A 3-Year Cruise Was Canceled Because It Didn't Have a Ship

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• Watch: How $300 million Carnival cruise ships are demolished in Turkey
• children dead, 15 people injured after vehicle crashes into building
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• 'We found out while we were flying': Last-minute cruise cancellations leave travelers scrambling
• Life at Sea Cruises was unable to acquire a vessel for the once-in-a-lifetime journey.
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Cruises, which are making a comeback after the pandemic, can be a great experience for families and retirees as you get to see many new places without the hassle of planning an itinerary yourself. If you're looking for a trip shorter than three years, there are still options, including many ways to save on booking a cruise. The company told passengers it will repay them in monthly installments, as well as cover accommodation until December 1 and flights home for those in Istanbul. But, some told CNN they don't have a home to return to because they were anticipating being at sea for years. Life at Sea Cruises promised a voyage with stops around the world on all seven continents, with many unique cruise destinations.

Life at Sea passengers say canceled 3-year cruise owes them millions - The Washington Post

Life at Sea passengers say canceled 3-year cruise owes them millions.

Posted: Tue, 23 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Watch: How $300 million Carnival cruise ships are demolished in Turkey

"We tried everything to find a solution, but at the end of the day we couldn't get the investors and we couldn't sell enough cabins," Vedat Ugurlu, Miray's owner, told The Times. Life at Sea Cruises' inaugural trip was supposed to set sail three weeks ago. 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 three-year cruise was initially set to depart from Istanbul, Turkey on November 1.

children dead, 15 people injured after vehicle crashes into building

Shortly before that date, it was postponed to November 11 and relocated to Amsterdam, then rescheduled to November 30. Life at Sea Cruises’ three-year cruise scheduled to set sail this month has officially been canceled. Miray's attempts to purchase the ship dragged on for weeks, and it eventually stalled after investors balked, according to a company message obtained by CNN and other outlets. "Still waiting for my refund. And now you've gone belly up?" a woman who identified herself as a Life at Sea customer said recently on the company's Instagram account. The woman, a retired educator, did not respond to NPR's message seeking further comment. Some passengers reportedly only learned of the cancellation after arriving in Turkey.

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The itinerary took passengers from Istanbul and through the Mediterranean, then around South America, with a stop in Antarctica, before heading up to the Caribbean. After that, it would head through the Panama Canal before eventually going north to LA, west to Hawaii, back north to Alaska, then further out to Japan. "Because as you know, three-year cruises is a mega project. The reason for this is our vessel capacity—needed to exceed more than 600 cabins. And right now, we only have 104 cabins." In a statement to the news outlet, Miray Cruises owner Vedat Ugurlu said the cruise wasn't canceled but postponed until May 2024.

How Life at Sea’s 3-Year Cruise Unraveled - The New York Times

How Life at Sea’s 3-Year Cruise Unraveled.

Posted: Thu, 28 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

According to reports from ABC News and CNN, some passengers are now faced with what to do next after having sold their homes to embark on the three-year journey. On Nov. 19, two days after Holmes’ announcement, guests received another message, this time from Vedat Ugurlu, the owner of Miray International, who also stated that the cruise would not be departing, per CNN. But Miray Cruises' owner told ABC News this week they had only 150 passengers for a vessel with over 600 cabins. Life at Sea Cruises said it will make repayments in monthly installments to passengers from mid-December, but customers who had prepared for the trip of a lifetime are speaking out about the implications of the sudden cancellation. "In two days' time, we own this vessel," Life at Sea itinerary planner Robert Dixon said in late September, speaking in a promotional video from the bridge of a ship he called the "MV Lara." Those customers are now scrambling to make new plans for where they will live for the next three years — and to extract refunds from the cruise line.

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. In June, Life at Sea announced it had acquired a larger vessel for the trip, allowing it to accommodate 200 additional passengers. With that ship, the MV Lara, the company raised the price of the trip from $30,000 to $38,513. The Life At Sea cruise was canceled last minute after the owners failed to find a ship and said that investors withdrew. In March, Life at Sea Cruises announced it was accepting reservations for its three-year cruise around the world.

"We are going to be following summer the entire time that we go around the world," then-Life at Sea CEO Kendra Holmes told prospective passengers in a Zoom webinar in September. She found the experiencing disappointing with a number of ports and excursions canceled while they were out at sea. Royal Caribbean has also announced the cancellation of some of its cruises from South Florida Ports as well. Royal Caribbean has also announced a pause for cruises on its “Serenade of the Seas” through March 8. Norwegian Cruise Lines has canceled cruises on its “Norwegian Dawn” out of Tampa through Jan. 18. TAMPA, Fla. — Port Tampa Bay is losing some cruises in the coming months as a result of the surge in COVID-19 cases.

Life at Sea Cruises’ three-year sailing around the world has been canceled. Holmes resigned last week, according to CNN, days before Ugurlu officially announced the cancellation. "The minute I saw an ad, I thought, 'This is really right up my alley,'" Witman said.

Alexandra has a decade of experience in journalism, specializing in online newsrooms. She previously served as the senior editor of digital for ABC News, where she directed daily news coverage across topics through major events of the early 2020s for the network's website. Before that, she pioneered politics and election coverage for Elite Daily and went on to serve as the senior news editor for that group. What was once the trip of a lifetime has become the phantom trip from hell. Life at Sea did not immediately respond to additional questions about the guest’s experience.

"Some people read the headlines and think, 'Oh, that was a scam,' but I really did my homework before I put a deposit down," Keri Witman of Cincinnati told NPR. 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 is also promising to pay for the hotel rooms and return-trip airfares for passengers in Turkey. "We didn't get to see anything that we came to see, which was kind of sad for us because this is one we picked specifically for those ports... a bucket list kind of thing," Stephens said. The CDC said it expects most cruise lines to drop required testing, making it voluntary or optional after Jan. 15.

The Times reported that Miray asked passengers to sign an agreement spreading refund payments out between December and February. Now, less than two weeks before its maiden voyage, Life at Sea has acknowledged to anxious passengers that there is no ship, and that the once-in-a-lifetime trip has been canceled, CNN reported. Life at Sea previously pushed the cruise’s departure back multiple times.

Life at Sea Cruises also stated in the translated statement that any customers who want a refund will receive it, including money spent on acquiring visas and other travel expenses. They also told ABC News that those who have already paid will have a cabin waiting when the ship is ready. As of December 28, the Youssefs had been living in a hotel in Istanbul for a month — paid for by the cruise company — and were still waiting for their $80,000 refund, The Times reported.