An Ohio woman who sold her house to pay for a three-year cruise has been forced to find a backup plan after it was cancelled at the last minute.
Keri Witman, from Oakley, Ohio, made the decision to set sail after looking for a stable way to travel while still being able to work remotely as the head of marketing agency Clever Lucy.
Noting that one-off trips can be expensive, Witman realized a cruise with the company Life at Sea could be the answer she’d been looking for.
The company was offering a three-year-long cruise, during which travellers would visit 148 countries and hundreds of ports across all seven continents.
Witman began looking into the financial aspect of the trip, where interior rooms started at $38,500 per person per year.
The cost include accommodation, food, internet access and medical care, and after doing some calculations she came to the conclusion that it was a good investment.
Speaking to the Cincinnati Observer about her decision, Witman said: “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’.
“Like, these guys are the most conservative financial people, I cannot believe they’re telling me I should do it.”
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Suitably convinced, Witman booked her place on the cruise in April 2022, handing over an initial installment and deposit totaling $32,000. She sold her house, got rid of many of her possessions, and started living in a nearby apartment on a short-term lease.
The cruise was originally expected to set sail from Istanbul, Turkey, on November 1. However, as time passed, Life at Sea pushed back the departure date on more than one occasion.
The company recently told CNN there is now no confirmed departure date, and it’s all because it’s not been able to find a ship to carry out the venture.
“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.”
With no departure date in sight, Witman was left in limbo, wondering whether she should start planning again for life on land.
“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 has now told USA Today that all passengers will be given full refunds for their place on the cruise, with instalments paid between December and February.
Though this particular trip didn’t work out, Witman is still hopeful that she’ll be able to take part in a lengthy cruise adventure in the near future.
UNILAD has contacted Life at Sea for comment.
