You're 20 miles offshore. The forecast was wrong. Again. But instead of scrambling below to close hatches and secure the galley, you tap a button at the helm. The salon window tilts closed. The sliding doors glide shut. The sunroof seals. Thirty seconds, and you're buttoned up without leaving the wheel. That's the S65 in a sentence—a 67-footer that understands how you actually use a boat, not how brochures say you should.
Princess built the S65 to solve a problem most builders ignore: the gap between express cruisers that sacrifice livability for speed and flybridge yachts that sacrifice speed for space. The result is a sport bridge design that delivers 36 knots and four staterooms without compromise. The twin MAN V12-1400s aren't just numbers on a spec sheet. They turn Fort Lauderdale to Key West into a four-hour run instead of six.
Who It's For
The S65 owner runs their own boat. Not because they can't afford crew, but because they want to. This is the entrepreneur who cleared their calendar for a long weekend and doesn't want to coordinate schedules with a captain. It's the family that wants Exumas flexibility without Exumas logistics.
This boat makes sense if you're splitting time between short-handed cruising and entertaining. The galley-up layout means one person can handle lunch service while keeping an eye on the helm. The sport bridge gives you a second social zone without the windage penalty of a full flybridge. And the four-cabin, four-head layout handles three couples plus kids without anyone sleeping on a convertible dinette.
The S65 doesn't work if you need a crew cabin that isn't an afterthought. The single berth behind the engine room is fine for a dock captain or occasional relief skipper, but it's not where you'd house full-time crew. This is an owner-operator boat that can accommodate professional help when needed, not the other way around.
Design and Layout: The Main Deck Advantage
Most 65-footers make you choose. Galley up or galley down. Open or enclosed. Flybridge or express. The S65 refuses to pick sides.
The main deck runs 40 feet from transom to windshield with exactly one step. Cockpit settee flows to galley, galley flows to salon, salon flows to helm. When the sliding glass doors nest into their pockets and the galley window tilts up, you have uninterrupted sight lines across the entire deck. It's the spatial equivalent of knocking down walls in a house—suddenly everything feels twice as large.
The galley sits amidships where it belongs, not buried below where the cook misses the conversation. Full-height refrigeration, four-burner cooktop, and enough counter space to prep for eight without Tetris-level organization. The outside serving counter turns the galley window into a bar pass-through, which matters more than it sounds when you're three drinks into a raft-up.
Below deck, Princess made a decision that separates the S65 from competitors: they gave the master suite hull-length windows on both sides. Not portholes. Not small rectangles. Full-length glass that floods the cabin with light and makes the space feel 10 feet wider than it measures. The en suite head is full-beam, which is rare under 70 feet, and there's a walk-in closet that actually fits walk-in clothing.
The VIP forward gets similar treatment with oversized windows and a private head. The two guest cabins split duties—starboard has twin berths that slide together, port has bunks with a proper ladder. Both share access to the day head, which keeps morning traffic flowing without bottlenecks.
Performance: Freedom Measured in Knots
The MAN V12-1400 package isn't about bragging rights at the dock. It's about options when weather windows close or plans change. Thirty-six knots at wide-open throttle. A 1,083-gallon tank before you're shopping for fuel.
Run the numbers on a typical Bahamas trip. Fort Lauderdale to Bimini is 48 nautical miles. At the top of the rev range, that's under two hours and roughly 180 gallons of fuel. You arrive with 900 gallons in the tanks, which is enough to explore the northern Bahamas for a week before thinking about a fuel dock. Compare that to displacement speeds where the same crossing takes four hours and limits your cruising radius to whatever's within a day's run of the last fuel stop.
The hull is a deep-V design with 16'9" of beam carried well aft. That beam does two things: it creates stability at rest without needing active stabilization underway, and it provides the volume for four real staterooms without resorting to bunk rooms and Pullmans. The optional Seakeeper 9 handles the rest, turning lumpy anchorages into flat water without the roll that sends guests reaching for Dramamine.
The sport bridge adds 10 knots of perceived speed because you're in the weather instead of behind glass. It's not a full flybridge—there's no wet bar with an ice maker or a second galley. It's a helm, two pedestal seats, and enough settee space for four people who want sun and wind. Princess Yachts America adds a hydraulic Bimini top for the U.S. market, which is the difference between usable and ornamental in South Florida summers.
The Ownership Conversation
The S65 sits in the range where operating costs start to matter but haven't yet become absurd. Twin 1,400-hp diesels are thirsty when you use all of them, as any 67-footer's are. At current South Florida diesel prices, that's around $1,000 in fuel. Insurance runs $25,000 to $35,000 annually depending on experience and cruising area. Dockage in Fort Lauderdale averages $4.50 per foot per day, so budget $110,000 per year if you're keeping her in a slip year-round.
Maintenance follows the same pattern as any twin-diesel sportfish. Annual service on the MANs runs $8,000 to $12,000 depending on hours. Bottom paint and detail every 18 months adds another $15,000. The Seakeeper needs service every 2,000 hours, which is roughly $3,000. Generator service, HVAC maintenance, and the inevitable electronics upgrades add up to another $10,000 annually.
Total operating cost for 100 hours of annual use: approximately $180,000 to $220,000, assuming you're not counting depreciation or financing. That's the reality of a 67-foot performance yacht. It's not cheap. But it's also not superyacht territory where crew salaries exceed the boat's operating costs.
The alternative is hiring a captain and mate, which adds $150,000 to $200,000 in annual salary plus benefits, insurance, and travel. For owners who plan to use the boat 15 to 20 days per year, that math doesn't work. For owners who want 60 to 80 days aboard, it starts to make sense. The S65 is designed for the former group—people who want the option of professional help without the obligation of a permanent crew.
Where to Start
The S65 makes sense if you've outgrown 50-foot express cruisers but aren't ready for the crew and complexity of 80-foot motoryachts. It's the right boat if you value speed and range over tender garages and beach clubs. And it works if you're willing to trade some flybridge space for better proportions and 10 extra knots.
Princess builds roughly 20 to 25 S65s per year, and the U.S. market absorbs about half of that production. Used inventory is limited, which keeps resale values stable but makes finding the right boat a patience game. Expect 12 to 18 months for a new build, depending on options and yard schedule.
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