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What It Costs to Live on a Cruise Ship

4 years ago
dream home, lotto, travel, window shopping
4 Comments
MS The World floorplans
The World condo floor plan from one of the brochures

Years ago, I saw a documentary show about The World, a condo cruise ship. People with at least $10M net worth could buy a home aboard, and then see the literal world go by their windows.

When it first launched, it was both a condo and a regular cruise ship, offering nightly rentals for non-owners. The wealthy residents got understandably tired of cruise ship visitors, then bought the whole ship outright, kicking out the management company and running it themselves. These days, the ship is pretty private: CruiseMapper has old information, the CruiseCritic forum about The World doesn’t get a lot of chatter, and you can spy on its current location.

I was curious – what are residences going for these days?

The World’s web site, AboardTheWorld.com, is a little vague about pricing details, but buried deep in the site are a bunch of PDF brochures for various residences that have been for sale over the last couple of years. Each brochure has photos, floor plans, and pricing.

Bedrooms Sq feet Price Annual Fees Brochure
1 290 $1,465,000 $132,222 633
1 330 $1,650,000 $144,098 625
1 337 $1,710,000 $146,174 605
1 635 $3,150,000 $218,306 635
1 674 $3,100,000 $246,206 603
1 674 $3,350,000 $246,206 621
1 674 $2,900,000 $246,206 638/640
2 1,011 $4,200,000 $349,356 636/638/640
2 1,011 $4,035,000 $349,356 609
2 1,106 $3,900,000 $377,552 1023
2 1,106 $3,700,000 $377,552 1109
2 1,391 $4,600,000 $462,152 740
2 1,391 $4,650,000 $462,152 806
2 1,391 $2,500,000 (50% share) $231,076 (50%) 1010
2 1,391 $2,200,000 (50% share) $231,076 (50%) 1007
3 1,758 $8,150,000 $571,088 805
2 + den 1,956 $7,890,000 $632,976 1014
3 1,956 $6,800,000 $632,976 914
3 1,956 $6,900,000 $632,976 732
3 3,086 $10,500,000 $899,092 801
3 3,242 $10,000,000 $1,014,704 1000

Those annual fees might seem steep, but remember that they include the ship’s fuel, maintenance, staff, supplies, permits, and a food & beverage credit allowance. (The World’s restaurants aren’t like an all-you-can-eat buffet on a regular cruise ship: you actually have to pay, just like regular restaurants.)

Okay, yeah, the fees are steep.

If you take the annual fees, and divide them by 52, you’ll see that you could actually go on cruises for just the price of the annual fee. Granted, the public cruise ships would be loaded with screaming Spring Breakers, and constantly going to the same destinations over and over, but…at least you’d be able to pick the destinations you want, when you want ’em, and only pay for the ship when you’re using it. (If that interests you, read the NYTimes’ story about retiring aboard a cruise ship.)

And if you think the purchase price is expensive, it gets worse: you’re not really buying it permanently. Ships have a finite lifetime, and eventually it’ll be scrapped – thus the initial condo purchases were 50-year leases.

What’s that? A little too rich for your blood? Yeah, me too – but good news! There’s a secret rental program – if you know somebody with a residence who can get you in, here are their nightly rental rates as of 2018:

  • Studio 290-330 sq ft: $1,850/night
  • Studio 328-337 sq ft: $1,800/night
  • Studio 622-846 sq ft: $2,400/night
  • 1-bedroom 580-674 sq ft: $2,200/night
  • 2-bedroom 870-1,011 sq ft: $2,800/night
  • 2-bedroom 1,106 sq ft: $3,100/night
  • 2-bedroom 1,137-1,391 sq ft: $3,300/night
  • 3-bedroom 2,472-3,242 sq ft: $6,100/night

<sigh> Guess I gotta keep working.

dream home, lotto, travel, window shopping
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4 Comments. Leave new

  • Aaron Morelli
    October 9, 2018 9:38 am

    When I read these 2 sentences, I actually thought you were bringing this all home to a metaphor about the cloud: “And if you think the purchase price is expensive, it gets worse: you’re not really buying it permanently. Ships have a finite lifetime, and eventually it’ll be scrapped…but good news! There’s a secret rental program”. But then your article ended abruptly. Sometimes a cruise ship is just a cruise ship.

    Reply
    • Brent
      October 9, 2018 10:11 am

      Hahaha, you know me well! I didn’t think of that, but I’m jealous that I didn’t, heh. Nicely done.

      Reply
  • BRYAN
    October 19, 2018 7:01 am

    I guess you could work / find a job on the cruise ship if you gotta keep working.

    Reply
    • Brent
      October 21, 2018 6:55 am

      Ooo, I wonder if they need a database administrator….

      Reply

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Hi. I’m Brent.

That's me, Brent.

I live in Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm on an epic life quest to have fun and make a difference.

I co-founded Brent Ozar Unlimited to help make your SQL Server go faster. I also maintain sp_Blitz® and the open source First Responder Kit repo.

My current car collection includes a Jaguar XKR-S, Porsche 944 Turbo, Porsche 356 Speedster replica, and a Ferrari 328 GTS.

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