The World is the first private residential community at sea, at this time the only one sailing the worlds oceans. The idea of building The World came from a well-known name in the cruise-industry, Knut Kloster, known for Norwegian Cruise Line which he founded in 1966 to open up Caribbean crusing with their 1965-built Southward. NCL later in 1980 converted the former liner France to the world’s first mega cruise ship the Norway. Other investors were shipowners Einar Chr. Nagell-Erichsen, Bryn. Skaugen and Petter C.G. Sundt.
Together they founded ResidenSea, the company that would operate The World at the start. At first plans were for a 80,000 GRT vessel, but this was a gamble as this was a completely unique new venture and it was not known how many people would be interested in actually acquiring a studio or suite on board. This proved to be less than expected, and she was downscaled to about half of the original, 43,200 GRT.
With enough commitment from future residents, construction could start at Oresundsvarvet-Bruce’s shipyard at Landskrona, Sweden. When her hull had been completed, she was floated out on February 28, 2001 and subsequently towed to the Fosen Mekanischer Verksteder at Rissa, Norway. Building was completed and she was fitted out by Fosen shipyard and finally she was completed in March 2002 after a two-year construction period. The ship was blessed at Trondheim, Norway on February 20,2002, by priests who baptized her by spraying a mixture of champagne and water through her central lobby. Her inaugural voyage took her to Amsterdam, Hamburg, London, Lisbon and Funchal. She was officially christened later in Venice by her godmother Ann Whedon, who had been the first to acquire one of the ships residences.
The World has a length of 196 meters, a width of 30 meters and a draft of 6,70 meters. Her two 12-cylinder Marine diesel engines give her a top speed of 19 knots, but usually she cruises at around 17 knots.
Maximum passenger capacity is around 450, but this is theoretically of course, as usually 150 to 200 residents and their guests are on board. Some residents are actually living full-time on board, but many just stay on for short periods of time. Also the number of guests they bring varies. In total there are 106 apartments (two and three bedrooms), 19 smaller studio apartments and 40 studio’s (one and two bedrooms respectively). These are all occupied by residents, as there are no regular cruise passengers. They are being looked after by a crew of 280 meaning that usually, there are more crew then guests on board. It is said that the royal family of the Netherlands, HRH king Willem Alexander and HM Queen Maxima looked the ship over and were interested in acquiring one of the apartments, but their security could not be guaranteed with people getting on and off the ship almost daily.
Residences on board The World
Nowadays, The World is technically operated by ROW Management, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, although ResidenSea, based at Miramar, Florida still handles selling the residences and the screening of potential residents The original founders of the company left in 2003 when it turned out that the venture was operating at a loss and in October of 2003 the ship was officially handed over to the residents themselves, who now had full ownership. A network of committees advise and guide the management regarding itineraries, finances and guest services on behalf of the residents (who actively take part in these).
The World sails around the globe yearly, the residents themselves have the final say which ports she will call at. There are two kinds of voyages she makes, or should we say she heads for two different kinds of destinations as in fact, she sails on one continuous voyage lasting the entire year. Parts of her itinerary bring her to special places like the polar regions, Svalbard, Greenland, Namibia etc. destinations called at for enrichment and exploration. These are referred to as the ship’s expeditions. Depending on the port and activities planned there, The World stays in a particular port for two days till 5 days. This is quite something else when we compare this to the length of calls regular cruise ships make. For mass market ships this ranges from 4 to 12 hours maximum and luxury cruise lines sometimes plan two-day port visits as they tend to organize more in depth excursions.
For 2021, plans have been finalized for the voyage: First quarter of the year, South America and Africa will be visited, then April to June, the journey continues along the eastern coast of Africa and the Mediterranean, July to September western and northern Europe and the east coast of North America will be covered, and finally October through December the Caribbean and Central America will be explored.
Most residents have been successful in life, being captains of industry, business men or women or scientists. Remember that you need to prove you are worth at least $ 10 million before you even are allowed to purchase a studio or suite aboard The World. These do not come cheap as prices begin at $2 million for the smallest 260-square-foot studio while the largest, measuring 3,500 square feet, costs close to $15 million. Maintenance fees, and fees for operating the ship in general (crew costs, fuel, food services etc.) can add up to as much as $900,000 a year. As mentioned above, there are two kinds of studio’s, and the same goes for the larger residences, the suites. In all, there are 165 residences, all with internet access of course. One of her residents even owns three apartments!
Large passenger ships are often called floating cities, and in this case, in spite of The World being a rather small vessel by todays standards, she offers all the necessary facilities for a residential community living at sea as she has a show lounge, cocktail lounges/ bars (Lobby Bar, Marina Bar, Pool Bar, Regatta Bar and Quantum), six restaurants like for example Portraits, serving Michelin-level haute cuisine, movie-theatre, library, Freddy’s Deli (a delicatessen and grocery store), a boutique and the central lobby with the guest services desk, a billiard room, golf simulator, tennis court, jogging track, a spa and a swimming pool. The ship’s wine cellar stocks a 12,000 bottle wine collection.
Freddy Deli offers residents groceries and delicatessen should they want to cook themselves, but if they do not want to prepare their own meals (all studio’s and suites have a kitchen or basic cooking facilities), they can have one of the chefs onboard prepare a special meal for you and maybe the guests you have invited in your own residence.
The World holds several records: since January 28, 2017 she holds the world record for the southernmost ship voyage. And departing from Nome, Alaska, on August 18, 2012 and reaching Nuuk, Greenland on September 12, 2012, the ship became the largest passenger vessel to transit the Northwest Passage. She followed in the path of Captain Roald Amundsen, the first sailor to complete the journey in 1906. In 2019, the ship sailed the same route from east to west She was the 300th vessel to make this voyage, and the largest to do so in both westward and eastward directions.
The World, being a cruiseship with many people living in a confined space has had to face the consequences of the Corona – COVID19 virus. All residents have been mandated to leave the ship as from March 17 2020 when the ship had reached Australia. It is expected she will resume normal operations at the end of May. Had she continued her planned itinerary, although non of her residents and crew had been infected, most ports would not have permitted her to dock as she had been sailing through the Far East for several weeks before, the region where Corona has originated and has heavily impacted many countries.
It looks like The World will be surpassed by a second residential cruise ship, the Utopia, owned by Utopia Residences, which with her length of 296 meter metres and 190 apartments which are sold for 4.4 to 36 million dollars will be considerably larger. Guests can be invited by the residents and to accommodate them there will be a 160-room boutique hotel on board. She is planned to start sailing in 2024.
At the time of writing this article (May 2020) according to a press release, DIV Shipbuilding will also build a new residence ship, the Njord. Both yards owned by DIV, Kleven Verft shipyard in Norway and Brodosplit shipyard in Croatia will work on the 290-meter-long residence ship for Ocean Residences, with a delivery date estimated in 2024. The Njord will have 118 apartments on board with two to six bedrooms.
