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The three-year cruise was initially set to depart from Istanbul, Turkey on November 1. Shortly before that date, it was postponed to November 11 and relocated to Amsterdam, then rescheduled to November 30. Leading up to the cancellation, the cruise line kept passengers informed with frequent webinars. The cruise was finally due to set sail on Nov. 30 from Amsterdam, after the original Nov. 1 departure from Istanbul was delayed and rescheduled. Vedat Ugurlu, CEO of Life at Sea’s parent company Miray Cruises, said the cruise was facing “challenges due to investor withdrawal” in a statement shared with USA TODAY. “We both wanted to see the world, and this seemed like a cheap way to do this,” he said.
This 3-year cruise around the world is called off, leaving passengers in the lurch
Despite the setback, Witman says she's been able to form connections with other would-be passengers, who have been keeping in touch via apps and group texts. Warning flags went up earlier this year, when the company changed course from its initial plan to refit one of its ships, the MV Gemini. For the lengthy worldwide voyage, it planned to deploy the larger "MV Lara" — a ship that never materialized.
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The 3-year Cruise to All 7 Continents Has Been Canceled — Here's Why - Travel + Leisure
The 3-year Cruise to All 7 Continents Has Been Canceled — Here's Why.
Posted: Mon, 27 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
It has also offered to pay accommodation until Dec. 1 and flights for those who had already made their way to the departure destination in Istanbul ahead of time. “While we’re in talks to acquire a similar vessel, if the December 1st sail is jeopardized, we offer alternative departure dates or expedited refunds,” Ugurlu wrote, according to Cruise Industry News. The company has said it will make refund repayments in monthly installments starting mid-December and will complete them in late February, according to CNN. It has also offered to pay for accommodations until December 1 and flights home for anyone who has already traveled to Istanbul. The cruise was set to make stops in 135 countries on all seven continents.
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The cruise, which was originally scheduled to depart from Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 1 and visit nearly 400 ports, was scrapped earlier this month after Life at Sea failed to secure a ship for the cruisegoers. "I had the next three years of my life planned to live an extraordinary life, and now [I have] nothing. I’m having a hard time moving forward. 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. 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.
Remember that 3-year-long cruise? It’s been cancelled, 1 week before departure
Life at Sea's website now says that the cruise is set to depart in November 2024, though some of the web pages still list this as fall 2023. The website still lets potential passengers express their interest in the trip, though it's unclear whether Miray intends for it to ever go ahead. However, Life at Sea later reportedly tried for a larger vessel, the former AIDA Cruises ship AIDAaura. But Celestyal Cruises announced Nov. 16 that it had acquired that ship.
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The cheapest packages started at $196,000 for a single traveler, and $231,000 for couples, according to the company's website. 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. 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. Finally, less than two weeks before its third and final departure date, the voyage was canceled altogether.
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But it seems that it was the company's focus, not the public's, that was the problem. Witman says she also shipped boxes to have on the cruise, back in early October. Former flight attendant Meredith Shay was looking forward to the trip as a centerpiece of her retirement.
While disappointed, Witman has connected with a community of other would-be cruisers, some of whom are already planning trips around the world with each other. As the project began to unfurl, Witman said she felt "stuck in the middle" about whether to continue planning her trip. Some passengers said they didn't have a home to return to, since they were expecting to be on the cruise for three years. Set to depart on Nov. 1 and then delayed due to investment challenges, the company never acquired a ship. 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. During a webinar on Sept. 6, 2023, former CEO Kendra Holmes said, "What percent of cabins have been sold? We're right around 50% right now so we're making good pace for where we want to be at this point in time.
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"Having a like-minded community of people that all were interested in travel at the ready was really appealing to me," she said. Witman, who owns a marketing agency named Clever Lucy, was planning to work remotely aboard the ship, using its Starlink internet service. And as a single woman, she had been looking forward to exploring the world with a group. The original itinerary mapped 1,095 days of travel, heading from Istanbul to Europe and then to South America and the Caribbean. Passengers would then pass through the Panama Canal before seeing the U.S. Life at Sea did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
"I have received nothing yet, but I did not expect to," Mary Rader, a retired social worker from New York, told The Times. She said she had taken $80,000 out of her retirement savings to fund the trip. A couple who sold almost everything they owned to go on the three-year Life at Sea cruise have been living in a hotel room in Istanbul, Turkey for the past month after its operators failed to find a ship. Get a brief on the top business stories of the week, plus CEO interviews, market updates, tech and money news that matters to you. On Nov. 16, Life at Sea Cruises' former CEO Kendra Holmes, who said she wasn't speaking on behalf of Miray Cruises, sent passengers a recorded 15-minute video explaining the journey was canceled. One woman, Kimberly Arizzi, sold her apartment, furniture, clothes, and TV to pay for her retirement cruise, Business Insider reported.
"I called everybody, I kept expecting someone to tell me that (this was a bad idea) and I called my financial investment folks, and they're like, 'You should do it,'" Witman said. "Like, these guys are the most conservative financial people, I cannot believe they're telling me I should do it." Miray Cruises did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment. The vessel that was believed to be heading to Life at Sea, the former AIDAuara, was sold in November to Celestyal Cruises. Life at Sea’s three-year world cruise has officially been called off by Miray Cruises.
