Walking the Walk on Cakewalk

by Kim Kavin

Sometimes, a large master cabin just isn’t enough. Sometimes, a split-level master suite still isn’t enough. In the case of the 281 foot Derecktor Cakewalk, nothing short of a seven-room master apartment would do. It comprises nearly an entire deck aboard this six-deck superyacht—which, at just shy of 3,000 gross tons, is the largest-volume superyacht ever built in the United States.

Cakewalk is a six deck superyacht built in the USA, and she has spacious charter accommodations for 12 guests.

I can’t call her the largest yacht overall, because the J.P. Morgan family built the 343-foot Corsair IV in the States back in 1931. But in terms of volume, Cakewalk blows Corsair IV out of the water. Cakewalk is more than 850 gross tons bigger because, well, nobody had yet thought to build six-deck superyachts in the years that followed World War I. There was simply no such thing as a sundeck hot tub.

Cakewalk launched in 2010 and is no longer considered the newest superyacht out there, but she’s still a showstopper. All eyes will be on her at the 2012 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, where she’ll be part of the Burgess Yachts display, showing off what charter guests can experience if they choose to book a week onboard.

That includes the seven-room master apartment for two guests, along with equal-size guest cabins for another 10 guests. Unlike other superyachts that reserve bottom-deck space for guest cabins, Cakewalk has them all on the main deck. That means larger spaces, larger windows, and no need to use the grand staircase or elevator to get down to your cabin at night.

The owners of Cakewalk believe that tenders complete the yachting experience, which is why the yacht boasts gull-wing doors that open to port and starboard, revealing a climate-controlled garage with an armada of Wave Runners and tenders. There’s a 36-foot Vikal  limousine tender that can hit 50 knots. There’s a 32-foot Riva Cento that maxes out at 42 knots. An Intrepid 350 Open center console is ready for diving, fishing, and other water sports. Seabobs, kayaks, and more complete the array of fun toys.

And of course, there are twenty-four crew members to take care of all of this, plus anything else the twelve charter guests require. There’s also a staff cabin for two supernumeraries, should guests need to bring a nanny, bodyguard, or other indispensable liaison.

The weekly base rate to charter Cakewalk is currently $700,000, which (when added to expenses like food, fuel, dockage, and gratuity) makes this yacht well over a million bucks a week for a charter. And if you go for the caviar and Cristal as part of your provisioning request, you should probably budget a little more.