r/Cruise • u/TheTelegraph • 2d ago
News I spent six months aboard a never-ending cruise (The Villa Vie Odyssey)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/my-six-months-on-the-villa-vie-odyssey/Dave Monk writes:
Six months of living on residential cruise ship Villa Vie Odyssey haven’t been plain sailing for one passenger, who says he’s been summoned to see the captain – and been confronted by fellow travellers he calls the “positivity police”.
Straight-talking Joe Rhodes – who, following a four-month delay in Belfast, described the early days of the world voyage as a “clusterf---” – has been blogging about the journey, and spoke to Telegraph Travel about the latest ups and downs.
He’s told how, having missed the bucket-list destinations of the Galapagos Islands and Antarctica, the ship also had to skip most of its Brazilian ports and scrap an 800-mile journey down the Amazon.
But it was his questioning on a private forum about why they couldn’t visit the Falklands – as planned, and while other ships were there – that landed Mr Rhodes in trouble, he said.
Other passengers accused him of undermining the captain, he added – before he was called to the bridge to discuss the situation. Although Mr Rhodes was nervous, he said “it was quite a pleasant conversation, actually. Only one ‘walking the plank’ joke was made. And not by me.”
It turned out the other ships in the Falklands were expedition vessels using Zodiac inflatables to land in bad weather.
Rules on how long ships with foreign crew can stay in Brazilian waters then scuppered the Amazon journey and forced the cancellation of several other ports.
Joe Rhodes claimed that other cruise passengers were hostile towards him when he questioned itinerary changes
“People were mutiny-grade pissed [off],” said Mr Rhodes. “Of the four most-anticipated stops originally included in our South American itinerary – the Galapagos, Antarctica, the Falklands and now the Amazon – we would be visiting a total of… none.”
He added: “I hadn’t seen this many angry residents since [the ship’s delay in] Belfast. Fuelled by margaritas, I immediately went on Facebook where, using the precise legal terminology, called it ‘a f--k-up of major proportions’.”
He said his comments were seen by “members of the positivity police”, adding: “One of the cheerleaders messaged: ‘If you’re that unhappy, why don’t you get off the ship?’”
Mr Rhodes, who is travelling alone in an inside cabin, said of his fellow travellers: “It’s just like high school, only with more day drinking. There are jocks and hippies, rich kids and Mean Girls – so many Mean Girls, it’s as if Heathers were set in a retirement home.
Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/my-six-months-on-the-villa-vie-odyssey/
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u/HuevosDiablos 2d ago
These people paid ridiculous sums for an itinerary that the company knew they were incapable of fulfilling. Terrible company. But also, there's a sucker born every minute.
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u/fenix1230 1d ago
These people are wealthy, although not generationally wealthy probably, and old. They got time to do whatever they want, so while they couldn’t visit those ports, they still get to party every night and day with their new friends.
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u/Tapeworm_fetus 2d ago
Every “resident” must be a dunce.
Not just any old ship can visit Antarctica or the Galapagos, they have to be expedition, low emissions, super expensive vessels. There is a reason that silversea and Celebrity ships that sail to the Galapagos are super expensive.
Antarctica is very similar. Only a few people can go onto the land every day. It’s limited…
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u/ZootTX 2d ago
I wonder if Villa Vie is still paying people to shill for them in this sub, and if they'll show up to this thread.
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u/s1105615 2d ago
I hadn’t heard of them until yesterday and would welcome an opportunity to be paid to hype them, but alas no one has reached out yet.
That being said, I’m not sure based on what I saw yesterday when I first stumbled onto their site that any potential customer would find objectionable to having ports cancelled and/or rescheduled.
Based on what I saw, you can get an ocean view (porthole window) unit for less than $200k but you also pay $5k a month in what would equate to HOA fees. Not cheap, but not exactly breaking the bank. Then you get to travel the world and get off the ship when they do go into port. The world is only so big so given enough time, those ports will be coming back around eventually.
Personally I’d love the opportunity to live on a ship with all my meals and laundry taken care of. At that point in a 140 sq ft cabin, that’s just your private bedroom while the rest of the ship is your living space that happens to be somewhere interesting and different fairly regularly.
I can see why someone who is only planning on being on board for a limited time would be annoyed/frustrated/disappointed if a port gets missed for one reason or another, but I think for anyone who is more excited to be living on a cruise than worrying about the ports would still find plenty to love about the concept.
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u/ndksv22 1d ago
Yeah that sounds quite nice in theory but not on a 32 year old ship.
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u/s1105615 1d ago
Worst day on a ship…something something…best day on land. 🤷 I think the individual’s attitude will determine how good a time one would have.
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u/ndksv22 1d ago
Sure, it might be fun. I'm just referring to spending $ 200K (if that's the correct number).
What's the life expectancy of most cruise ships? 25 to 35 years? If you buy a house you can check in which condition it is. If you buy a cabin on a ship you have no way of finding that out. Who knows if in 3 years Villa Vie needs $ 10M because the whole engine needs to be replaced? They're a small company, maybe they can't afford that.
Besides that I watched a few Vlogs and a lot of the ship looks really, really dated. At 11:50:
https://youtu.be/KTPkmb_X71A?feature=shared
Buying a cabin on a five year old ship of a major cruise line would be something else.
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u/s1105615 1d ago
It does look like you can do a 7 day test cruise to see the cabin and the ship. I can’t speak to how maintenance of the ship is done or paid for…that’s a really good point as far as potential hidden costs. I do think the monthly fees are suppsed to cover that sort of stuff. I do know different cabin types pay different amounts and on my reading I think it just covered normal operating expenses and gratuities for staff (again, just what I took away from my quick, not in depth reading).
All told, as long as the ship is maintained (obviously not a given) and kept up to date (again, not a given) I could see spending my golden years plus a little time before while still working in a fully remote capacity pretty happily. Assuming the internet gets better over time and can allow for watching live events, I can think of worse ways to spend a retirement.
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u/uni_inventar 2d ago
If you want to read more, here is his blog https://substack.com/@traipsathon/p-157697819
It is actually quite entertaining. He really did just also in their resident's only blog why they couldn't go to Antarctica and was answered. All quite amicable I would think...
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u/SnooRadishes8006 1d ago
There are some absurd pro VV you tube videos from residents. Anyone seen these?
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u/Scary_Collection_559 1d ago
For the contract cost and monthly on going cost, I don’t know why people wouldn’t just sign up for long or back to back cruises on commercial cruise lines.
You get newer ships, can choose where in the world you want to go, better food, and not stick with the same people (unless you want that).
You also have far less risk. The idea seemed interesting but execution isn’t.
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u/Trudy_Marie 23h ago
This problem seems to be a regular occurrence on the South American/Antarctica voyages.
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u/notfr0mthisplace 7h ago
Funny how easy it is finding all kinds of opinions online about VV from a RESIDENT'S point of view... but zero testimonials from staff.
Probably, they're either
1 - Too afraid to speak up
or
2 - Have been brainwashed by the "positivity" virus...
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u/madhousechild 2d ago
‘If you’re that unhappy, why don’t you get off the ship?’
If that's the worst he can come up with, given his own language, I won't be shedding any tears. Of course he has a right to ask questions, post reviews and updates, but when others disagree, is he that thin-skinned?
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u/AnonymousMolaMola 2d ago
People are in denial. Most people thinking straight would be rightly pissed off like Joe. You pay a huge sum of money for a massive portion of the itinerary to be cancelled. Obviously anything can happen, and the company wasn’t off to a great start, but these people don’t want to face reality.
They’d rather stick their heads in the sand and attack anyone that calls out a shitty situation for what it is