Keri Witman had the next few years of her life planned out. She paid for her spot on a three-year cruise, on which she would work while traveling the world.
That cruise, however, will never leave port.
“I went into this knowing it was a pioneering effort,” Witman told The Enquirer. “No one has ever done anything like this.”
Witman spent $32,000 and booked a three-year resident voyage in April 2022 for a cruise through Life at Sea Cruises, a company that promised a cruise in which travelers would spend three years going to 148 countries and visiting hundreds of ports across all seven continents. The trip was canceled earlier this month after the company failed to secure a ship for the voyage, USA TODAY reported.
A financial investment
Witman, who lives in Oakley and runs the marketing agency Clever Lucy, said most of her work is remote, so she saw the Life at Sea cruise as an opportunity to manage her business while also fulfilling her love of travel. One-off trips are nice but expensive. She was looking for stability in her travels while also having a space to work.
The trip was planned to include accommodations, food, internet access and even medical care, Witman said. After doing the math, she believed it was a sound financial investment. To prepare for the trip, Witman sold her Oakley home, signing a short-term apartment lease nearby. She also got rid of many of her possessions.
“I called everybody, I kept expecting someone to tell me that (this was a bad idea) and I called my financial investment folks, and they’re like, ‘You should do it,'” Witman said. “Like, these guys are the most conservative financial people, I cannot believe they’re telling me I should do it.”
‘It was really disappointing’
The cruise, which was originally scheduled to depart from Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 1 and visit nearly 400 ports, was scrapped earlier this month after Life at Sea failed to secure a ship for the cruisegoers.
The trip was initially supposed to be on the MV Gemini ship. However, Life at Sea later reportedly tried for a larger vessel, the former AIDA Cruises ship AIDAaura. But Celestyal Cruises announced Nov. 16 that it had acquired that ship.
“I’ve been working over the last eight months to really get everything in line, my life organized, so that I can make it happen,” Witman said. “It was really disappointing to find out it wasn’t going to pan out.”
Life at Sea previously pushed the cruise’s departure back multiple times, USA TODAY reported, and passengers said they were most recently told the sail date would be Nov. 30. The brand, however, said to CNN at the same time that there was not a confirmed departure date or place.
As the project began to unfurl, Witman said she felt “stuck in the middle” about whether to continue planning her trip.
“It was just in a spot where you didn’t want to plan anything forward,” she said. “Once I knew it was a question, I was like, ‘Do I make a (dinner) reservation for January?'”
Life at Sea said all passengers would be given full refunds in installments between December and February, according to USA TODAY. Hotel accommodations in Istanbul will also be covered until Dec. 1, and other travel expenses will be reimbursed.
Life at Sea did not immediately respond to The Enquirer’s request for comment.
While disappointed, Witman has connected with a community of other would-be cruisers, some of whom are already planning trips around the world with each other.
She’s still living in Cincinnati in a short-term lease, but Witman is committed to the concept of a resident cruise ship and is hopeful a company will eventually get the formula right.
“I also am open to the fact that maybe one of these things will get off the ground in the spring, and I would like to be on it,” Witman said.
@Colebehr_report
