US Woman Sells Home To Fund 3-Year Luxury Cruise, It Gets Cancelled Days Before Departure

A woman in the US has been left homeless after selling her house to fund a three-year round-the-world cruise, only for it to be canceled days before its departure, the New York Post reported. Notably, Keri Witman, the head of a marketing agency Clever Lucy, paid $32,000 for her trip with Life at Sea Cruises, which was originally planned to depart from Istanbul on November 1. It was then postponed to November 11, then November 30.

The company promised a luxury cruise trip in which travelers would spend three years going to 148 countries and visiting hundreds of ports across all seven continents. During this time, passengers would also be able to work from home, receive medical care, and have friends or family visits.

Ms Witman booked the trip in April 2022 and paid $32,000 for the first installment and deposit. She sold her four-bedroom house and got rid of many of her possessions.

"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,'' Ms Witman said. 

However, the company canceled the trip last month, saying it could not secure a ship for the voyage. Investors backed out due to unrest in the Middle East, CNN reported. The company said they are ''actively working on creating alternative plans for the future.''

''I've been working over the last eight months to get everything in line, my life organized, so that I can make it happen. It was disappointing to find out it wasn't going to pan out,'' Ms Witman told The Enquirer.

Her possessions that were meant to be on the cruise are now in storage, and she is living in a rented apartment.

Not just Ms Witman, several other passengers also sold their homes and belongings to have this ''once-in-a-lifetime experience''. Now, they don't have a home to return to, since they were expecting to be on the cruise for three years.

''There's a whole lot of people right now with nowhere to go, and some need their refund to even plan a place to go – it's not good right now,'' one passenger told CNN. Ms Witman said she has been in contact with fellow passengers as they work together on their Plan B.

The company said it would issue refunds but in monthly installments beginning in mid-December and lasting until late February.