Condo Cruise Lines' First Ship Is Nearly Sold Out in Less Than Six Months

Ally · 06-20-2006, 06:06 AM

The new cruise line that pioneered affordable luxury cruise ship condominiums is already working on its next two medium-sized ships.

Erin LeCel Jones, Executive Vice President of the company, says, "We sold almost 80 percent of the available condos on our first ship in about twenty weeks - more than enough to go ahead and start the re-design and renovation process.

"The ship will be drydocked in Singapore and the renovations should be complete by early December," she added.

The as-yet-unnamed ship will then be delivered in mid-January to its homeport in San Francisco where it will begin the first of its two-year-long worldwide voyages.

The young cruise line gained notoriety last January when it announced it was taking semi-retired cruise ships and converting about two-thirds of the staterooms into multi-room luxury condo suites.

Condo Cruise Lines has four more ships targeted for conversion to condos, and the next two are already being re-configured by its world-class maritime partners. To do the renovations the company has enlisted the talents of one of the most renowned maritime interior designers in the world. Tillberg Designs, the marine interior designers that created the luxurious interiors of the Queen Mary II and many more of the newest mega-ships, will develop the condo suites.

The first ship's condo prices started out at $349,000 and went as high as $529,000 last January, but after two price increases, the condos that are left range from $562,000 to $1,280,000, according to Thomas Blackburn, the company's Senior Vice President and director of finance. "We didn't sell a single $349,000 suite as most people were looking for the higher rental income from the larger suites," he said. "So we eliminated the small, single suites and converted them to larger three-room penthouses and sold out."

Many real estate investors are opting for this variation to the pre- construction condo purchase because the rental income is about five times higher than a beachfront condo on the Gulf of Mexico.

Plus the ships move out of the way of hurricanes!

More information on the company can be seen at its website: http://www.condocruiselines.com.

Ally · 06-20-2006, 06:08 AM

Would you live on a ship?

I think I would, given the finances of course

judytata11 · 06-21-2006, 06:06 AM

I wouldn't want to live on a ship but to invest and use as a 2nd home would appeal to me!

FlRic · 06-21-2006, 07:49 AM

Being president of our Condo Association I can assure you that the biggest problem with renting condos, either on land or on sea, is the renters!We try every which way to get info to our renters so they are up to speed and the vast majority of them could care less! I would never invest in a ship condo for that reason.