Life at Sea Cruises has cancelled its much anticipated three-year voyage after guests spent thousands of dollars to participate in the trip of a lifetime.
The cancellation was in part due to some delays and logistical problems, Cruise Hive reported Friday.
The main problem for the cruise line and its parent company, Miray Cruises, is there is no ship to ferry passengers to their destinations.
An image shows what the ship would have looked like:
Three-year Life at Sea cruise is canceled; company acknowledges it has no ship https://t.co/y94XDcXVwX
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) November 26, 2023
The cruise was initially supposed to depart from Istanbul, Turkey, on November 1, but it was later postponed and the departure location changed to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on November 30.
Then on November 17, guests were informed the trip was not going to happen at all.
The Hive report continued:
However, all this time, and despite issuing multiple renderings of how the vessel would look, Miray Cruises failed to inform guests that they had yet to purchase a ship, let alone do all the renovations and inspections needed to perform such a cruise.
The cancellation has left many passengers in a challenging position. Some passengers find themselves without a clear plan, having sold or rented out their homes in anticipation of the cruise. The financial implications are significant, with passengers now seeking refunds for their bookings.
The Life at Sea Cruises website calls the three-year trip the “Ultimate Bucket List World Cruise.”
One anonymous passenger, who was extremely disappointed, explained the situation others found themselves in after the cancellation.
“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,” the person told CNN.
Life at Sea Cruises had planned to purchase a ship but Celestyal Cruises bought the ship.
Video footage from March shows what the ship would have looked like on the inside:
“Vedat Ugurlu, who owns Miray Cruises, the parent company of Life at Sea, expressed regret over the situation. He cited financial constraints and geopolitical factors as contributing to the inability to secure a vessel for the cruise,” the Hive report said, adding the company’s attempts to buy another ship failed.
Life at Sea Cruises apparently plans to begin refunding guests in December, and it also intends to help passengers stuck in Istanbul along with those who now have nowhere else to go.
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