The World
The World is not the regular kind of cruiseship as seen on this website. She is actually the first real floating appartment block at sea, and untill now the only one of such ships that is sailing the worlds oceans. In the end of the 1990's and the beginning of the new millennium, the idea of actually living at sea on a cruiseship became more realistic. The slumb of the 1980's was over and the financial crisis of recent years was still nowhere to be found. The idea of building The World came from a well-known cruise-industry name, Knut Kloster Jr.. The Kloster family of Norway are familiar shipowners for decades and of course known for the later Norwegian Cruise Line, founded in november 1966 as Norwegian Caribbean Lines to sail regular Miami to Bermuda cruises using a 1965-built carferry.
A management company named ResidenSea was founded for the managing of the 80.000 ton ship that was going to be a novelty in passenger shipping. Because it was unknown how many people would actually buy an appartment aboard, this very first idea had to be downscaled to 43.524 tons and the number of appartments was reduced by half. Now, there were enough options to fill the ship with residents so building her hull started at Bruce's Shipyard at Landskrona, Norway under yardnumber 247. When she was complete enough, the ship was floated at the 28th of february 2001 and towed to the Fosen Mekanischer Verksteder at Rissa, Norway. Here, she was completed under yardnumber N.71 and she floated out in march 2002 after a period of two-year building. The ship has a lenght of 195,35 meters, a width of 29,80 meters and she has a draft of 6,70 meters.Her total passenger capacity is placed at 1042, but of course this is not the actual number of residents and guests that are sailing every voyage. In fact, double occupancy of the appartments and cabins is 790 people, but mostly, between 150 and 300 residents and their guest are aboard. These dramatic differences are of course just because of the nature of the ship. Not every resident is aboard yearround (although some are) and not every resident is bringing guests along. In total, the ship has 106 appartments, 19 studio appartments and 40 studio's. These are all owned by the residents. To take care of this floating city, a crew capacity of 343 is there. When you compare this to the most luxury cruiseships afloat, in practice there are mostly are more crew then guests aboard The World, despite of her normal higher passenger capacity. The normal speed of the ship is 17 knots, although her two 12-cylinder diesel engines are capable of 19 knots as maximum too.
The World as seen arriving in Amsterdam on the 7th of july 2004. The Muziekgebouw Aan Het IJ is still in construction next to the terminal.
The ship was ceremonially blessed at the port of Trondheim in Norway at the 20th of february 2002, when several priests babtised her lobby with a mixture of champagne and water. At the 29th of march 2002, her first voyage (cruise is not really the right term for her) started by an introductional sailing to Amsterdam, Hamburg, London, Lisbon and Funchal. Her actual naming ceremony, officially, was held in Venice and her Godmother was Ann Whedon, the first person who had actually bought one of the ships appartments.
Although ResidenSea, based at Miramar, Florida, is the management company of the ship, providing her crew and managing her financials and marketing, in october of 2003 the ship was officially recieving ownership of the residents themselves. They are organized in a board of directors and a network of committees that advise and guide the management of the sailing scedules, the finances and lifestyle aboard.
The World sails worldwide voyages to wherever the residents have decided to go. Most normal, the ship will be seen in Rio de Janeiro when the carnival is held, in Monaco when the Grand Prix is on and wherever the Olympic Games will be played. Port stays are mostly lenghty, between two days when the weather is not so good (joke) and five days when it's sunny (joke two). This way, the residents will be able to get the feeling there is a world besides their community at sea. Mostly, the residents are directors and wealthy people who are mostly above their fiftees and like to have a quiet and safe place to live and relax. Prices range from USD $600.000 for an Ocean Studio of 30,5 square meters, USD $2.900.000 for a two-bedroom, 2,5 bathroom Ocean Residence and USD $13.500.000 for a The World Suite. Monthly costs will be approximately USD $20.000 and cover for crew, fuel, maintainance and a meal service for the owner. The ship offers the same facilities as a normal cruise ship, but of course also extra's like a greengrocers store and a delicatessenshop.
All pictures, with the exception of the second one, were shot at Amsterdam during her four-day stay in the Dutch capital at the 14th of august 2011.
