A travel lover's dream? Life at Sea Cruises' 36-month voyage starts at $29,999 per person per year. The launch date is set for November 1, 2023.
— It sounded like a travel lover’s dream: a three year cruise, looping the globe in search of an eternal summer, for what appeared to be a relatively affordable price.
It was Miray’s ship, the MV Gemini, that had been earmarked as the vessel to be used for the cruise back in March – something that became central to the breakdown in relationships between Miray and members of the former Life at Sea executive team. Holmes says the company always planned to acquire another ship so that they could continue their Aegean itineraries. Instead of buying a replacement for Gemini, they decided to splash out on a bigger vessel for the three year stint. The team first saw the new ship in March, when they were marketing the round-the-world cruises on the Gemini. Holmes says they continued to market the Gemini until they were sure that the Lara sale would go through in time to make the Life at Sea sailing.
Holmes won’t identify the current name of the ship which will become MV Lara, or who Miray has bought it from – but according to the details she can give , the odds are that it’s the AIDAaura, one of three ships of AIDA Cruises, a German-centric subsidiary of Carnival. Supermodel Heidi Klum is currently godmother to the ship, which has four restaurants, two lounges, five bars and clubs, and two pools, according to AIDA Cruises.
Holmes says that the company is “approaching 40%” capacity with current bookings – which puts it at over 200 rooms sold. The Gemini had around 50% prebookings when the ship was withdrawn – of a total of 400 cabins. New bookings have evened out the cancellations, she says. It is also planning to make the cruise relatively sustainable for what is generally held to be an unsustainable industry. Miray aims to make the ship free of single-use plastic, launder sheets and towels on a weekly basis, and switch to LED lighting where possible – “a huge fuel consumption saver,” claims Holmes.
“When the initial sales crew left we had concerns – theories can run rampant [on social media]. But we were impressed with how the Miray executive team handled the situation. Of course there’ll be ups and downs, and not everything will be exactly 100%, but they are putting the effort in,” she says.
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