Has residential cruising finally come of age? There are real options for retirement at sea

• Residential cruising has been a point of debate in the cruising world over recent years.
• Many companies have promised idyllic sounding residential cruises and fallen short of their promises.
• However, now there are real, legitimate options on the market, and more to come.

Thousands of cruise fans dream of a retirement which involves a life at sea. While MS The World has been sailing for years as a residential cruise line, its steep prices were out of reach to most.

However, in the past two years a trend began of new cruise lines popping up and promising a dream of an affordable life at sea.

The results, however, have been mixed.

Cruise lines such as Life at Sea Cruises and Victoria Cruises Line are two cruise companies that collected deposits and had a promised sailing date, but until now, have not actually commenced a sailing. 

Just last week we were reminded of the tireless struggle of Aussie couple Dennis and Taryna Wawn, who are $15,000 out of pocket and looking unlikely to set sail anytime soon.

Despite these unfortunate circumstances, the residential cruise market is coming of age, and today, there are a few very real options available for those who want to have a go at owning a cruise ship cabin and spending all their days out at sea.

On the more affordable end of things, we’ve seen Villa Vie Residences actually start sailing and taking a group of passengers around the world, with some owning cabins for the next 15 years. Several passengers onboard have been blogging and recording their experience, showing what it’s like to be the first passengers of an “affordable“ residential cruise.

Cabins currently start from USD$129,999, about AUD$198,000 for the whole 15-year lease, which comes to just AUD$13,200 per year, with monthly fees starting from about AUD$4500 per person, depending on the cabin. 

Adding to the legitimacy of Ville Vie is a new option of rent-to-own, which helps for those who have fallen prey to the failed experiments of other residential cruise lines. This allows cruisers to rent to begin with, and see if they like the ship and enjoy the overall experience, and then if they do, the money they’ve been using to rent with, will go towards the purchasing of their cabin. If they don’t think it’s for them, they can simply opt out. 

This option helps mark a new era in residential cruising, where cruisers don’t have to face the all-or-nothing option. This is important as some of the horror stories from cruisers who purchased cabins on ships that never sailed include things like selling your homes and rehousing their pets in preparation. 

Check out Youtubers like DC Hidden Gems to see what life is like onboard.

Another sign of the residential market maturing is the new players coming in that aren’t just unknown names, but are rather connected to already existing and trusted players in the cruise industry. 

That’s what we’ve been seeing with the entry of Crescent Seas, which is promising to become a luxury residential line, more akin to The World than to Ville Vie, but definitely an exciting new option on the market. 

The CEO will be Thatcher Brown, a well known name in the cruise industry who has worked with Crystal Cruises, Costa Cruises, Explora Journeys and more, a far cry from the unknown cruise companies that offer residential cruising despite being registered as an accounting firm in Turkey.

Not to mention that founder of the company is Russll Galbut, renowned real estate developer. 

While other purported residential cruise lines have failed to come up with a ship, Crescent Seas already has three, including two that are already existing ships that they’ll purchase from other lines. These two will be Seven Seas Navigator from Regent Seven Seas and Oceania Insignia from Oceania Cruises. You can check renderings of the ships interior below, and you’ll see its definitely being designed with luxury in mind. 

Units on Crescent Seas will start from $1.01 million, a definite level up from the prices of Ville Vie. 

However, the good news for everyone is that at the same time as Ville Vie breaks the curse and makes a residential cruise work, other renowned names are coming into the market, ready to provide more options and grow residential cruising from a niche dream into a real industry. 

With legitimate options on the market, there should be no reason to give your money to any line that doesn’t have a confirmed ship, sail date and a legitimate company license and registration. While the recent years of residential cruising has involved a lot of broken promises and money gone missing, it appears the industry is turning a corner and it will be an exciting space to watch moving forward.