Some yachts are beautiful. Some are fast. A rare few are genuinely, jaw-droppingly extraordinary. Zembra — Delta Marine's brand-new 46-metre expedition flagship, delivered in 2026 — sits firmly in that last category. We've followed a lot of new builds over the years, and honestly, this one stopped us in our tracks.
At 152 feet, Zembra accommodates twelve guests across five staterooms, attended by nine crew. Those numbers alone would make her a compelling luxury yacht charter proposition. But the numbers are almost beside the point — because what sets Zembra apart is everything else she brings to the table. Or rather, everything she carries in her hull.
A Floating Adventure Platform Unlike Any Other
Let's start with the submarine. Not a toy, not a novelty — a fully operational U-Boat Worx three-person submarine capable of descending to 1,000 feet. You can drift beneath the surface in near silence, watching the ocean floor unfold beneath you, while your fellow guests are still sipping coffee on deck. It is, frankly, one of the most extraordinary amenities we've ever seen on a private charter vessel.
Then there's the ICON A5 amphibious seaplane — complete with a certified flight instructor — for those who prefer to experience the landscape from above rather than below. Think sweeping aerial views of Alaska's glacier-carved coastline, or the raw, jungle-edged Pacific shores of Costa Rica and Panama. The perspective from up there? Unmatched.
The tender situation deserves its own paragraph. Zembra travels with a custom 55-foot JR Marine catamaran shadow boat, fitted with an A-frame launch system, a parasailing winch, and genuine beaching capability. There are also jet skis, twin F9 SeaBobs, a BoxFish 300-metre ROV for underwater exploration, a Hobie Catamaran, paddle boards, a Tandem Island — and a Williams DieselJet 625 with ballasts configured for wake sports. If you run out of things to do on this yacht, that's entirely on you.
Interiors by Roger Thomas — Refined Meets Rugged
Expedition capability and refined interiors don't always coexist gracefully. Zembra is the exception. Her interiors were designed by Roger Thomas — the creative mind behind the Wynn hotel properties in Las Vegas — and the result is a space that feels genuinely luxurious without a trace of the sterile, corporate aesthetic that plagues too many expedition yachts. Warm, considered, and beautifully finished.
She's also fully ADA-compliant, with a passenger elevator, an accessible stateroom, and flush thresholds throughout. It's rare to find expedition-grade hardware paired with this level of inclusive design — and we think it speaks volumes about how thoughtfully Zembra was conceived.
Where in the World Will She Take You?
Built in the Pacific Northwest, Zembra is ideally suited to the grand wilderness of an Alaska yacht charter in summer — where calving glaciers, humpback whales, and near-perpetual daylight create conditions that are, put simply, unlike anywhere else on earth. Picture emerging from the submarine into water so clear you can see the salmon run beneath you, then climbing into the seaplane for a pass over Glacier Bay. That's a single afternoon on Zembra.
Come winter, she heads south to the warmer, wilder waters of Costa Rica, Panama, and Mexico — prime territory for a private yacht charter that leans into raw natural drama. The Golfo Dulce in Costa Rica, the San Blas Islands off Panama, the Sea of Cortez in Mexico — these are places where the anchor goes down and the world, more or less, disappears. Zembra's adventure platform was made for coastlines exactly like these: remote, biodiverse, and frankly humbling.
The Bottom Line
We spend a lot of time writing about extraordinary vessels, and we're not easily impressed. But Zembra represents something genuinely new in the luxury charter holiday space — a yacht that doesn't ask you to choose between adventure and comfort, between the deep ocean and the open sky, between rugged exploration and beautifully appointed living spaces.
She does it all. And she does it at a level very few yachts in the world can match. If you're the kind of traveller who finds a pool villa in the Maldives a little… predictable — Zembra might just be exactly what you've been waiting for. Get in touch with our team to find out more about availability.
