BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) – Lanette Canen and Johan Bodin gave up life on land to become nomads at sea during a multi-year voyage.
For months, the couple had not spent time at sea. The ship, the Odyssey, is stuck in Belfast, undergoing repairs that have delayed its scheduled May departure for a 3 ½-year round-the-world voyage.
Bodin said on Friday that he would have liked a pit stop in the Northern Irish capital, but “when we visited every pub and tried and every fish and chip place and listened to all the places that have Irish music, then we were ready to go somewhere else.”
“We are ready to sail, of course,” added Canen.
Odyssey Villa Vie Residences is the latest venture into the ever-changing world of cruises.
It offers travelers the opportunity to buy a cabin and live at sea on a ship circumnavigating the globe. On its maiden voyage, it is scheduled to visit 425 ports in 147 countries on seven continents. Cabins — billed as “villas” — start at $99,999, plus monthly fees, for the ship’s operational life, at least 15 years. Passengers can also register for travel segments lasting weeks or months.
The marketing material, aimed at adventurous retirees and restless digital nomads, touts “an incredible opportunity to own a house in a floating paradise,” complete with a gym, spa, putting green, entertainment facilities, business center and “culinary center of experience.”
But first, the Odyssey had to leave the dock.
It is now at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, where the doomed RMS Titanic was built more than a century ago.
Villa Vie Residences marketing manager Sebastian Stokkendal said the company was “underwhelmed by the scale of what was required to reactivate a 30-year-old ship from a four-year layup.”
He said that after working on the steering shaft, steel work and engine overhaul, the ship is almost ready to go.
“We look forward to the anticipated successful launch next week where we will go to Bremerhaven, Amsterdam, Lisbon, then cross the Atlantic for the Caribbean segment,” he said in an email to The Associated Press.
In the meantime, the company has paid living expenses for about 200 passengers. They were allowed to go to the ship during the day and were provided with food and entertainment, but could not spend the night. Cruise lines have paid for hotels in Belfast and other European cities for those who want to explore more of Europe while they wait.
Passenger Holly Hennessey from Florida told the BBC she was unable to leave Northern Ireland because of her shipmate – her cat, Captain.
He said that at first, “I thought I would go home, or the ship would send some people to the Canary Islands. Then I realized that my cat was with me, I couldn’t go.”
“I want to thank Belfast for welcoming us all,” he said.
Bodin and Canen – a Swede and an American who met while both living in Hawaii – have used the time to travel to Italy, Croatia and Bodin’s hometown in Sweden, where they await news from the Odyssey.
Canen plans to open an Arizona-based auto glass business from a ship. Bodin, a carpenter, runs a YouTube channel documenting the couple’s journeys that are temporarily stuck.
Built in 1993 and operated under different names by several cruise lines over the years before being scrapped by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Odyssey was purchased by Villa Vie Residences in 2023.
The home cruise business has proven problematic. MS The World, launched in 2002, is currently the only ship of its type in operation. Another venture, Life at Sea, canceled a planned 3-year cruise late last year after failing to secure a ship.
Canen and Bodin put down a deposit on Life at Sea – they got their money back – and also gambled on Victoria Cruises, another failed venture from which they are still seeking repayment.
But he wasn’t bothered.
“We can be crazy, stupid, naive or resilient,” Bodin said. “I don’t know, you can label it whatever you want.”
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Lawless reported from London.
