HONG KONG — The residents of a luxury cruise ship dubbed the “most exclusive floating city” on the planet are pretty picky about who they will allow to be their neighbors. <br /> <br />Even billionaire Oprah Winfrey wouldn’t be welcome aboard, according to one resident. <br /> <br />“I don't think that Oprah Winfrey would be allowed to buy here,” Lillian Veri, a Canadian who has owned an apartment on The World for nearly 10 years, told CNN. <br />“There's a code of confidentiality and privacy ... We don't want paparazzi here. This [boat] is a refuge, a sanctuary. <br />“You will never find out who else lives here.” <br />The World is the largest “residential yacht” on earth. The ship is 196 meters long and has 12 decks that contain 165 apartments. <br /> <br />It has a golf center, a 650-square-meter gym and spa, and is the only ship in the world with a full-sized tennis court. <br /> <br />Apartments range from $3 million to $10 million. The units are sold by invitation only and residents must have a net worth of at least $10 million to qualify. <br /> <br />The ship flies the Bahamas flag. It has traveled 641,000 nautical miles since its launch in 2002 — the equivalent of 30 times around the Earth. <br /> <br />The World docked in Hong Kong earlier this month and was scheduled to visit Taiwan before crossing the Pacific. <br /> <br />Three times a year, the ship travels to some of the most remote regions on Earth. This year, the vessel has already visited the Ross Sea in Antarctica and Melanesia, near New Guinea. <br /> <br />Stepping aboard The World “feels like boarding a 21st-century Titanic, such it its scale and grandeur,” according to CNN <br /> <br />Well, we all know how that worked out, don’t we?
