Global Policy Forum

By Andrew Osborn

The world's super-rich took delivery of an expensive new address yesterday after three Norwegian priests blessed an ocean-going liner that will allow those who can afford it to continually circumnavigate the globe in the comfort of their own £5m luxury onboard homes. The ship, called simply The World because of its roving global itinerary, cost £185m to build and is described by its owners as the world's first resort community at sea.

"This is a new lifestyle," said the billionaire shipowner Knut Kloster Jr, the man who came up with the idea. "To travel the world without leaving your own home."

"She is not a cruise ship," added Bryn Freberg, a spokesman. "She is the world's first ocean-going luxury resort. Think of it as a big yacht for more than one owner."

In a traditional Norwegian ceremony, The World, its owners and its 320 crew, were blessed in the port of Trondheim, where the ship has been fitted out. The ceremony was brief but striking - the priests sprinkled a mixture of champagne and holy water in the main lobby. The liner is due to sail for Oslo on March 3 from where it will travel to Hamburg, London and on to America.

Eighty of the 110 apartments have already been sold and the Bahamas-based consortium behind the project - ResidenSea - is confident that the remainder will be snapped up soon.

Tennis court

One-bedroom apartments start at £1.4m while £5m is enough to purchase a sumptuous condominium with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Many boast a jacuzzi on a private terrace. There are also 88 guest suites. Residents will pay an annual maintenance fee of 5% of their apartment price.

Most of the residents - whose average age is 55 - have bought their new homes unseen on the internet, and 40% are from the United States.

The ship boasts four restaurants, a supermarket, two swimming pools, a full-size tennis court, a jogging track and a health spa. It also includes a retractable marina, which will allow residents to enjoy water sports such as sailing, water-skiing, jet-skiing and canoeing when the ship is moored.

For golf lovers the ship is particularly well-equipped - it not only has a golf centre with a real grass putting green, but two floating greens which detach when the vessel is in port, allowing residents to hit special "ecoballs" which dissolve after 48 hours in water.

Although it will circumnavigate the globe "in perpetuity" the liner will spend 250 days in port and ferry its residents to exclusive and prestigious sporting and cultural events such as the Cannes film festival, the Monaco grand prix and the British Open golf championship.

Every room is equipped with a built-in safe and a "sophisticated" security system. A five-man security staff (including two former Gurkhas) is on duty 24 hours a day. For those residents who fall ill there is an onboard operating theatre, an x-ray machine and an emergency helipad.

Mr Freberg shrugged off suggestions that the ship was too ostentatious. "You do have to be wealthy but it doesn't cost more than an ordinary second home. The luxury in it is not overwhelming."

However, The World's residents will not be able to escape the clutches of the taxman and will still be liable to pay the revenue men in their home country.

Pieds í  mer

Construction cost £185m

Cheapest apartment £1.4m

Most expensive apartment £5.3m

Smallest apartment 105 sq metres

Largest apartment 297 sq metres

Residents 110, plus 88 'guests'

Average age of residents 55

Number of crew 320

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