The World of ResidenSea arrives in Sydney for New Year's Eve
The luxury cruise ship, The World of ResidenSea arrives in Sydney for New Year's Eve after its apartment dwellers have cruised round Australia from Broome.
With more Sydneysiders than ever now among the owners aboard, it will be the place to be seen over its four day stay.
The 12-deck, 196-metre vessel first set sail in 2002 and officially sold out four years later.
Matriarch Ros Packer is likely to be aboard in an apartment that was a gift several years ago from son, James. The double apartment then got a serious makeover.
Property developers Bob and Margaret Rose are owners. Ditto Bill and Imelda Roche, the developers of the Hunter Valley gardens estate, on the stern of The World.
Motivational speaker John Demartini outlaid $3 million on his glamorous cabin, a one-bedroom apartment.
It was bought with his late wife, Australian astrologer Athena Starwoman, after selling their Trump Tower apartment, unnerved after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Demartini will be giving lectures in Sydney in early January.
The late engineer Bob Sparke, from Belvedere estate at Burradoo in the NSW Southern Highlands, enjoyed time onboard until his 2013 death.
Sparke's acquaintanceship with mining tycoon Gina Rinehart had blossomed and they regularly followed the sunsets from a ninth-floor apartment.
Rinehart, who of course can’t help working, has had government ministers aboard for dinner at its Chinese restaurant.
Richard Penn, the one-time Gutbuster entrepreneur, and his wife, Heather, are among the owners who can access the facilities that include two pools, a tennis court, virtual golf, gym, library, chapel, deli and even House of Graff jewellers.
There is a net worth threshold of at least a $10 million required to join The World.
At last count, the residents comprise around 130 families from 19 different countries with an average age around 64 years.
Initially The World was overrun by rowdy short-stay tourists invited aboard by the ship's financially challenged operator to help fill the many unsold apartments.
Paying guests are no longer taken.
I was aboard The World of ResidenSea the first time it sailed into Sydney Harbour in 2003, albeit on the rather quick Melbourne to Sydney voyage.
The ship has since visited more than 900 ports. Its 2016 journey started in Antarctica, and the journey continues in early 2017, again to Antarctica.
By next November, the ship will be in Cuba then an end-of-year celebration in Miami.
This article was first published in The Sunday Telegraph.