Villa Vie Residences, which won unwanted headlines last year when its ship Odyssey got stuck in Belfast for four months, has announced its new golden passport scheme
You could spend the rest of your life on a cruise ship – but it won’t come cheap.
Villa Vie Residences leads the way when it comes to offering customers the chance to give up their life on land and exchange it for a mammoth voyage on the seven seas. The Floridian company won major headlines last year when its 3.5-year-long cruise quickly came unstuck.
Passengers who had bought cabins onboard the Odyssey found themselves stranded in Belfast for four months thanks to issues with the rudder. While they are now happily bobbing around the Globe, the delay caused anguish among many of the guests on board.
Nonetheless, Villa Vie Residences is forging ahead with its plans to offer ultra-long cruises for those who are growing tired of Terra Firma.
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Passengers can choose to own, rent, or lease a cabin for life through the Endless Horizons programme, allowing them to live among home comforts while exploring the world. The new Golden Passport buys access onto Odyssey as it makes its way on a route that will take in 425 ports in 147 countries over three-and-a-half years.
While details of the follow-up voyages have yet to be announced, purchasing a passport buys you access onto a Villa Vie Residences cruise for the rest of your life. The pricing system is based on how old customers currently are, meaning the longer you live, the better value the product.
The cheapest price going is reserved for those aged 90 or above, who can get themselves unlimited access to a cabin for £75,000. The most expensive tier is priced at £223,650 for those between 55 and 60. The cruise line has not yet introduced a tier for those younger than that.
Dining, housekeeping, laundry, annual medical check-ups and alcoholic drinks with meals are included in the package. As an added bonus, residents can invite family and friends on board as long as they pay a £96 fee.
Kathy Villalba, CEO of the cruise line, said: “Life moves quickly, and the regret most people share is that they didn’t travel the world when they had the chance. The Golden Passport makes that dream possible—and affordable—in a way the cruise and travel industries have never seen before.”
A married couple recently told how they had booked 51 cruises in a row because living life at sea is cheaper than a retirement home.
Marty and Jess Ansen embarked on their marathon journey last June when they boarded the Coral Princess. In the subsequent year and a half they’ve spent their days dancing, eating, making “friends for life” and seeing the world.
The couple joked that they welcome the captains onboard rather than the other way round. Marty and Jess, from Australia, have become like “celebrities onboard”, according to manager Ren van Rooyen. Others joining the ship for shorter cruises request to meet the duo, whose story has been inspiring people in their home country for the past 455 days.
Marty says that they’re going to have to stay onboard a cruise ship of some kind for a while as they’ve become so accustomed to life at sea that they no longer know how to make a bed or cook a meal, he joked to A Current Affair.