Several members of the Four Seasons Yachts leadership team left the start-up cruise brand this year, including president and CEO Larry Pimentel. Nils Lindstad, vice president of business development and sales excellence for Four Seasons Yachts, spoke with cruise editor Andrea Zelinski about the direction the product is headed in and what travel advisors can expect.
Nils Lindstad
Q: What's going on with Four Seasons Yachts?
A: We continue to search for a new CEO, someone to oversee the seasoned leadership team that we have put in place here. We're continuing to build such exciting momentum in partnering with the Four Seasons team, and everything is moving forward towards our inaugural voyage in January 2026.
It was tough to see the two founding members [go] who supported the project from the beginning. Leadership changes can occur, but we're full steam ahead with the yacht. At the end of last year was the steel cutting, the keel is being laid this summer, and we are taking delivery from Fincantieri at the end of 2025. The demand and the bookings we have seen to date have all been very positive.
Q: Some travel advisors say the leadership departures make them uneasy. What's your response?
A: In startups and different projects, it's not uncommon to have some of these changes. To make them feel at ease, everything as it relates to the construction of the vessel and the other investors who are part of this project, everyone is still very excited for everything we're doing and nothing has slowed down that progress. We're still on the hunt [for a CEO]. No decision has been made there, but obviously we're looking for someone with extensive experience and expertise in passenger shipping, specifically in the luxury travel space. Until the replacement is named, everyone is focused on the goal of delivering this yacht and getting everything set up for our inaugural year.
Q: You began with invitation-only bookings. How has that gone?
A: The Four Seasons' loyal guests, the ones who experienced stays at hotels and resorts, in residences, had been on the jet product, those were who the initial invitations had gone out to at the end of last year. We did very well there. We opened [bookings to the public] in March. Demand has been very strong. We opened the first 19 voyages and [the ships] have 95 suites. We have very scarce inventory, so we have to be very careful and balance the availability with the demand. But first and foremost, the initial focus was on the Four Seasons loyal guests and their travel partners.
Q: With such limited inventory, will you court advisors since you already have a Four Seasons past guest waitlist?
A: From day one, advisors have always been a part of our go-to-market plan. They are a big pillar of what we are doing. We always had the ability for invited guests to delegate the booking to their travel partner of choice. If you go on our consumer website right now, our e-brochure has no phone number listed. The call to action is to reach out to your travel partner of choice. We're sitting at just under 2,000 advisors that have registered through our portal with us. We have a very healthy mix of bookings that have come from the travel advisor community.
Q: Are you doing outreach or have any preferred relationships with travel agencies?
A: That is starting now. We absolutely will be reaching out in a more proactive manner. We're about to open up roughly 22 more voyages for sale. There absolutely is a strategy to continue connecting with those travel partners.