It should have been a trip of a lifetime – a chance for like-minded adventurers to bond over far-flung destinations and forge memories over the course of three-and-a-half years at sea.
However, those aboard the Villa Vie Odyssey bonded for a very different reason, after the ship became stranded in Belfast for four and a half months. The Odyssey arrived in the Northern Ireland capital back in May to be outfitted before it was scheduled to sail off on the 30th of that month.
Unfortunately, due to issues with the rudders and gearbox, the vessel ended up staying put for four and a half long months. On September 30, by which point spring and summer had given way to early autumn, the Odyssey and its 125 passengers set sail. However, it didn’t get very far, docking just a few miles outside of Belfast while a few final pieces of paperwork were completed.
Finally, on October 3, the ship set sail, to the great relief and joy of passengers who will likely never forget the bumpy beginning of their once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Unfortunately, this was far from the end of their troubles…
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Stranded in Belfast
The Villa Vie Odyssey promises an extraordinary three-and-a-half-long trip, which takes travellers to some of the most beautiful parts of the world. From Panama City to Honolulu, Vancouver to Tokyo, this epic voyage offers passengers the chance to see places they may have been dreaming of for their entire lives.
Sadly, things haven’t exactly gone to plan on this occasion, and instead, those aboard the Odyssey have become very well acquainted indeed with the city of Belfast. While waiting for the repairs to be finished, the passengers attempted to make the best of things, trying out booze cruises and sightseeing tours in Northern Ireland.
Some were brought together in dramatic ways, with two passengers now set to marry after falling in love during their unexpected detour in Belfast. While staying in the city, Gian Perroni and Angela Harsanyi began dating, and quickly became ‘completely meshed’. They’re now engaged, with the proposal taking place in Belfast – the starting point of their love story.
Angela told The UK Tonight with Sarah-Jane Mee: “We found that we had so much in common and enjoyed being in each other’s company, so much that we really couldn’t picture a life without each other.”
However, although this may have been a magical time for some, others were frustrated by the delays, especially after the unexpected delay of September 30. In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, Kit Cassingham, from Colorado, told the Belfast Telegraph that this additional speedbump “really was a surprise. I heard reactions … of everything from ‘god damn it, here we go again’ to ‘let’s go have another drink’.”
Kit added: “People are frustrated when [management] don’t have answers. They can’t say anything other than ‘I don’t have answers’. That gets to be tedious, so they kind of go dark, which makes people annoyed. I’ve had a year of twists and turns and cold stops and fast starts. So to me, this is just more of the same.”
Painting a picture of the scenes of jubilation that unfolded after the Odyssey finally set sail, bride-to-be Angela tweeted: “We were all up in the observation deck and Mike and Kathy [the chief operating officer] came up and they had champagne and food for everyone and we set out with confetti being thrown. Everyone is so happy.”
‘Shoddy’ experience
According to its glossy website, the Villa Vie Odyssey offers ‘an intimate, new cruise lifestyle. Its ‘elegant’ Neptune Lounge, said to showcase ‘first-class performances’, has been described as an ‘ambient space designed for top-tier entertainment and relaxation’, while the onboard villas are said to be ‘serene and comfortable’.
There is even a fully functioning workplace, a modern gym, and a restaurant that promises that ‘local cuisine is reflected in every menu’. The photographs appear to be the very picture of serenity – all sunkissed decks, tennis courts, and clear blue skies.
This however has not been the experience of disgruntled passenger Joe Rhodes, who has been documenting his journey – or lack of – via his Substack. Far from the glacial glamour would-be passengers were expecting – and Joe has vowed to ‘shun’ anyone who refers to them as passengers, unlucky residents have reportedly been left feeling more ‘disappointed’ than elated by their surroundings. And the lengthy amount of time they’ve had waiting around likely won’t have endeared them to their temporary home.
Sharing his impression of the ship so far, fed-up Joe wrote: “From the food to the furnishings, the TV channels to the swimming pools (neither of which are yet operational), have turned out to be something less than advertised. Not on a catastrophic level — there weren’t any corpses in the cabins or anything, at least not on my deck – but it’s all been somewhat disappointing, somewhat shoddier and somewhat less functional than the brochures led us to believe. Have I mentioned that the beer sucks?”
On this particular matter, Joe, who has dubbed the cruise ship ‘Clusterf**k’, quipped: “Nothing about this trip, except for the fact that I’ve been drunk a great deal of the time, has gone like it was supposed to go.” The luxury cruise offers rental segments of 35 to 120 days, while the price of purchasing a villa ranges from £90,000 to £260,000, which guarantees you a room for a minimum of 15 years.
‘Marinated’ sewage
Elsewhere in his substack column, beleaguered passenger Joe went into grim detail about the state of the water supply onboard the ship, with an unfortunate issue leaving residents dealing with the scent of ‘marinated’ human waste. Not exactly the fresh salty sea air they’d been hoping for.
According to Joe, the hot water stopped working as the 31-year-old ship made the journey to Brest, France, with those onboard asked not to do any laundry for a few days, due to a pipe that needed repairing. After arriving at Brest, they were informed they couldn’t get off the boat, as the delayed departure from Belfast meant they’d been unable to arrange for a proper port reservation.
Unfortunately, it was at the point – while still stranded aboard – that the water was shut off completely, leaving passengers unable to shower or flush the toilets. Joe recalled: “Most Residents didn’t realize this — the shutdown happening in the middle of the night — until AFTER they’d made deposits, so to speak. Yep, we awakened to the faint smell of s*** marinating in a hundred unflushed bowls, wafting through the corridors, gently mixing with the ocean breeze.
“They got the toilets flushing — and the cold water running — later that afternoon. But the hot water — and my willingness to shower — didn’t return until our second day in Bilbao, the first port since Belfast where we were actually allowed to leave the ship.”
Dirtiest cruise ships
This comes as a new report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention sheds light on the standards upheld on the world’s largest cruise ships. The Hapag-Lloyd cruise ship, Hanseatic Inspiration, was the only boat on the list to fall beneath the mark required, scoring an abysmal 62 out of 100 for its inspection which took place at the end of September.
Several violations were uncovered, including a dead bird with maggots on one of the decks’ outdoor grills. “The area under the outdoor grill was excessively soiled with water, debris, feathers, a dead bird, and maggots. The area was used the day prior to the inspection,” Item 33 on the inspection report states.
The report continues: “Pest management and monitoring was extremely insufficient and allowed excessive pest entry into food areas. Several live and dead insects, a dead bird, and live maggots were found in various food areas onboard the vessel. However, the pest management logs indicated there were no known pest issues on board the vessel.”
Other issues included ‘no record of disinfection for the swimming pool’s hair and lint strainer between September 8 and September 21’, supervisors who ‘were inadequately monitoring critical and high-risk food processes’ and pot wash operations that were found to be ‘chaotic, disorganized, and not in compliance’.
The Mirror has reached out to Villa Vie Odyssey for comment.
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