The world's largest sailing ship has a new playground. The Orient Express Corinthian — a 30,000-ton vessel with a tiltable sails system, built at France's Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard — has arrived in Bridgetown, Barbados, to kick off its winter season across the Caribbean, Bahamas and United States, running from October 2026 through spring 2027.
Getting there was part of the experience. The ship crossed the Atlantic from Lisbon via Ponta Delgada in the Azores on a 14-night voyage dubbed "Ocean Rebirth," a wellness-focused crossing run in partnership with French house Guerlain. It capped off the Corinthian's inaugural Mediterranean season, which followed its maiden voyage in early May.
Now for the fun part: the Caribbean programme. The itinerary list reads like a greatest-hits of the region's prettiest anchorages — the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Saint Martin, Saint-Barth, Barbuda, Antigua, Barbados and Puerto Rico. There's a mix of short escapes and longer passages, so it works whether you want a quick island hop or a proper slow-sail holiday.
One sailing stands out: in January 2027, a five-night voyage from Marigot in Saint-Martin to San Juan, Puerto Rico, threads through the Leeward Islands with calls at St. Kitts and Nevis, Falmouth Bay in Antigua and Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. That's a tight cluster of islands where short hops between ports mean more time ashore and less time at sea.
When the Caribbean season wraps, the Corinthian sails back across the Atlantic in spring 2027, departing from Lisbon and working its way along the Iberian Peninsula to the Mediterranean. Its second summer season brings the brand's first Eastern Mediterranean itineraries — a notable expansion for a ship that only launched this year.
Why it matters: this is sailing-cruise territory, not a mega-ship resort at sea. If you've been curious about wind-powered cruising but found most options either too expedition-y or too rustic, the Corinthian pitches a middle path — a genuinely sail-driven ship with a luxury hotel brand behind it. The Caribbean routes also favour small, glam islands (Saint-Barth, Virgin Gorda, Barbuda) that big ships simply can't access, which changes the flavour of the whole trip. And if the Caribbean isn't your season, the repositioning crossings and the new Eastern Mediterranean summer routes give you alternatives on both sides of the Atlantic.
