors in the industry, he’d cited as reason unreasonable delays, but his very specific requests had probably contributed to the delays. He wanted a floating glass palace, and that’s exactly what Benetti built.
Guryev asked for delivery of Luminosity to Montenegro, so the megayacht traveled there just weeks before sanctions against Russian oligarchs went into effect. It’s been there ever since. All the original crew members have left after the yacht management company failed to pay salaries, so the state was forced to cover this expense, as well, in addition to all the other expenses, including port fees, fuel, inspections and maintenance work.
The floating glass palace with sustainability as its focus
Limiting Luminosity to just its controversial first years would be doing it an injustice, though. Before Feadship launched the 390-foot (119-meter) hydrogen-powered Breakthrough (ex Project 821), which had been commissioned by Bill Gates, Luminosity was one of the greenest superyachts in the world in this size category.
Photo: Benetti Yachts
Luminosity is 353 feet (107 meters) long and offers an interior volume of 5,884 GT across six decks. It’s gigantic, which makes the fact that it carries a superstructure almost entirely of glass all the more impressive. Benetti says that there’s 9,000 square feet (836 square meters) of glazing throughout the megayacht, the most in the world right now.
Naval architecture is by Benetti with an exterior design by Cassetta Yacht Designers and Reymond Langton Design, while the interiors are by Zaniz Interiors. Accommodation onboard is for 27 guests across 12 staterooms, including the sumptuous owner’s suite, and 37 crew in separate quarters, including the captain.
Luminosity is impressive both in styling and the choice (and number) of available amenities. We’re talking bathtubs made of glass and single-piece Carrara marble, a glass garden built around a floating glass staircase and walls of screens that come alive as you walk up and down the stairs, and more art than you’re likely to see in your local museum.
Photo: Benetti Yachts
We’re also talking a couple of helipads, one of them with a refueling station, several pools, countless lounge and dining areas, a gym, a cinema, a vast wellness area where you could easily retire to live for the rest of the vacation, formal and informal spaces clad in glass, marble, and hardwoods. We’re talking more than just a superyacht, but a slice of heaven for even the pickiest, most hard-to-please multi-billionaire.
Luminosity is also impressive for its sustainability focus, thanks to its capabilities to run hotel functions at anchor for a full 24 hours with zero noise and emissions, on batteries alone. That might not sound like much, but it is a big deal because of the size of the vessel itself.
For propulsion, the megayacht relies on a couple of 2,200kW ABB Azipods powered by six Caterpillar diesel generators for a range of 8,000 nautical miles (9,206 miles/14,816 km) at cruising speed. Maximum speed is 16.5 knots (19 mph/30.5 kph), which, again, is yet another notch on Benetti’s belt.
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