Residential boats are a way to share expenses instead of owning your own private yacht. The concept seems reasonable, but there is some price gouging in the business.
The ship that started the current avalanche of luxury residential homes aboard cruise ships was “The World”, operated and managed by ResidenSea. All the residences aboard “The World” are already sold out, but occasionally an owner puts one up for sale. If you have to ask the price, you probably can’t afford it.
Residential Cruise Line, LTD. Offers 1 bed, 1 bath, 624 square feet. apartments at “The Magellan” for only $2,160,000. 4 bed, 4.5 bath, 4334 sf. unit will cost you $15,460,000 to purchase and an annual maintenance fee of $542,000.
Not to be outdone, The Four Seasons Ocean Residences has units ranging from $3.75 million to $39 million, and sizes range from 797 square feet for a 1-bedroom unit to 7,860 square feet for a 4-bedroom unit.
The “Orphalese” plans to launch in 2008. They are offering 200 permanent residences ranging from the 1,000-square-foot, 2-bedroom Pegasus Estate to the 3,700-square-foot, 5-bedroom Penthouse, which are available for full ownership. 2-bedroom apartments start at $1.8 million with $30,000 in annual fees, while penthouses start at $10 million with $78,000 in annual fees.
Voyage Partners has a ship under construction but has not yet announced pricing. When they do, prices will likely fall into the range of the others on this short list of new residential cruisers.
Another ship of this caliber is in the planning stages, it will be called “Everest” and will be 656 feet long if or when built. It is to have 17 apartments and a private penthouse for owners on the upper deck.
“The Orphalese” is the best bargain of the bunch, and I think she is also the highest quality boat. “The Orphalese” is being built at Aker Shipyards in Finland by the same builders who recently built the world’s biggest and best mega cruise ships, including the largest of all cruise ships “The Freedom of the Seas” operated by Royal Caribbean. . Also the management of “The Orphalese” seems to be practical. There will also be 265 guest suites available on the ship for cruise passengers who do not have their own residences.
Using the best of the bunch “The Orphalese” as a benchmark, let’s see how it compares to real-world prices.
New cruise ships can be built for around $200 million. The most expensive new mega cruise ships cost about $500 million to build.
All current prices for residences aboard cruise ships are exorbitant. Apparently the rich enjoy throwing their money away. It must be a matter of status to waste more money than the Joneses. For those who’d rather not spend money trying to outspend the Joneses, there’s a better way.
Occasionally, a cruise line may have a new ship under construction and run into financial difficulties. They may be forced to abandon the construction project, and an unfinished ship may sit idle in a shipyard. There are such boats available now. One in particular is the following:
725′ 725ft./221m UNFINISHED 12-DECK PASSENGER SHIP
Year: 1990
Current Price: US$15,000,000
Located in the Mediterranean
Hull Material: Steel
Engine/Fuel Type: Twin Diesel
725ft/221m unfinished 12-deck passenger vessel
Steel hull and superstructure built in Poland in 1990, with an extended length of 50m/164ft. in 1995 in Greece for the original owner who went bankrupt. The new owner is not interested in completing the 13,000 ton cruiser (light ship) and is now at the stage where our competent ship builders can complete it in record time according to the Buyer. specific requirements. Also ideal as a floating or ro-pax condominium project. Pricing “as is, where is” with engines, generators and other equipment on board (see list below) is $15 million, or can be completed turnkey in 20 months for $130,000,000. Located in the eastern Mediterranean.
The aforementioned “turnkey” price of $130 million is based on the ship’s completion at the Elefsina Shipyard in Greece. It wouldn’t be wise to do that with this ship. Greek shipyards get very few new construction projects these days, and for good reason. Trade unionists in Greece are doing a very good job of improving pay, benefits and working conditions for shipyard workers in Greece. Unfortunately, they also slow down work and increase costs.
The sale price of this boat is less than the price of a large apartment in “The Magellan”. The sale price and the sale price are two different prices. This ship could probably be bought for about 11 million dollars. It would be foolish to finish this ship in a Greek union shipyard. She can be cheaply towed to nearby shipyards in Tuzla, Turkey. The ship can be finished there faster, for about half the price, and with better craftsmanship. This ship could be purchased and finished to a high standard equal to “The Orphalese” for a total cost of much less than $100 million (perhaps even as low as $60 million). It can be finished to order, with each residential unit customized to suit its owner(s). The finished product would be a brand new, modern ship with luxury homes on board that would be at least as good or better than anything on the market.
That still seems like a big part of the change. But this is a large ship and would easily accommodate 200 luxury residential units and some 200 or so conventional cruiser cabins like “The Orphalese”. The average cost of residential units would be less than $500,000. That would mean that the smallest residential units would cost much less than the average price. Additionally, with an additional two hundred (plus) conventional cruiser cabins, cabin owners would be able to recoup much of the operating costs, and thus virtually eliminate “maintenance fees” for themselves. The expense to owners may be less than 10% of the going rates if the buyers did not need to pay some clever promoters and sellers, but bought the boat directly themselves by sharing the actual costs by dividing ownership of the boat among the buyers. Why would anyone want to pay ten times the money to purchase and much higher maintenance fees for a similar onboard residential unit? The only reason I can think of is to impress others with the amount of money they can spend.
Used cruisers are an even bigger bargain. Look at the specifications of the following unfinished conversion boat for sale:
UNFINISHED YACHT FOR SALE
OWNERS PRICE USD 1 MILLION
FULL SPECS, GA AND AVAILABLE EQUIPMENT LIST
GREEK FLAG
ROMANIA BUILT / 1988
LAST IN DRY DOCK 1997
DIMENSIONS 116.40 X 14.20 X 5.20 METERS DRAFT
TSO/NTR 3430/2000
23 EXPECTED KNOTS
PLANNED HELIPORT
PLANNED ACCOMMODATION FOR 81 PEOPLE
PLANNED CREW FACILITIES FOR 93 MEMBERS
Once again, the sale price is subject to negotiation. Used boats can be refurbished to look practically like new and can be brought up to international safety standards (SOLAS). There are shipyards all over the world that can do good quality work at an even lower cost than shipyards in Tuzla, Turkey. If a ship is currently in Greece (as many are), then Tuzla is the best place to have it towed away for major shipyard work. The “SE” shipyards in the Black Sea port of Nikolaev, Ukraine, offer the best value for money in that part of the world. The bottom line is that savvy shoppers can get good deals, even on high-end purchases like a luxury home on board a cruise ship. I keep a list of those who have expressed interest. The list is confidential and will not be shared for marketing purposes. The purpose of maintaining the listing is to facilitate co-ownership directly between buyers without the involvement of intermediaries or promoters.
