London – It is the only way to sail around the world without ever leaving the comforts of home, but it doesn’t come cheap.
The World, a luxury vessel with 165 private residences, offers wealthy individuals the chance to live on a ship while visiting the most exotic or remote locations on the planet.
At 644ft, it is billed as the only private residential community-at-sea, with studio flats selling for more than $1 million (R12m) and the top suites costing up to $13m.
The ship’s 165 residences are privately owned by 130 families from around the world, and a small number are put up for resale every year. There is such demand for each exclusive piece of real estate that there is a waiting list for certain room sizes, including three-bedroom flats and a six-bedroom penthouse suite that can accommodate 12 people.
The annual ownership fees are based on square metreage.
When residents of The World are at home on the high seas, they can enjoy the only full-size tennis court at sea, a 2 134m2 spa and fitness centre, and swimming pools, and sample 12 000 bottles of wine with advice from an on board sommelier.
The World is usually occupied by 150 to 200 residents or guests at a time, with the average owner spending three to six months on board over the course of a year.
Since it launched in 2002 the floating city has visited more than 900 ports in more than 140 countries – it recently spent time docked in Durban – while sailing on a continuous worldwide itinerary at a maximum speed of 18.5 knots.
Before the end of the year the ship’s residents, who are from more than 19 countries, will have visited Canada, the US and several countries in South America.
The final expedition of 2015 will take them to the Antarctic Peninsula, where they will explore islands and see icebergs, glacier caves and snow-capped mountains.
Many expeditions take three to four years of planning and there are plenty of opportunities for inland excursions.
In all, the ship will sail 41 000 nautical miles while visiting 104 ports of call and spending 77 days at sea. New stops include Colombo, Sri Lanka and Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.
In 2012 residents and guests spotted polar bears on ice floes in the Arctic as The World became the largest passenger ship to sail the North West Passage.
They have also played golf in the Antarctic snow after retracing Sir Ernest Shackleton’s historic steps.
Guests can stay on the ship for as long as they want to and are responsible for planning its route.
The itineraries are determined two to three years in advance by a community vote (49 percent of residents are from North America and 36 percent are from Europe).
At 43 524 gross tons, it is the first ship of its size to burn marine diesel oil rather than heavy bunker fuel.
The original inventory of residences – 106 two- and three-bedroom flats, 19 one- and two-bedroom studio flats and 40 studios – sold out in June 2006.
Daily Mail