CRUISE CONTROL

An ‘Odyssey’ Indeed: Three Months Into a Three-Year-Long Voyage, This Cruise Ship Still Hasn’t Set Sail

“When you’re the first at doing something, you will run into hiccups,” said the CEO of the cruise company, in quite the understatement.

The Villa Vie Residences’ ship Odyssey was supposed to embark on the first voyage in a three-year-long round-the-world cruise on May 30, but has instead been stuck in rainy Belfast for the past three months while its crew attempt to resolve mechanical problems.

The cruise company has been “humbled by the scale of what it takes to reactivate a 30-year-old vessel from a four-year layup,” Villa Rie Residences marketing manager Sebastian Stokkendal said in a statement provided to the Associated Press.

While work continues to shore up the vessel, onboard activities and meals are offered during the day, but passengers in the Odyssey’s 509 cabins are required to disembark every evening, and are shuttled to local hotels.

Those who paid six figures for the experience (many intending to live onboard full-time for the ship’s expected 15-year-old lifespan, at least when they are actually able to set sail) have been gamely keeping themselves busy in the meanwhile. Self-proclaimed “cruise addict” Holly Hennessey has been taking in the Irish sights—on repeat: “I’ve been to Giant’s Causeway twice,” she told The Daily Mail, “but the best part of the trip was the stop at Bushmills,” referring to the Irish whiskey distillery.

Hennessey, who was also interviewed by the BBC, is traveling with her cat, “Captain the Cruising Kitty.” She did not share how Captain has been coping with the delays, but we all know cats feel strongly about schedules.

Besides frequenting the city’s many pubs and making friends with locals, others have used the downtime to visit nearby and not so nearby destinations, from Greenland to the Canary Islands—some of these trips are being organized by the cruise company. One passenger has even found time to make it back home to Australia (twice) during the wait.

Villa Vie Residences CEO Mikael Petterson told the BBC he anticipates the Odyssey—its name becoming more ironic by the day—will set sail soon. “When you’re the first at doing something, you will run into hiccups,” he said. “But we're definitely getting there, and although we are late, we will launch.”

(Petterson previously served as managing director for Life at Sea, a cruise line which last year canceled its plans for a similar multi-year circumnavigation.)

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Alex ReesDeputy Executive Editor

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