Jet-Set Bohemian: Luxury Yacht Living

A jet-set lifestyle doesn’t have to be all private planes and decadent digs. In our Jet-Set Bohemian series, we blend the best of high and low for just the right balance … enticing everyone from backpackers to luxury boutique hotel lovers to come along for the ride.

Glancing out the window from my seat in the corner of Italian hair legend Rossano Ferretti’s new hair spa, I can catch glimpses of megayachts cruising in and out of Monte-Carlo’s harbor below. The view may be one benefit of Ferretti’s first Riviera-based salon, but the location was a strategic one. Set inside Monaco’s landmark Hôtel de Paris, which will wrap up four years of renovations next winter, the salon will be just as much of a destination as the hotel itself.

“It makes sense to be here,” Ferretti explains as he’s analyzing my hair in preparation for “The Method,” his revolutionary cutting style that’s become a fave of everyone from Reese Witherspoon to the Duchess of Cambridge. “Monaco is international and open year-round, while other towns like Saint-Tropez shut down in winter.”

Over 20 years ago, Ferretti redefined the salon concept, making it more about an experience that starts with the most heavenly scalp massage. “That’s one of my favorite parts,” he says with a smile. Now his brand of “hairspas” has expanded to 20 locations in some of the most exclusive addresses on the globe, from the Four Seasons Hotel Landaa Giraavaru in the Maldives to the rue Cambon in Paris.

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Just as he revolutionized the salon concept, he’s now taking his services one step further in a style that falls perfectly into place along the French Riviera: on board yachts. The “Fly to You” service will be the Riviera’s first and only jet and yacht salon service, with a team of Ferretti-trained stylists jetting off to yachts anywhere along the Côte d’Azur for onboard appointments.

Ferretti’s new yacht service is just one of a handful catering to luxury yacht living this summer. In addition to making on board salon appointments, travelers can now even order a yacht itself. Thanks to apps like UberYACHT and Airbnb-style GetMyBoat, hopping on board a private yacht has never been easier (or cheaper).

uberBOAT boarding courtesy of Uber.jpg

“One of our core goals at GetMyBoat is to help everyone experience the water all over the world—and at any price point. Most people using GetMyBoat are looking to get away from everyday life to relax with friends and family, though we’re seeing a growing number of travelers seeking hidden coves and secret beaches that are only accessible by boat,” explains GetMyBoat COO Bryan Petro.

Similar to the accommodation-based Airbnb, GetMyBoat is an app with 66,000 boats scattered throughout 171 countries, with some of the most popular destinations being Bali and Split, Croatia. The best part: you can book by the day or hour. In Capri, for example, travelers can snag a motor yacht for $143 per hour or $1,027 for the day.

The two-year-old Yachtlife app, meanwhile, operates more as a hotel booking platform for boats. Think of it as a Soho House for yacht charters, where members pay an annual fee to access a network of yachts that can be booked as easily as hotel rooms, with a concierge accessible 24/7 to take care of anything you may need. Launched in Miami, the app now has charters available in over a dozen haute yachting locales around the world, from The Hamptons to Ibiza and Mykonos.

If you’d rather stay on board longer than a day, YachtLife even offers trips from Miami to Cuba, pausing in luxe islands like Little Palm in the Florida Keys along the way. Not only can you vacation like the jetset crowd, you can also live like them (at least for a few days) with your own personal chef on board and crew ready to make restaurant reservations at spots on shore.

Uber is another app that brought yachting to the masses when it debuted UberYACHT in the Dubai Marina last spring. For one day, the app offered a party boat experience that travelers could reserve 48 hours in advance. For just $82, you could hop on board and whisk off with everything you needed for a half-day fête on the water: food, drinks and Nikki Beach DJ included.

Following seasonal stints in Miami and Istanbul, Uber launched another option last month dubbed UberBOAT. The summer service will run along the Dalmatian Coast, offering private speedboat transfers from some of Croatia’s most-visited locales, such as Split, Hvar and Dubrovnik.

“We want to offer a safe and straightforward service for our riders, as well as for numerous foreign and domestic tourists in Croatia,” explained Davor Tremac, general manager of Uber in Croatia and Southeast Europe, in a press statement. “By launching UberBOAT, we aim to provide a new way of exploring and traveling around the Croatian coast.”

With the app, you can opt between two services: transfers from the coast to the island of Hvar (which costs around $400 for eight people from Split) or a half- or full-day trip at sea, island hopping on a 12-person UberBOATXL, which costs around $1,100 (captain included), depending on where you’re sailing. Not only does this option take out the hassle of planning and paying cash for a boat charter in a foreign country (and language), it also makes splitting costs even easier for friends traveling as a group, thanks to Uber’s signature Split Fare feature.

Lane Nieset is Paste’s Jet-Set Bohemian columnist and a freelance writer covering all things travel from her home base in Nice, France.