Living in a world of your own

IT’S frustrating enough to forget where you left your keys — imagine how much worse it is to forget where you left your apartment.

Normally, property is all about location on presumptuously called The World, the location changes from day to day, and the sea views change by the hour. So, it's Cobh, one day, Cayman Islands another (to top up the credit card), Cannes for the film festival, Casablanca for real-life romance and the Caribbean to top up the tan.

And, it can be yours from €2.26 million per apartment, up to a top price of over €7.21 million for the largest 3,200 sq ft floating apartments, and facilities on board include four restaurants, five lounges, and a cigar club, one of just two smoking zones on board.

It is a ship full of Joneses to keep up with. To qualify to buy any of the 110 luxurious private apartments you need to be able to prove a net personal worth of over 5.15 million: to date about 90 buyers have stepped on board.

Several of the buyers are Irish: "between one and 10," says estate agent Ronan O'Driscoll of CB Hamilton Osborne King, who was part of a team of three doing viewings to other Irish prospective purchasers Saturday.

Their identities have not been revealed, and they will in any case be keeping their heads down when in Irish ports this month.

It's reckoned that the confidential Irish contingent numbers four or five, and it might cheer you up to know that despite their obvious wealth, the Irish buyers to date modestly enough all went for the cheaper 2.06 million to 3.30 million apartments.

Prices of course are relative: the cheapest 1,100 sq ft apartment on board The World is dearer than the dearest apartment sold to date in Dublin. That puts those Dublin property prices back into an international perspective, then.

If you are not yet in the multi-millionaire category, you can travel as a guest, for 515 a night per person (minimum three nights) or rent an apartment from 2,164 to 7,421 per day.

The World came to Cobh on Saturday, has been in Waterford since yesterday and journeys to Belfast tomorrow, hops across to Scotland and then visits Dublin on August 20. Some would-be Dublin buyers travelled to Cobh, however, perhaps to avoid being spotted going apartment shopping.

At Cobh's quayside on a sunny Saturday, a silver stretch Mercedes limo waited to pick up some of those coming off. Twelve year old Louise Collins and Lynn Harding asked the driver who he was collecting.

'Ray Darcy,' he said at first, then changed his mind to Ozzie Osborne. In the event, five adults got in, none recognisable. "Old fogey nothings after all," the girls said in disappointment.

Moments later, a box of SuperValu shopping was delivered, and the groceries were checked by security before being allowed go on board. That's shipping as it should be.

The World's Captain Ola Hansheim (known on board as the Master of the World) describes his charge as extremely safe: "it's a steel box with just one opening and security on the door."

The ship, properly known as The World of Residensea, is a step above cruise liners, and literally a world apart from other exclusive playgrounds of the rich and sometimes famous like Palm Beach, the Hamptons or Costa Smeralda.

Once through the tight security access (the security crew includes two fearsome Gurkas) you can roam the twelve decks high 43,000 tons, 640 long vessel, jog the running track or stroll the promenade.

From the uppermost deck, with its full size tennis court (the only ship in the world to have this size court, plus golf greens and driving range) you can look down at the dockside populace beneath and hum the Carpenters song "I'm on the top of The World, looking down on creation"

The World can carry a maximum of 975 people, but average number of residents/guests is 350, and there's a crew of 320 from 35 different countries to keep the ship on course and the passengers in the pampered state of bliss they are paying to become accustomed to.

"Most of the owners are first generation entrepreneurs, they've done well for themselves and they want to look after themselves," says the ship's on-board communications manager Lisa Bailey. Forty percent are American, another 40% are European, and ages range from thirty something 80-plus years of age with the bulk in the 30 to 50 category.

Annual maintenance and service charges per apartment are 4-5% of purchase price, start at just over 94,000, and rising to approximately 300,000 pa.

Little wonder, then, that the security manned entry gangplank to the ship states 'The World is not open to the public.'