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18 January, 2024

3-year-long cruise passengers look to sue over last-minute cancellation

The abrupt cancellation of Life at Sea’s three year long cruise in November 2023 has spurred 78 passengers to seek legal action against the cruise line’s parent company, Miray Cruises.

The group sent a letter to Markenzy Lapointe, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, asking him to investigate Miray. They claim that the company collected US$16 million (AU$24.43m) and used it as a deposit for a ship that it did not end up purchasing. It’s unclear whether Lapointe will go forward with the investigation.

Many passengers quite their jobs, sold homes and withdrew their life savings in order to pay for what would have been a 1,095 day cruise with 382 ports of call. Would-be passengers paid Miray between US$90,000-975,000 (AU$137,404-1,488,550) for a suite, with some paying their full fare upfront to qualify for a discount, according to the New York Times.

The cruise, which originally gained media attention in March, was set to start sailing in November. The sailing would depart from Istanbul on MV Gemini, but Life at Sea later announced that it was looking to Miray to purchase a larger ship, MV Lara. Plans went overboard after a slew of postponements and investor pull out led to Miray sending out a memo to the would-be cruisers informing them of the cancellation.

After cancelling, Miray said it would offer full refunds to all passengers, but only four of more than 100 passengers have received partial refunds despite two of the repayment deadlines having passed.

However, Miray has claimed the refund delay is attributable to bank blockades deriving from a series of credit card chargeback disputes, which customers dispute.

“Some people put in everything they had and now they are broke or homeless or wandering from cruise to cruise like tumbleweeds because they have no other place to go,” David Purcell, a 78-year-old retired lawyer from St. Louis, who sold his house and car to book the trip, told the NYT.

The Life at Sea Cruises website still advertises the cruise, but says it will start sailing in November this year.

It’s advertised itself as “the first reasonably priced, all-inclusive world cruise starting from only $77,026 per year based on double-occupancy that will cover over 130,000 miles across all 7 continents and 140 countries, 382 ports.”

The cruise will take place on Miray’s MV Lara.

(Featured Image: MV Lara)

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