Luxury mega yachts like O’mega not ‘Eclipse’-d by Abramovich’s ‘new toy’

As work on the world’s largest private yacht nears completion, the ‘working supermodels’ of the international luxury yacht charter world are unostentatiously going about their business as usual. Emerging this week from the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, Roman Abramovich’s 185-metre, £300-million behemoth ‘Eclipse’ certainly dwarfs familiar favourites like the classic 83-metre luxury motor yacht O’mega. But this ‘lady of a certain age’ in mega-yacht terms more than makes up in style and class for what she lacks in showy extravaganza and bravado.

O’mega, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan in 1985 at a cost of a mere 50 million euros and completed in an Italian shipyard, has since undergone two sessions of ‘cosmetic surgery’, with major refits in 2004 and August 2009. The latest 14-million-euro refit by Sovereign Sea Hermes followed her appearance at number 29 in the Power and Motor Yacht magazine's 2008 list of the World's 100 Largest Yachts.

The good news is that O’mega is now based in Greece for this summer season, and available for charter from UK luxury yacht charter specialists including Dream Marine, sailing the East and West Mediterranean’s most popular cruising grounds such as the Greek Islands, Croatia, and Italy’s Amalfi Coast. She was recently spotted at Monaco for the Grand Prix – knowing where to be seen is an essential talent in the exalted company she keeps.

In the luxury superyacht stakes, O’mega plays to her strengths of old-school elegance with classic mahogany wood panelling, luxurious furnishings, custom-made linens and carpets and leather interiors, softened by tailor-made tapestry and fine Italian fabrics. Her upper saloon oozes class with its piano bar, oversize sofas and state-of-the-art large screen, surround-sound cinema. O’Mega’s dining area seats up to 32 guests in style, serving up gourmet cuisine from world renowned chefs.

Admittedly she lacks those ‘little everyday oh-so-essentials’ required by Russian oligarchs – including the Eclipse’s two helipads, miniature ‘escape-pod’ submarine, and missile-detection system.

However, her sixteen luxurious cabins accommodate pleasure seekers, whose every whim is attended by the 28-person crew, as they relax in the indoor and outdoor Jacuzzis, work out in the onboard gym, or indulge themselves with sessions in the massage parlour and enjoy the attentions of the vessel’s private beautician.

And the cost of chartering this regal floating pleasure palace? Around 70,000 euros per day. Chump change for the likes of Mr Abramovich maybe - but O’mega proves that there are some things money simply can’t buy off the shelf.  Elegance and class are assets one has to acquire with age…