Princess built the 40M to compete with yards twice its size, and Mirage IV is the
argument made in full. Delivered in 2017 and given a thorough refit in 2024, she
runs the Croatian coast with twelve guests, eight crew and a watersports
inventory that reads more like a resort manifest than a tender list.
Start with the water. A large inflatable sea pool deploys alongside at anchor,
netted underneath, with loungers and a shade canopy rigged around its perimeter, a genuine swimming enclosure rather than a floating mat. A water slide runs from
the deck into the sea beside it. There is a jellyfish pool for smaller swimmers,
an Awake Ravik S electric surfboard, a Sea-Doo RXP-X 300, two Seabob F5s,
paddleboards, water skis and towables, and a climbing wall that the crew rig
against the superstructure on request. Few 40-metre yachts turn an anchorage into
this much of an afternoon.
Above it, the flybridge holds a jacuzzi, a real one, bubbling, teak-framed and
set beside a gym station so a session and a soak share the same view of the
Dalmatian islands. The rest of the deck runs to sunpads, a dining table under
shade and a bar, with the tender and toys stowed aft.
Her interior takes a warmer, more classical line than the current fashion, and it
is the better for being committed. The main deck is one long volume in cherry and
satinwood: a lounge forward with red velvet sofas, gilt-framed art and a low
macassar table, running aft into a dining area where red-backed chairs surround a
dark timber table for twelve. The two ends read as one room, which keeps a large
party together rather than splitting it.
The sky lounge above is a genuinely separate space, and it changes register
entirely, taupe sectionals, a large round ottoman, a chess table on a stand and
a lit display cabinet, with sliding doors to the upper aft deck. It is the quiet
room on a yacht that otherwise runs loud, and on a twelve-guest charter that
matters more than any single amenity.
Accommodation is six cabins. The master sits on the main deck forward with its
own study, a fold-out balcony and a marble en-suite with a full bath. Below, a
VIP with a desk and hull windows, two further doubles and two twins, all
en-suite, all in the same warm timber. Eight crew is a strong complement for six
cabins and shows in how quickly the toys appear and disappear.
Twin MTU diesels give her 18 knots of cruise and 23 flat out, with 2,000 nautical
miles of range at twelve, comfortably enough for the Adriatic run from Split to
Dubrovnik and the islands in between. Stabilisers work underway and at anchor,
and Starlink keeps the connection live in bays with no signal.
Eight crew also means the toys come out fast. On a yacht whose appeal rests on
deploying a sea pool, rigging a slide and launching a jet ski before lunch, the
difference between a willing crew of five and a practised crew of eight is the
difference between a good day and a wasted morning. Her Croatian programme runs
from Split and Dubrovnik, with the Kornati islands, Hvar, Vis and the Elaphiti
group all inside a comfortable leg.
Mirage IV is not the newest yacht on the Croatian circuit, and she is not trying
to be. She is the one that arrives, drops the pool, rigs the slide and turns a
bay into a week. For a family charter, that is the specification that actually
gets used.
