Kara and Joe Youssef sold their two apartments, withdrew their life savings, gave up most of their belongings and, in late October, set out for Istanbul for the trip of a lifetime: a three-year cruise around the world, scheduled to depart Nov. 1.
But in late November, after months of behind-the-scenes chaos, the Youssefs were stuck in Istanbul, with the cruise company canceling the trip. It did not have a ship that could handle the journey.
The Turkish company, Miray Cruises, had announced the cruise, called Life at Sea, in March. It claimed it would be the longest cruise ever — 382 port calls over 1,095 days — and a community at sea, with opportunities to explore the globe. Starlink internet and a business center would allow passengers to work remotely.
The cruise seemed ideal for a post-pandemic era, targeting people longing for an escape. With fares starting at $90,000 for an inside cabin and going up to $975,000 for a suite, the trip even seemed like a bargain to some prospective passengers, cheaper than living three years in many cities.
Within the first month of sales, more than half of the ship’s 400 cabins had been reserved. But putting together a cruise of this magnitude is a monumental task, requiring a ship large enough to carry hundreds of people, docking rights around the world and secure funding.
Like a high-seas version of the Fyre Festival, which promised a luxury music concert in the Bahamas and delivered cold sandwiches and makeshift tents, the cruise imploded. It has left people, including the Youssefs, frustrated and confused. Despite promised refunds, only a small portion of the money has been returned so far.
In an interview in December, Vedat Ugurlu, owner of Miray, blamed a lack of financing and interest for the cruise’s cancellation.
“We tried everything to find a solution, but at the end of the day, we couldn’t get the investors and we couldn’t sell enough cabins,” he said.
That has left Kara Youssef, 36, a former humanitarian worker from Ohio, and her husband sitting in Istanbul with three suitcases and a carry-on, waiting for a refund of $80,000.
“They kept leading us on, making us hold out hope until the very last minute, just days before we were supposed to depart,” she said. “We sold everything we have to make this dream happen. We feel completely defeated.”
A big dream, but no ship to sail on
In June 2022, as the cruise industry was recovering from its pandemic shutdown, Mikael Petterson, an entrepreneur based in Miami, had an idea for a three-year cruise. Long-term cruises are not unheard of, but they usually last a year at most, because of the logistics involved.
Petterson had plans to hit destinations all over the world. What he did not have was a ship. Through a broker, he was introduced to Miray International, which had been offering voyages and cruise-operation services since 1996.
Ugurlu suggested the MV Gemini. He had acquired the 400-cabin, 1,074-passenger vessel in 2019, and had mainly used it for excursions between Turkey and the Greek islands.
Petterson couldn’t afford to buy the ship, so, instead, the two groups joined forces. He would do the marketing while Miray took care of operations.
In November 2022, Petterson signed a three-month contract to develop their new brand: Life at Sea Cruises. He had not seen the Gemini, but said that he trusted Miray’s nearly 30 years of experience.
Kendra Holmes, then vice president for business development strategy at Miray, said the company had not only the vessel but a budget of about $10 million to refurbish it for such a long cruise. It also had the experience and staff required, she said.
Petterson visited Turkey in December 2022 and saw the Gemini, but said his focus was on design and creating renderings for marketing. He planned to carry out a technical inspection later, he said.
“The cabin configuration was perfect for the pricings and affordability we were marketing,” he said.
On March 1, Life at Sea began selling space on the cruise, drawing millions of clicks to a newly created website. “It just blew up, and we could barely keep up,” Petterson recalled.
A new ship and the scramble for investors
In early July, Life at Sea announced that “due to unprecedented demand,” it had acquired a larger 627-cabin ship — to be named the MV Lara. In actuality, the company had put down a deposit and was negotiating to buy the Lara with the help of investors, at a cost Ugurlu later put at between $40 million and $50 million.
At that time, Mary Rader, 68, a retired social worker from Westchester County, New York, asked a travel agency to look into Miray Cruises and was told it was reputable. When a couple offered to transfer their cabin to her at a discounted rate, she took the opportunity, withdrawing $80,000 from her retirement savings.
Rader made two payments, $50,000 and $35,000, but said she never received a receipt and the couple never received a refund. She eventually got a boarding pass, but on the cruise app, she and the couple were listed in the same cabin.
On September 26, the day the payment was due to secure the Lara, Holmes received a call from Ugurlu, saying that the lead investor had dropped out, but that he was working on other candidates. After receiving some cancellation requests, Holmes posted in the cruise app that, according to the contract’s terms, passengers who canceled now would only receive a 10% refund.
By October 27, only days before the cruise’s scheduled departure — and with 30 passengers in Istanbul, ready to board — the company announced the trip had been delayed to November 11 and would depart from Amsterdam. Days later, the departure was postponed again, to November 30.
On November 16, Kara Youssef learned from a newspaper that the Lara had been acquired by another company “We were frustrated and felt stuck in limbo, with no information to go on but what we discovered on our own,” she said. Holmes resigned from Miray the same day.
On November 19, Ugurlu issued a statement saying that investors had pulled out because of the unrest in the Middle East; the next day, Miray confirmed that the cruise was canceled.
A day later, passengers were asked to sign an agreement with Miray, which would spread refund repayments over three months, from December to February. The first deadline passed December 22, with only some passengers getting any money. Miray said the delay was caused by banks’ requesting extra documentation.
The Youssefs said Thursday that they had still not received their refund. For the past month, they have been living in a hotel in Istanbul paid for by the cruise company.
“We could soon be homeless,” Kara Youssef said.
Miray, Holmes and Petterson are now separately working on other three-year cruises, to launch next year.
Rader is not hopeful. “I have received nothing yet, but I did not expect to,” she said. “My guess is that the company will be shut down or restructured, and anything I put in cash will never get paid out.” - The New York Times
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