3-year cruise for remote workers cancelled as organizers admit they have no ship

Table Of Content

• In Warmer Climate, A Luxury Cruise Sets Sail Through Northwest Passage
• Silversea Cancels and Reroutes Red Sea Itineraries on Silver Whisper, Silver Spirit and Silver Moon
• Three-year cruise canceled weeks before shoving off, after one woman sold her apartment to join unique voyage
• Celebrity, Holland America Line and Celestyal Drastically Alter Itineraries
• Windstar Cruises Cancels Star Legend’s Middle East Season, Redeploys Ship to the Med
• Remember that 3-year-long cruise? It’s been cancelled, 1 week before departure
• This 3-year cruise around the world is called off, leaving passengers in the lurch

The company says it will refund passengers, who put down tens of thousands of dollars on the cruise as deposits. But that money won’t come quickly, as repayments will be made in monthly installments and won’t begin until next month. “We were on tour of Galilee region at Jordan River when we were all recalled to the ship,” writes CNSJ on Cruise Critic’s Holland America Line message boards.

In Warmer Climate, A Luxury Cruise Sets Sail Through Northwest Passage

Some cabins could host cats; travelers were also promised high-speed internet, free dining, alcohol and laundry service, and "enrichment seminars." When the cruise missed its planned departure date, the company promised to resolve lingering issues. They would spend roughly 300 days at sea, 795 days at port and have 413 overnight port stays, Chief Operating Officer Ethem Bayramoglu of Miray Cruises, the Turkish parent company of Life at Sea, said in that online session. On March 1, cruise line Miray International, which owns Life at Sea, officially started accepting bookings for the first-of-its-kind world voyage aboard its MV Gemini ship, but later decided that the vessel was too small for the cruise. The company’s website has not been updated as of Monday morning, and still has both a countdown to the start of the cruise and a link allowing people to reserve a cabin via wire transfer or credit card. "As we navigate these challenges, we are actively working on creating alternative plans for the future, ensuring an unforgettable experience for our valued community," it concluded.

Silversea Cancels and Reroutes Red Sea Itineraries on Silver Whisper, Silver Spirit and Silver Moon

Life at Sea's three-year cruise canceled; passengers awaiting refunds - USA TODAY

Life at Sea's three-year cruise canceled; passengers awaiting refunds.

Posted: Fri, 24 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

The ship was originally scheduled to sail from Dubai to Athens on March 13, but will now circumnavigate Africa. "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 passenger told CNN. Passengers for the three-year voyage were informed Nov. 17 that the cruise was canceled. A three-year world cruise has been canceled less than two weeks before it was scheduled to set sail. Life at Sea had promised customers a renovated vessel with “world-class” amenities, including a business centre, a library, a 24-hour on-call hospital with free medical visits and education classes for adults.

Three-year cruise canceled weeks before shoving off, after one woman sold her apartment to join unique voyage

Some would-be cruise passengers were in Istanbul, where the ship was originally scheduled to depart from, when they received news of the cancellation, per CNN. Passengers who signed up for the headline-making voyage — which was originally due to depart from Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 1 and visit seven continents, 135 countries and 375 ports — received news of its cancellation on Nov. 17, CNN reported. “Miray is not such a big company to afford to pay 40–50 million for a ship,” said Vedat Ugurlu, owner of Miray, in a message to passengers. Just a day after Ugurlu's glimmer of hope, another staff member of Life at Sea, Chief Operating Officer Ethem Bayramoglu messaged passengers to confirm that the cruise was off.

All passengers booked on the three repositioning cruises have been, or are in the process of being, contacted directly or through their travel agent and can transfer their booking to a future Grand Voyage of a similar duration for free. Alternatively, affected passengers can rebook to any other cruise in the company’s global network, with either a partial refund or additional payment for the difference in price of the original booking or receive a full refund with no cancellation fee. In its statement, Virgin Voyages said that passengers on the former legs of the original repositioning voyage will have guaranteed spots on the new sailings at no additional cost and a price protection commitment in place. Cruisers also have the option to receive a future cruise credit based on their paid balance or a full refund. Complicating matters, Life at Sea Cruises informed customers that the retired ship intended for renovation had been purchased by another company. The company cited challenges due to investor withdrawals in a memo to customers from its parent company's CEO.

At that point, the ship's itinerary will sail south along the east coast of Africa before rounding the horn and coming up the western coast of the continent. Once in the Mediterranean, the ship will stop in Barcelona, Malta's Valletta, and Santorini before arriving in Athens (Piraeus). We will keep tabs on the situation as it develops, but if you have a cruise booked in this region it is best to reach out to your cruise line for all the latest information on changes and cancellations. Get a brief on the top business stories of the week, plus CEO interviews, market updates, tech and money news that matters to you. A representative for Life at Sea Cruises did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Travel + Leisure. Representatives for Life at Sea Cruises and Miray Cruises did not immediately respond to CNBC Make It's request for comment.

Remember that 3-year-long cruise? It’s been cancelled, 1 week before departure

But "confidential clauses" prevented Life at Sea from publicly confirming its vessel of choice, Holmes told Business Insider in August. A three-year-long cruise meant to take travelers to 135 different countries across seven continents has been canceled. Miray and Life at Sea CEO Kendra Holmes resigned from the company in November, according to CNN, which also reported that she is behind a new start up world cruise under the HLC Cruises banner. Miray and Life at Sea cruises are also offering customers who bought into the original cruise a separate, shorter free cruise next summer.

They also told ABC News that those who have already paid will have a cabin waiting when the ship is ready. In March, Life at Sea Cruises announced it was accepting reservations for its three-year cruise around the world. The ship was scheduled to set sail on November 30, with the original November 1 departure date having been rescheduled several times.

3-Year World Cruise Canceled 2 Weeks Before Departure Date - PEOPLE

3-Year World Cruise Canceled 2 Weeks Before Departure Date.

Posted: Mon, 27 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Life at Sea Cruises (Miray Cruises Turkey's new cruise travel brand) canceled its 3-year Around the World Voyage leaving customers in a state of frustration and disarray. The Life at Sea Cruises journey first started accepting reservations earlier this year with cabins starting at $29,999 per year. That, however, is little solace to those who sold or rented out their homes and ditched a bunch of their possessions ahead of the cruise.

The company also informed customers earlier this month that the retired cruise ship they planned to buy and renovate ahead of their departure had been bought by another company. The sailing was originally going to take place on the MV Gemini ship, but Life at Sea later reportedly set its sights on the larger former AIDA Cruises ship AIDAaura. However, Celestyal Cruises announced earlier this month that it had acquired that vessel. Life at Sea Cruises initially announced the three-year voyage in March and took on additional passengers in June. But after twice delaying the initial Nov. 1 departure date, it cancelled it altogether on Nov. 17, reports CNN. That’s leaving many passengers without a place to call home and some stuck in Istanbul, from where the cruise was set to depart.

Other destination options being offered aboard Windstar’s ships are Caribbean, Tahiti, Costa Rica and Panama. Windstar Cruises, which was to deploy its Star Legend on its first series of Middle East voyages next month from Dubai, sent a note to passengers on October 16 advising them that their cruises had been canceled. "Miray is not such a big company to afford to pay million [dollars] for a ship," he said, adding that while the company made a down payment, investors "declined to support us further due to unrest in the Middle East." While the cruise is canceled, some passengers are still in Istanbul, where the ship was set to originally leave Nov. 1 before the departure location was changed to Amsterdam. For travelers who were already in Istanbul, from where the ship was previously planned to set sail, Life at Sea will reimburse their hotels until December 1 and "subsequent travel expenses," the statement said. This means at least some investors who had offered to help fund the purchase of the vessel likely have backed out.

Would-be cruisers - who wanted to remain anonymous until their refunds come through - have told CNN of their shock and dismay that the trip has been canceled. Celebrity Apex was en-route to Haifa before altering course to dock in Limassol, Cyprus. MSC is offering passengers the option to move to a new sailing or cancel for a full refund. The line becomes the third cruise operator to fully pull its ships out of the region due to the ongoing conflict. CNN reports that passengers faced “weeks of silence” from Life at Sea Cruises and at least two postponements since the beginning of the month. The big ship was originally scheduled to leave port on Nov. 1, which was first postponed to Nov. 11 and then Nov. 30.

Aboard the yet-to-be-acquired vessel, the company had promised staterooms with per-day costs cheaper than many mass-market world cruise itineraries. Also set to be included were wellness and business centers, Starlink WiFi, and a hospital. But Life at Sea still has yet to acquire a vessel it would use for the around-the-world itinerary that was set to sail next week.

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. The cruise was originally due to depart Istanbul, Turkey, on November 1, but shortly before that date, departure was postponed to November 11 and relocated to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and then to November 30, again from Amsterdam. But on November 17 - less than two weeks before the third departure date - passengers were informed the cruise was off. A November 19 statement to customers from Miray's CEO Vedat Ugurlu apologized for the inconvenience, but said the company was "actively working on creating alternative plans for the future,ensuring an unforgettable experience for our valued community." Life at Sea Cruises is now committed to refunding the minimum US$115,500 per person package, with monthly refund installments starting mid-December. The company is also offering to cover accommodation expenses until December 1st and provide flights for passengers who had already arrived in Istanbul, the intended departure destination.

“We both wanted to see the world, and this seemed like a cheap way to do this,” he said. Prices started at just under $30,000 per year for each guest based on double occupancy when the cruise was announced earlier this year, including meals, drinks, Wi-Fi and more. Witman says the company has begun the refund process, accepting her requests for other expenses to be paid, from airfare to the costs of foreign visas.

"In case we weren't clear, the Life at Sea cruise trip is canceled," Bayramoglu wrote, giving instructions on the refund process, and how passengers can retrieve "pods" full of their belongings - which they'd shipped in advance of the cruise. MSC Cruises, which maintains a strong presence in the Arabian Gulf with cruises aboard MSC Opera, also told Cruise Critic in an email that those voyages – which operate far removed geographically from the current conflict – would continue as planned. Viking notes its river cruise departures along the Nile in Egypt are still proceeding as planned, with the cancellation of select overland extensions to Jerusalem. With the conflict continuing to escalate – and the increased possibility it could spread beyond the borders of Israel and the Gaza Strip – cruisers are starting to wonder what may become of their cruises to the region in the coming months. A Windstar spokesperson told Cruise Critic, “Windstar staff are contacting all booked guests with an offer to move their sailing to a 2024 date.