A new development in the cruise ship industry is that of full-time residency. Currently there is only one residential cruise ship in operation, The World of ResidenSea. There are several more under development, including some with a Letter Of Intent for shipbuilding: Utopia Residences under Samsumg Heavy Industries, and Magellan under the STX-Europe yard of Saint Nazaire, France.
We came, we toured, we partied, we left.
Before tonight’s Independent Institute reception on ResidenSea, we were informed that we needed to submit our names 48 hours in advance for background checks, and bring an ID. Perfectly reasonable for a ship full of deci and centimillionaires (if you can afford $300k+/year for a property you use 3mo/year on average, you probably have quite a bit o’ juice!). James & I figured we’d be shuttled straight to the reception, and only get to tour the ship if we made a friend onboard.
Thanks to a connection of Wayne’s, he & I got to talk to a long-time ResidenSea resident this afternoon, and I now know enormously more about the challenges of operating a condo cruise ship. Fascinating!
The challenges are daunting. ResidenSea, where the condo fees are like $200K/unit/year for the smaller units, is barely able to handle the logistical issues of traveling constantly, all over the world.
The 2009 Itinerary for ResidenSea (the first and only condominium cruise ship in the world) includes a number of California stops:
I don’t know if it’s possible to arrange a tour while the ship is in San Francisco, but we will certainly try!
