There are many luxury superyachts …and then there is the Al Salamahwhich more than a yacht the size of an eight-story building, actually serves as a floating royal palace with own entrance on Wikipedia.
When in 1998 the Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saudcrown prince and deputy prime minister of Saudi Arabia, made his list of requirements for what would be his personal yacht, the list was so long that it was necessary to build a 139-meter-long boat valued at more than 280 million dollars at the time, and whose annual maintenance cost It is estimated between 15 and 28 million dollars.
However, beyond the shine of the marble and luxury equipmentwhich makes the unique Al Salamah It is your medical equipment. Instead of having a well-equipped infirmary to deal with medical emergencies that may arise during voyages, the Saudi prince’s superyacht It had three independent hospitals located on different decks: a hospital for the prince, another for his guests and a third center to care for the crew. The epitome of exclusivity and protocol.
Ogres have capes, so do yachts
He Al Salamah It was born under the name “MiPos Project” (from Mission Possible) and ended up becoming a naval monster of more than 12,000 square meters with 22 luxurious suites covered with teak wood and ostentatious decoration very much in the Arab taste.
Its size and internal distribution not only sought to impress with its ostentation of luxury, but also intended organize life on board according to protocol which requires taking the heir to the Saudi crown on board.
One of the interior rooms of Al Salamah
In this way, the space on board was distributed in layers, so that the royals and the prince occupied the seventh deck, where he had his office, the secretariat and rooms for his trusted staff.
For their part, VIP guests and senior Saudi officials remained on the sixth deck and up to 96 crew members necessary to operate the yacht worked and lived on the lower decks.
The distribution has its logic, of course, because if one orders to build his own floating palace for him to act as an extension of his kingdomthe last thing you want is to have to share space with your subjects.
This separation of spaces extended to all aspects of daily life. The yacht has five kitchens and, of course, three hospitals. Each of them located near the patients they are going to care for. That is, one on deck seven next to the prince’s suite; another on deck six to care for guests, and a third on the lower levels to care for the crew.
Sultan’s private hospital, with an underwater treadmill
As you can imagine, the best equipped infirmary is the prince’s, which even has an underwater treadmill specially designed for physiotherapy.
More than a yacht, a floating kingdom
In addition to having exclusive medical care, the yacht’s guests could use a beauty salon, private cinema, library, meeting room, spa, gym, four auxiliary boats, a rescue boat, heliport and even a dressing room for the artists who performed on board exclusively for the Saudi royal family.
Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was not just any heir. For years he was minister of defense and aviation, and in 2005 he was named crown prince, so his relationship with the hierarchical structure, order and the powers that be was not exactly casual.
He was also known as “the humanitarian prince”, for financing medical projects in Saudi Arabia through the Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Foundation. Among the projects he carried out, it stands out that the Sultan bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City, inaugurated in Riyadh in 2002 at a cost of 320 million dollars.
It is the largest rehabilitation complex of its type in the world, with ten major operating rooms, eight minor ones, a rehabilitation center with a capacity for 250 beds and another for seniors with 150 beds. What this prince did with health care was worthy of study.
The Saudi president passed away in 2011 at 86 years old, but Al Salamah, and its three hospitals on board, is still in the power of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Image | Lurssen, Wikimedia Commons
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