A woman sold her home to go on a $58,000 cruise trip across the globe — only to find out it was never going to happen.
Keri Witman, the head of a marketing agency from Ohio, said her life turned upside down when the organiser of the voyage cancelled her trip because they could not find a vessel.
The trip of a lifetime, organised by Life at Sea Cruises, offered travellers to stay on board for the next three years while they take on an adventurous world trip across, The Sun reports.
According to the company’s website, the cruise would have departed from Istanbul, visited 382 ports, and covered 148 countries spanning all the continents.
And food, travel, internet access, medical care, and more were on offer for prices starting at $US30,000 — $45,000 — per year for each guest.
Ms Witman had sold her home and signed a short-term lease for an apartment to reserve her room on the cruise, which cost $US38,500 — $58,700 — according to The Enquirer.
However, she was left in disbelief when she was informed about the cancellation of the trip – something for which she worked and saved up for more than eight months.
After hearing the shocking news, Ms Witman told the media outlet: “It was really disappointing to find out it wasn’t going to pan out.
“I’ve been working over the last eight months to really get everything in line, my life organised, so that I can make it happen.”
She said she wanted to do the trip since she mostly works remotely, and it would have given her a chance to travel across the world.
Problems at Life at Sea Cruise first arose when the organisers failed to secure a Carnival Corp ship called AIDAaura on which the ultimate voyage was being planned.
So they notified the passengers of having to push back the departure – November 1 – date multiple times.
After failing to get another vessel for the trip, the company finally announced on November 17 they were cancelling the entire plan.
But the customers set to travel the world on a luxury cruise got furious about the abrupt cancellation.
One such passenger told CNN: “There’s a whole lot of people right now with nowhere to go, and some need their refund to even plan a place to go – it’s not good right now.”
Another passenger added: “I’m very sad, angry and lost.
“I had the next three years of my life planned to live an extraordinary life, and now I have nothing.
“I’m having a hard time moving forward.”
Life at Sea Cruise has now announced it is going to offer full refunds to all passengers from December 1 up until February 2024 in monthly instalments.
The Sun has reached out to Life at Sea Cruise for a comment.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission