May 14, 2024
12/1/23 Will the third time be the charm?
But alas, I heard about one other company who was trying their hands at an affordable Residential Cruise Ship. I apprehensively decided to try one final time, to make this dream travel plan a reality. This time I am pinning my hopes on a new American company out of Florida, cruise capital of the world. It's a husband and wife CEO /COO couple who have both worked in the industry for years and it turns out that they were involved with both Storylines
and Life at Sea, as partial joint ventures, but severed both those relationships when they saw problems, with both firms, early on. There company is Villa Vie Residences (VVR), and their concept too, is to purchase an existing mid size cruise ship and retrofit it for residential living before setting sail May 15, 2024 from Southampton, England.
VVR's
sales model is a little different than the other two failed enterprises. You can buy your unit on the Ship upfront for 15 years ( the anticipated remaining life of the ship) or you can just buy the segments of travel you are interested in. There are 17 segments, that make up the full 3.5 year circumnavigation of the World. The segments are geographical based - so you can focus on only those that appeal to you or the time period, as they vary in length. As an owner you can rent out your unit when you are not using, either thru VVR
or on your own, like an Airbnb, or even exchange it through a House Share program. If you do segments, you pay as you go.
Needless to say, I proceeded cautiously to evaluate the options and signed a non disclosure agreement in December, to be able to have my financial advisor review along with me all the company specifics. After careful consideration, I have chosen to purchase a unit, a balcony cabin, in the middle of the ship, on the starboard side of deck 6. Unit 6065 and am again preparing to pack it all up and trust that this third time will truly be the winner!
Somewhere in the South China Sea, i n a galaxy far, far away ... was the Odyssey and a bunch of fun loving travelers....who had an idea for a fun cocktail party!
Yesterday we joined in with many of our fellow residents to take in some of the many water spots around Coron . We signed up through Get Your Guide, others used Trip Advisor and they both contracted with Psalms Travel Services in Coron. As I've explained before, figuring out our excursions in each port, is a big time suck for me. We prefer to find local venders without having to go through the big agencies (because you usually can get better service, pricing and customization) but sometimes it is just easier to stick with the big guys, when the excursion is super popular. Psalms turned out to be an excellent operator and I laughed when I saw they had used the below images on their Facebook page today. Didn't realize my pink dry bag stood out so much!
We are currently docked at the port of CORON , in the Palawan archipelago islands, of the Philippines . While the port itself is nothing special, and the surrounding town is hardly thriving, the people here are amazingly friendly, joyful and so happy to be around! You can see from below, they have a ton of hotels and restaurants but mostly it's their water actives that attract a fair number of tourist. Known for their crystal clear water, dramatic limestone cliffs and powdery white sand beaches. June is the start of the rainy season, but so far the weather has been good.