Passengers who booked trips have been told refunds will be issued in monthly installments
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Life at Sea Cruises’ first three-year sailing was announced in March and promised passengers willing to fork out at least $29,999 per year
Is it just me or does 10k a year for full accommodations seem wildly cheap?
Fml I need coffee
To be fair, 2.5k a month is what some people spend on rent+food+utilities. Assuming all food onboard is paid for, it’s sounds like an ok deal for someone who actually wants to temporarily live on a cruise ship and has the income/savings to pay for all of it upfront.
Even 30k a year seems way cheap. Most of these “live at sea” “cruises” are orders of magnitude more expensive.
Even at $30k per year it was ridiculously cheap. I have a friend of a friend that was going to do this for his retirement. $2500 per month for a room and board that allows you to spend your life sailing from port to port is actually a great deal, and if/when you need more medical care you simply move back off of the ship. The idea was that passengers could just buy another ticket and keep sailing for as many years as they wanted.
I called this one.
- It sounded too good to be true. I had a feeling that they wouldn’t launch and if they did it’d be a floating Fyre Festival except with senior citizens who would not be able to escape.
- Cruise ships are Petri dishes as it is. The idea of a cruise consisting of mostly elderly people who stay on board and mingle with crowds in the various ports of call sounds like a death cruise. Just imagine a viral outbreak on that ship that was killing passengers, resulting in a lockdown.
- It was basically someone watching Wall-E and deciding that the dystopian part was actually a pretty idea.
So… if I wanted to do a scam… and I’d sell tickets to a cruise ship for 3 years, upfront payment of $90k… let’s say I sell 2000 seats for $180mil.
Is that enough money to disappear forever and live under a false identity?
Maybe, maybe not. But if you’re paying back in monthly installments, there’s still going to be a lot of interest for you to live off of in the meantime.
Getting that money out of the company to use is very hard and can be traced/returned. It’s not like they’ve got 180M in cash. And having your company bank exclusively with shady banks is likely to prevent you from getting a business license.
Just to add, you’re a cruise, it’d be expected you have an offshore account.
Mmmm. What fun. Stewing in a disease-ridden floating money-sponge for three years. Marvellous.
Not my idea of a good time either but it was appealing to some people. Cruises are incredibly popular. I’d only go if it were free and I was unable to sell the ticket(s).
But you’d still go? Like… if I bought you a ticket on a shitty cruise, you’d go just because you have to use up free things?
Who’s saying no to a free holiday? I went away this year for the first time in a decade and it was heavenly. I’d never chose to go on a cruise, but I’d jump at the chance for a new experience, some sun and relaxation - especially over winter when I having to chose between heating and eating ffs.
I don’t think I’d go if it were free. I have other things - productive things I could be doing.
It’s cheaper than a lot of retirement homes in America. Cruises outside of Caribbean voyages in peak season are like 90% retirees. It’s a more viable option for a lot of people. If this 3yr cruise was a lot cheaper per day, it would make a lot of sense for them.
Plus if you tick that little box, you (your estate/ descendants) save on funeral fees with a ‘navy burial’ at sea. The cabin boy-things garb your corpse in whatever finest they discover in your wardrobe/suitcase and slip you off a Teflon-coated plank into the gentle deep and sharks.
Idk man. You go hang out on a cruise for a bit you will find some old people who have made cruising their entire retirement plan. Basically just staying on boats going from port to port until they die.
Which actually doesn’t sound all too bad. I’d think it’d get old after the first few weeks (I never heard Cupid Shuffle so many damn times in one week), but hey, whatever floats your boat.
Refund paid in monthly installments seems like a huge red flag too…yikes. Hopefully these passengers can come out of this mostly okay at least.
Was wondering if I floated a bad thousand dollar check if my restitution would be allowed in monthly installments.
(with a few extra steps) yes
Wage garnishment, repayment plans, etc. The difference is for you it typically requires litigation before you’re “allowed” to. Technically it’s probably the same for them if someone challenged it, but they have the benefit of litigation costing less than all the paid lump sums, where your proverbial thousand-dollar check would not.
Cruises oughta be banned for how polluting they are. Rich folks can have em back when theyve cleaned up their climate mess.
No they may not. We acknowledge they’re filthy, rife with noro and other viruses, and aside from other pollution, dump raw sewage into open water.
Acquaintance went on a cruise. I made “covid cruise” jokes before he left. Well he came back and guess what.
I went on a cruise before COVID. The cruise line stressed washing hands to the point that it became annoying. (They have a “washy washy happy happy” song that they sing.) They had good reason to even before COVID as norovirus spreads like wildfire on cruise ships.
Overall, my cruise was a fun experience, but I don’t think I’d do it again - even setting COVID concerns aside. I’d rather go to some destination and walk around seeing the sights than be trapped on a giant boat with all those people.
Nations won’t stop using oil as long as it is economically viable.
Banning cruise ships doesn’t matter if we still burn up the oil anyways.
You are correct. Not using oil in one place, will only make it MORE AFFORDABLE for China and other mega pollution providers.
Except 1) we sent our rubbish there and dumped it in the water, air and dirt, and it doesn’t stay put, 2) it doesn’t stay put, 3) we sent manufacturing there to avoid paying people minimum, let alone livable wage. How shallow thinking is amazes me.
when theyve cleaned up their climate mess.
Ah, a doe eyed optimist, I see.
This oligarch party ain’t stopping until everything that can burn does. At this point hope is irrational, a side effect of rational despair.
No one tells the wealth class anything. They tell us, and we obey like good lil capital generating livestock.
