Unlike a typical cruise, the Villa Vie Odyssey is a residential cruise ship. That means customers don’t book short trips but purchase a cabin on the ship, which has an estimated lifetime of 15 years.
31 Comments on Retired teacher plans to live on a cruise ship for the next 15 years, says it’s cheaper than California
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Interview her again in about one year.
Maybe that will work out well for her. For me, that would be like being in prison.
Julie McCoy? I had a huge crush on her.
To put it bluntly – What a dumb twat.
LIVING ON A CRUISE SHIP?? AND DEALING WITH ALL THAT BUNGLE IN THE JUNGLE SHIT??
CAN SHE TWERK AND THROW FURNITURE??
Just watch out for the norovirus. And the bar tab!
Does that cruise ship come with its own onboard Waffle House?
I read about either this ship or one like it. No, it’s not a party cruise like Carnival – the passengers are all residents. The residents actually plan out the year’s iternerary – they go to a lot of interesting places. Residents really don’t spend much time in their cabins as there is quite a bit of space and plenty to do – actually, residents of most assisted living centers don’t spend a lot of time in their apartments either with activities and communal dining.
If I recall correctly, in the article I read most residents spend about 5 years on the ship. Again, it’s not a commercial cruise line; it’s a floating apartment – although there is a chance of drowning.
Randy Cassingham publishes the oldest entertainment product on the Internet, the weekly email newsletter This Is True. It’s been coming every week since 1994 and I’ll get issue #1623 later today. I mention this because he and his wife Kit are now residents on this ship and have been since it finally got under way last year. They’ve been writing all about it for quite a long time: being intrigued with the idea, looking at whether and how it’s been done (this is the first), how to go about closing up shop on land and moving a very small percentage of possessions into a small space. They’ve pulled it off, and Cassingham is still working full time on This Is True and his other efforts.
This is nothing like a vacation cruise. It’s a place to live, and a place to be part of an interesting community. Lots of residents are far from retired, and still work. The ship has office spaces and services and have Internet service that generally works well but has occasional glitches.
I just wrote all that because the Yahoo article tends to give a very incomplete sense of it. It’s not wrong, exactly, but there’s a lot more that they don’t even hint at.
Click HERE for the This Is True web site.
Click HERE for Randy and Kit’s ship experiences at Residential Cruising.
I watched a documentary about these floating apartment complexes. It’s like living in a small community but you don’t have to get around using cars. The places they visit are high class and I would be interested in trying it for a few years, except I couldn’t afford it. I’m thinking the expense will keep the riffraff away.
Join the Navy and get to see half the world for free, for the term of your enlistment period. And if you’re on an aircraft carrier you get to serve it with 5 to 6 thousand other sailors and airmen.
I dunno. Last Friday we purchased a new vehicle. Insured it today. Had to fill up the old Duramax with Diesel. And I just returned from the grocery store. She might be right.
I’m not sold, how do they fit an 18 hole, 7000 yard, par 72 golf course on a boat.
@joe6pak — The boat cruises from place to place and when in port it generally stops for a few days instead of hours like the monkey boats do. If you were a resident, you’d likely have more opportunities to play more courses around the world than you possibly could otherwise.
Plus, there’s always virtual unreality!
Oops. I wrote “monkey boat”. That’s bad. Insulting, even.
It should have been “chimp boat”.
The ocean is far from calm place. Make sure your life insurance sup to date with current beneficiaries.
Old people on a years-long cruise. What could go wrong?
Uncle Al, I’m thinking you are either a stock holder or a salesman for this operation. You’re definitely trying to make this sound reasonably attractive. And for many it probably sounds like a dream. I’m still going to pass.
Only been on one cruse. Long Beach to Encinada. Pretty damn tight quarters and we had the best cabins. We get to Encinada and step off and run into this bar, Hussong’s Cantina.Been there for ever. John Wayne had a sports fisher docked in Long Beach. Every freaken three days off everyone had him and half the cast from Wagon Train loaded up and fished their way to Encinada. Ward Bond and Wayne played football together at USC and were life long best friends. Hussong’s was home port. Anyway the place is full of black and white photos of Wayne and the gang. Bought a tee shirt their. Wore it until you could see through it and then the wife intervened. What the hell?
I’m prone to seasickness. I think I’ll pass on this one.
I’d rather have a 15 Year Root Canal
@joe6pak — Nope, I’m not a stockholder nor a salesman. And I sure recognize that the very idea of living on a ship is unappealing for most people. But for a few, it could be very satisfying.
Not for me. My nearest neighbor is about 1000 ft away and that’s too close. Humans. Can’t trust ’em.
What about the pirates? lol
Aye MJA, how much them earrings cost ya… a buccaneerr?
If they want to avoid pirates don’t sail near Yemen, Somalia, the straits of Malacca all known pirate prown areas to avoid.
@Brad,
$2.97/gal for diesel this morning in Texas.
KR
I’d eat a shotgun before I ever joined a community. Stuck on a ship with thousands of retarded cocksuckers sounds like hell on earth.
If you think living in a HOA is great, have I got a deal for you
Kali Refugee in Texas
$4.99 with my Safeway rewards points. Otherwise $5.49. Someplaces are higher.
geoff 10:29
Either avoid the locations you mentioned, OR!!
Allow those that can & are willing & able, to arm up and go pirate hunting.