The three-year cruise is canceled
The three-year cruise is canceled
Life at Sea Cruises – which was due to launch its three-year round-the-world cruise in November – has called it off. There’s no ship, and passengers are being offered refunds – though the company says it still wants to launch a long-term cruise in the future.
Archived version: https://archive.ph/qJi2Y
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20231125194213/https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/three-year-cruise-canceled/index.html
Wow! I highly recommend taking the time to read this one. It just keeps giving and giving the further you read. Unbelievable.
Oh man, I want to drop spoilers so bad, lol. Just read.
Damn I’m glad you said that. I wasn’t really interested in reading about people who would do this, but I went back, and what a total shitshow. Norovirus not required.
edit: also regarding the new company helping these people in need
Its website currently advertises “boutique cruise liners” selling duty free gold bullion, diamonds and gems onboard.
Where’s that tiny violin?
And the whole situation still has so much more to give as well.
3 different 'businesses' pushing long term cruises... none of which actually own ships. what could go wrong?
One norovirus outbreak would see to that anyway.
Floating shit prison.
I'll pass.
Permanently Deleted
I think people who sold all their things to make this work couldn't have been too rich
Maybe boomers who planned to just die before the cruise was over??
Cruises are surprisingly cheap. Often considerably cheaper than a retirement home. Some people literally just take back to back cruises when they get old.
If it were a choice between some depressing elder care facility or cruisin and boozin til I go out for the same price, I know which one I'm picking.
I've been on a few cruises with both reputable companies; it's pretty fun. On one of them I met an older couple and a retired guy who are (unrelated to each other) living their retirement on cruise ships. They found it cheaper than living on their own, and there's laundry, food, and entertainment included. They stay on the ship between cruises, and when a ship goes in for maintenance they move to a different one. Honestly, it doesn't sound half bad.
How is this cheaper?
Even with food and laundry included. What does this cost a month?
Old folks homes are routinely $5000/month (usually more) per person. That's without any medical services which cost more. Insurance refuses to pay for them.
Hospice homes are often $8k/month per person. They do charge your insurance. That's actually one of the reasons everyone's insurance is so damn expensive - hospice care is an incredible ripoff. Usually your loved one pays that rate, and they get seen by a doctor once a week and the orderlies and hospice workers see them for maybe 30 minutes a day. Those workers are paid less than $20/hr. The owners make incredible fortunes off of neglect.
I imagine it would depend on where home is to adjust cost of living. In the Northeast United States, just property taxes in many areas run north of $1000 a month with a paid off house, and/or rents are $2000 a month to just maintain shelter(not even heated or with electricity yet, or the side necessities such as insurance and a vehicle/transit pass). The Life at Sea cruise was $2500/month with food and drink included and supposedly competitively priced so I imagine deals like this are not too rare. A couple could spend 60k a year easily being homebodies or traveling the world with a staff available for their requests.
I believe the route was planned such that wherever you go, the weather was nice. It sounded amazing to me: travel the world, no home maintenance, no car maintenance, no commuting, no packing/unpacking, food included.
Well yeah, we're melting all the sea ice so hitting up Antarctica would yield you a nice vista of flowers blooming. You could wear jorts and a Hawaiian shirt off the coast of what used to be permafrost.
He said that while the company had made the down payment for the ship, the investors “declined to support us further due to unrest in the Middle East.”
What a completely unpredictable, unprecedented turn of events! No wonder the investors pulled out!
It's like a reverse fire festival
Others say they have nowhere to return to, having sold or rented out their homes in anticipation of the round-the-world voyage, as well as jettisoning their possessions.
oops lol wtf YOINK level 9000 achieved