PARIS — Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president-elect, shrugged off criticism yesterday of his holiday on a businessman’s yacht.

The three-day cruise with his family had not “cost the French taxpayer a cent,” he told reporters after disembarking at Malta before flying back to Paris.

“I could have gone to a hotel, but imagine what that would have been like,” said Mr. Sarkozy, 52, who was elected last Sunday with a mandate to introduce sweeping economic reforms.

“Already, when I’m on a boat you rented out planes and helicopters to take photos of me,” he added.

“I have no intention of hiding, I have no intention of lying, I have no intention of apologizing.”

The opposition had accused him of “debauchery” and “tactlessness” for using the private jet of Vincent Bollore and for borrowing his yacht.

The Paloma is a 200-foot “floating palace” with seven cabins for 12 people, 17 crew, giant plasma screens, and an on-deck Jacuzzi. It has two jet-skis, kayaks, water skis, and diving equipment.

A spokesman for Ségolène Royal, the Socialist Party candidate who lost to Mr. Sarkozy, described the trip as “a form of arrogance and even an insult” to the French given that his “campaign was about a France which gets up early, a society at work.”

After promising to get tough on les assistes — people living off the state — Mr. Sarkozy “seems to be living off billionaires,” the spokesman added.

But Mr. Sarkozy, who spoke to reporters while jogging on the Maltese coast, said: “Vincent Bollore, one of the great French industrialists, has never worked for the state and does honor to the French economy. I wish lots of Vincent Bollores on the French economy, men who are able to invest to create jobs.

“You know, it’s not a disgrace to have worked hard, to have created a big group, to give out jobs.”

Before his victory, the former interior minister had announced his intention to “retreat” from public life for a few days to take stock of his new role. Earlier reports suggested that he intended to spend time in a monastery or in Corsica.

However, apparently at the last minute, he changed his plans and took his wife, Cecilia, and their 10-year-old son, Louis, to Malta aboard Mr. Bollore’s 14-seat Falcon 900 EX jet. Mr. Bollore reportedly accompanied them. They then boarded the Paloma, which Mr. Bollore bought for several million dollars in 2003.

Mr. Sarkozy also raised eyebrows by spending the night of his victory in Le Fouquet’s, an exclusive hotel-restaurant on the Champs-Elysées, also owned by a friend. He is reported to have stayed in the presidential suite, rented out at 8,500 euros a night.

Throughout the campaign, Ms. Royal and the centrist candidate, Francois Bayrou, accused Mr. Sarkozy of having an unhealthy relationship with France’s richest bosses — in particular Martin Bouygues, who owns France’s most-watched television channel, TF1. Mr. Bouygues was a witness at his wedding and is godfather to his son. Mr. Sarkozy was accused by his rivals of being a “French Berlusconi.”

Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister known for his extravagant lifestyle, agreed with the analysis: “Sarkozy took me as his model,” he remarked on Tuesday. One unnamed MP from Mr. Sarkozy’s UMP party told a newspaper yesterday: “Perhaps, the monastery would have been a better idea.”