Business is thriving, one Monaco-based broker said, even though customers increasingly ask for the boats’ provenance, after some Russian owners have been hit by sanctions

• By K. Oanh Ha / Bloomberg

Stacy Fischer-Rosenthal and her 30-strong team have had a busy summer booking private yachts for bankers, CEOs and other high flyers now liberated from the shackles of the COVID-19 pandemic and willing to pay millions of dollars for week-long luxury cruises.

Bookings for superyachts through Fischer Travel Enterprises, where Fischer-Rosenthal is president, have spiked 20 percent this year from already high levels last year, a trend also seen by other companies chartering out luxury vessels that can come with all the frills from Michelin-starred cuisine to cinemas and submarines.

“Yacht charters are very popular because our clients want the privacy, security and flexibility that it gives them,” Fischer-Rosenthal said.

Her company charges US$150,000 just to join its members-only service, through which superyachts can be chartered anywhere around the world.

“They want to have a luxurious experience,” she said…