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Miray Cruises

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Miray International Cruises & Management
Company typePrivate
IndustryHospitality and transportation
Founded1996 (1996)
HeadquartersSarıyer, Istanbul, Turkey
ProductsCruises
OwnerVedat Uğurlu
Websitemiraycruises.com

Miray International Cruises & Management is a Turkish cruise line operator. After operating ships for other companies, Miray began operating its own cruises in 2021. In 2023, the company offered an unusual three-year, round-the-world cruise called "Life at Sea", but it was cancelled less than two weeks before the scheduled departure.

History

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Miray was founded in 1996.[1] It provided management services for ships operated by other companies, such as the Turkish tour operator Etstur.[2] The ships Miray helped manage included the Louis Aura, Aegean Paradise, MV Delphin, and Med Queen.[3]

Mediterranean operations

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In 2020, Miray announced that it would offer its own cruises in the Aegean Sea using the MV Gemini,[2][3] which began sailing for Miray in 2021.[4] The line's normal operations were interrupted in February 2023 by the catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria; Gemini was deployed to provide accommodation for the homeless from Hatay Province. It accommodated mostly the elderly, sick, pregnant and families with small children.[5]

Life at Sea Cruises

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MV Gemini

In March 2023, Miray announced that Gemini would commence a three-year "live aboard" round-the-world cruise in November, under the brand "Life at Sea Cruises".[6][7] The voyage was expected to include 382 ports in 140 countries.[8] In May, following internal disputes about the safety of using Gemini for the extended voyage, 22 members of the Life at Sea team resigned, including its senior management.[9][10]

Miray announced in June that it would replace Gemini for the world cruise with a different ship, reported to be AIDAaura, an AIDA Cruises ship that was being decommissioned. The ship would be renamed Lara and undergo renovations in Istanbul.[11][12][13] The company also announced the promotion of Kendra L. Holmes as chief executive officer, including oversight of Life at Sea.[14] Holmes met with AIDA's parent company, the Carnival Corporation, in September to close the purchase of AIDAaura. During the meetings, she was informed by Miray owner Vedat Uğurlu that the funds needed for the purchase were not available.[15] The ship was instead purchased by Celestyal Cruises.[16][17][18]

Miray delayed the Life at Sea departure twice, first from 1 November to 11 November, and then to 30 November.[19] CEO Holmes left the company in mid-November; after resigning she sent a video on 17 November informing passengers that the cruise was cancelled.[20][21] Miray confirmed the cancellation two days later, after some customers had already come to Istanbul in preparation for the cruise.[8][20]

Some prospective passengers had sold or rented out their homes in expectation of living on the ship.[15][20] Miray initially promised refunds and some coverage of travel expenses for customers, to be paid in three installments starting in December, but by January 2024 most customers had not received any refunds and Miray extended the expected refund timeframe to start in February.[15] In January, a group of 78 prospective passengers sent a letter to Markenzy Lapointe, the United States attorney for the Southern District of Florida, requesting a criminal investigation of Miray's handling of Life at Sea.[22]

References

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  1. ^ "About Us". Miray Cruises. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Miray Cruises to Launch Operations in the Aegean". Cruise Industry News. 27 July 2020. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  3. ^ a b Bailey, Jordan (27 July 2020). "Miray Cruises Aims to Begin Greek Cruises Next Month". Cruise Capital. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  4. ^ "Three-Year World Cruise Turns Into Cruise to Nowhere". The Maritime Executive. 24 November 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  5. ^ Engelbrecht, Cora; Kirac, Nimet; Ponomarev, Sergey (1 March 2023). "'A Strange Dream': A Cruise Ship Is a Floating Shelter for Displaced Turks". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Payne, Holly (7 March 2023). "Gemini's Three-year World Cruise on the Verge of Selling Out". Seatrade Cruise News. Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  7. ^ Brockes, Emma (30 March 2023). "A Three-year Cruise Sounds Like a Costly, Sweaty Nightmare. But Then You Start Doing the Maths …". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  8. ^ a b "A 3-year Around-the-world Cruise Was Supposed to Set Sail in a Week. But There's Still No Ship". Business Insider. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  9. ^ Hardingham-Gill, Tamara (26 May 2023). "Three-year Cruise in Crisis Amid Concerns about Its Ship and Refund Demands". CNN. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  10. ^ Buckley, Julia (5 July 2023). "The Three-year Cruise Is Going Ahead – with a Bigger Ship". CNN. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Miray Upgrades Ship for Three Year World Cruise". Cruise Industry News. 29 June 2023. Archived from the original on 24 August 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  12. ^ Kalosh, Anne (29 June 2023). "Miray Cruises Is the Reported Buyer of AIDAaura". Seatrade Cruise News. Archived from the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  13. ^ "AIDA Cruises eröffnet am 9. Januar 2023 die Farewell-Saison von AIDAaura" (in German). 5 January 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  14. ^ Shallo, John (14 June 2023). "Miray Cruises Names Kendra L. Holmes as CEO". Cruise Addicts. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  15. ^ a b c Buckley, Julia (20 January 2024). "How the Three-Year Cruise Fell Apart". CNN. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  16. ^ Eckardt, Christian (10 November 2023). "Verkauf der „AIDAaura" in Sichtweite - und das soll der neue Käufer sein ("Sale of the "AIDAaura" in sight - and it is supposed to be a new buyer")". Nordsee Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  17. ^ "Celestyal Acquires AIDAaura; To Sail as Celestyal Discovery". Cruise Industry News. 16 November 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  18. ^ Zelinski, Andrea (16 November 2023). "Celestyal Acquires Aida Ship and Will Rename It Discovery". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  19. ^ Buckley, Julia (27 October 2023). "The Three-year Cruise Is Running Late – Again". CNN. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  20. ^ a b c Buckley, Julia (24 November 2023). "The Three-year Cruise Is Canceled". CNN. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  21. ^ Diller, Nathan (24 November 2023). "Three-year Cruise around the World Canceled, Passengers Awaiting Refunds". USA Today. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  22. ^ Grablick, Colleen (23 January 2024). "Life at Sea Passengers Say Canceled 3-year Cruise Owes Them Millions". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
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