3-year cruise is canceled and passengers lose their home – 01/03/2024 – Tourism

Kara and Joe Youssef sold their two apartments, withdrew their life savings, gave up most of their belongings and, at the end of October, left for Istanbul on a trip: a three-year cruise around the world, scheduled to depart on the 1st. from November.

In late November, after months of chaos behind the scenes, the Youssefs were stranded in Istanbul, with the cruise line canceling the trip. She did not have a ship that could make the journey.

The Turkish company, Miray Cruises, had announced the cruise, called Life at Sea, in March. It claimed to be the longest cruise ever made — 382 port stops over 1,095 days — and a community at sea, with opportunities to explore the world. Starlink internet and a business center would allow passengers to work remotely.

The cruise seemed ideal for the post-pandemic era, targeting people longing for an escape. With fares starting at R$440,000 for an interior cabin and reaching R$4.7 million for a suite, the trip could be advantageous, like a bargain, for some potential passengers, as the value was cheaper than living for three years in many cities.

In the first month of sales, more than half of the ship’s 400 cabins had already been booked. But putting together a cruise of this magnitude is a monumental task, requiring a ship large enough to carry hundreds of people, docking rights around the world and secure financing.

Just like a high-sea version of Fyre Festival, which promised a lavish music festival in the Bahamas and delivered cold sandwiches and makeshift tents, the cruise imploded. Passengers, including the Youssefs, were frustrated and confused. Despite promised refunds, only a small portion of the money has been returned so far.

In an interview in December, Vedat Ugurlu, owner of Miray, blamed a lack of funding and interest for the cruise’s cancellation.

“We did everything we could to find a solution, but ultimately, we couldn’t get the investors and we couldn’t sell enough cabins,” he said.

Kara Youssef, 36, a former aid worker from Ohio, and her husband stayed in Istanbul with three suitcases and one hand luggage, awaiting a refund of R$391,000.

“They kept deluding us, giving us hope until the last minute, just days before we were supposed to leave,” she said. “We sold everything we had to make this dream come true. We felt completely defeated.”

In June 2022, when the cruise industry was recovering from the pandemic shutdown, Mikael Petterson, a Miami-based entrepreneur, had an idea for a three-year cruise. Long-term cruises are not uncommon, but they usually last a maximum of a year due to the logistics involved.

Petterson had plans to visit destinations around the world. What he didn’t have was a ship. Through a broker, he was introduced to Miray International, which had been offering travel and cruise operating services since 1996.

Ugurlu suggested the MV Gemini. He had acquired the 400-cabin, 1,074-passenger ship in 2019 and had used it mainly for excursions between Turkey and the Greek islands.
Petterson couldn’t buy the ship, so the two groups teamed up. He would handle marketing while Miray would handle operations.

In November 2022, Petterson signed a three-month contract to develop his new brand: Life at Sea Cruises. He hadn’t seen Gemini, but said he trusted Miray’s nearly 30 years of experience.

Kendra Holmes, then vice president of business development strategy at Miray, said the company not only owned the ship, but also had a budget of about R$48.9 million to renovate it for such a long cruise. She also mentioned that there was experience and teams needed.

Petterson visited Turkey in December 2022 and saw Gemini, but explained that his focus was on design and creating images for marketing. He planned to conduct a technical inspection in the future, he said.

“The configuration of the cabins was perfect for the prices and accessibility we were promoting,” he said.

On March 1, Life at Sea began selling space on the cruise, attracting millions of clicks to a newly created website. “It was a smashing success, and we could barely keep up,” Petterson recalled.

In early July, the company announced that, “due to unprecedented demand”, it had acquired a larger ship with 627 cabins — to be called MV Lara. In reality, Life at Sea had made a deposit and was negotiating the purchase of Lara with the help of investors. Subsequently, Ugurlu estimated costs between R$195.6 million and R$244.5 million.

At the time, Mary Rader, 68, a retired social worker from Westchester County, New York, asked a travel agency to investigate Miray Cruises and was told it was a reputable company. When a couple offered to transfer their cabin to her at a discount, Mary jumped at the opportunity, withdrawing R$391,200 from her retirement savings. She made two payments, R$244,500 and R$171,100, but said she never received a receipt and the couple never received a refund.

Eventually, she got a boarding pass, but on the cruise app, she and the couple were listed in the same cabin.

On September 26, the day payment was due to secure Lara, Holmes received a call from Ugurlu, saying that the lead investor had pulled out but that he was working on other candidates. After receiving some cancellation requests, Holmes posted on the cruise app that according to the terms of the contract, passengers who cancel now would only receive a 10% refund.

By October 27, a few days before the cruise’s scheduled departure — with 30 passengers in Istanbul ready to board —, the company announced that the trip had been postponed until November 11 and would depart from Amsterdam. Days later, the match was postponed again, until November 30th. On November 16, Kara Youssef learned from a newspaper that Lara had been acquired by another company.

“We were frustrated and felt stuck in limbo with no information other than what we discovered on our own,” she said. Holmes resigned from Miray the same day.

On November 19, Ugurlu issued a statement saying that investors had pulled out because of instability in the Middle East; the next day, Miray confirmed that the cruise had been cancelled.

A day later, passengers were asked to sign an agreement with Miray that would spread refunds over three months, from December to February. The first deadline passed on December 22, with only a few passengers receiving any money. Miray said the delay was caused by banks requesting additional documentation.

The Youssefs said Thursday they had not yet received their refund. For the past few months, they have been living in a hotel in Istanbul paid for by the cruise company.

“We could be homeless soon,” said Kara Youssef.

Miray, Holmes and Petterson are now working separately on other three-year cruises, to be launched next year.

Rader is not optimistic. “I haven’t received anything yet, but I wasn’t expecting it,” she said. “My assumption is that the company will be closed or restructured, and any amount of money I have invested will never be paid back.”