Three cheers to the yachting lifestyle! Emerald Cruises’ yachts are warm-weather cruising on a whole different scale: small! With only 100 guests, you feel like you’re aboard your own private yacht – that’s designed to make you feel immediately at home as you spend lazy days chasing the sun… and relaxing with something cold in your hand that reminds you: you’re on holiday!

WATCH THE VIDEO SHIP TOUR ABOVE: The Best Places on an Emerald Yacht Cruise to Relax Over a Drink

Sleek and modern and built with the warm waters of the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, the South Seas and other remote corners of the world, Emerald Sakara and her twin ship Emerald Azzurra are sized to sail into off-the-beaten-track ports – in many cases, surrounded by private yachts of the rich and famous, where larger cruise ships can’t go.

It really makes you feel like someone special. And that’s how the Emerald Cruises crew want you to feel. Even though there are just a hundred guests (that’s 50 staterooms and suites), over 70 crew members are on board to make your yachting holiday memorable.

The captain of the Emerald Sakara even tells guests that, while you’re aboard, he wants you to feel just like the owners of the yachts we’re joining at anchor in intimate and exclusive little ports: “While you’re on board, I want you to feel like 1/100 of this yacht is yours.”

And like private yachts, Emerald yacht cruises’ captains can change the ships’ itineraries to optimize your cruise by avoiding heavy weather and focusing on great cruising, not on a corporate schedule.

Although, of course, the goal is to follow the published itinerary, there’s a flexibility to very small ship cruising that, in my opinion, enhances your cruise.

If you like every moment of your holiday planned and you don’t like any changes from the plan…

If you like big production entertainment, dramatic themed restaurants and non-stop excitement on a ship… an Emerald yacht cruise might not be for you.

But if you’re like me and you love the freedom from an over-scheduled life at home, feeling connected to the sea in the breezy and chill outdoor spaces all over the ship, the experience of sailing among private yachts into off-the-beaten-path islands, private coves and beaches and ports of call you’ll never see on a larger ship…

Plus the intimacy of being among a small group of like-minded guests and crew who quickly get to know you by name, remember your favorite drink, greet you when you run into each other, and even remember you the next time you board…

An Emerald yacht cruise may be just the warm weather escape you need.