An American couple who sold everything for a three-year cruise are now stranded in Istanbul, Turkey, and headed toward homelessness if they don't receive the $80,000 refund. Kara and Joe Youssef were expecting to be on board the Life at Sea cruise, which unfortunately fell through in 2023 and never happened.
“They kept leading us on, making us hold out hope until the very last minute, just days before we were supposed to depart,” 36-year-old Kara said in an interview with The New York Times.
“We sold everything we have to make this dream happen," she continued. "We feel completely defeated."
The couple are still waiting for a refund, adding that they “could soon be homeless." They had no idea that the opportunity of a lifetime would turn out to lead them to such a point.
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Life at Sea, which was proposed by Mikael Petterson and Vedat Ugurlu (the owner of Miray) was supposed to be a three-year “ultimate bucket list world cruise.” Prices started at $90,000 for an inside cabin, going up to $975,000 for a suite.
According to the company, they could "barely keep up" when bookings first opened in March 2023. But as the November 1, 2023, launch date approached, concerns arose about the ship being adequate for the number of passengers for such a long time.
Miray spent $10 million on a refurbishment of the ship. Yet Robert Dixon, the itinerary planner, said he was denied access to the engine room and told by the engineer that the ship, the MV Gemini, couldn't hold enough fuel to cross the Atlantic on schedule.
“Even if you spend another $10 million on that ship, I don’t think it is enough to do what we want to do,” Dixon said in a memo to his team. He also had his concerns about the ship being able to cross the South Pacific.
Even as things started to fall apart, passengers continued to be reassured that the cruise was still set to go on. On May 6, 2023, the Youssefs paid a $5,000 deposit and were told that a 25% payment was due by June 7, 2023. A few months following, in September, the couple sold their apartment to keep up with cruise payments.
On October 27, 2023, the couple and other passengers were in Istanbul ready to board the cruise of a lifetime, when the launch was delayed two times. And eventually, the trip was canceled altogether. Refund payments were supposed to be spread from December 2023 through February 2024. However, the Youssefs have yet to receive any of their money and have been living in a hotel in Istanbul for the last month, paid for by Miray.
