We paid $4 million for a cabin on a cruise ship that will sail the world year-round. We want to travel in total comfort, without the 'bag drag' from place to place.
by
jpandy@insider.com (Jordan Pandy)
- Myle Hammond reserved a two-bedroom cabin that cost $4 million on Storylines' MV Narrative.
- His family vacations often and the ship's annual fee will be on par with their former travel budget.
- Hammond has yet to decide whether he'll live at sea full-time, but he isn't ruling it out.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Myle Hammond, 50, about his decision to reserve a cabin on Storylines' MV Narrative, a luxury residential cruise ship that will circumnavigate the globe every three years. The company anticipates a 2025 launch date. Hammond's cabin will have a roughly $132,000 annual fee that includes most food and beverages on the ship, WiFi, and housekeeping, among other perks. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I retired from the Marine Corps after 23 years in 2014. Since then, I've been a financial trader and I work from home.
In the Marine Corps, I spent over a year living at sea. Originally I had no desire to take a vacation on a cruise ship, because I thought it was going to feel like being at work. If you're a secretary, you don't want to go on vacation and take notes.
But I really enjoyed my first cruise. I've cruised with a number of different lines — enough to figure out the things that we like and the things that we could do without.
We love to travel, but doing the bag drag from destination to destination can get tiring.
When I saw the opportunity to buy aboard the Narrative, it was one of those things where it's the best of both worlds: the ability to essentially purchase a second home, or something that might eventually become a primary home, that's sitting on the water — but not just sitting on the water, sitting on the water with a view that changes on a daily basis.
We purchased a two-bedroom, two-bathroom for the life of the ship. It was $4 million. We figured it gives us enough room that we won't feel like we're stuck on top of one another. It's got a living room area and a small kitchenette.
It's large enough that if we wanted to have guests come and stay with us, they could. If we don't have guests, there's room to spread out and work. I can really work from anywhere and this offers the ability to truly see the world and still have the connectivity that I need.
They provide furnishings for you, but you do get a selection of things you can upgrade, like the type of mattress. And once that's done, you're ultimately responsible for your own furnishings.
The thought of being able to bring all those important things with me, while still being able to see the world, is attractive.
The annual fee is about the same as our yearly travel budget
Every unit has its annual fee that, for the most part, should cover everything. It's a significant fee. We did the calculations on how much we spent on vacations a year. And if we were to up that by just a little bit, we're kind of hitting that target zone.
We've got a nice home, but when we travel, I don't want to spend my vacation time in something that is not as nice as my home. Because we've done pretty well, we like to go to nicer places and stay in nicer places.
When I was looking at the cost, one of the questions I asked myself was, "How much would you be willing to spend for a condo that was overlooking the water?" This is one of those things that checked all the boxes that we were looking for.
I love to travel with the family. I have two teenagers that are currently in high school, but in the next couple of years they're going to be heading off to college.
Once the kids get older, we're leaving options open. We're not planning on selling the house right now. The plan is keeping both and part of it is just getting a feel for what kind of balance we would have.
Life is too short to not go for what you want, because this is something that I want to succeed and that I can be a part of. It's something that I'm willing to put my money behind.
Source:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/ti...1&cvid=83cc3965138a4965a45d59dd398a7123&ei=74
