By Luisa Frey Gaynor
..................................................own your own cruises
Those who just can't get enough of cruising now can own their own piece of a cruise ship. Cruise enthusiasts with a few million dollars to spend can buy an entire apartment-style suite on a new ultra-luxury ship that will sail worldwide itineraries. Those of more modest means, or less leisure time on their hands, can own a week each year on a newly refurbished ocean liner for a few thousand dollars.
Aiming for the vacation budget levels of most cruise buyers, Cruiseshare Vacation Concept has set an entry price of $7,000 — plus an annual maintenance fee — for it's cruise timeshare packages. That price buys a week each year on the Romance, formerly the Regent Star, which the company is spending $15 million to refurbish. When the Romance is ready to sail in mid-2001, the 465 cabins originally onboard will have been reconfigured to create 425 staterooms for cruiseshare owners. The new accommodations will range from 220 square feet for standard cabins to over 1,200 square feet for the largest suites.
The entire ship is being sold as timeshares; however, the company may sell space that has not been committed to a buyer as a traditional cruise through travel agents. Prices range from $7,000 to $16,000 plus an annual maintenance and food fee of approximately $700.
Owners are entitled to cruise once a week each year or trade for a two-week land timeshare. According to Barry Jones, managing director for Cruiseshare, the company is negotiating with a well-established land timeshare company for that purpose. He noted that prices are low compared to other land-based timeshares such as Marriott where a one-bedroom suite costs $19,000 on average, along with an annual maintenance fee of approximately $1,800.
Cruiseshare's marketing offices, which have been opened in the U.S., London, South Africa, and Israel, sell directly to potential buyers — including those who cruise regularly and people who take two vacations a year. Unlike traditional timeshare companies, Cruiseshare plans to sell through travel agents, as well as directly to consumers.
During the ship's first year at sea, itineraries will feature the Caribbean and Mediterranean. However, every one who buys a timeshare gets to vote on where they would like the ship to sail in subsequent years.
For those who want — and can afford — only the best, The World of ResidenSea, Ltd., is set to launch the world's first exclusive residential community at sea in late 2001. The 110 apartments aboard The World of ResidenSea — the company's first ship, which is now taking shape in a Norwegian shipyard — start at $2 million each. While "ownership" really represents in this case is 50-year lease on the shipboard apartment, giving the buyer unlimited use for, in effect, the service life of the vessel.
Apartments range in size from 1,100 top 3,500 square feet, have a balcony, fully equipped kitchen, and a minimum of two bedrooms and two baths. Owners get to choose which of the four internationally known interior decorators they want to design their apartment, which is the first time such options have been offered at sea. All passengers — be they owners or those in the guest suites — have access to all of the ship's public rooms.
In keeping with the top-of-the-line style of the accommodations and appointments, the company has arranged for Silversea Cruises to manage the ship's operations and onboard services.
The $262 million ship also will carry 88 guest suites, which will be sold on an individual cruise basis through Silversea. Guest suites offer "only" 258 to 920 square feet of living space and do not have cooking facilities. However, the price guests pay to join a cruise onboard The World of ResidenSea in these accommodations, includes all meals, while apartment owners will pay separately when they dine in the ship's restaurants.
These suites were included in the ship's design so that friends and family could sail at the same time as owners, but Fredy Dellis, chief executive officer of ResidenSea, notes that the guest suites also allow people to experience the ship before deciding to buy an apartment. Also the guest suites insure that a certain number of passengers will be aboard ship year round. "We don't want a ghost ship, but an active environment," Dellis said.
Apartments are being sold through up-market real estate brokers. Christie Real Estate is ResidenSea's U.S. agency and Savilles Real Estate is the company's British agency. ResidenSea is also marketing the apartments through yacht brokers as well as Virtuoso consortium of upscale travel agents who get a referral fee for any of their clients who purchase an apartment.
Americans have purchased 40 percent of the ResidenSea apartments that have been sold so far; and Europeans, Australian and South American buyers have taken the rest. Dellis expects the final breakdown to be approximately half American owners and half from the rest of the world.
Since owners could very well stay onboard year-round if they please, the ship will cruise the globe over the period of a year. Its journeys will feature world-renowned events such as Carnival in Rio and the Cannes Film Festival. Silversea's management team is designing The World's itineraries to include more than 60 multiple-day calls and voyages that can be broken into segments of five to 19 days.
If the thought of being guaranteed the cabin of your choice each year — or year-round, for that matter — sounds enticing, now would be a good time to sit down and figure out how much you spend on cruising annually. Once you do this, ownership at sea might actually sound more plausible than you first thought.
For more information, visit CruiseShare at www.cruiseshares.com or ResidenSea at
www.residensea.com.
By Luisa Frey Gaynor