Two ships, one specification, one quiet exception
Ordered together in March 2022 from Chantiers de l'Atlantique for around €400 million each, delivered ten months apart, and put on the same first itinerary — Monte Carlo to Rome, seven nights — Ilma and Luminara are as close to a matched pair as this tier produces. Same 46,750 gross tons, same roughly 790 feet, same 374 crew, same eight guest decks. Wärtsilä, which supplied the engines, describes Luminara flatly as an identical build.
She is not quite. Luminara carries 226 suites and 452 guests against Ilma's 224 and 448. Those are the operator's own current figures. Worth knowing that Ilma was contracted at 228 and is sailing at 224, so the contract number still circulates — but 224 against 226 is what the line publishes today, and we have never seen anyone explain the gap. The study below does, as far as the evidence allows, and the answer appears to be a re-cut of the accommodation mix rather than a rounding difference.
The two ships also differ in ways the brochures do mention but rarely connect. Luminara's public rooms were re-imagined by a third design studio working alongside the original team. Two of her five restaurants were reconcepted rather than repeated, and a third kept its name while changing cuisine. She has 731 artworks aboard, about 65% of them commissioned for her, and a suspended light sculpture running through seven stories of the aft atrium.
Two hundred and twenty-four suites, and two hundred and twenty-six. That gap is the whole difference.
Why Luminara has two more suites than her sister
They are sold as a matched pair, and on tonnage, length and beam they are. But Luminara carries 226 suites to Ilma's 224, and 452 berths to 448. The line has never published a reason. The numbers do give one.
The two of them, on the record
Both ships run four Wärtsilä 31DF dual-fuel engines on LNG with marine gas oil as the secondary fuel, and every engine carries selective catalytic reduction for nitrogen oxides. Alongside that: a hull optimized for slow steaming, heat recovery, LED lighting throughout, and a data system monitoring fuel consumption. The design is stated to allow conversion to future fuels.
What we will not give you is a percentage. No emissions-reduction figure has ever been published for these two ships, and no independent measurement exists. You will see figures attached to them anyway; the ones we traced back belong to the engine maker's general marketing for its catalytic-reduction product line and were never stated for these hulls. We also could not establish whether shore power is fitted, so we are not going to tell you either way.
What the extra 20,000 tons bought
Against Evrima these two are about seventy-six percent larger and carry roughly a hundred and fifty more guests, and the space per guest goes up rather than down — from roughly 89 gross tons each to roughly 104. That is the unusual part. Growing a ship normally dilutes it. On the evidence of what got built, the extra volume went into public rooms rather than berths.
The marina is the clearest example. The line calls this one an expanded marina with a mezzanine, and it adds side wings that open out into over-water platforms and a floating lounge with a netted sea pool at its center. Seabobs, paddleboards, kayaks and electric hydrofoiling run from it. Seatrade credited Ilma with introducing the largest AquaBana at sea.
The spa has eleven treatment rooms against Evrima's five, with five of Ilma's set up for open-air treatments, plus three separate fitness spaces and a spinning studio of its own. Dining runs to five restaurants on each ship, headlined by Seta from James Beard winner Fabio Trabocchi and Beach House from Michelin-starred Michael Mina. The main pool sits on deck ten with an outdoor screen; a second pool sits by The Beach House on deck five.
Suites run from the 294-square-foot Terrace Suite up to the Owner's Suites, which reach roughly 1,033 square feet inside with terraces of up to 721 more. One caution worth carrying into any brochure: the line's "up to 100 square meters" figure for its upper categories is combined indoor and outdoor space, not a room size. Neither ship has a loft or duplex suite.
Which of the two, and when
- You are booking an entry-level Terrace Suite — she has nine more of them
- The Caribbean is your region; she runs it from Miami, San Juan and Oranjestad through the 2027-28 winter
- You want the Mediterranean and Northern Europe in 2027, which she shares with Evrima across fifty new voyages
- You would rather have the original expression of the design than the revision of it
- You are booking above entry level — more Grand and Signature suites, and the Residential category she alone has
- Alaska is the trip: she carries the fleet's first Alaska season and returns with fifteen more voyages in 2027
- Asia is the trip — Japan, Korea, and two transpacific crossings in 2027
- The later interiors and the art program matter to you
The company's own first-quarter 2026 bond report put its load factor at 51 percent. That is a fleet running about half full, and for a buyer it means two things: availability on sailings that would otherwise be gone, and more room to ask for something.
In practice that means asking, rather than accepting the first number. The things that move on a soft sailing, roughly in order of how often we get them: onboard credit, a category upgrade within the ladder, included transfers or air, and occasionally deposit terms. Shoulder dates and the second half of a season are where there is most room; a Christmas Caribbean week is not.
For balance, the same report shows shareholders injecting $192 million of equity support, a deferral of $171 million of amortization, and vessel contribution margin up 215 percent year on year to $41 million. The unit economics are improving sharply from a low base. We raise it because it is public, material and useful when you are negotiating — and if deposit protection matters to you on a booking made a year out, ask us and we will put the question to them in writing rather than reassure you ourselves.
If you asked us to pick
Questions we get about Ilma and Luminara
What is the difference between Ilma and Luminara?
Structurally, almost nothing: same 46,750 gross tons, same roughly 790 feet, same 374 crew, same eight guest decks, both from Chantiers de l'Atlantique. The differences are fit-out. Luminara carries 226 suites and 452 guests to Ilma's 224 and 448, with nine fewer entry-level Terrace Suites and more Grand, Signature and a Residential category Ilma does not have. Two of her restaurants are different concepts, her public rooms were re-imagined by an additional design studio, and she carries 731 artworks.
Why does Luminara have more suites if they are sister ships?
The line has never published an explanation. Marriott said at announcement only that Luminara would have a higher percentage of upper-suite categories and would introduce The Residential Suite. Comparing the published per-category counts shows nine of the smallest Terrace Suites removed and five Grand, four Signature and two Residential Suites added in their place, which nets exactly the two extra suites and four extra berths. That reconciliation is our reading of the numbers, not a statement from the company.
Do Ilma and Luminara sail the same itineraries?
No, and for most people that decides it before any of the suite arithmetic does. Ilma is the Caribbean and Europe ship: the Mediterranean and Northern Europe through 2027, then the Caribbean from Miami, San Juan and Oranjestad in the 2027-28 winter. Luminara goes further afield — she carries the collection's first Alaska season in 2026, returns with fifteen more Alaska voyages in 2027 alongside four in Asia and two Pacific crossings, then works Asia-Pacific through the following winter. If you want Alaska or Japan, the choice has been made for you.
How much bigger are these than Evrima?
About seventy-six percent larger by tonnage — 46,750 against roughly 26,500 — and 166 feet longer, carrying about 150 more guests. The space ratio improves, from roughly 89 gross tons per guest on Evrima to about 104 on these two — the extra volume went into public rooms. The spa goes from five treatment rooms to eleven, and the marina gains a floating platform with a netted sea pool.
Are these ships better for the environment because of the LNG?
They run four Wärtsilä dual-fuel engines on LNG with catalytic reduction on every engine for nitrogen oxides, plus heat recovery and a hull optimized for slow steaming, and the design is stated to allow conversion to future fuels. What does not exist is a number: no emissions-reduction percentage has ever been published for these two ships and no independent measurement exists. Any figure you see attached to them is borrowed from somewhere else.
Is the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection building more ships?
No. The 2022 contract with Chantiers de l'Atlantique carried options for additional vessels, but no source shows those options being exercised, and the collection does not appear in the industry orderbooks. As of July 2026 the fleet is three yachts — Evrima, Ilma and Luminara — with nothing further announced.
Ask us about Ilma or Luminara
Two ships, and the right one depends on your suite.
Tell us your dates, your region, and roughly where in the suite ladder you are shopping. That last one decides more than people expect on these two.
An independent advisory · not affiliated with or endorsed by The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. Answers draw on this guide and are checked against current information before any booking.
On two ships this alike, the deciding question is not which yacht. It is which suite, and which one has more of them.
Ask which sister suits you