Cruise ship anchored off West Seattle (for a day): ‘The World’

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news

ORIGINAL REPORT, 9:23 PM SATURDAY: Heading homeward across The Viaduct tonight, we noticed that unusual sight – a cruise ship anchored off West Seattle – and detoured to Seacrest shortly thereafter for a photo. It’s “The World,” basically a floating condo building – its units are privately owned residences. This Seattle cruise-ship schedule says it’ll be docking at Pier 66 downtown Monday-Tuesday, so it’ll be anchored through tomorrow till it can move to that pier, after another ship spends the day there tomorrow while ending one 1-week cruise and starting another.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: Russ Walker sent word that The World had sounded its horn and signaled it was heading in to dock as of about an hour ago … and in comments, Kevin confirms it’s now at Pier 66.

holycrap July 7, 2012 (10:17 pm)

Interesting, who is in the zoo now? We on land for the cruisers or the cruisers for us until they are docked ?
Until this is clearified, please do not feed the cruisers.

karlyross July 7, 2012 (11:00 pm)

I rarely look at something so extravagant and am green with envy, but oh my goodness…….living on that ship for 5 years of my life would be a dream come true. WOW. What an amazing experience that has to be!!

IloveWestSeattle July 7, 2012 (11:16 pm)

What an absolute affront to maritime design.

steve July 7, 2012 (11:22 pm)

ilovewestseatle – how so? i dont know anything about boats, those studios for sale are rather tiny for sure

Mike July 7, 2012 (11:33 pm)

Wow, that’s crazy. Never knew that existed. The gallery pics looks nice and clean. Guess retiring and traveling via RV is on it’s way out ;)

Diane July 7, 2012 (11:47 pm)

was just sitting down on Harbor; wondering why a cruise ship was sitting in front of Pier 57

kk July 7, 2012 (11:49 pm)

Fascinating! Thanks for posting.

LatteRose July 7, 2012 (11:55 pm)

Oooh, I’d love to live aboard such a lovely ship!

IloveWestSeattle July 8, 2012 (12:04 am)

Steve–Google images of the SS United States, SS Queen Mary, SS Queen Elizabeth, SS Normandie, SS Ile de France, SS Bremen…these, and many other bygone transAtlantic liners exemplify fine and beautiful maritime design.
Modern cruise ships appear to be just what they are…floating condos, devoid of grace and
proportion, top heavy, chopped off at bow and stern, floating amusement parks…why leave dry land if one only longs for it from the moment the ship sails? (IMHO, haha!)

jedifarfy July 8, 2012 (7:21 am)

Wow, never thought I’d see that locally! Amazing!

April July 8, 2012 (8:30 am)

If i ever win the lottery, i would love to try this lifestyle!

Laconique July 8, 2012 (9:13 am)

Thanks for the explanation, WSB! Funny how people are so different- to me the idea of living in a giant floating condo sounds like punishment.

Cecelia July 8, 2012 (9:53 am)

Very cool. There was a special on discovery or similar channel about this ship. Its been a while but if people want to know more I’m sure google would turn up the program.

. July 8, 2012 (10:22 am)

My concern is that these huge ships have huge amounts of sewage on board. Are they still legally allowed to dump this sewage untreated if they are a certain number of miles away from the coastline??

WSB July 8, 2012 (11:31 am)

“.” – they cannot dump in Elliott Bay. I can’t look it up right this second but there’s an “X miles offshore” rule – not far enough for an urban area like this, and I don’t believe it’s allowed anywhere in Puget Sound, though since regional waters all flow together eventually, that’s not much consolation.

LivesInWS July 8, 2012 (11:11 am)

“the idea of living in a giant floating condo sounds like punishment.”

I agree!

Norma July 8, 2012 (12:31 pm)

I would enjoy it for a month or 2. No meals etc. Wonderful!

margaritaville July 8, 2012 (3:33 pm)

We know someone who owns a condo on THE WORLD. Interesting scenario: get off at any port you wish and fly back to USA to conduct business; fly to another port city and catch the boat! This is the second time THE WORLD has called on Port of Seattle. Some of the condos even have kitchens so those who wish to prepare their own means can do so. Understand the boat allows for some very interesting travels to placwes that normal cruise vessels don’t call on

TRAVELLOVER July 8, 2012 (4:14 pm)

Oh to be rich instead of beautiful and smart (ha ha).

Scott July 8, 2012 (5:12 pm)

This is pretty cool.

kevin July 8, 2012 (5:15 pm)

I was so hoping to catch a sunset picture of the World sitting off Alki. Sadly, it pulled anchor and is now docked at Pier 66 before 5PM, Sunday evening.

WSB July 8, 2012 (5:16 pm)

Just heard that!

Velo_nut July 8, 2012 (5:47 pm)

I used to navigate a submarine through the straits. To answer the question about sewage, human sewage is legally dumped 10 miles from shore. The San Tanks on board these ships are gigantic. You don’t need to worry about them dumping here.

Biologics LOVE it!

Sunny Murphy July 8, 2012 (7:54 pm)

FYI, suites on “The World” aren’t cheap and the HOA dues are SKY HIGH! Imagine paying your share of upkeep on a cruise ship! We’re not talking some landscaping and the occasional gutter repair here – fuel costs, personnel, maintenance and what if you have to upgrade the electronics or replace an engine? Nice idea but WAY out of our league!

WSB July 8, 2012 (7:58 pm)

That’s what the website said – I believe the figure quoted was at least $20,000/month. My grandma would have loved it. She spent much of her final years cruising on the cheap, though … in the passenger cabins on freighters!

Grace July 8, 2012 (7:58 pm)

A friend of our family’s who was a Seatttle resident works on this boat, it sounds like a great adventure making a great living, but definitely “high end” residents!

miws July 8, 2012 (10:15 pm)

Caption: King County Ferry District Crew, with Coast Guard Officials on board, performing Sea Trials, of new boat, which will replace the Rachel Marie, on the Wet Seattle to Downtown, Water Taxi route.

Mike

Changingtimes July 8, 2012 (10:16 pm)

Fun fact about this ship they got some special clearance to dock in north Korea in one of its upcoming voyages!

miws July 8, 2012 (10:31 pm)

Of course it should be “West”.

Lost the wi-fi connection just as I was trying to correct it!

Mike

Jen July 9, 2012 (9:18 am)

Not that I could afford one in a million years, but I was checking out the ones for sale — and holy bad decorating batman. That 3 bedroom is pure 1980’s old people style. It could be featured on the real estate blog Ugly Rooms.

sam-c July 9, 2012 (9:35 am)

a few years ago, maybe while still in grad school, i fantasized about quitting school to wait tables on a cruise ship. I wonder what that would be like on this ship….

brian July 11, 2012 (10:43 am)

Last I heard they weren’t selling the units at nearly the pace they had anticipated. Wonder if they’ll do what we do and turn them into apartments instead?