On one of the exclusive, invite-only cruise ships on the earth, one passenger claims to be dredging up the vessel’s deepest secrets.
Retired attorney Peter Antonucci, 64, was a long-time resident on the luxurious residential boat, named The World, likening the 12-deck, 644-foot ship to a fraternity house — despite condos on board starting at an eye-watering $2 million.
However the swanky living quarters were riddled with drama, drugs and debauchery, he claimed, comparing the upscale passenger’s eyebrow-raising antics to a “real-life White Lotus.”
“The ship was powered more by rumors than diesel fuel,” Antonucci alleged to the Each day Mail.
With just 165 residences starting from studio flats to sprawling multi-bedroom apartments aboard the ship, The World visits greater than 100 jaw-dropping destinations annually, but nothing compares to the floating soap opera, the loose-lipped former litigator claimed.
Antonucci gained special insight into the backdoor goings-on after being elected to sit down on the ship’s Board of Directors, which — like an exceptionally engaged Park Avenue co-op board — was aware of all of the seaborne shenanigans, he said.
‘All the acute conduct violations are bought to the board’s attention in order that’s what it comes right down to,’ Antonucci said.
‘I knew where all of the skeletons could possibly be found — I knew who slept with who, who assaulted who, who stole… And beyond that obviously I even have two eyes and two ears. You see things and also you intuit things,” he said.
Antonucci bought into the ship back in 2014 after taking a sample cruise with wife Tami and immediately falling for the experience — their first condo cost them $1.6 million, they usually spent as much as eight months of the 12 months onboard.
Over time, the couple settled in, moving between multiple units, giving them ringside seats to the long-term goings on.
“The dramas and stories and subplots didn’t all occur overnight — some took months and even years. As residents, we salaciously sat and watched them brewing. A whole lot of people on the ship were entranced by the gossip,” Antonucci recalled.
“‘Here you have got a small group of very successful, entitled people floating around in a steel basin in the midst of the ocean,” he said, calling the residential demographic “very international,” but slanting toward retirement age — “greater than 80%.”
But maturity doesn’t necessarily include age — not with this crowd.
“When you find yourself at sea for six or seven days people just go from bar to bar…what could possibly go flawed? Did you have got people getting smashed? In fact. Did you have got people diving into the pool fully dressed? Yes. Did they stay fully dressed? Not at all times. Did you have got people doing drugs? In fact you probably did. Any time you have got a gaggle of individuals, you’re going to have that stuff,” he revealed.
Antonucci said he was reminded greatly of HBO’s critically acclaimed comedy The White Lotus, headed into its third season.
The darkly funny drama follows a pack of privileged vacationers to sun-drenched, sexy locations all over the world, playing their various dreadful behaviors for laughs.
“To be clear, people on the ship weren’t murdering one another… it wasn’t that bad,” Antonucci clarified.
“But you had entitled owners screaming at staff once they couldn’t get their way and also you had guests come on who were inappropriate, barely dressed and grinding against one another on the pool deck,” he said.
“Considered one of the things in regards to the ship that’s impressive, many of the residents are self-made. They’re not trust fund babies but that’s a very good thing and a foul thing.”
“It’s a very good thing because they understand what it’s wish to construct a company and develop something. But it will probably be a foul thing because they’ve never been told no and once they have an idea they simply go along with it,” he identified.
Antonucci, who has written three novels a couple of fictional cruise ship full of wealthy people — emphasis on the fictional — remembered quite a few arguments, fights and torrid affairs that will go on for ‘months and years,’ even between the residents and the crew.
And since the ship is populated by owners, they will’t just be tossed off at the following stop, like on a Carnival cruise where people start breaking the principles.
“You’ll be able to’t really throw people off straight away once they are paying $5 million to purchase on they usually are paying $500,000 a 12 months in maintenance fees,” he said.
“But there have been protocols for coping with them.”
A spokesperson for the ship told the Each day Mail: “We had earlier been in contact with Mr. Antonucci, who has assured us in writing that his works are unrelated to The World or its residents, and that his publications are fictional artworks a couple of fictional ship.”
“We wish him well in his creative works of fiction, which we understand don’t have any relation to The World or any of its residents.”
After nearly 6 years of life at sea, Antonucci and his wife moved back onto dry land.
“I left due to two things,” he said. “One, I had been on for enough years that I had seen the world just a few times. Two, I personally was sick of the gossip and the rumors and the cattiness.”
