24-year-old Tom Robinson was saved by the P&O Pacific Explorer cruise ship after a rogue wave flipped his boat. Video / Rod Pascoe
A former board member and resident of one of the most exclusive private residential ships has spilled the beans on some juicy secrets from six years living at sea.
Lawyer turned-author Peter Antonucci says The World, a 165-suite luxury cruise ship, is far from the expensive picture of serenity it might appear.
He claims the exclusive, invite-only ship where condominiums are valued at US$2 million ($3.28m) has been the setting for scandalous affairs, outrageous behaviour and open secrets.
During his six years in the role Antonucci published three novels, which he claims are based on his experiences living aboard the ship with his wife Tami.
With titles like Tides of Betrayal and Scandal at Sea he says the fictionalised ship The Paradise and characters are a thinly disguised reflection of The World and his former neighbours.
Antonucci would know more than most about life onboard the floating luxury apartment block. The 64-year-old was elected to sit on the board of directors for the ship and oversaw the governance of the floating community.
“I knew where all the skeletons could be found - I knew who slept with who, who assaulted who, who stole,” the author spilled in a recent tell-all interview to the Daily Mail.
He hinted that life aboard The World was like having a bit part in the TV series White Lotus - “a group of very successful, entitled people floating around in a steel basin in the middle of the ocean” with open bars and parties seven days a week was a recipe for cruise white mischief.
Of course, the writer says there were no murders or serious crimes reported, however vice was everywhere aboard the 196.35m pleasure boat.
He claims there were definitely drugs available to guests.
“Did you have people diving into the pool fully dressed? Yes. Did they stay fully dressed? Not always,” he said of the louche party lifestyle on the ship.
Punches were thrown, marriages broke down and affairs occurred, including between those above deck and below.
It’s the kind of behaviour that would see passengers dismissed from any other sailing.
So why was this tolerated? And what did his experience onboard teach Antonucci?
“You can’t really throw people off right away when they are paying US$5 million to buy on,” he said, adding there was a certain leniency towards guests with US$500,000 maintenance bills.
The cruise operator was quick to respond to Antonucci’s explosive claims.
A spokesperson for The World said that they had it in writing from the author that his books were works of fiction, about a fictional ship and any similarities to The World or guests were coincidental.
“We wish him well in his creative works of fiction, which we understand have no relation to The World or any of its residents,” they said.
The World claims that any similarity to The Pleasure is purely coincidental. Photo / 123rf
However, Antonucci has said that he would inevitably have to say this, leading interviews and on his social media posts with the disclaimer.
“As a lawyer of course I’m going to tell you that, of course I’m going to tell you that it’s not true, that it’s a fiction... But I did live on The World, which is the world’s largest residential yacht.”
Elsewhere, he is a little less careful about disguising the truth.
“I travelled to 106 countries... I saw it all and did it all... It was just too juicy to put all these people into a tube sailing in the ocean, it was just really scandalous... I had to write about it.”
It’s not only the ship management who were concerned about seeing similarities in Antonucci’s work and their time onboard.
His former neighbours on the ship were also perturbed. He complained of feeling ostracised and isolated when he made it clear he was writing a book - although that changed.
“Then the book came out and it was all fiction and they all came up to me and said ‘why am I not in your book?’”
Antonucci left the ship in 2019 but still returns to his time on The World for writing inspiration.
