The Next Super Mario?

[TBone2K]

I shared this article on a family that has bought a permanent spot on a cruise ship:

I've never heard of residence ships before, so I was thinking this could be the whole Super Mario family. Although I think the rooms are a bit better compared to what RC offers and the whole point of the ship is staying there long term?

(The title of the article is a bit misleading as to the cost. Better details are in the article)

 

[orville99]

1 hour ago, TBone2K said:

I shared this article on a family that has bought a permanent spot on a cruise ship:

I've never heard of residence ships before, so I was thinking this could be the whole Super Mario family. Although I think the rooms are a bit better compared to what RC offers and the whole point of the ship is staying there long term?

(The title of the article is a bit misleading as to the cost. Better details are in the article)

 

The World by Residensea has been sailing for quite some time, and there is a wait list for available residences (which range from studios to three bedroom suites). The last time we looked into this, you had to have a minimum net worth of $5 Million just to begin any discussion with them, and a studio would set you back between $1-$2 Million.

https://aboardtheworld.com/

Edited April 14, 2023 by orville99

[rimmit]

21 hours ago, orville99 said:

The World by Residensea has been sailing for quite some time, and there is a wait list for available residences (which range from studios to three bedroom suites). The last time we looked into this, you had to have a minimum net worth of $5 Million just to begin any discussion with them, and a studio would set you back between $1-$2 Million.

https://aboardtheworld.com/

This is a different company than Residensea.  I talked to the owner of storylines back in June 2020 as I looked into it.  Thought it’d be a perfect time to buy into a cruise ship given the pandemic just tanked the industry.  At the time the cheapest inside cabin IIRC was 850,000 dollars.  To me it seemed like a risky investment.

 

Their monthly estimated fees that included EVERYTHING, as it was all inclusive, seemed bizarrely low and I felt that the business model likely wouldn’t be sustainable and that they would have to hike the fees tremendously very quickly.  If I remember right the fees they were quoting on a monthly basis were like 2,000/month per person.  This included EVERYTHING including fuel, food, massages and spa usage, entertainment, alcohol, etc.  It included everything.  I was SUPER tempted, but it just seemed to good to be true.   Looks like it has risen from 899 for the lowest inside to 1,079k.  That cabin prices seemed reasonable.  It was the low monthly fee that seemed tooo low to sustain a cruise ship in my mind.

 

I did listen to the sails pitch and even got a call from the owner though and talked to him.  Just felt too much like snake oil, and eventually those low fees would SKYROCKET to maintain the ship.

[orville99]

1 hour ago, rimmit said:

This is a different company than Residensea.

The reason I referenced Residensea was to let the OP know that what Storyline was pitching was not unique or new. I agree with you that even though the list price of an apartment might look doable, the hidden costs should be major red flags. From our experience dealing with Residensea, those low monthly fees were based on you renting out your apartment to others for 8-9 months out of every year and getting back a slice of the revenue that produced for the ship.

Edited April 15, 2023 by orville99

[rimmit]

1 minute ago, orville99 said:

The reason I referenced Residensea was to let the OP know that what Storyline was pitching was not unique or new. I agree with you that even though the list price of an apartment might look doable, the hidden costs should be major red flags

Gotcha.  I mean, the monthly fee structure was very concerning to me.  I talked to Alister, the president for a while, and he assured me that the all inclusive pricing was more than ample to cover the operating costs of such a ship, and that given the number of passengers

 

I did not understand how a spa being included in the all inclusive pricing was feasible.  They would be booked 24/7 for an eternity.  I just went to the website, and it has undergone an EXTENSIVE revamping since 2020, and I no longer see spa services listed.  The website is CONSIDERABLY fancier now.   I also do not see what the fee structure is on the website either, and I am almost certain it was there initially.  I see that a child  is 15,000 PER YEAR and a teenager is 20,000 per YEAR.  That seems incredibly low for laundry service, food, etc.  

 

I remember it came out to between 4000-5000 per month for a couple, which to me given everything they included seemed insanely low, and I just couldn't buy into the snake oil.  The price was super reasonable at 850k, for the smallest inside, but I just could not wrap my head around how they would sustain a ship with such low fees.  Like any Condo association they do list the one time assessments, but even with one time assessments, I just can't get over how little the monthly fees were, given the amount they were offering in return.  They even offer doctor's visits.  If I'm wrong, than that's great, in that there is a very "cheap" reasonable option for living on a cruise ship in luxury, but it was too huge a risk I felt to buy in. 

[orville99]

56 minutes ago, rimmit said:

I also do not see what the fee structure is on the website either, and I am almost certain it was there initially.

You have to drill down to the level in their website where you can actually select an apartment:

 

[rimmit]

Yeah.  It is scaled per apartment I believe.  
 

That is still crazy low in my mind to maintain a cruise ship, have free laundry, and all the other extras they include.

 

If the first ship is successful, I’d be onboard for the second offering.  Just need to see this model succeed first.

[orville99]

31 minutes ago, rimmit said:

If the first ship is successful, I’d be onboard for the second offering.  Just need to see this model succeed first.

Or, pick the cruise ship you like, with the amenities that you want, and price out (as we did before the shutdown) what it would cost to do an entire year on board. Compare that with pre-purchasing a 24 year lease and then putting an $80,000-$150,000 annual nut on top of it. If you calculate the annual cost over the life of the lease contract, the math will never work out in your favor on a residence ship.

[rimmit]

6 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Or, pick the cruise ship you like, with the amenities that you want, and price out (as we did before the shutdown) what it would cost to do an entire year on board. Compare that with pre-purchasing a 24 year lease and then putting an $80,000-$150,000 annual nut on top of it. If you calculate the annual cost over the life of the lease contract, the math will never work out in your favor on a residence ship.

It doesn’t work out in favor at all, but the itinerary is more varied and gets voted on by the pax.  Also get more overnights.  It’s definitely way more cost effective to do the world cruises for sure, but even then those itineraries while having some overnights still don’t have the number of overnights I’d like.

 

TBH, it’s unlikely to ever happen as I prefer a wide variety of vacations and wouldn’t want to lock up that level of cash into a ship.  I love the exploration and adventure of expeditions, safaris and just city hopping but really love the convenience of cruising as well.

[orville99]

30 minutes ago, rimmit said:

TBH, it’s unlikely to ever happen as I prefer a wide variety of vacations and wouldn’t want to lock up that level of cash into a ship.  I love the exploration and adventure of expeditions, safaris and just city hopping but really love the convenience of cruising as well.

We have met some couples on board our cruises who have cashed out everything and cruise continuously all year - they just don't do it on one ship or cruise line. They take a few consecutive cruises on one line that ends in a destination they like, and then hop on a new ship to their next range of destinations from there.