Post by Kev on May 27, 2004 6:41:55 GMT -5
From the echo...
AN OCEAN-GOING liner for the mega-rich, The World, will be visiting Liverpool next month.
The huge vessel, worth £182m and weighing 43,000 tonnes continuously sails the oceans with its phenomenally wealthy passengers living a life of luxury on board.
The World began its never-ending journey in March 2002 and, since then, has stopped off at ports requested by its passengers. Luxury apartments on the ship range in price from £1.4m to more than £5m, and there are 88 suites for rent.
Owners can choose to either live on board permanently or use their private cabin for holidays. However, to qualify as apartment buyers, residents have to be worth at least five million US dollars (£3.5m) or their local currency equivalent.
A spokeswoman for the Bahamas-based owners of the ship, the Residensea company, said: "Even the most basic apartment has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a balcony, a fully-equipped kitchen complete with washing machine, a sitting room and 32-inch wide TV screens. Apartment buyers can cook their own food or - at a price - have a chef do it for them.
"The 12-deck vessel has outdoor and indoor swimming pools, a tennis court, a jogging track, a putting green with real grass, an art gallery and a chapel.
"When the ship is at anchor, residents can drive golf balls from the ship on to a special floating green."
Residents also enjoy automatic membership of some of the world's top golf courses and the ship.
The Norwegian-built ship also has a number of restaurants including a deli serving Beluga caviar and champagne, shops, including one which displays a £350,000 diamond necklace, a library with books in seven languages and a medical centre with an operating theatre, a doctor and two nurses.
The chief executive of the Residensea company, Fredy Dellis, has always denied that the enterprise represented a tax haven.
He stressed that all those buying apartments had to give a land-based address as their permanent home and were therefore taxed accordingly.
Mr Dellis said: "This is not a cruise ship, this is a resort. We are selling a lifestyle and we are selling a concept and that's what people are buying."
He admitted there was something of a vetting process for would-be buyers, but said it was a similar process to joining a golf or country club.
AN OCEAN-GOING liner for the mega-rich, The World, will be visiting Liverpool next month.
The huge vessel, worth £182m and weighing 43,000 tonnes continuously sails the oceans with its phenomenally wealthy passengers living a life of luxury on board.
The World began its never-ending journey in March 2002 and, since then, has stopped off at ports requested by its passengers. Luxury apartments on the ship range in price from £1.4m to more than £5m, and there are 88 suites for rent.
Owners can choose to either live on board permanently or use their private cabin for holidays. However, to qualify as apartment buyers, residents have to be worth at least five million US dollars (£3.5m) or their local currency equivalent.
A spokeswoman for the Bahamas-based owners of the ship, the Residensea company, said: "Even the most basic apartment has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a balcony, a fully-equipped kitchen complete with washing machine, a sitting room and 32-inch wide TV screens. Apartment buyers can cook their own food or - at a price - have a chef do it for them.
"The 12-deck vessel has outdoor and indoor swimming pools, a tennis court, a jogging track, a putting green with real grass, an art gallery and a chapel.
"When the ship is at anchor, residents can drive golf balls from the ship on to a special floating green."
Residents also enjoy automatic membership of some of the world's top golf courses and the ship.
The Norwegian-built ship also has a number of restaurants including a deli serving Beluga caviar and champagne, shops, including one which displays a £350,000 diamond necklace, a library with books in seven languages and a medical centre with an operating theatre, a doctor and two nurses.
The chief executive of the Residensea company, Fredy Dellis, has always denied that the enterprise represented a tax haven.
He stressed that all those buying apartments had to give a land-based address as their permanent home and were therefore taxed accordingly.
Mr Dellis said: "This is not a cruise ship, this is a resort. We are selling a lifestyle and we are selling a concept and that's what people are buying."
He admitted there was something of a vetting process for would-be buyers, but said it was a similar process to joining a golf or country club.
