David Purcell was among dozens of passengers who signed up for a three-year cruise with Life at Sea before its parent company, Miray Cruises, abruptly canceled the trip. David Purcell/Getty Images
Dozens of passengers had signed up for a three-year cruise around the world.
David Purcell was among the passengers left disappointed by the sudden cancellation of the trip.
Now Purcell and 77 others are calling on the US government to investigate Miray Cruises for fraud.
This is a machine translation of an article from our US colleagues at Business Insider. It was automatically translated and checked by an editor.
This is a report based on a conversation with retired lawyer David Purcell, 78. It has been edited for length and clarity. Purcell was among dozens of passengers who signed up for a three-year cruise with Life at Sea – a trip around the world that was canceled two weeks before departure. He and 77 other would-be passengers who did not receive refunds are asking the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Florida to open a criminal fraud investigation into Miray Cruises, Life at Sea’s parent company, to initiate. A Miray Cruises representative denied passengers’ fraud allegations and said it would refund passengers by February 15.
I’ve always been interested in the ocean, which isn’t easy for a kid growing up in eastern Kansas. When I graduated from college in 1968, I decided to join the Navy. Later, when I was getting into real estate planning, I gave a few seminars on cruise ships, but as a passive passenger on a ship I had little interest until an article about the Life at Sea cruise caught my eye.
My wife Beth had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and there was a lot to do and a lot to love, but not much to look forward to. I thought, “God, this cruise is really something I could do.” In March 2023 I paid a deposit of $500 (458 euros) for the item.
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You can’t fully appreciate the appeal of this cruise without looking at the itinerary – all the places we planned to go, from northern Norway to Antarctica and circumnavigating New Zealand and Australia, down to one coast of South America and up to the other all of Asia and of course the Mediterranean.
But the social and cultural aspects were almost more important than the sights and Kodak moments. The ship should be small enough to truly form a community. I was really looking forward to that.
Beth died on May 12, 2023, and that was really sad. I didn’t have a plan B for my life. We had been married for almost 52 years. We had lived in the same house for 48 years. We had three daughters. But this trip gave me something to look forward to.
In June I picked a cabin on the ship and paid a deposit, I think it was up to 40 percent of the trip price, about $55,000 (50,400 euros).. I sold my house at a time when the real estate market was going crazy. I had a small sports car that I sold. I gave my wife’s car to my daughter. I had to accept economic losses in many ways.
I went from living in a nice house in the suburbs to quitting that life. I lived on the couch with generous friends who let me use their guest room and prepared to board the ship.
I started asking questions about the cruise that went unanswered. But it wasn’t so much about demanding money back, because at some point you could only get back ten percent of the money you invested. And nobody wanted to do that.
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I was in Roatan, Honduras on a 15 day diving trip and was trying to brush up on my diving skills before the cruise. But I spent Thanksgiving night at the Miami airport so I could fly back to start a new life here. And I gave up my dreams of diving around the world for a while.
Some people probably call us stupid. Well, okay, maybe there was a certain amount of stupidity involved, but we were captivated by a really gorgeous, cool itinerary. I haven’t gotten any money back yet. We want justice to be done. People need their money back. Some people have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars. A cruise is actually less expensive than a house.
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I’m now trying to build a life here in Kirkwood, Missouri. I ended up in a two-room apartment that I’m trying to make livable. I have been putting off processing my grief and will be joining a grief support group in the next few weeks.
I initially suspected confusion and incompetence and really poor planning, but Miray assured me that it would all be sorted out. So it wasn’t until the beginning of October that I suspected fraud. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that the best place to turn was the U.S. Attorney.
The U.S. Department of Justice is the largest law firm in the world. And they have police officers, the FBI and US Marshals working for them. If they find evidence of the criminal fraud, Miray may be pressured to get the money or at least clarify whether there is money or not.
Life is so damn rich in blessings. I just want to go out and enjoy mine as much as possible. I’m not on this ship, but I’m taking my life into my own hands.
Read the original article in English here.