What is the simplest way to travel permanently? Check out the price
What is the simplest way to travel permanently? Check out the price a 28-year-old paid for a condo on a cruise ship. Austin Wells adores exploring new places. However, he dislikes long journeys, jet lag, and unpredictable routines.
Wells, a 28-year-old San Diego resident, leased a home on a luxury yacht for this reason. He will live aboard the vessel for at least three years while it travels the globe and works from there. Along with 24-hour room service, a co-working area, and a spa, it offers everything you could need, including medical services, a farmer’s market, private kitchens, and an exercise facility.
His room is on the massive cruise ship MV Narrative, which has over 500 private rooms and apartments and will house about 1,000 people who will essentially live there permanently.
Wells told CNBC via video chat, “The thing that excites me most is I don’t have to change my everyday schedule to travel across the world.
My condo, my gym, my doctors and dentists, all of my grocery stores, and so on now travel the world with me, he continued. “I’m going from this model where you want to go somewhere; you pack a bag, get on a flight, rent a room,” he said.
The augmented and virtual reality division, Reality Labs, operates entirely remotely and intends to keep working U.S. West Coast hours as the ship travels to European cities.
“My workday will be pushed to the late night and early morning hours. But that does allow me to… perhaps explore a city in the mid-to-late afternoon before beginning my workday at six or seven o’clock,” he remarked.
Wells continued, “This is likely the first time there is even the possibility of having conventional employment and even considering working and living from a floating apartment complex.”
What is the MV Narrative?
Alister Punton, co-founder and CEO of Storylines and a former construction and real estate entrepreneur who had never been on a cruise before creating the company, came up with the idea for the MV Narrative, a luxury residential ship now being built by Storylines.
Punton and co-founder Shannon Lee noticed that large ships frequently ended up being scrapped and recognized a chance to repurpose them.
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They ordered a new ship after a few false starts. They purchased and redesigned two ships that proved unsuitable for the lifestyle residents anticipated or because they needed to comply with new environmental laws. Currently undergoing construction, the MV Narrative will sail in 2025 from Split, Croatia.
On board, there will be 11 different types of residences, with the “Global” measuring 1,970 square feet and being the largest. It has two stories, up to four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a sizable balcony, a dining area that seats six people, and a walk-in closet.
While some units offer viewing lounges and event rooms, others are situated on decks with a Champagne and whiskey bar, cigar lounge, and small pool at one end.
There will also be 20 restaurants and bars, a 10,000-square-foot gym and spa open around the clock, three swimming pools, a school, a library, a bank, and office space, among other amenities spread across 18 decks. The ship will also have a theatre where plays and films will be shown, but unlike on traditional cruise ships, lavish entertainment won’t be a big priority.
Where will the ship go
According to Punton, the MV Narrative will stay in port for three to five days, which is longer than usual for ships and will give passengers time to explore. The majority of people, he said in a video conference with CNBC, “would be out in the local cities and conducting day trips and overnight vacations, renting a car and traveling out for three or four days and meeting the ship at its next location.”
A typical route may start with three days moored in Rome, move on to three days in Naples, then make stops in smaller towns like Sapri and Marsala on the way to Venice before continuing to Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Greece, and finally Turkey. It will cruise the world for about three years in total.
Who’s buying
Wells anticipates being one of the younger adults living on the ship when he moves onboard; he will be approximately 30. According to him, residents would include families with children and midlife entrepreneurs.
According to Storylines’ website, kids can enroll in the ship’s “global education” curriculum, which combines online learning with small-group instruction, excursions, and workshops with experts from the nations where the ship docks.
According to Punton, who spoke with CNBC, retirement-bound individuals also board the ship. A future resident eager to work part-time for the MV Narrative’s medical staff is an ER nurse with about 30 years of experience, according to Punton. Acupuncturists and physiotherapists are two other occupations he hopes to attract as owners.
“You can come and sip pina Coladas by the pool all day if you wish and not lift a finger, I always tell people,” But that rapidly grows stale. So, if you want to continue doing what you’re doing, this is a means for people to do it, said Punton. “That’s a key distinction between us and a cruise,” the speaker said.
Additionally, based on the MV Narrative, the Storylines corporate headquarters will have company executives. With his wife and their two children, who are currently two and five, Punton will board the ship.
