Casino Royale is a 236.2-foot luxury yacht which was built in 2018 and refit, whatever that means, in 2023. It has all the requirements needed for a luxury yacht, including a helipad, swimming pool, movie theater (showing guess what!), you name it. All for a mere 75 million dollars. I first saw this yacht at the Palm Beach International Boat Show this past March. It was being hyped on the show's website as a must see, and so I was sure it would be snapped up immediately. But lo and behold, as I was walking along Lake Worth in downtown West Palm Beach, Florida the other day, I spotted it sitting at the end of a pier, as seen in the photograph on the left. Where it must have been sitting since that boat show. And why hasn't it sold? Does the movie theater have only one screen? Is the swimming pool not Olympic size? Questions, questions. The website states that the Casino Royale sleeps up to 12 guests in 6 staterooms, which means, of course, that even if it is a luxury yacht, you might very well have to have a roommate. That's luxury living? The website also states that there is room on the boat for a crew of 18. Great - sharing a room AND having to pay for a crew of 18.
The agent for this yacht, by the way, is Merle A. Wood, whose office appears to be located in the Bahia Mar Marina in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where Travis McGee, mystery writer John D. McDonald's famous fictional "salvage consultant" and knight in tarnished armor, moored his 52-foot houseboat, the Busted Flush, at Slip-F18. Years ago, my sister Susan took the photograph on the right of me posing with at that plaque, which marked the spot where that famous fictional houseboat was docked. I really enjoyed seeing it. However, Bahia Mar was reconstructed in 2003 to replace fixed docks with floating docks, in order to accommodate - you guessed it - Superyachts, and Slip F-18 was no more. The plaque is now located in the Dockmaster's Office and Gift Shop. Life just keeps getting better, doesn't it? And by the way, I am just amazed to see that I haven't changed a bit since that photo was taken.
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