You Can Be a Cruise Ship Owner Even If You Are Not Rich

Unlike fractional ownership of Aircraft and houseboats, fractional owners of a cruise ship can all use the ship simultaneously. There is plenty of room for you and the other owners to live on the ship any time you want, or all the time. You can use it as a full-time residence, and so can the other co-owners.

You Can Be a Cruise Ship Owner Even If You Are Not Rich

You Can Be a Cruise Ship Owner Even If You Are Not Rich

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You Can Be a Cruise Ship Owner Even If You Are Not Rich

You Can Be a Cruise Ship Owner Even If You Are Not Rich

The first obvious benefit of shared ownership is acquisition cost. There are many cruise ships on the market in all price ranges, sizes, ages and conditions. There are many smaller and older cruise ships available for less than one million Dollars. At the lower end, some smaller cruise ships in fAir condition can be acquired for about $ 250,000. At the highest end, the biggest new mega cruise ships now cost about $ 500 million to build.

Do the math. If onehundred buyers pool resources in exchange for a percenTAGe of ship ownership, the acquisition cost will be divided by that same number. One percent ownership of a $ 250,000 cruise ship would cost a mere $ 2500 for ship acquisition. At the other end of the scale, one percent ownership of a brand new mega cruise ship would cost five million Dollars.

There are some other figures that must be tabulated into the total cost of ownership. Acquisition cost is first and foremost. The next figure is the cost to put the ship in service. On an older ship this cost may be higher than the acquisition cost. On the other hand, the cost to put a ship into service can be much lower if you were to get a good deal on a ship that already meets the international standards for ship safety, especiallySOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea). Maintaining compliance with SOLAS 74 Chapter II is cost prohibitive aMendMents for some older ships and they are typically scrapped instead of being refurbished at great expense. There is a very important SOLAS impleMentation dates coming up on January 10, 2010. On that date all commercial international ships will be required to be in compliance with the new fire safety codes. The most important new codes deal with the use of combustible materials in the ship. It will be expensive to replace all combustible materials in ships with non-combustible or flame resistant SOLAS compliant materials that meet the new safety standards. This will result in many ships being sold for scrap metal.

The SOLAS 2010 impleMentation date that offers both perilsand opportunities. The biggest peril is the possibility that the expense to bring a ship into full compliance with international standards will be greater than the value of the ship. However, there is a silver lining in this cloud. This pending SOLAS implementation date has already started to show up as a primary factor in the asking and selling prices of ships on the market today.

SOLAS 2010 also offers a tremendous opportunity for those who may prefer to have a very large houseboat instead of a commercial ship. Ships that are not in compliance with SOLAS 2010 are now selling for a song (inexpensively). A cruise ship can easily be converted into a mega-yacht with the stroke of a pen. Privately owned yachts, not in commercial service, and not carrying passengers or cargo forhire are exempt from many of the SOLAS requirements. Operating costs are also lower for a private yacht. It cost less to register, flags, and insure a private yacht. Megayachts can be flagged and classified for unlimited service. That means that a yacht can go practically anywhere you want it to go. There is one major drawback to registering a cruise ship as a private yacht. You cannot use the yacht commercially. This cuts off a potential revenue source.

There are many decent cruise ships for sale at prices of less than one million dollars that would make good private mega yachts. For example, take the ' VIRGIN SKY ' is a ship that I have personally creamed and so I can talk first hand about it. The asking price was 0,000. Here are the specifics of the ship in anutshell:

Current Name: Vergina Sky

Ship Details: Built: 1971 in Japan-totally rebuilt 1992 in Greece

Dimensions: LOA 97.8 m x LBP 82m x beam x draft 14.6 m 4.49 m Dwt: GT/500 on NT: 4.49 4.668/1.717

Description: 2 x 8400bhp Pielstick, twin screw, bow thruster, 3 x 500kw generators, 16 knots, 2 saloons, restaurant, 3 bars, casino, duty free shop, disco, swimming pool, 120 cabins for 318 guests. Lying Greece

My Comments after inspecting the ship

This is a well built little Pocket Cruiser. ' At just over 320 ' in length overall, it is a small cruise ship. Many experienced cruise passengers prefer smaller more intimate cruise ships for a variety of reasons. This ship can go places where the big cruise ships cannot reach, such as shallow draft ports andeven many rivers. It has an omni-directional bow thruster and can turn on a dime (relatively speaking of course). I have carefully examined this ship from the engine to the ultrasound hull log report. This is a sound and safe little cruise ship. It is also a very fuel efficient and economical ship. My first time on this ship was in the middle of the summer in Greece when it was very hot outside. The ship is fully air conditioned and it was cool and comfortable inside the ship. I checked the engine room to see how many generators were running. I am happy to report that all the electric and air-conditioning requirements can be met by running just one of the three Daihatsu generators. These generators are very economical to operate in terms of fuel consumption andmaintenance.

I was able to negotiate with the owner, John Kosmas and get some concessions. I got the price down to $ 500,000. And at that price, he agreed to bring the ship into compliance with SOLAS 2005 and also to include new topside paint. The ship was fairly well furnished even including bed linen, but the ship had been laid up for years. Its most recent service was in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Cruise ships that trade exclusively in the Mediterranean and Black Seas tend to have smaller cabins and fewer amenities than the typical cruise ships that frequent the Caribbean. The bottom line is that this ship was an economy model, not a luxury model. When I was inspecting the engine room, I asked for the engine log. When I opened it I noticed all the entries were inGreek. I was able to discern some dates and other data that told me when the ship was last in service, but I could not read the Greek entries so I handed the engine logs back to the ship owner, and told him "It's all Greek to me." Being Greek, Mr. Kosmas failed to find the humor in that.

Let's look at the numbers on this ship. 100% of the acquisition cost would have been $ 500,000. 1% thus = $ 5000. One hundred buyers could own one percent each. There are 120 cabins so each co-owner could have a private cabin with 20 cabins left over. However, these cabins are a bit on the small side. Every cabin does have a bath and shower, but the size is just too small to be comfortable for most people, especially if the owners intend to live onboard full time. On a ship this size I wouldrecommend that there be no more than 60 joint owners know each can have two cabins and will have the option of converting those two cabins into a two room suite. To keep the numbers simple lets say that this ship has 50 buyers who each buy 2% of the ship. Buy in cost for owner would then be $ 10,000. If there were only ten buyers, then the acquisition cost per buyer would be $ 50,000. $ 50,000 will not buy much of a house on land, but on this ship it would buy 10% of a ship like the Virgin Sky and twelve cabins that could be converted into a fairly large home.

At the economy end of the scale, a co owner could buy 1% of an economical cruise ship for about $ 5000. However it is not necessary for all co owners to have equal shares in the ship. Ownership can easily be divided up into1% increments. If one buyer wanted 5%, then his cost of acquisition would be $ 25,000. He would be entitled to 5% of the ship's cabins, and would have five votes on operations and management of the ship, such as itinerary planning.

Before becoming a joint owner, it would be imperative to find other people who have similar goals. I would suggest composing a preliminary DCCR (DECLARATION OF
COVENANTS, CONDITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS). You can do this even before you shop for a ship. Write your version of how you envision the shared ownership of a cruise ship as it should be. Then see if you can find some people who agree with your goals and your DCCR, subject to some revisions and concessions to accommodate other joint owners.

Step One: Determine if you and your family havethe desire and financial capability to become joint cruise ship (or mega) owners.

Step Two: Find others who agree with your concept for shared ownership of a ship.

Step Three: Shop for a ship. This is the fun part.

Step Four: Buy a ship.

Step Five: Put the ship into service.

Even if you are not rich, you can afford to jointly own a cruise ship. But then comes the next logical question: Why would you or anyone want to live on a cruise ship? Who would this be suitable for?

If you are reTired or otherwise have a stable income from a dependable source you probably can afford to be a cruise ship co-owner and live full-time onboard a cruise ship. If you work in a field where you can work from home online, then you too can probably afford to become aco-owner of a cruise ship. Most modern ships have satellite Internet service available 24-7.

Operating a cruise ship is expensive. The expenses include the cost of fuel, labor, maintenance, repairs, spares, Food, port charges, insurance, technical management, shore management, registration, and the other costs of operating the ship. At first glance these costs may seem expensive, but in reality the cost of living at sea is actually a bargain considering what you get, based upon what you pay. The best value does not always translate to the cheapest price. If the ship is well managed, the management will seek the highest quality goods, services and labor at the very best global value. If the owners are dissatisfied with either technical or shore management, they replacethem.

If there are many other co-owners of the ship to split the operating expenses of the ship, it can be affordable for those with a moderate level of income, such as a reTirement check. I do have specific operating cost figures but I won't bore you with that date. The bottom line is that it would not be prohibitively expensive for a middle-class average person to be able to afford to own a fraction of a cruise ship and be able to afford to live on the cruise ship full-time if they elect to do so.

For comparison purposes it is noteworthy that you have in land based housing expenses too. Those expenses include property taxes, homeowners insurance, maintenance and repairs, yard care, and utilities. Additionally you have transportation costs and of course Food costs. Mostpeople also spend money on entertainment, too. When these expenses are added up the maintenance fees for living aboard a ship are comparable.

There are actually some savings resulting from living aboard a ship. The ship's executive chef buys Food and kitchen Supplies in bulk for the ship and can get better prices than the average shopper. Other savings result from the large freezers and the mobility of the ship giving the food service management the ability to stock up on Supplies in countries where prices are low. Some crew and owners may choose to Fish for leisure. This can Supply some fresh food at even lower costs to the owners. Labor savings are realized when the crew is hired based upon the best global labor rates. The laws of Supply and demand drive prices down in someplaces in the world. Proper ship management can capitalize on these international. All the savings would be passed on to the cabin owners resulting in an economical cost of living similar to what you could expect to spend with a conventional home. Ship management should have accounting transparency will all books (financial records) open and available for any owner to inspect. Also ship management should submit all financial records quarterly to an outside auditor for the peace of mind of the owners. Anybody in the chain who spends any of the ship's operational funds should also be audited periodically. For example, a good way to audit the executive chef would be for one or more of the live-aboard co-owners of the ship to go to the food market district of each port of call and theyshould try to haggle and get a better price for the same food than the price the executive chef was able to acquire. If the executive chef cannot find better deals than the ship's co-owners, then the executive chef should be given his walking papers. The executive chef position is a vital position on a cruise ship. This is a position of trust because he will bill the food he buys to the ship. He must never be tempted to accept bribes from vendors or suppliers. Therefore, he should know that he will be audited and rules any substandard performance will result in termination of his employment.

The biggest value of all onboard cruise ship is in labor costs. The better cruise ships tend to be labor intensive, providing passengers with unrelenting attention and extravagantpampering. The hotel staff on all cruise ships provides the basic services including food preparation and serving, laundry, cabin stewarding area, entertainment, casino operation, beauty shop operations, This is one area where I would prefer to not scrimp because of the very good value in these services due to the low cost of international labor. I would prefer to go beyond the level that most cruise ships go in the area of spas. Land based luxury and specialty resort spas are very expensive, but the exact same level of service, professionalism, skill, and treatments can be provided on a cruise ship at extremely low cost. Labor is the key and the primary reason for most of the expense of spas. Labor is a tremendous value on a cruise ship because the cruise ship managers can chooseworkers from the global marketplace where it is easy to get the best value for the money.

Spas

Spa treatment is customized for each client. Spas commonly offer services such as:

Soothing Massage therapies, skin and body treatments drawing from European and Eastern principles, expert hair and nail services, and a full menu of therapeutic treatments utilizing a deep-cleansing facial at the start of the program, as well as a series of detoxification and contouring wraps, lypo-reduction wrap, as well as marine mud and herb wraps. Massage Therapies including: Swedish Massage, Shiatsu Massage, Deep Tissue Treatment, Maternity Massage, Therapeutic Foot Massage (Reflexology), French Hydrotherapy Massage.

The healing therapies includes a variety of massages,reflexology, facials, firming and many other body treatments. Plus a wide variety of services and wellness programs specially designed to meet the individual's needs and desires. A full service salon offers all manner of hair treatments (including a certified colorist), as well as a variety of manicures, pedicures, and ' facelifts ' for your hands. Extensive skin care includes: Age Management Therapies including, Glycolic Facial, anti-aging Facial Peel Microdermabrasion; Aromaplasty Facial including: Facials, Teen Facial, Gentleman's Facial, Facial, Regulating Nutrisource Acne Facial, Vitamin "C" Facial Skin Renewal; Body Treatments including Decleor Mask: Sauna, Hydrotherapy Massage French Salt Glow, Andromeda, Mummy Mask, Seaweed Mud Body Wrap, Safe Sun Treatment, Herbal Wrap.as well as various hair and nail treatments.

Additionally, PSAs also can facilitate weight reduction programs, and even administer Ph MeterS BREADTH DRAFT

BUILT 1981/POLAND

REBUILT 1991

REBUILT-UPGRADED 1999

REBUILT-RENOVATED-REFURBISHED 2002

CLASS R.S. ICE CLASS L2

GRT 12637

650 230 PASSENGERS IN CABINS (3 BERTH OCCUPANCY BASIS)

ALL CABINS WITH PRIVATE FACILITIES (INCLUDING SEMI SUITES AND SUITES)

9 DECKS

HELICOPTER PAD

MAIN ENGINES 4 X SULZER 4.350BHP

SPEED ABOUT 15 KNOTS ON 17.5/ABOUT 45/36 M/TONS + 9 TONS DIESEL OIL

BOWTHRUSTER 800 BHP

STABILIZERS

120 TONS PER DAY WATER MAKER

RECEPTION

LOUNGE

RESTAURANT (420 SEATS)

NINE BARS

CASINO

DUTY FREE SHOP

CHILDREN'S PLAY ROOM-TWO DISCOS

TV/MOVIE CORNER

DUTY FREE SHOPS

HAIRDressING SHOP

JACUZZI

ONE PASSENGER ELEVATOR

LAUNDRY SPA & HEALTH CLUB

TWO SAUNAS

CLINIC

TWO SWIMMING POOLS (ADULT & CHILDREN)

Cost per cabin based on asking price, ,739. This ship will sell for less than asking price. It is already SOLAS 2010 compliant. It would cost very little to put into commercial service.

Conclusion

You Can Be a Cruise Ship Owner Even If You Are Not Rich