Is The World cruise ship a home, a luxury hotel, a country club? It’s all of them at once

Expect ‘six, seven-star’ service on The World cruise ship, which has on board 165 residences that cost up to US$15 million each to own

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A trip to the Antarctic Circle, a performance by Abba, “six, seven-star” service – almost anything is possible on board The World, the world’s largest private residential yacht. Photo: The World

Mabel Lui

Published: 4:15am, 24 Jul 2024Updated: 11:06am, 6 Aug 2024

Corrected [11:05am, 6 Aug, 2024]

[11:05am, 6 Aug, 2024]
A previous version of this story said that Abba played on The World last year, but it was in fact the Abba tribute band Revival.

Picture this: you are on your way to Antarctica, the world’s southernmost continent. Travelling by ship, you pass penguin and seal colonies, and an active volcano, and traverse icy channels. You marvel in the grandeur of it all – and all from the comfort of your own home.

No, this is not a simulation, nor are you expected to leave the ship after your journey, as is the case on expedition ships and cruises. Rather, you are aboard The World, the largest private residential yacht on the seas, with its 165 residences.

This is not just a collection of floating homes – The World can also be described as an amalgamation of an all-inclusive luxury hotel and a country club.

Aside from the promise of worldwide excursions, the 12-deck ship has four restaurants, a fitness centre, a spa, two swimming pools, a theatre, a golf simulator and the only regulation-size tennis court in the world aboard a ship.

Among the facilities on board The World are two swimming pools (the main pool is pictured above), a fitness centre, a spa, a theatre, a golf simulator and a regulation-size tennis court. Photo: The World

Launched in 2002, the luxury ship is the brainchild of a Norwegian shipping family.

“In the very beginning, it was a bit of a hybrid concept,” says Thomas Legner, the ship’s senior general manager. “It was full ownership, but then there was also a cruise component where [for] one deck, which are the studio apartments, you could basically book those in a travel agency.”