Condos on a cruise ship? Why a Miami developer is planning luxury homes at sea (2025)

Russell Galbut and his wife, Ronalee, have been hooked on cruising since their first voyage 47 years ago. Galbut’s decades-long, ambitious career as a real estate developer — on land — hasn’t slowed down their love of the seas.

Now, the family is marrying the two activities, launching Crescent Seas, a luxury condo cruise line whose first ship is set to sail in late 2026. The Galbut family is self-financing the venture.

Galbut, who has served on the board of directors for cruise line companies for over 25 years including NCL Holdings until last year, thinks luxury private residences on sea are the next big thing in the cruise industry. And he said that he wants to bring his firm’s vision of “creating magical communities in the sky to the high seas.”

Crescent Seas is a new venture formed by GFO Investments, Galbut’s global family office and major investor in Crescent Heights. He serves as co-founder and managing principal at Crescent Heights and founder and chairman of Crescent Seas. His daughter, Marisa Galbut, is also a key part of the business, serving as president of Crescent Seas and president of GFO Investments.

Can the Galbuts succeed on the sea after others failed?

The concept of private residences on sea has grabbed hype and headlines in recent years. Yet only a single condo ship, launched in 2002, now circles the globe. Meanwhile, several condo cruise efforts announced over the past few years failed to materialize.

Galbut, 72, believes he can succeed because of his expertise in real estate and cruising, and his long-standing relationships with shipyards and other essential services as cruise lines order new ships. Throughout the industry, 60 new ships are now on the order books.

The timing is also right, he believes.

“This could not have happened years ago,” Galbut said in an interview with the Miami Herald at Medium Cool, the intimate speakeasy in the basement of the Gale South Beach Hotel, one of the developer’s hotels. His wife, Ronalee, and daughter Marisa were there, too, as were dozens of friends and well-wishers getting a preview of his plans.

The advent of high-speed internet access from Starlink and hybrid workplaces have allowed people to work remotely. “Today more than ever, lifestyles allow mobility,” he said.

Then there’s the volatility of today’s world. Long-standing alliances are dissolving. Unpredictable economic policies are worrisome.

“Anytime there’s uncertainty, there are people looking for Plan B,” Galbut said.

This is some Plan B.

Amenities onboard will include white-glove butler service, pickleball, land-based field trips and community activities supported by an app that will allow residents to create their own groups.

“All of the amenities you’d find in our first-class buildings will be there,” he said.

Internet connection will be strong enough to allow remote schooling or work.

And the unit owners will eventually decide the ship’s itineraries. They are expected to pick ports they can stay in for two to three days, longer than the usual cruise ship stay, and include off-the-beaten-track places like French Polynesia, the Faroe Islands and Madagascar.

Family roots in Miami Beach

South Florida was considered off the beaten track when the Galbut family first made it home. Russell Galbut was born in Miami Beach in the 1950s. His grandparents, Abraham and Bessie Galbut, after arriving in the early 1930s, owned an entire corner of Fifth Street and Washington Avenue, eventually running a newsstand, the first auto tag agency on the Beach, a travel agency, a driving school and a law firm.

His mom, also named Bessie Galbut, was a prominent philanthropist. When she died at 92 in 2015, a Miami Herald obituary described her as “ever an optimist, even when the culture of Miami Beach wasn’t always the most welcoming of environments.” The Bessie M. Galbut Daughters of Israel Mikvah Center in Miami Beach, a ritual bath for Orthodox Jews, is named after her.

Russell Galbut, a graduate of the University of Miami School of Law, has since established a name for himself, especially in the hospitality business. With partners and through the firm he co-founded, Crescent Heights, he developed The Alexander, Casablanca and luxury condo complex Decoplage in Miami Beach.

Last year, he opened Gale Miami Hotel & Residences in downtown Miami, 11 years after Gale South Beach opened.

Galbut’s 50 years of development expertise has been terrestrial. But with most of earth’s surface covered by water, the family started thinking of bringing style to the sea and giving luxury travelers more options.

“Why vacation to just one gateway city when you can be at home and live in all the greatest gateway cities around the globe?” Galbut asked.

Debut of a residence ship

Galbut’s first two luxury condo ships will build on the history of his development work on land. When he left the board of NCL Holdings, where he was chair, he negotiated the purchase of two retiring ships that will be refitted as condos.

On land, condo associations typically take over all management once units are sold out. Aboard Crescent Seas, the company that now operates the ships, Apollo Management will continue to run the ship for 10 years. Most crew members already working on board are expected to remain, Galbut said.

In October, the Regent Seven Seas Navigator, the first ship, will go into drydock in Genoa, Italy, where 1,400 workers will transform it into 210 units priced from $750,000 to $8 million. Additionally, condo owners will pay a little under $200,000 in annual maintenance fees and purchase onboard food credits of $32,500 a year per person.

Rooms are bigger than ones on typical cruise ships, ranging from 350 square feet to 2,200 square feet.

The Navigator, which will be ready to sail in December 2026, plans to depart from PortMiami but will sail the world.

A second condo ship and more to come

The second ship is the Oceania Insignia and will be refitted for launch in December 2027. Like the first, this ship will have at least $50 million in refurbishment.

Crescent Seas also plans to announce four more luxury residence ships over the next five years.

Sales for units on the first ship started in April. Residences on Insignia will go on sale to the public in late summer 2025.

While there may eventually be some leasing options, these condos at sea are neither timeshares nor Airbnbs.

This is “very different from a timeshare,” Galbut said. “The owners will be on the ship most of the time.”

He described it as more like a second or third home.

“It’s a lifestyle choice.”

This story was originally published April 23, 2025 at 6:13 AM.