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It had to be the trip of a lifetime: Keri Witman from the American state of Ohio sold her house to go on a luxury cruise for three years. But nothing came of it. Now she will get her money back, but in installments.
Food, internet, medical care, all included: Witman paid $32,000, the equivalent of almost 28,000 francs, as a down payment for the trip that would have taken her around the world. Her room on board would have cost her another $38,500 a year. The head of a marketing agency was devastated when the company “Life at Sea Cruises” informed her on November 17 that they had to cancel the trip. The strange reason: the cruise line couldn’t find a ship.
Start of the cruise postponed several times
“I’ve been working for the last eight months to really get everything in order, to organize my life so that I can do this,” Witman told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “It was really disappointing to hear that it wouldn’t work out.”
The ship would visit 382 ports in 148 countries on all continents. The journey was originally supposed to start in Istanbul. What sounds like a dream will remain a dream for Witman for the time being. She had already taken the necessary precautions to run her business from the ship.
She kept waiting for someone to tell her the cruise was a bad idea. But that didn’t happen. “You have to do it,” even her tax advisors reportedly said. “These people are the most conservative financial people, I couldn’t believe they told me to do it,” says the entrepreneur.
The first bad news reached Witman on November 1. “Life at Sea Cruises” informed passengers that the departure date had to be postponed. The starting port should no longer be Istanbul, but Amsterdam. In the days that followed, the start of the cruise was postponed several times.
Repayment in monthly installments
The company originally planned to purchase a ship from Carnival Corporation called AIDAaura. However, another company was faster and secured the punt.
After it became clear the trip would not go ahead, Life at Sea Cruises announced it would offer refunds to all passengers from December 1 to February 2024. The catch: the money flows in monthly installments.
The short-lived cancellation also caused anger and disappointment among the 111 passengers, among others. Some are still in Istanbul, and the majority feel betrayed. “Many people don’t know where to go, and some need their money to even find a place to go. The situation is not good,” CNN quoted a passenger as saying.
“I am very sad and angry,” said another passenger. He planned the next three years of his life so he could live an extraordinary life, but now he has nothing. It’s hard to continue now. (no)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
