Boat Test: 2025 Cruisers Yachts 57 Fly

Overview

How can you not love a yacht with a 23-bottle wine cooler in the owner’s stateroom? Especially a yacht like the new Cruisers Yachts 57 Fly, which has enormous windows in every stateroom, so you could sip a little plonk snuggled in bed while enjoying the view of Nantucket or Catalina or even…Positano. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Interior and Accessories

I dislike saying that the 57 Fly replaces the Cruisers Yachts Cantius 60 Fly because the new 57 Fly is simply incomparable. The 57 provides three staterooms and two heads, and features an owner’s suite that spans the full beam amidships, allowing a walk-around queen berth, a large bureau, and a built-in table under a large window for light and watching the world.  

Cruisers Yachts has coined the phrase “water interaction,” and that’s exactly what the 57 Fly achieves, from the extra-wide swim platform that lowers to become a beach (or launch an 800-pound tender or PWC) to the foldout veranda that turns a big piece of the port bulwark into added deck space. But wait, there’s more. A pair of stools mount on the veranda next to a sliding window that opens directly into the galley, making this an entertainment area where you can pass munchies around. And the cockpit has a wraparound settee on the transom with high/low table to enjoy beverages, dining, playing cards and much more.  

Continuing the water interaction, superyacht designer Luiz Debasto ­created oversize windows in every part of the yacht, finishing with a ­pleasant ocean-sand oak finish on the boat provided for our test.

But don’t miss the Fly part of the 57 Fly, because it’s huge. If Scotty beamed me down, blindfolded, to the flybridge, I couldn’t guess the boat size within 10 feet. For starters, it has its own alfresco galley, with a 2-square-foot Texan barbecue with both a conventional grill and a flat ­plancha
(think seasoned veggies or tasty seafood). 

Yes, there’s a gourmet-equipped galley in the salon, with everything from convection oven to dishwasher to Kenyon cooktop, all opening to the cockpit through triple accordion doors. But with this much cooking ability, what about the actual eating?

The 57 Fly has four—count ’em, four—dining areas, starting with the big dinette in the cockpit. Then there’s another in the salon, as you’d expect, and another on the flybridge for everything coming off that grill. What you won’t expect is that the entire foredeck is Transformer-like: It morphs from sun pad to adjustable-backed chaises facing either way to comfy settees, and then into another full dining area with twin ­tables—perfect when anchored at dusk.

Boat buyers should note that the Galeon 560 Fly, powered by straight inboard 725 hp Volvo Penta D11s (price not available due to tariff ­concerns), also offers two en suite staterooms plus a smaller guest cabin (with crew cabin aft). The Galeon boasts foldout terraces on both sides as opposed to the Cruisers Yachts single.

Inside the 57 Fly’s all-weather salon, guests have another couch and a 55-inch pop-up TV, although the huge windows (remember water interaction?) provide an unblocked vista. And the galley has four undercounter fridges (totaling 12.6 cubic feet), so the skipper’s view aft isn’t blocked by the usual house-size fridge.

That skipper is cossetted on a double-wide bolstered helm seat with twin footrests and an opening window for talking to the gas dock guys. With the oversize windshield, Cruisers ­created a curved dashboard that curls over the twin ­16-inch Garmin monitors, creating an “eyebrow” to defeat glare.  

On the lower deck, there’s a VIP stateroom forward with queen berth (and big windows), plus a guest cabin with twin berths that slide into a double. The VIP head is en suite, shared with the guest cabin and as a day head.

Something I love that I haven’t mentioned is the air-conditioned crew quarters aft of the ­engine room. While the Cruisers Yachts 57 Fly is an owner-operator yacht, there are times when an extra pair of hands for anchoring or docking (and cleaning up) are welcome. But I think this space, which can also be a work area, is perfect for a teenager’s need for privacy (and music!).

Engines 

Power for the 57 Fly comes from a pair of ­Volvo Penta IPS 950 pod drives, mated to a ­Volvo D11 truck engine with its solid reputation for ­being bulletproof. This 6-cylinder common-rail diesel has a twin-entry turbo and punches out 725 hp through counter-rotating props, which was more than enough to push us past the 30-knot mark, even with the Gulf Stream acting up.  A 17 kW Onan genset is standard in a sound box, upgradable to 21 kW, and a Seakeeper 9 ­gyrostabilizer is standard.  

Underway, the 57 Fly proved itself a solid and reassuring performer.  Donald Blount and ­Associates designed the hull, which, along with the Seakeeper gyrostabilizer, kept us comfortable up-sea, down-sea, and across the swells. We topped out past the 30-knot mark in the lumpy Gulf Stream and, backed off to 25 knots, the 57 Fly sipped fuel at 63 gph, which gave us a 250-nautical-mile range. Need more? Pull back the hammers to 9 knots, and you’re looking at 700 nautical miles, which should get you from Newport to Bermuda with some slosh still left in the 611-gallon tank.

After our offshore adventure, returning to the dock was easy-peasy. With the IPS joystick, a skipper can plant it precisely and slide the boat sideways into the tightest spaces. Even Aunt Edna could dock the 57 Fly. Wait, let me think about that.

If “water interaction” is new to you, check out the Cruisers Yachts 57 Fly for a thorough ­definition.

Read Next: Cruisers Yachts 50 GLS

How We Tested

• Engines: Twin 725 hp Volvo Penta IPS 950
• Drive/Prop: IPS/P4 Bronze Duoprop propsets
• Gear Ratio: 1.7:1 Fuel Load: 250 gal. Water on Board: 65 gal. Crew Weight: 650 lb.

High Points

• The skipper has a 360-degree view, thanks to a low-profile fridge in the galley.
• A lounge/chaise folds out of the transom to make the swim platform into a beach club for watching kids or, yes, water ­interaction.
• The seamanlike foredeck has a Quick ­vertical windlass and 200 feet of chain tucked (with a washdown) into the chain locker, and two nearby clamshell lockers stash everything from dock lines to fenders.

Low Points

• The lower galley has a thoughtful Lucite backsplash to keep dribbles off the ­upholstery, but there are no drip ridges around the galley counter for spills.
• The salon’s overhead treatment is very Star Trek-esque, with swoops and hidden lighting—methinks a bit too much. 

Pricing and Specs

Speed, Efficiency, Operation