Life at Sea's Three-Year Cruise Canceled: Passengers Left Stranded
Passengers who signed up for Life at Sea Cruises' three-year voyage have been informed that the cruise has been canceled due to the company's inability to afford a ship. Many passengers are left stranded and have sold their homes and possessions in preparation for the trip. The company has promised refunds but it will take several months for passengers to receive their money back. Despite the cancellation, former CEO Kendra Holmes has announced plans for a new long-term cruise with a different company.
Cancellation Leaves Passengers in Limbo
Passengers who had signed up for Life at Sea Cruises' three-year voyage have been left devastated after the company canceled the cruise at the last minute. The company admitted to passengers that it has no ship and will be refunding those who had signed up. For many passengers, this cancellation has left them with nowhere to go as they had sold or rented out their homes and possessions in anticipation of the trip. The company has promised to make repayments in monthly installments starting from mid-December.
Passengers who were already in Istanbul, where the cruise was originally set to depart, are now stranded and unsure of what to do. The company has offered to pay for accommodation until December 1 and flights home for those who are stuck in Istanbul. However, some passengers have expressed that they have no homes to return to and are unable to make plans without the promised refund.
Financial Struggles and Unmet Expectations
Life at Sea Cruises had planned to purchase the AIDAaura cruise ship to use for their three-year voyage, but after weeks of delays and uncertainty, another company, Celestyal Cruises, announced that they had bought the ship. The former CEO of Life at Sea, Kendra Holmes, recorded a message admitting that the cruise would not be going ahead as planned due to financial difficulties.
According to Vedat Ugurlu, the owner of Miray Cruises, the parent company of Life at Sea, they tried and failed to purchase another ship after losing out on the AIDAaura. The company had presented the project to investors and received approval from some of them, but the investors backed out due to unrest in the Middle East. The company is now exploring options to salvage the situation, including the potential acquisition of a similar vessel or offering alternative departure dates to passengers.
Attempts for New Cruises and Competing Companies
Despite the cancellation of the three-year cruise, former CEO Kendra Holmes has announced plans for a new long-term cruise with a different company called HLC Cruises. Holmes stated that if enough Life at Sea passengers transferred to the new company, they would be able to offer a temporary cruise by the first week of December, while working on acquiring a permanent vessel for a longer voyage in the future. However, Holmes later updated passengers that the offer of a temporary cruise was off, and HLC Cruises is now targeting an official start date sometime in March.
In the meantime, Villa Vie Residences, a company established by a group of former Life at Sea employees, is also promising a new cruise experience. They do not have a ship or a launch date yet, but they are offering low deposits and guaranteed introductory rates for interested passengers.
Life at Sea Cruises and Miray Cruises did not provide specific responses to questions from CNN, but they issued a statement addressing the challenges they are facing and promising to create alternative plans for the future.
