Nine months after his wife died of brain cancer in September 2022, Rochester, New York native Rami Mina, 82, planned to travel the world.
The retired engineer sold his home in Temecula, Calif., and handed over a $5,000 deposit on Life at Sea Cruises — a three-year world voyage run by Turkey-based parent company Miray Cruises, which promised passengers a once-in-a-lifetime cruise in life. 130,000 miles, 375 ports and 135 seats for $29,999 per year. It was scheduled to depart from Amsterdam in November. 30, 2023.
“They were advertising at $30,000 per person, per year, specifically for digital nomads. I signed up right away,” Mina told The Post. “I’ve booked a cabin.”
Mina recalled sharing his personal details on his Life at Sea Cruises app expressing interest in the trip.
“I said I’m fearless, I’m on new adventures – I described that my wife had just passed away.”
By May 2023, he was chatting with other prospective passengers from around the country on an online community board for Life at Sea Cruises. He placed a handful of them in Southern California.
But the dream cruise of Mina – and many others – never came to pass. Life at Sea Cruises announced in November. 17, 2023 cruise, which is expected to depart just a few weeks later in November. 30, was canceled – because they had not been able to purchase the cruise ship.
At the time, some passengers were still in Istanbul, where the ship was originally scheduled to sail in November. 1 before the place of departure was changed to Amsterdam. The company said it would issue refunds in monthly installments from mid-December 2023 to February 2024.
About a month later, in December 2023, former Life at Sea Cruises managing director Mikael Petterson parted ways with Miray Cruises and launched Villa Vie Residences’ Odyssey ship promising to sail around the world in 3.5 years starting on May 30, 2024 from Belfast.
The cost of a cabin ranges from $99,999 to $899,000, according to the Villa Vie Residences website. Cruise passengers have been given the option to purchase cabins outright instead of paying a daily rate.
“The reality is that Life at Sea was based on Villa Vie’s business plan, which Miray ended up selling as their own and eventually crashed,” Petterson told The Post via email.
“When we saw the writing on the wall, we had no choice but to walk away from that project to go back to the original Villa Vie plan,” he said.
Petterson told The Post with Villa Vie Residences, he allowed residents to put down a 10% refundable deposit, allowing them to pay as they go 90 days before each segment of the trip.
“We held all funds in escrow until we received the ship to minimize resident exposure,” Petterson told The Post.
“The vision is still the same original vision I had six years ago, long before Covid. To travel the world at a slower pace where you spend more time in port to immerse yourself in the cultures of the destination.
“The ultimate way to unpack once and travel to over 140 countries by circumnavigation. The main difference is that we are not a cruise, but a lifestyle of exploration limited only by water access.
But the luxury liner, Villa Vie Residences, has faced constant delays due to rudder and gearbox problems and passengers have been stranded for three months at the port in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Petterson told The Post they are waiting for final clearance to head to the Caribbean and South America, while some passengers who sold their homes are left waiting.
“Some of them have quit their jobs, some of them have sold their houses,” said Mina, who is in touch with current Villa Vie passengers.
“It’s really a house of cards. I feel so bad for my friends. Photos [of the ship] that were online looked great, in reality the boat looks dirty. No one knows when they are leaving. It’s a copycat of the Fyre Festival,” he added, referring to the infamous 2017 music event in the Bahamas.
Mina narrowly avoided losing his money on both cruises, he said. In late June 2023, just as he was about to hand over a $25,000 payment to Sea Life, Petterson gave him pause.
“Hey [Petterson] said don’t pay anymore – I have to go check the ship. He came back and said the ship is too small, let’s postpone the main payment for a month.
By June 2023, Petterson, according to Mina, parted ways with parent company Miray Cruises.
‘They [Miray Cruises] knew that the ship was not big enough to go on a world cruise. They said the ship is too small, we have to change it. Mirai went [bust] and I decided not to go at all”, remembers Mina.
“Before they got upset, we asked for our money back. I returned the $5,000,” he said.
From Jan. 2024, 78 passengers who spent on the Life at Sea cruise claimed in a letter to the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida that parent company Miray Cruises defrauded them out of millions of dollars by raising about $16 million for a new ship that was not never bought, The Washington Post reported.
Mina, for his part, decided to switch courses and on December 20, 2023, set sail on The Viking Sky, he shared on his blog — a 137-night world cruise from Fort Lauderdale, Florida with stops in Sydney, Haifa, Istanbul, Auckland, Bali, Ho Chi Minh City, Yangon and Mumbai by May, 2024.
While he has traveled the world, Mina’s friends locked in the Villa Vie Odyssey are still stationed in Belfast with no departure in sight.
“[The passengers are] super suspicious. They are super scared. They are not happy. Especially when you’ve been told you’re going on your dream vacation.
“I can’t imagine living in a situation where nothing is under my control,” Mina said.
Petterson, for his part, understands that it has hardly been smooth sailing for Villa Vie Residences passengers, but he remains optimistic.
“Our residents have been through a lot, starting with the nightmares of Life at Sea and now significant delays here in Belfast. But overall, the residents have stayed and are looking forward to the next chapter of their lives.
“It wasn’t a perfect start, but it will all be worth it in the end. I am convinced of this,” he said.
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Image Source : nypost.com