Three-year residential cruise scrapped

Sunday, 24 Nov, 2023 0

A much-vaunted three-year residential cruise has hit the rocks.

After weeks of extending delays, Life at Sea Cruises has canceled its inaugural multi-year cruise.

It has no ship after losing out to Celestyal, which recently purchased the AIDAAura.

Life at Sea, operated by parent Miray Cruises, has vowed to refund guests who signed up for a semi-permanent condo at sea voyage, costing tens of thousands of dollars.

The voyage was originally scheduled for early November departing Istanbul but was twice delayed and the departure port was changed to Amsterdam for a planned November 30 launch.

Now the dream is over for now, with some guests having sold homes and businesses to spend years at sea.

The company says it will make refunds in installments, starting from next month through February.

It has also offered to pay for accommodations until December 1 and flights home for some guests who had already travelled to Istanbul for the original launch date.

“There’s a whole lot of people right now with nowhere to go, and some need their refund to even plan a place to go – it’s not good right now,” one guest said.

Vedat Ugurlu, owner of Miray Cruises, in a message to booked guests, admitted the company didn’t have the secured funds to purchase a suitable ship.

TravelMole Editorial Team

Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.

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