Aman at Sea's first ship, the 94-passenger Amangati, will sail Europe for an inaugural season in spring 2027; reservations opened last month. The brand's CEO, Jonathan Wilson, has been at the helm since 2023 and brought a background in both hospitality (Hilton Worldwide) and cruise (Princess and Cunard) to the line. Cruise editor Teri West spoke with him about the experience Aman is crafting at sea and booking trends.
Jonathan Wilson
Q: How would you describe the experience onboard?
A: If you arrive by tender, we have these amazing limousine tenders that are custom built by Castoldi in Milan, Italy, and they, just themselves, are incredible experiences with wet bars and WiFi and restrooms. Or you can board by helicopter. [The Amangati] has two helipads, and we expect there to be a significant amount of guests that join or depart by helicopter. And just that arrival experience is already pretty spectacular from either one of those choices. Then when you walk onboard, it feels very much like an Aman property: incredible attention to detail, very high design. The most exquisite material. Sen wood from Japan, travertine from the quarries of Rome. The team literally goes to the quarry and points at blocks of travertine to say, "That's what I want."
Q: How much overlap are you anticipating with Aman's existing customer base?
A: We expect significant overlap and are seeing significant overlap. In the ultrahigh-net-worth individual category, it is a smaller group of people compared to other categories, and they're like-minded, and what they expect from their experiences is consistent and congruent, whether you're ashore or at sea. So we are seeing tremendous reaction from the Aman junkie, the core Aman guests. They're loving the product. They're booking the product. And we had expected probably around 60% of the bookings would be a direct response from them, and that's what we're seeing. It's early days, so things will change as time goes ahead, but right now we're seeing exactly what we expected.
Q: What is your strategy in working with the travel advisor community?
A: I have a very different approach than some of my peers, and that is: We want a relationship with the trade. I can't tell the Aman junkies how to book. I can't tell them they have to call me up. If they're comfortable using their advisor that they've used for 20 years, why would I not welcome that relationship, as well? As the cruise/yacht/retail industry is exploding around this energy of ultraluxury, so are the trade partners. If you think of a lot of the large trade partners that are out there -- Amex and Virtuoso, [other] large groups -- they're also investing in this space. They're also looking at their advisors, and saying, "How do we best support ultrahigh-net-worth individuals? How do we best support the products that support ultrahigh-net-worth individuals?"
Q: How do you approach selecting destinations?
A: If you think of where Amans are located, they typically are unique locations, somewhat secluded rare finds. Special places that you journey to. Of course, there is Aman New York, and there will soon be Aman Miami and Aman Beverly Hills, so you have some exceptions, but the core Aman product, a lot of it starts with the location that they're in. So that's important to us. We want Amangati and our future yachts to also be in unique locations that are less common, that are part of the experience and part of the journey to get to. And then -- quite frankly, my team gets tired of hearing me say this -- passengers vote with their wallet, and we'll go wherever they vote.