From 2018 you could sail the seven seas in luxury in your own private residence on board a luxury cruise ship. Baroque Lifestyle finds out all about it
Luxury cruise company Crystal Cruises is currently building 144 magnificent private residences, ie 48 on each of three brand new cruise ships that are set to make their maiden voyages in 2018. Each of these luxurious private homes are available for purchase, not to rent, so if you’d like to buy your own vacation home on board a luxury cruise liner, this is your opportunity!
The luxury residences will all be built on the top deck of each of the cruise liners, with private access as well as exclusive use of a private restaurant and reception facility. Although Crystal Cruises has yet to reveal the cost of a luxury residence on these new vessels, they are expected to fetch in the region of a million dollars each. Not bad if you consider that each will have access to a private helicopter and mini submarine (just a few perks of living on a super luxury cruise liner!).
These brand new luxury cruise residences are following the trend of making cruise journeys as luxurious as possible. In fact, cruise company Royal Caribbean is offering travelers an even more luxurious journey, by adding what they term Royal Genies on their ships. These Genies, or butlers, are on hand to make luxury class passengers’ voyages even more bespoke. They will take care of everything the passenger needs, including dining reservations, organizing entertainment, customizing excursions when the cruise liner is in port, even creating hand-made cocktails if the passenger desires.
When she announced the launch of the three new innovative cruise ships in London at the end of July, Crystal Cruises President Edie Rodriguez likened them to the “brand new, luxurious Baccarat Hotel in New York”.
“You can go up in your private elevator and have your privacy, but when you want some action, you can go to the restaurant or experience life in New York City. And that’s what our vessels will do.”
As resported in the Daily Mail, the residences are expected to range in size from 600 square feet to 4 000 square feet and feature 8-foot high ceilings. According to Ms Rodriguez, “There has been a lot of demand already.”
The good news is that those who purchase these residences can, of course, rent them out through Crystal Cruises when they are not using them.
These three large cruise ships, whose names have not been divulged, will carry 1,000 guests each, staying in suites with balconies. They will be designed to sail on “expedition cruises”, which means they will also be able to sail through heavy ice in areas such as the Antarctic. And, then, of course, there’s the fact that they will have 48 residences which will be bought for the life of the ship. Owners will pay an annual maintenance fee and early buyers can even purchase more than one unit and combine them to create customized homes.