The UAE’s homegrown superyachts take on the boating world

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Gulf Craft’s Majesty Yachts are Hand Built on the Shores of the Persian Gulf

The UAE’s homegrown superyachts take on the boating world

Jason Harper

25 March 2025

The forecast is calling for rain in Dubai, and the city is encased in mist. The Majesty 100 Terrace superyacht skirts past the man-made islands of Palms Jumeirah and glides up the coast. From our perch on the bow we spy the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, poking out of the ghostly fog, a majestic spike punching into the clouds.

Dubai’s dense cityscape grows by the day, and there’s no better place to get a sense of the city’s layout—and wealth—than aboard this superyacht, which starts from $10.3 million and is hand-constructed by Gulf Craft in the neighboring Emirate of Umm Al Quwain. 

Gulf Craft was formed in 1982, and its momentum is clear. The builder presented eight new models at the Dubai International Boat Show last month, ranging from the Majesty 100 and 112 Terrace superyachts to new catamarans and cruisers. In total, 18 of Gulf Craft’s boats bobbed in the waters of Dubai Harbour, a show of force among the flashy Italian and Dutch offerings.

In addition to Majesty Yachts, Gulf’s other brands include Nomad Yachts, SilverCAT catamarans, and Oryx Sport Cruisers, a lineup that ranges from 32 feet to 175 feet. “The customer has changed,” says Gulf Craft Chairman, Mohammed Hussein AlShaali. “Customers now spend more time on their yachts than they used to. They want bigger space. They want more amenities and a bigger home. They want more entertainment.”

To achieve a balance in the tug-of-war between extra space and efficiency, nearly every aspect of the build is done in-house at Gulf’s massive shipyard. This includes everything from the hulls to steelwork, entertainment systems, and even the furniture. AlShaali says this allows Gulf Craft to design its boats in a holistic, cost-efficient way that its competitors can’t match. “We design everything exactly the way we want. Therefore our vessels have more space compared to the others,” he tells us from his office on the water at the shipyard following our morning cruise. “We control the quality, we control the delivery, and we control the cost, and for the customer this is a plus.”

One doesn’t truly get a scale of the size of a 100-plus-foot yacht until you see one getting built. The massive, empty hulls sit inside a cavernous warehouse, attended by hundreds of workers hand laying the composite hulls, meticulously sanding down steel and wood parts so they take on the perfect sheen, and laying out the puzzle board of teak that will make up the decks. It is confounding in its complexity. 

The Majesty yachts avoid the flashiness of competitors like the Italians, instead leaning on proud, stately silhouettes. The interiors evoke the kind of contemporary elegance you’d find at a top international hotel, with clean lines and superlative materials of marble and wood. One can easily mind settling in here comfortably for weeks.

Still, the yachts also sprinkle in design surprises meant to wow. 

The 112 Terrace, priced at a start of $12.6 million, has three decks. A hot tub is situated on the front of the top deck, its bottom made out of glass, allowing bathers a watery view of the master bed in the owner’s suite just below. (Or a view of the bathers’ bottoms from the bed.) The 112 has six guest cabins in all, each with an en-suite bathroom.

While the 100 lacks a third deck, its owner’s suite is especially glam and private, with a glass-fronted private foredeck terrace that protects from sun, wind, and prying eyes.  

Gulf has produced more than 10,000 vessels in its history, and AlShaali says it is the love of the water that first brought him to the business—and keeps him personally involved in the engineering and designs. “I’ll tell you from 40 years experience, there are differences in every boat,” he says. “They come from the same mold and are done by the same people, but  every yacht has its own attitude. See if you can feel it when you are out on the sea.”