Planet Nine is a 73m steel-hull expedition yacht launched in 2018 by Admiral (The Italian Sea Group) in Marina di Carrara, with a certified helideck capable of accepting an Airbus H145 or AW109 helicopter, range north of nautical miles, and a publicly evidenced charter calendar that has covered Antarctica, the Norwegian fjords, the Galapagos, and a Mediterranean season in between. As of May 2026 her historical charter rate band has been €700K to €900K per week, low to peak, and current availability requires a direct broker enquiry.
Planet Nine is one of the few sub-80m yachts on the charter market that delivers both explorer-yacht capability and conventional luxury-yacht finish. Most of the 70-metre explorer market is one or the other: a converted commercial hull with the explorer credentials but a working-vessel finish, or a yacht-finish hull with a touch-and-go pad and an "expedition aesthetic" that does not survive a serious itinerary. Planet Nine is the rare yacht where the spec sheet matches the marketing.
What Planet Nine actually is
Built by Admiral (The Italian Sea Group, Marina di Carrara), launched in 2018, with, steel hull, aluminium superstructure, and a deck plan organised around the certified helideck on the foredeck. The interior is a contemporary brief that pulls Italian-yacht aesthetic into a explorer envelope.
The verifiable spec, with markers where confirmation is needed:
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| LOA | 73.0m |
| Beam | |
| Draft | |
| GT | |
| Year built | 2018 |
| Builder | Admiral (The Italian Sea Group) |
| Naval architecture | |
| Exterior design | |
| Interior design | |
| Engines | 2 x |
| Top speed | 16 knots |
| Range | 5,500 nm at 12 knots |
| Cruising speed | 13 knots |
| Guest cabins | 7 |
| Guests | 14 |
| Crew | 22 |
| Tender garage | Yes |
| Beach club | Yes |
| Helideck | Certified, capable of H145 / AW109 |
| Touch-and-tank fuel for helicopter | |
| At-rest stabilisers | Yes [VERIFY system] |
The certified helideck is the differentiating feature. Most yachts in the 65m to 80m range have touch-and-go pads on the foredeck that allow rapid pickup and drop-off but do not allow the helicopter to be parked, refuelled, and stored safely overnight. Planet Nine's helideck is rated for parking, overnight tie-down, and (with appropriate fuel handling) refuelling. This unlocks itineraries that touch-and-go yachts cannot run: a true heli-ski week, a serious multi-day flight programme, or the helicopter-based supply run that some Antarctic itineraries require.
Where she has cruised
Planet Nine's published charter and cruising route is the case for the platform. Antarctic Peninsula seasons (December to March), with the helideck supporting the heli-ski and aerial-photography itineraries that the standard cruise-ship operations cannot match. Norwegian fjord seasons in the May to August window. Mediterranean seasons in the conventional July to September window. Galapagos transits with appropriate permitting.
The route history matters because it tells you the yacht has been operated as an expedition platform, not just marketed as one. The crew rotation across high-latitude and tropical seasons is meaningful: a captain who has done a December Antarctic and a July Norwegian fjord season knows how to manage the transitions in a way a Med-only captain does not. The platform reputation among the small community of expedition charter brokers is correspondingly strong [VERIFY current operator and crew tenure].
What a week aboard actually looks like
14 guests in 7 cabins (max charter configuration, with owner-only configurations historically reducing the guest count). The interior brief is contemporary Italian, not the dark-wood Lürssen aesthetic. Light timbers, large window areas, and a beach club at the transom that opens to the waterline. The aft cockpit is the social heart of the yacht in tropical itineraries. The saloon and the upper-deck dining take that role in cold-weather work.
The helideck is the spec that changes the deck plan. On a yacht of this LOA the foredeck would normally be tender storage, sunpads, or a touch-and-go landing zone. On Planet Nine the foredeck is a helideck, which removes some of the social space at the bow but adds the operational capability that justifies the platform.
Toys are explorer-class. Past inventory has included: a custom expedition tender (typically), a secondary chase tender, two-to-three RIBs sized for landings on rough beaches, jet skis, SeaBobs, dive gear and recompression chamber, snowmobiles for high-latitude work, paddleboards, and the helicopter (charter-supplied unless owner brings own). The dive operation is properly equipped, which matters for itineraries where the dive is the reason for the charter.
What the helideck actually buys you
Three concrete things.
The first is guest changeover by helicopter. On a 7-day Mediterranean charter this is rare. On a 21-day Norway or Antarctic itinerary this is essential. Planet Nine can position 200 nm offshore, send the helicopter for a guest changeover at a remote airstrip, and return without losing a day to a port call. The economic value of that capability over a 21-day itinerary is significant.
The second is operational range. The helicopter functions as the yacht's reconnaissance vessel. The captain can scout an anchorage, an ice route, or a landing beach by air before committing the yacht to the approach. In high-latitude work this is not a luxury, it is risk management.
The third is the heli-flight day itself. Heli-ski from the deck. Aerial photography over the Lemaire Channel. Fly-in fishing on a remote river. None of these are possible from a touch-and-go pad in operational weather. The certified helideck makes them routine.
The trade-off is the foredeck space and the operating cost. A certified helideck is a maritime asset, not a sunpad. Helicopter operations require dedicated crew (a HLO at minimum), specific fuel handling, and a crew brief that takes flight operations seriously. If your charter does not use the helicopter, you are paying for a foredeck you cannot use as a sunpad.
The friction before signing
The itinerary. Charter Planet Nine for the itinerary that uses her capability. Antarctic. Norwegian fjords. Galapagos. Greenland. The Aleutians. South Georgia. The remote Indonesian and Pacific itineraries. Do not charter her for a 7-day Cap d'Antibes loop. The platform is overspecified for that work and the value is wasted.
The helicopter contract. If your itinerary uses the helicopter, the helicopter is typically a separate contract through a specialist heli-charter operator. The yacht supplies the deck and the crew. The operator supplies the aircraft, the pilot, and the insurance. Negotiate this contract in parallel with the charter contract, not after, and confirm that the yacht's HLO and the heli-charter operator have worked together previously [VERIFY current heli-operator partner]. A new-pairing first day is not where you want to learn the operational interface.
The dive and expedition equipment. Confirm the dive gear inventory, the dive locker spec, the dive guide / divemaster on the crew (or as a contracted addition for the week), and the recompression chamber status. For a serious dive itinerary the difference between adequate and good dive equipment is the difference between a week your guests remember and a week they complain about.
The captain's high-latitude experience. Planet Nine has been operated by. For a high-latitude charter the captain's prior experience in the specific water (Antarctic, Greenland, Spitsbergen) is a non-negotiable. Ask for the captain's CV with prior high-latitude voyages enumerated. A captain who has done five Antarctic seasons is meaningfully different to one who has done one, and night-and-day different to one who has done none.
APA and the helicopter pass-through. The APA on a Planet Nine charter is among the highest in the 70m to 80m class because the platform burns more fuel per nautical mile in expedition work, the helicopter operations have non-trivial fuel and handling costs, and the support equipment (dive, ski, camping) has its own consumables. Build a 50 percent contingency on the headline rate for an expedition itinerary, and ask the central agent for line-item APA on the most recent comparable charter.
What does not make the cut
We would pass on Planet Nine for a Mediterranean-only charter at the headline rate. The platform is overspecified for that itinerary. The right Med yacht is a conventional 70m to 80m motor yacht, and the rate gap will more than fund the better-fitting platform.
We would pass on her for a true ice-class itinerary that requires structural ice rating. Planet Nine is built for high-latitude shoulder-season work with good routing, not for true ice transit. For the Northeast Passage, the Antarctic deep-South season, or any itinerary that requires structural ice capability, look at Legend, Ragnar, or other genuinely ice-class platforms.
We would pass on her for a guest list that does not use the helicopter or the expedition equipment. You are paying for capability. If the capability is not in your itinerary, the rate-to-value ratio is wrong.
How she compares
Inside the 65m to 80m explorer-yacht charter market the comparables are:
- Cloudbreak (73m, 2016, Abeking & Rasmussen). Steel explorer, ski-charter use, no certified helideck. Cloudbreak profile.
- Ragnar (68m, ice-class converted icebreaker). True ice-class capability, less yacht-finish. Ragnar profile.
- Legend (77m, ice-class explorer). Ice-class, expedition-converted, charter use. Legend profile.
- Yersin (77m, 2015, Piriou). Expedition platform with research capability, different brief. Yersin profile.
Planet Nine's positioning against this set is the certified helideck plus the contemporary yacht finish. She is the most yacht-like of the cohort. Cloudbreak is the closest direct comparable in size and brief, with the trade-off being the helideck capability versus the slightly more refined yacht finish.
How to enquire
Planet Nine's central agency has been with across her charter history. For an expedition charter the right enquiry path is a broker with a track record in the specific itinerary you are planning. The same broker who excels at Mediterranean week-charter is unlikely to be the right contact for an Antarctic itinerary. Ask for prior expedition charter references before engaging.
Three diligence questions worth asking:
- Is the helideck currently in operational status (annual inspection date, current HLO certification)?
- Is the dive equipment current (last service date, certifications)?
- What is the captain's most recent prior charter and what was the itinerary?
A central agent who answers these questions inside the first call is one to work with. One who deflects on any one of the three is one to walk away from.