Scores of the passengers who booked a first-of-its-kind three-year, round-the-world cruise on a luxury liner set to take off next week from Amsterdam were informed that the voyage had been canceled a week before its planned departure, leaving many of them without homes to return to because they sold their houses or canceled leases to save money.

According to CNN, customers are furious to learn that the company had not even secured a ship to take on the voyage for the Life at Sea Cruises’ inaugural voyage, which was supposed to depart Turkey on November 1st, but then was rescheduled to leave Amsterdam on November 30th.  Dozens of planned passengers remain in Istanbul, having traveled to Turkey to start their adventures early after having paid tens of thousands of dollars in advance, stranded because they had given up their residences to spend the next 1,000+ days on a floating hotel.

But apparently none of the passengers vetted the company.  Life at Sea Cruises intended to purchase the AIDAaura, a Carnival Cruise ship retired by the line this summer, and refurbish it to accommodate about 200 luxury suites, but they never secured the ship and it was just sold last week to a different cruise line.  Still, the CEO of Life at Sea Cruises did not announce the cancelation of the cruise until the day after the sale to the rival cruise line, never explaining how the company intended to redesign, refurbish and staff the ship in weeks.