I lived at sea on a cruise ship for three years. Here’s how it really was (exclusive)

In the 1980s and 1990s, Lynn Krominga lived a Jet-set life as the main advice on Revlon in New York City, often traveling the world for work, but never came to real Explore all the exciting places she visited.

Since 2011 she was half -boarded and at a turning point in her life. She had read about a ship called “The World”, a new luxurious, condominium style that was constantly circumventing the world. It promised access to parts of the world usually difficult to get to, and expeditions and lectures from explorers and National Geographic Guides, as well as private tours in world famous museums in the various ports they would stay in.

After a test week on board, she was completely sold. She put her apartment in New York City on the market and bought an apartment with two bedrooms on the world (at 1,800 square meters, it was larger than most NYC apartments) and went to a life at sea.

Below she tells people with her own words how the three years on board really were – and why, after seeing countries and had adventures in addition to her wildest dreams, she eventually decided to sell her apartment and become a assembly again.

A luxury traveler finds his home

When I worked at Revlon, I was the queen of flight upgrades. Once, I was as strings from Singapore to Auckland with literally a room for myself in front of a plane, with silk pyjamas and gourmet food and actual furniture in addition to the bed. This was during the days before women were regular business travelers in Asia, which is why I became a spokesman for Japan Airlines, who shows up in an advertising campaign that ran around the world.

So it is safe to say that I was used to luxury. But the world was different. Most of my colleagues were extremely rich, although many, like me, were self -made. Everyone was quite low -key, and no one talked about their money. Especially for the well -known residents, it was obvious that integrity was of the utmost importance. We all had a similar interest: travel, in a very curated way.

Part of the world’s allure was the highly privileged asset we had to some of the most extraordinary attractions around the world. The golfers had immediate access to the most exclusive courses we happened to be, and the most famous places were places we traveled with private guides and often out of the public eye. Access was arranged in advance. (Once when we crossed the Mediterranean, my neighbor gave aboard a private party for her special friends on her private yacht, who traveled with the world for a few days.)

Daily life at sea

The daily routine was much like it was at home. Eat meals in the apartment, with or without room service. Some residents were fantastic chefs and held dinners. The ship’s staff would be available for serving and remediation, as well as the chefs for those of us less talented in the kitchen. There was a mainly Asian restaurant, a seafood grill, an outdoor life on the top tire and an elegant restaurant that would have had a Michelin star or two on land with a world famous sommelier.

After dinner, bars included live music, often with local musical talent. Some residents invited local talent to their apartments and contained private parties. There was also a surprisingly popular karaoke bar! On the upper deck of the stern of the ship, there were three suites set up under the stars to sleep Al Fresco about the residents so desired, with Butler Service of course.

The ship’s staff was very trained and experienced. Every crew member recognized every resident with names and taught us our personal preferences, for example if we wanted bread served at the table, which drinks were part of our daily routine, if we wanted to limit the salt or fat intake and whatever we could think of. There was a medical clinic on board connected to the Cleveland Clinic. They treated everything from single sea sickness to heart attacks. As far as emergency situations are concerned, the vessel heel ports arrived.

Explore new countries

For a whole four years I can say that I never felt sea sickness. We crossed the notorious Drake passage four times on the Antarctic trip and only once the rough water was problematic. The coarseest sea I experienced was between the west coast in Greenland and Nova Scotia, when the captain admitted that he plowed through the waves in an attempt to get residents to the nearest airport for flights to his land homes after Greenland’s expedition. It was the day a solid stone, very heavy antique wine rack in my living room traveled across the room and cracked.

A highlight for me of life on the world was to wake up in a new port. The idea was to explore landplaces in how many days the inhabitants had decided, and then to board the ship in the evening and wake up the next morning at a new destination.

In each port, the Ship Concierge team arranged several options for exploring in small groups or helping to guide which private alternatives a resident can choose. Many of the ports offered us at least a week to unwind, and several longer excursions (or expeditions) were led by National Geographic Experts, including in Greenland, Madagascar and Antarctica, where we had a five week deep dive. So claustrophobia that was often associated with cruises was a non-issue.

Constant to explore sometimes became exhausting, and when it happened, the inhabitants would often enjoy a day on the ship. On the top tire it was the only full -size tennis court at sea. With Put Green, Golf Simulator, Beauty Salon and Spa, fully equipped gym with personal trainers, the large library as well as on board clubs made it impossible to end things to do.

Private tours – and learning real history

My favorite very curated experience happened when we did in St. Petersburg. One of the residents from Russia had arranged for us the first private view at Hermitage. For several hours we wandered free from magnificent rooms to magnificent rooms. There were no other visitors and only a few discreet guides to help.

While the ship bypass the islands in Japan, our concierge organized a private meeting with a survivor of the Nagasaki bomb. He solemnly told about his day with all its small details, and then about how that day affected the surviving lives, which were avoided by its citizens because of the radiation exposure.

Then it was Vietnam. When I dated in northern Vietnam, I wondered how the people would greet us. The heat we met and the kindness and curiosity of the locals surprised and humbled us all. Everyone, it seemed, was an avid entrepreneur and wanted to know more about America. When the residents visited Hanoi Hilton where John McCain had been imprisoned, the local guide offered to skip the recorded story, but instead we listened and made mental comparisons with the story we had heard all these years ago.

In Cambodia I visited Phnom Penh and “Killing Fields.” It was so sober that I couldn’t call the energy to visit Angkor Wat the next day, so I guess it’s a place that is still on my bucket list. But instead I took a long walk in the Cambodian jungle and encountered a small school where children learned English. Jungle was unbearably hot and steaming, and I finished my long hike by going completely dressed in the sea.

Pirates – and avoid missiles

Later in the trip, on the other side of the world, we traveled through the Red Sea. One morning, the east coast of Africa is approaching in Bab al Mandab -Strait, the captain sent the American Coast Guard for an escort, as a Houthi Missil had been dismissed from the Yemen coast at the ship in front of us. We residents were moved to the ship’s “hold” for storage, which lasted for several hours. We certainly completed the section later that day, escorted by two large coastguard vessels.

On another adventure, we were united by a team of heavily armed snipers in Camo gear that had been employed to protect the ship from pirate attacks as we continued along Somalia’s east coast.

Metal statues of armed soldiers were placed on the top tire to deter boats from approaching. It was surreal to witness the command and their target practice from the stern and to keep an eye on many small boats visible at a distance.

Explore Antarctica

There are so many places and so many stories, but a highlight must be the five-week trip in Antarctica, where we visited an American research station and celebrated the Christmas and New Year’s holidays by going to glaciers (after sterilizing our boots), and looked at Pingvor who wades along Penguin.

A 3-week deeper dive in the region included visits to southern Georgia Island and Falklands, which ended in Buenos Aires. The famous explorer, Ernest Shackleton, was buried on southern Georgia Island (his wife did not want his body to return), and when I visited his grave a huge seal on me and I must be saved by two men!

Become disenchanted

As the years of exciting exploration went by, I noticed that conversations with my fellow travelers were less about politics and history for the places we explored, and more about water aerobics at the ship’s pool, coming on board weddings and bar Mitzvahs.

Instead of scientific lectures in the ship Coliseum, we were the subject of fashion shows and instructions on how to organize our wardrobes. And inevitably, the new and more socially oriented residents with each other and with the crew members. It wasn’t really the love boat, but I feared we were on our way in that direction. That’s probably all I would say about it!

I decided to sell my glamorous apartment and return to life in New York. While The Magic of the Voyage had gone, memories were forever embedded and cared for. Now it is left for me to share them selectively. Because some of the things that happen in the world should stay in the world!