Trips
Cruises
It’s quite natural that the most expensive cruises presuppose using ships of “de luxe” or “premium” class as only these types of ships have luxurious accommodations that fit the bill of the most exacting and demanding clients among whom you may often meet celebrities. You will agree that it’s nonsense to offer Julia Roberts or Michael Schumacher to settle into a simple two-room suite with sea view. And luxury ships may offer superprestigious accommodations divided into different functional zones. For example, the Queen Mary 2, ship of the Cunard - the oldest cruise company, has cabins of the Q1 category - two-storey apartments of 209 m² with a bedroom and a balcony on the second floor and a fully-furnished living-room with upholstered furniture, a desk and a dining-table and two marble bathrooms with Jacuzzi, shower unit and bidet on the first floor.
And the Seven Seas Voyager liner of the Radisson Seven Seas Cruises company ("five stars" in rating by Berlitz) offers cabins of the MS category - apartments of 113 m² plus an ample balcony. The cabin has all modern conveniences including a mini-bar, personal safe, and butler service. By the way, a personal butler as an additional service is not uncommon nowadays. It is rather a rule for the inhabitants of the most expensive cabins on ships of different companies.
As may be seen from the table staying in this cabin can cost several thousand euros a day. Such high costs may be explained not only by designer's interiors, ample rooms with cloakrooms and several bathroom units with marble baths. The most important thing for clients of such level is the quality of service provided and choice of services on the ship. In addition to personal butler the inhabitants of two-storey suites have the opportunity to receive free natural flowers, fruits, and toiletries of the quality higher than in other categories, as well as they may use dry-cleaning services and other similar services free of charge. They often receive linen of better quality as well. The ship staff organizes VIP- embarkation and disembarkation considering the fact that there are usually several thousands of tourists traveling on cruise ships and all of them want to go ashore at the next port as quickly as possible.
To emphasize the special status of some travelers, a cruise company may arrange separate services for them. For example, on the ship there are separate recreation areas for the inhabitants of the most prestigious cabins saying nothing about the opportunity to eat separately in a la carte restaurants.
The most expensive cruises
| Place | Ship name | Tonnage (thousand tones) | The company- owner | Cabin category | Cost per day($) |
| 1 | Queen Mary 2 | 150 | Cunard Line | Q1 category: two-storey cabin | 4200 |
| 2 | Crystal Symphony; Crystal Serenity |
51; 68,8 | Crystal Cruises | Penthouse | 2745 |
| 3 | Seven Seas Navigator; Seven Seas Voyager | 28,5 | Radisson Seven Seas Cruises | Suit | 2422 |
| 4 | Seabourn Spirit; Seabourn Legend | 9,9 | The Yachts of Seabourn | Cabin with a balcony | 1920 |
| 5 | Celebrity Xpeditions | 2,3 | Celebrity Cruises | Penthouse-suit | 1600 |
| 6 | Prinsendam | 38 | Holland America Line | Penthouse-suit | 1458 |
| 7 | Constellation; Infinity; Millennium | 91 | Celebrity Cruises | Penthouse-suit | 1250 |
| 8 | Silver Cloud; Silver Wind | 16,8; 105 | Silversea Cruises | Royal suit | 1300 |
| 9 | Navigator of the Seas; Voyager of the Seas | 142 | Royal Caribbean | Royal suit | 1200 |
| 10 | Aurora; Oriana | 76,1; 69,1 | P&O Cruises | Penthouse-suit | 900 |
Space tourism
The most expensive trip in the world.
Denis Tito, an American businessman and Mark Shuttleworth, a computer millionaire from the RSA, paid $ 20 mln each for the opportunity to fly to the International Space Station.
2001
Dennis Anthony Tito was going to fly to the "Mir" station in 2000 but failed to as Russian government decided to sink the station. As the great amount of money has already been paid, on December 28, 2000 Dennis was included to the Russia's first prime crew visiting the ISS. From February 12 to April 10, 2001 he was preparing for flight as part of the main crew of the ISS-T1. And in summer of 2003 he was included to the X-Prize foundation board.
2002
Mark Shuttleworth fulfilled his cherished dream to flight into space aboard the "Soyuz TM-34" on April 25, 2002 and during the flight he conducted four experiments on the study of stem cells, muscles training in space, the measurement of metabolism and protein crystallization.
2005
Gregory Olsen - one of the most ambiguous "tourists" whose way to the stars was quite thorny (the title of the famous movie "Through thorns to the stars" is very suitable for his story). Initially he was planned to be included to the expedition in spring of 2005, then these the plans were changed and he was included to the expedition of the fall of 2004 but then the Roskosmos bureaucratic machine misfired. However the transfer of the flight may have also been a rumor - it is not known, nor is it so important now.
Finally in spring 2004 he passed medical examination for admission to special training in the course of which he was rejected by ministers of the syringe and enema. After a while the comrades in the white coats took pity, or Mr. Olsen has improved his health extremely rapidly (strange, though) and he was recommended to be included to the main crew of the "Soyuz TMA-7". Again there was a medical commission for admission, but this time everything went just perfectly. After rather a long special training the world got one more space "tourist" and the treasury was replenished with $ 20 million.
2006
Anyusha Ansari
The key role in the fate of the heroine of this article was played by her parents' decision to send her at the age of eighteen to the USA, where she received good education and later stayed to live. In September 18, 2006 a ship with our heroine on board launched successfully from the Baikonur cosmodrome and Anyusha Ansari became the first space (or rather the orbital:) blogger.
2007
Charles Simony (Carol Simony) - the only space tourist who visited the International Space Station twice - in 2007 and 2009.
2008
Richard Harriot - the "father" of the Ultima playing universe including one of the first MMORPG - Ultima Online. Harriot is also the owner of the first Earth satellite and the first Soviet lunar rover (which is on the moon in fact:), and is also a member of the X-Prize board of trustees and the Space Adventures Board of Directors. On October 12, 2008 Mr. Garriott has officially become the second person in the family who has been in space. During the orbital flight he was the first "tourists" fulfilling in the orbit commercial experiments on the crystallization of proteins.
2009
Guy Lalliberte and Charles Simony (see above).
Guy is the most unusual and outlandish visitor of the ISS. Just look at the headlines like "Clown in orbit" and other - they will tell you everything. In fact, Guy is a fifty-year-old boy, who continues to have fun and fool around all his adult life, but, like many other gifted people managed to make talent serve him having opened at the age of 25 with a group of like-minded people his own circus "Du Soleil".
