City & Shore Magazine | Time may be the ultimate luxury, but ‘The World’ may be enough for me | Commentary

For the past few Luxury Issues of City & Shore magazine, I’ve asked readers to complete the following fill-in-the-blanks question:

“I was fine with _____ until _____ ruined ____ for me.”

There was never a right or wrong answer to the question. Your responses would surely vary from mine.

I was fine with driving a Toyota Prius, for example, until driving a Lamborghini Aventador a few years ago ruined driving for me. I was fine with a $5 glass of house wine until a $500 glass of Château Petrus ruined drinking just any old wine. I was even fine going home until a $38 million penthouse at The Mansions at Acqualina in Sunny Isles Beach ruined going home for me, too.

I’ve been asking the question again for this year’s issue, this time in a cruise ship-themed version of “What Ruined It For Me.” Cruise lines are on a tear these days to outdo each other. Not just who’s got the biggest ship (Royal Caribbean’s “Icon of the Seas“ seized that title last month), or the smallest ratio of passengers to crew or the most plates of sushi, sashimi and tempura on the conveyor belt at the sushi bar.

You think you’ve seen it all on a cruise ship? Not until you’ve seen the Magic Carpet aboard “Ascent” and “Beyond” on Celebrity Cruises. Or the one-of-a-kind-at-sea fireworks display aboard a Disney Cruise. Or hidden out like an actual rock star in Richard’s Rooftop Lounge aboard Virgin Voyages’ “Scarlet Lady.” Your responses may vary, especially if you are an actual rock star.

But “The World” ruined “What Ruined It For Me” this year – at least for cruising. I had a chance to go aboard the elegant, 644-foot ship for a tour and to meet some of the residents when it was docked at PortMiami late last year.

“The World” ruined cruising for me because, at the end of a cruise aboard the largest private residential yacht in the world, the cruise does not have to end. Because, at the end of a cruise aboard “The World,” you’re already home.

A home with two pools, 7,000-square-foot spa, state-of-the-art golf simulator and the only regulation-size tennis court at sea, among other over-the-top amenities. A home with four fine dining restaurants that would likely land Michelin stars on land. A chef who comes to your door and prepares something just for you if you don’t feel like going out that night. A home with a wine vault of over 1,100 selections that stopped me in my tracks in front of the display case and left me with a profound case of FOMOCL. (Fear of Missing Out on Château Latour.)

“There’s nothing like coming back from a day ashore in a place like Madagascar, getting a shower and then sitting down to a Michelin-star quality meal,” one resident said over dinner at the Marina restaurant aboard “The World.” Great. Now I’ve got Fear of Missing Out on Madagascar.

Or Antarctica. Or Tristan de Cunha/Nightingale (I looked it up, it’s a British Overseas Territory midway between Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town). Or Phuket in Thailand. Or the west coast of Japan at cherry blossom season. Or Cabo San Lucas. Just a few of “The World’s” destinations, democratically chosen by a vote from the 165 residences.

For this year’s Luxury Issue, I asked several people to define “luxury.” Your response may vary again.

“Folks buying a car in these price classes are looking to express themselves through the products they buy,” said Bill Peffer, CEO of Maserati Americas, when I was trying out an indisputably luxurious $256,050 Maserati MC20, see photo above. “The more you can individualize that, the higher the satisfaction rate.”

“I think the definition of luxury has changed, from being glitz and glamor and golden gilding to things that are more modern and a more fresh approach to things,” said Frank A. Del Rio, president of Oceania Cruises, whose new Vista also was visiting PortMiami, where a seven-day Caribbean cruise in the Owner’s Suite will set you back $11,099.

“‘Luxury,’ as we take that term, is going to mean something different for all of us,” said Greg Walton, founding partner of Studio DADO, which took on the interior design of Oceania’s sophisticated “Vista.” “More than tangible objects, for me, luxury is time.”

I was fine with all of those definitions. Might even agree with them.

Until coming to the end of a luxury cruise around the world and never having to get off ruined the definition of luxury for me.