A 155m built as 30 apartments tests whether owners still want a whole yacht
What is being built
The announcement on 16 June named Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven as the yard for a 155-metre vessel to be operated by Maybach Ocean Club, a venture co-founded by Captain Matthias Bosse and Michael Hehn through Splendid Sea. It is structured as an invitation-only private members' club at sea, with a circle of roughly 300 members worldwide who share time aboard and a programme of excursions. Delivery is planned for 2029.
The accommodation is the point of difference. Thirty residential-style suites of around 74 square metres each, all with private balconies, carrying up to 72 members and guests, plus six additional cabins for short stays by invited friends and family. Naval architecture is by Dolker and Voges, developed with Mercedes-Maybach and Heller Design. Bosse called the yard selection a defining moment as the project moves from vision towards construction.
The layout logic
A private 155-metre yacht typically carries an owner's apartment of 200 square metres or more, a handful of large guest suites, and vast public volume that is empty most of the year. Beyond Horizons inverts that. The public spaces run to panoramic lounges, several dining venues, a wellness and spa area, a split-level infinity pool, sundecks and a marina-style beach club with direct ocean access, and they have to work for 72 people at once.
Seventy-four square metres per suite with a private balcony is closer to a residence specification than to a yacht cabin. That is deliberate. The balcony is the single feature that separates a suite that feels like a hotel room from one that feels like an apartment, and it is also the hardest thing to fit into a hull without wrecking the exterior line. Doing it thirty times over is a serious design constraint and it will define how the boat looks.
Why a whole-boat owner should read this
The commercial proposition competes for a specific person: someone who wants six weeks a year on a very large vessel, in company, without a crew payroll, a berthing contract or a refit cycle. That is a real subset of the people who currently buy 60-metre yachts. Every product that captures part of it removes a buyer from the second-hand market.
The design lesson is more immediate. If suites of this size with private balconies become the reference point for how good accommodation at sea feels, guest cabins on private yachts get judged against it. Owners specifying now should look hard at whether their guest accommodation still reads as generous, because the comparison their guests make is with the last good room they slept in, and it is no longer a cabin on someone else's boat.
The yard, and what 2029 means
Lloyd Werft has had a difficult decade in the cruise and conversion business, and a contract of this scale for 2029 delivery is a substantial commitment of German heavy-yacht capacity. That is worth noting for anyone hoping the northern European build queue was about to loosen. A 155-metre occupies a large hall for years.
The season plan is Mediterranean summers and Caribbean winters, which puts the vessel into the same anchorages and the same marina competition as the private fleet. Berths capable of taking 155 metres are scarce in both cruising grounds, and a vessel operating to a fixed calendar books them well ahead. Nothing has been published about what membership costs or how it is structured, and no pricing was disclosed alongside the yard announcement. Until that appears, the commercial claim is untested.
What owners and crew report
Membership is sold on community, not the ship spec
"One of the earliest questions prospective members ask is: who else will be on board."
Matthias Bosse, Co-founder, Splendid Sea (Maybach Ocean Club)Mercedes-Maybach frames the project as a brand and design extension
"This legacy of innovation at sea informed our design process and inspired us to go beyond expectations."
Gorden Wagener, Chief Design Officer, Mercedes-Benz
What is good, and what to watch
Strong points
- Leadership answers the real question with a named, specific quote rather than a spec sheetSplendid Sea co-founder Matthias Bosse has said one of the earliest questions from prospective members is who else will be on board, and the club has built its vetting and referral structure around that rather than around the ship.
- Suite size and privacy genuinely exceed a comparable private yacht's guest cabin74 sqm with a private balcony, confirmed across BOOTE, BoatInternational and Robb Report, is closer to a hotel suite than a yacht cabin, which is the differentiator the concept is selling.
What to watch
- Ship-based residential clubs have almost never been completedOf the prior attempts at a floating residential enclave, including Freedom Ship, Meyer Werft's Serenity and World City Phoenix, only MS The World (ResidenSea) actually launched, and Beyond Horizons is attempting a model with a poor completion record.
- The yard filed for bankruptcy four years before this contractLloyd Werft filed for insolvency in January 2022 and was sold to the Ronner-Zech Group that March. A 155-metre newbuild for 2029 delivery is a large commitment for a yard that recently emerged from bankruptcy protection.
Practical detail
| LOA / GT | 155m, more than 15,000 GT, with an accompanying 70m shadow vessel |
|---|---|
| Built / delivered | Lloyd Werft, Bremerhaven; maiden voyage targeted for 2029 |
| Design | Naval architecture by Dolker and Voges, developed with Mercedes-Maybach, Heller Design and Splendid Sea |
| Accommodation | 30 residential suites of about 74 sqm each with private balconies, for up to 72 members and guests plus six additional cabins; crew of 80 to 85; membership capped at 300 |
| Engines / range | Not disclosed by the yard or the club as of this writing |
| Membership price | USD 3.0 million initial fee for the first 50 founding members, rising in tiers toward 300 members, plus an annual contribution of about 5% of the initial fee, per Maybach Ocean Club's own published membership term sheet |
| What is not published | Propulsion and speed figures, the finished interior beyond renderings and how a member's share is resold, inherited or exited are all unaddressed in public materials |
Questions this story answers
What happened?
Maybach Ocean Club has picked Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven to build Beyond Horizons, a 155-metre vessel with thirty residential suites of about 74 square metres, each with a private balcony, for a membership circle of around 300. Delivery is set for 2029. Naval architecture is by Dolker and Voges, working with Mercedes-Maybach and Heller Design.
What is good about it?
Leadership answers the real question with a named, specific quote rather than a spec sheet. Splendid Sea co-founder Matthias Bosse has said one of the earliest questions from prospective members is who else will be on board, and the club has built its vetting and referral structure around that rather than around the ship.
What should an owner or buyer watch?
Ship-based residential clubs have almost never been completed. Of the prior attempts at a floating residential enclave, including Freedom Ship, Meyer Werft's Serenity and World City Phoenix, only MS The World (ResidenSea) actually launched, and Beyond Horizons is attempting a model with a poor completion record.
What do owners and crew report?
"One of the earliest questions prospective members ask is: who else will be on board." (Matthias Bosse, Co-founder, Splendid Sea (Maybach Ocean Club))
Who reported this?
BOAT International, Maybach Ocean Club, Lloyd Werft, Cruise Industry News, Elite Traveler, Wallpaper, Robb Report, Superyacht Investor.
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