| Gross tonnage | 26,600 GT |
|---|---|
| Length | 220 m |
| Beam | 25 m |
| Passenger capacity (double) | 108 |
| Passenger capacity (max) | 110 |
| Crew | 170 |
| Service speed | 12.0 knots |
| Builder | Chantiers de l'Atlantique |
| Yard | Saint-Nazaire |
| Hull number | A36 |
| Launched | 2026 |
| Maiden voyage | 2026 |
| Class | Silenseas-class cruise ship |
| Operator | Orient Express |
| Status | Active |
Overview
Orient Express Corinthian is the first ship of the Orient Express Silenseas fleet and, on the figures published for her, the largest sailing ship in the world: a 220-metre, 26,600 GT vessel carrying three rigid SolidSail rigs totalling 4,500 square metres of sail on tilting masts about 100 metres high. She was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint-Nazaire as hull A36 for Orient Express — the Accor brand, in partnership with LVMH — and handed over on 29 April 2026. With just 110 guests in 54 suites and a crew of 170, she applies the ratio and rhetoric of a private yacht at the scale of a small cruise ship, and she returns the Orient Express name to the sea roughly 140 years after the brand's first trains. Because she is so new, several details of her service remain unconfirmed; those are flagged rather than stated as fact.
Key specifications
The dataset records 26,600 GT (one published account gives 26,200 GT — the variant is logged in the build notes), 220 m in length, 25 m in beam, a maximum of 110 passengers, a crew of 170 and a speed of 12.0 knots. Her reference article adds a displacement of 15,000 tonnes and a sail height of 100 m. The 12-knot figure should be read with care: it is the dataset's recorded speed, while the yard's SolidSail material has claimed higher speeds under sail alone in optimal conditions. Her 54 suites are reported at 45 to 230 square metres each.
Design and construction
Corinthian's defining technology is SolidSail, the rigid-sail system developed by Chantiers de l'Atlantique over about a decade: three self-supporting rigs, each of 1,500 square metres, mounted on tilting masts and driven by the AeolDrive arrangement, intended to propel the ship under wind alone in favourable conditions. Auxiliary propulsion is by LNG-fuelled machinery, and the design is described as hydrogen-ready. Steel cutting preceded a keel-laying and coin ceremony in January 2025, at which the first 606-ton block was lowered into the Saint-Nazaire dry dock; thirteen further hull blocks and three balestron (rig) blocks followed. She was completed in April 2026. The interiors, by Orient Express artistic director Maxime d'Angeac, reinterpret the Art Deco language of the historic train brand, with the work credited to a large body of French craftsmen and ateliers.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
The ship was named and handed over at Saint-Nazaire on 29 April 2026, an event attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, who described her as a French technological achievement; the ceremony included the hoisting of her three SolidSails. The dataset records her maiden voyage simply as 2026, and her reference article describes a maiden season from June 2026 as scheduled. The specific itinerary and ports of that first season are not stated here.
Career by operator
Orient Express Corinthian has had a single name and operator.
| Period | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2026–present | Orient Express Corinthian | Orient Express |
Reporting around her handover describes an Atlantic crossing in October 2026 followed by a Caribbean season. This guide makes no claim about where she is sailing at any given time.
Onboard character
What is permanent about Corinthian is her concept rather than any amenity list: a sailing ship first in silhouette and identity, with the service model of the Orient Express brand — a butler for every suite is the operator's stated model. Published descriptions of her interiors emphasise Art Deco references, French artisanal production and unusually large suites with wide panoramic windows. Dining was announced under chef Yannick Alléno across several restaurants. This directory does not reproduce launch amenity lists, which date quickly; the durable facts are the sail plan, the guest-to-crew ratio and the design authorship.
Major refits and incidents
Corinthian is a new ship, handed over in April 2026. No refit has taken place and no incident involving her had been reported in the sources used for this guide at the time of writing.
Sister ships and class
Corinthian is the first of the Silenseas class. A second ship, Orient Express Olympian, was in build behind her at Saint-Nazaire, with delivery reported for 2027. The dataset lists the class name as Silenseas-class.
Fate and where she is now
Orient Express Corinthian is recorded in the dataset as active, handed over on 29 April 2026 and entering her first season in 2026. Anything beyond that — confirmed routes, future seasons, fleet expansion — is prospective and is deliberately not baked into this guide.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient_Express_Corinthian; Chantiers de l'Atlantique / Orient Express keel-laying reporting (January 2025); Saint-Nazaire naming and handover reporting (29 April 2026).