As of 1/2/2026- Kathy re-reported our Unofficial group as "Trademark Infringement", and they pulled our page from the platform, like before. It's a good thing we paused our page and didn't remove it, so we are back on the "THIRD" unofficial site.
Why? Was the discussion about the tawdry outfits worn by the Pirate and the Mermaid spot on, and since she couldn't defend them, she instead reported the page to scrub the conversation off of the Facebook metasphere?
Then, potential investors weren't subjected to their excessiveness?
I appealed again.
If you are looking for the interim group, here is the link:
The THIRD unofficial site has been removed, yesterday I saw it was paused and then today sigh, gone. I am an avid follower of these threads but despite that STILLwanted to go on the ship, thought with a 5 year ownership, I would not lose too much money, wanted to do a rent to own but did NOT want to live in either in an inside or porthole cabin, and when they remove the unofficial page, feel uneasy about it, why hide it?
On their page they had.a past comment that suddenly popped up and had to leave it for a moment, when I came back, couldn’t find it which a person stated his reasons for a person’s hesitation and was answered quite well, why oh why, do they continue obfuscating? I would have been (using that now than, I am, which is what I first wrote) more inclined to live there with full transparency.
I guess what one can do is get the cheapest cabin and pay monthly fees at the normal rate, then after awhile at oh, say 1K less than what one is supposed to, and see if one can get away with with it, (NOT I, too cowardly and maybe ethical) at least they would get SOME sort of renumeration which at this point is better than nothing. They have extended their sale and when that deadline has passed will probably extend it again. It is interesting I was going to buy a condo in Las Vegas and pay in cash for it even though I was still thinking of selling on the VVR, so I would have a place to go back to, am sick of the place I am living in now, and to do so, I had to show that I had the financial wherewithal to make an offer, VVR where it’s quite important to have the means to pay the monthly fees doesn’t demand that. Did they purchase at, at their buyback rate so she would have SOMETHING?
MSC has a RTW cruise which a week ago, still had cabins (it leaves on Feb. 6) for sale and as a solo cruiser I could get 97 days at sea for a little over 38K in a BALCONY, was talked out of it by someone, who said food was not good, and thought I could do one month with food I don’t really enjoy but over three months, not, but then I think of all the things that I would have to put up with the VVR to have some of my own furnishings on there and too have a “community” of people that I know well.
If anyone knows how or why that third unofficial page was removed, please post here as well as the person who posted some time ago, mentioning the facts about why the missed ports in the Tropics, there was quite a long thread and it was on official page that got hidden.
And repeat, why is it unsafe to buy on VVT specifically because of dry dock issues, if one has to still make monthly payments, even though there SHOULD BE no port fees, can’t that be used to cover dry dock fees, you make much mention of the fact that dry dock fees could be the final nail in the coffin.
I paused the group, as the 2nd page was successfully restored. "Let's Talk About Villa Vie's Odyssey and Lumina, Unofficially!" is paused but not deleted, in case Kathy tries to bully FB into removing us again, we have a backup. Apologize for the confusion! 🙂
Evicted. There's apparently a less known path to board the Odyssey: make payments on the cabin plus pay monthly maintenance fees.
Can't make the payments? Move into a third floor inside cabin, to reduce costs.
This hits close to what you referred to above, where people literally sold everything to board and then can't afford it.
Sadly, the lady in question shifted to a new cabin, along with her 3 cats, but still didn't make any more payments.
Evicted. She had time to make arrangements ahead of time so she knew it was happening.
She left the Odyssey with her three cats; however, the paperwork she had for the cats wasn't acceptable, so she got on the plane and her friends brought the cats back to the ship. The cats are stuck on the ship and the Odyssey needs to figure out how to ship them back to her- sounds like quite a mess.
I truly feel for the lady and her 3 cats. I know I would be devastated if I had to vacate a place where I had been living and leave my cats behind. I wonder how they will be able to get back to wherever their "mom" has gone. Does she have a home on dry land to go back to? How will the needed/proper paperwork be obtained? Without it, the cats won't be able to leave the ship, not to mention having to get on an airplane. This is so sad. If there's a Go Fund Me set up at some point, I'd be glad to contribute to the cause.
If that's true, it's wonderful news. I'm guessing that American Samoa would be a good place to make this work if the cats are going to be flown back to the US. Thank you for the info. :-)
Has anyone seen the incredible spaghetti Odyssey is performing on cruisemapper? They are all over the place. Then if you expand quite a bit you will see a spot in the middle of nowhere where they were on 12/8 00:03 UTC where they were going in many, many small knots. I guess that's because they cancelled the 2 ports and 4 days (not disclosed on published itineraries yet) in Wallis and Futuna where they should have been 12/8 but are nowhere near there now. Instead cruisemapper says they are going next to Levuka (not on their itinerary) on 12/8 but they are presently heading in the opposite direction. Lost at sea or merely lost in a miasma of mismanagement?
Per a resident "Our stops at Wallis and Futuna were cancelled because those two islands have no dock, not even a place for a tender boat to dock, so the only way to land there is with a zodiak, and we have no zodiaks. So, we have extended our stay in Fiji with two extra ports."
And a comment by someone who used to be on the ship and if memory serves, missed Antarctica because of it, said "So nobody checked to see if there’s a dock before putting it on the itinerary? 😆 The satire writes itself."
Posted with a bottle of champagne and drinks, Kathy thinks this is appropriate 2 hours before a conference call for Odyssey investors and passengers. In the photo, Kathy, Mike, Chris and presumably Ms. Cox are sitting outside in what looks likes a marina in Florida.
"Sunday Funday mapping out Project Lumina with Mike, Chris, Cindy, and yours truly — meaningful conversations, shared vision, and great company. Cheers to what’s coming 🥂✨"
Clueless and ignorant of what they should be doing- not a piece of paper, no map, no spreadsheet- just alcohol.
I don't drink but there is a time and a place for everything, including booze. How is this image a "mapping" for Project Lumina? A true CEO would be reviewing the presentation, rehearsing the message and possible questions, ensuring the team has double checked the routers for a global internet connection. The champagne should be chilling for after the launch, not being gulped before anyone has been convinced that Project Lumina is right for the current Odyssey passengers.
Drydock is still in the air.
The crane is still broke.
The itinerary beyond January 2026 is still uncertain.
The cats and New Zealand, Australia is still unsettled.
And two-thirds of the biggest advocates have jumped ship, resulting in a skeptical audience wanting reassurance that the Odyssey will continue to cruise.
There's a time and a place, Kathy and Mike, to celebrate. Pre-loading is never a good idea.
Some of them can't "work" without alcohol. And Mike and Kathy wouldn't know what to do with a project plan if someone rolled it out in front of them. They've never used one to manage, coordinate and monitor the tens of thousands of tasks it would take to deliver "Project" Lumina in December 2027. That's why their first dry dock took 4.5 months, they were just "winging it" the whole way. But when you are spending other people's money, getting paid handsomely regardless of performance and living it up on an expense account that no one is overseeing, that's cause for celebration. This is the most money they have made in their lifetimes.
I would not give my money to a couple that only knows how the bankruptcy law works, especially not without financial controllers and accountability indeed.
I would not call them "owners", even not lease holders. This is not real estate. It's a "privilege to occupy a cabin." It is going to depreciate over time guaranteed. Not an financial investment, unless you jump ship after 1 year. At year 2, the price will be less than 50%. With the announcement of the new ship, the prices will probably drop more.
I started to watch but the shtick was too thick. Now, leaving the Odyssey was always their plan? "It's not you, it's me"? This is akin to someone in a long-term marriage who skedaddles away and coincidentally finds a younger skinnier person... and then the friends around the new couple put the pieces together and see this was an affair before the breakup.
DC Gems pretended the Odyssey was a great "springboard" and like Mid Life, were disingenuous in the issues. The location, location, location was always the issue and to "sell" it so publicly was to save face.
Disclosing the price and reduced monthly maintenance fees- why? Did they think these prices would spur others to join the ship? Room 7011 has never been occupied full time and it's right next door to them- why hasn't this balcony cabin been sold?
Ooh , 4 people were interested in buying 7009 before the announcement of the Lululemon Dumina ship. If you have $300k to plop somewhere, why "invest" in the Odyssey when no one knows it's long term future? Why spend money on the upper threshold of the Odyssey's pricepoint if the Navigator, an all suite ship is being added to their fleet? Will the Crescent Sea project and/or the Storylines and/or Fabled Voyages will all converge on this new division of Villa Vie? With all of this uncertainty, wouldn't it be better to wait and ride out the storm?
The Gems quietly sold their cabin on the ship. There was no financial need to create a promotional video, pretending that it was for sale at a special price. To me, they undermined Kathy and Mike, as well as the rest of the people trying to sell.
It tells me the best way to acquire a cabin is to low-ball all owners. This is a sinking concept.
Pretty much. They said, "How did that happen? Well, you probably know that it was just a few days ago that we put up our cruise cabin for sale. Now, this happened just a little bit after we had just finished renovating our cabin. So, you might ask, why would we sell our cabin just a little bit after we had just finished renovating it? Well, have you met us lately? It's just kind of who we are. We love a good project. We love taking something new and then working really hard at it and then taking it to the next level and then moving on to the next thing."
so it sounds like these were people who were already on board. At least they were already aware of what they were getting into. Wonder what happened with their old cabin?
Yes, they met in Belfast and married last summer. MLC attended their wedding in Colorado. So she bought an interior, he bought an oceanview, and now they have DC's balcony. Not sure if they rent or sold their other cabins.
Wonder if they amend the contract to say "14 years or the life of the ship". They can't keep saying 15 years after 1 year has passed.
But, no, definitely don't want to watch those guys nor see their sacrificial lambs, albeit with the reduced price and fees. And the new pillows! How could I forget the new pillows?
Nothing much really. They only stated what’s already in the public domain about Lumina, and apparently people had asked them to comment about the YouTubers leaving. They said they did not comment on other people’s experience and that their channel was only about information and their own experience. It’s interesting though that while they asked viewers for comments, they only liked those that praised them or were positive about Lumina.
I hope they stay away from it until there is remote possibility of a real launch. Don't help them seeding this. The residents of the VVR will be left with their dreams shattered. It would be ironic if the Doomina is shuttled and investors are routed to a cabin on the VVO instead.
The somewhat remote possibility exists that Doomina will launch, on a delayed basis. But launching doesn't mean enough just as it didn't with Odyssey. They have a team without sufficient experience or capability in the cruise industry and no one who knows how to manage a dry dock and whatever they launch will likely deliver much less than was sold and then they'll start experiencing issues from the ongoing mismanagement. Hopefully Doomina won't repeat VVR's contract and Terms and Conditions habits which leave passengers fully exposed and very disadvantaged.
People who thought they could just spend one sum and be done will soon discover that they have to keep giving. It's a variant of a Ponzi scheme. You need to keep spending to keep the dream alive. If not, you end up on shore while the VVO will be anchored somewhere awaiting funds to pay for the drydock. Which probably will never happen because all money will go the Doomina.
What VVR actually does depends usually on how they feel at the moment regardless of ethics, customer service or what the contract or T&C says. But I don't believe that's how it works. If a person has a trade-in value of $85,000 and they use that to apply towards a supposed "ultra-lux" ship supposedly launching December 2027 and they give VVR an additional $454,000 to buy their cheapest cabin, then they are effectively buying whatever time period is applicable on that new cabin. Whatever the term VVR says it is, be it 15 years or 25 years or 5 years does not mean it will really be that long. And of course the key part of the contract is "...or for the life of the ship".
Unless VVR invents new rules, the $85,000 trade-in value should be able to be applied to whichever cabin purchase schemes they offer on the new ship. And of course it is to VVR's advantage because the passenger is giving them a lot of additional money.
There was an 82 year old man trying to sell his 14 year contract, in order to then buy a "more realistic" 5 year plan; of course Villa Vie wouldn't do the decent thing and allow the man to shorten his contract and give him a refund (or apply the difference towards his monthly maintenance fees). Why do something for the customer?
Thia makes me think that if someone has a 15 yeat credit, they won't let them apply that credit towards a shorter length contract. That is my guess and nothing I have seen in writing.
Of course they wouldn't let him do that. Probably many companies wouldn't allow someone to renege on a longer term contract to downgrade to a shorter term cheaper contract and give them back the very significant difference. If VVR did that, they'd likely have a large percentage of residents wanting a big chunk of money back. And of course they don't have the money but it also wouldn't make any business sense to do that. Of course he's free to try to sell his cabin and then buy a 5 year contract if the cabin sells and then he'd be paying the current monthly fees associated with that new 5 year contract.
That’s what he’s trying to do….he was selling his interior cabin at $10k less than the current published price VV are selling for, he doesn’t disclose what he actually paid. Then of course VV had their Black Friday Sale and “slashed” $10k every cabin, so now he’s selling his lived in cabin for the same price as VV, so he’s likely going to have to reduce the price, unless he’s done a lot of upgrades.
$10K under VVR seems not enough to get a sale given you are also competing against other residents who are selling and renting and competing against all VVR's other programs. Of course he may also have the advantage that his cabin has lower fees but he needs a bigger price differential as well. Same mistake LLonaC made and their cabin never rented.
When I was aboard, it seemed as though the "new ship" gave residents the comfort of knowing they could switch midway between their terms but a new brand seems to kill that option and they'll be stuck where they are for the 15 years...that I can't see Odyssey surviving for. Nice little twist to kill that dream. I've sailed Navigator many times--suites (and if I recall, they're ALL suites--are night and day from Odyssey's....many of which look like places criminals hold their hostages. Personally, I'll believe this when I see it. Anyone familiar with Navigator and with money likely will investigate closely and discover the Odyssey story. Hell, if Crescent Seas--with a background as a major and highly successful building company--pulled out, no way VVR can pull this off. Lumina sounds more like Doom-ina.
Love your branding. We're going to have to adopt that. Regardless of whether or not the new brand was partly a dodge to separate from their responsibilities to existing residents or not, only a very few would be able to afford the big differential in cabin price and monthly fee cost to be able to transfer.
Can you tell us what were the key positives and key negatives of your personal experience of your time onboard and how long you were onboard?
Given the timeframe of late June it sounds as if you might have been onboard for the cold weather, lack of heat, lack of pools/hot tubs, reduced number of days in key ports and elimination of other ports and a bad WiFi period and possibly a few leaks.
Any bank, financial institution, or their underwriters are never going to invest money to purchase an old ship with unknown refit costs, in partnership with a company with a proven failed business model. The fact that the lender’s main collateral against the loan is a depreciating asset, just makes this project financially unviable.
VV’s only route is to secure money from naive, wealthy individuals (I’m not calling them investors). Undertaking a modicum of due diligence would show the company for what it is.
I agree, I think everyone was expecting something maybe just a step or two up from The Odyssey, I personally don't know more than a handful of people that could afford the new upgrade. But right now it's just words on paper, and I have personally learned what that's worth.
VVR leadership and some of their followers are full of conspiracy theories. They accuse some people of being Kendra and Robert, but that seems to come from their own guilt about their own actions during that whole fiasco. Their philosophy is, don't address your own self made problems, just hunt down those who point them out.
Well, you both have a wicked sense of humor!! Question is whether the cheerleaders will be able to see it and laugh, or if they are wound up so tight that they will immediately attack. To quote Ethel Barrymore: « You grow up the day you have your first real laugh….at yourself »
The strange and grossly mistaken things that people believe never ceases to amaze me. But for anyone to mistake me for you? My abs just can't hold a candle in comparison to yours!
This news was already known months ago, but now confirmed publicly. What will happen with the existing residents on the VVO? How can they keep the VVO alive with a new and better ship coming? Will the VVO make it till the launch of the new ship? Or will it go bankrupt before that launch, and dooming the launch of the new ship? Stay tuned explorers, indeed.
Re "Will the VVO make it till the launch of the new ship? Or will it go bankrupt before that launch, and dooming the launch of the new ship?" That's a great point since Odyssey's dry dock has to occur before September 2027 and VVR said it will happen in 2027. We know VVR was initially scheduling the most optimistic and incredible timeline for a dry dock of 12 days for a 32 year old ship with lots of system breakdowns and corroded areas and with many specific repairs and replacements on top of that committed to the CDC to be done in that dry dock. Dry docks and mandatory inspections and activities for a 30+ year old ship are enormously expensive and if they overshoot their timeline, which is highly possible, it will be even more so. So it is quite possible VVR will have another PR disaster on its hand just a few months before "Doom-ina's" launch. Maybe they can use some of those wealthy future passengers' funds to finally rehire and use a PR firm to manage their ongoing disasters.
Oops posted this by accident on the prior article.
Gotta love this comment by a resident on Project Lumina's FB:
Q: "Chris - Will the Villa Vie Endless Horizon residents be able to move onto the Lumina without additional costs?"
A: great question. I believe Mike is working out the parameters for Endless Horizon residents converting to Lumina over the next few days. When those are ironed out, we will post them here. Thanks!"
Working out the parameters?!? They were sold that they pay a 1-time, upfront, nonrefundable/non-sellable payment and they can cruise for their lifetime across VVR's fleet. What parameters need to be ironed out??
How I think it works - Mike licks his forefinger, holds it in the air, thinks of a number, doubles it and barks the upgrade cost across the breakfast table at Kathy.
How it actually works - Kathy makes a number up, while Mike cowers in the corner of the room, shaking like a shitting dog.
As of 1/2/2026- Kathy re-reported our Unofficial group as "Trademark Infringement", and they pulled our page from the platform, like before. It's a good thing we paused our page and didn't remove it, so we are back on the "THIRD" unofficial site.
Why? Was the discussion about the tawdry outfits worn by the Pirate and the Mermaid spot on, and since she couldn't defend them, she instead reported the page to scrub the conversation off of the Facebook metasphere?
Then, potential investors weren't subjected to their excessiveness?
I appealed again.
If you are looking for the interim group, here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1RJcAxrgPa/
The THIRD unofficial site has been removed, yesterday I saw it was paused and then today sigh, gone. I am an avid follower of these threads but despite that STILLwanted to go on the ship, thought with a 5 year ownership, I would not lose too much money, wanted to do a rent to own but did NOT want to live in either in an inside or porthole cabin, and when they remove the unofficial page, feel uneasy about it, why hide it?
On their page they had.a past comment that suddenly popped up and had to leave it for a moment, when I came back, couldn’t find it which a person stated his reasons for a person’s hesitation and was answered quite well, why oh why, do they continue obfuscating? I would have been (using that now than, I am, which is what I first wrote) more inclined to live there with full transparency.
I guess what one can do is get the cheapest cabin and pay monthly fees at the normal rate, then after awhile at oh, say 1K less than what one is supposed to, and see if one can get away with with it, (NOT I, too cowardly and maybe ethical) at least they would get SOME sort of renumeration which at this point is better than nothing. They have extended their sale and when that deadline has passed will probably extend it again. It is interesting I was going to buy a condo in Las Vegas and pay in cash for it even though I was still thinking of selling on the VVR, so I would have a place to go back to, am sick of the place I am living in now, and to do so, I had to show that I had the financial wherewithal to make an offer, VVR where it’s quite important to have the means to pay the monthly fees doesn’t demand that. Did they purchase at, at their buyback rate so she would have SOMETHING?
MSC has a RTW cruise which a week ago, still had cabins (it leaves on Feb. 6) for sale and as a solo cruiser I could get 97 days at sea for a little over 38K in a BALCONY, was talked out of it by someone, who said food was not good, and thought I could do one month with food I don’t really enjoy but over three months, not, but then I think of all the things that I would have to put up with the VVR to have some of my own furnishings on there and too have a “community” of people that I know well.
If anyone knows how or why that third unofficial page was removed, please post here as well as the person who posted some time ago, mentioning the facts about why the missed ports in the Tropics, there was quite a long thread and it was on official page that got hidden.
And repeat, why is it unsafe to buy on VVT specifically because of dry dock issues, if one has to still make monthly payments, even though there SHOULD BE no port fees, can’t that be used to cover dry dock fees, you make much mention of the fact that dry dock fees could be the final nail in the coffin.
This is a link to the active page.
https://facebook.com/groups/1538607037077525/
I paused the group, as the 2nd page was successfully restored. "Let's Talk About Villa Vie's Odyssey and Lumina, Unofficially!" is paused but not deleted, in case Kathy tries to bully FB into removing us again, we have a backup. Apologize for the confusion! 🙂
"PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS"-
Evicted. There's apparently a less known path to board the Odyssey: make payments on the cabin plus pay monthly maintenance fees.
Can't make the payments? Move into a third floor inside cabin, to reduce costs.
This hits close to what you referred to above, where people literally sold everything to board and then can't afford it.
Sadly, the lady in question shifted to a new cabin, along with her 3 cats, but still didn't make any more payments.
Evicted. She had time to make arrangements ahead of time so she knew it was happening.
She left the Odyssey with her three cats; however, the paperwork she had for the cats wasn't acceptable, so she got on the plane and her friends brought the cats back to the ship. The cats are stuck on the ship and the Odyssey needs to figure out how to ship them back to her- sounds like quite a mess.
Was this the woman who "adopted" feral street cats in Dakar?
No, apparently she boarded with all 3 cats.
I truly feel for the lady and her 3 cats. I know I would be devastated if I had to vacate a place where I had been living and leave my cats behind. I wonder how they will be able to get back to wherever their "mom" has gone. Does she have a home on dry land to go back to? How will the needed/proper paperwork be obtained? Without it, the cats won't be able to leave the ship, not to mention having to get on an airplane. This is so sad. If there's a Go Fund Me set up at some point, I'd be glad to contribute to the cause.
Someone on Villa Vie Fan Club said the 3 cats are at a vet and being transported home, so that is good news.
If that's true, it's wonderful news. I'm guessing that American Samoa would be a good place to make this work if the cats are going to be flown back to the US. Thank you for the info. :-)
Has anyone seen the incredible spaghetti Odyssey is performing on cruisemapper? They are all over the place. Then if you expand quite a bit you will see a spot in the middle of nowhere where they were on 12/8 00:03 UTC where they were going in many, many small knots. I guess that's because they cancelled the 2 ports and 4 days (not disclosed on published itineraries yet) in Wallis and Futuna where they should have been 12/8 but are nowhere near there now. Instead cruisemapper says they are going next to Levuka (not on their itinerary) on 12/8 but they are presently heading in the opposite direction. Lost at sea or merely lost in a miasma of mismanagement?
Per a resident "Our stops at Wallis and Futuna were cancelled because those two islands have no dock, not even a place for a tender boat to dock, so the only way to land there is with a zodiak, and we have no zodiaks. So, we have extended our stay in Fiji with two extra ports."
And a comment by someone who used to be on the ship and if memory serves, missed Antarctica because of it, said "So nobody checked to see if there’s a dock before putting it on the itinerary? 😆 The satire writes itself."
Hello! Mathilda! Do you know what your job is? Hint: it's not a last minute job. It involves PLANNING.
Perhaps the Speakers Corner could do a series on "The ABCs of Planning".
Posted with a bottle of champagne and drinks, Kathy thinks this is appropriate 2 hours before a conference call for Odyssey investors and passengers. In the photo, Kathy, Mike, Chris and presumably Ms. Cox are sitting outside in what looks likes a marina in Florida.
"Sunday Funday mapping out Project Lumina with Mike, Chris, Cindy, and yours truly — meaningful conversations, shared vision, and great company. Cheers to what’s coming 🥂✨"
Clueless and ignorant of what they should be doing- not a piece of paper, no map, no spreadsheet- just alcohol.
I don't drink but there is a time and a place for everything, including booze. How is this image a "mapping" for Project Lumina? A true CEO would be reviewing the presentation, rehearsing the message and possible questions, ensuring the team has double checked the routers for a global internet connection. The champagne should be chilling for after the launch, not being gulped before anyone has been convinced that Project Lumina is right for the current Odyssey passengers.
Drydock is still in the air.
The crane is still broke.
The itinerary beyond January 2026 is still uncertain.
The cats and New Zealand, Australia is still unsettled.
And two-thirds of the biggest advocates have jumped ship, resulting in a skeptical audience wanting reassurance that the Odyssey will continue to cruise.
There's a time and a place, Kathy and Mike, to celebrate. Pre-loading is never a good idea.
Some of them can't "work" without alcohol. And Mike and Kathy wouldn't know what to do with a project plan if someone rolled it out in front of them. They've never used one to manage, coordinate and monitor the tens of thousands of tasks it would take to deliver "Project" Lumina in December 2027. That's why their first dry dock took 4.5 months, they were just "winging it" the whole way. But when you are spending other people's money, getting paid handsomely regardless of performance and living it up on an expense account that no one is overseeing, that's cause for celebration. This is the most money they have made in their lifetimes.
I would not give my money to a couple that only knows how the bankruptcy law works, especially not without financial controllers and accountability indeed.
Odyssey has a new (promoted) captain to replace Captain Zeljko Jurac that no one seemed to like. It's the former staff captain Emanuele Giudice.
https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2025/12/villa-vie-welcomes-new-captain/
Lol. No mention of that rascally requirement called Drydock, nor where it will be.
If anyone is curious about the new owners of DC Hidden Gems cabin https://youtu.be/BY6ckhT7tnQ?si=Kl_0prQv9WERkhtG
I would not call them "owners", even not lease holders. This is not real estate. It's a "privilege to occupy a cabin." It is going to depreciate over time guaranteed. Not an financial investment, unless you jump ship after 1 year. At year 2, the price will be less than 50%. With the announcement of the new ship, the prices will probably drop more.
I started to watch but the shtick was too thick. Now, leaving the Odyssey was always their plan? "It's not you, it's me"? This is akin to someone in a long-term marriage who skedaddles away and coincidentally finds a younger skinnier person... and then the friends around the new couple put the pieces together and see this was an affair before the breakup.
DC Gems pretended the Odyssey was a great "springboard" and like Mid Life, were disingenuous in the issues. The location, location, location was always the issue and to "sell" it so publicly was to save face.
Disclosing the price and reduced monthly maintenance fees- why? Did they think these prices would spur others to join the ship? Room 7011 has never been occupied full time and it's right next door to them- why hasn't this balcony cabin been sold?
Ooh , 4 people were interested in buying 7009 before the announcement of the Lululemon Dumina ship. If you have $300k to plop somewhere, why "invest" in the Odyssey when no one knows it's long term future? Why spend money on the upper threshold of the Odyssey's pricepoint if the Navigator, an all suite ship is being added to their fleet? Will the Crescent Sea project and/or the Storylines and/or Fabled Voyages will all converge on this new division of Villa Vie? With all of this uncertainty, wouldn't it be better to wait and ride out the storm?
The Gems quietly sold their cabin on the ship. There was no financial need to create a promotional video, pretending that it was for sale at a special price. To me, they undermined Kathy and Mike, as well as the rest of the people trying to sell.
It tells me the best way to acquire a cabin is to low-ball all owners. This is a sinking concept.
Wow, the actually said "leaving the Odyssey was always their plan"? I call total BS on that. They definitely never inferred that before.
Roll the tapes!
Pretty much. They said, "How did that happen? Well, you probably know that it was just a few days ago that we put up our cruise cabin for sale. Now, this happened just a little bit after we had just finished renovating our cabin. So, you might ask, why would we sell our cabin just a little bit after we had just finished renovating it? Well, have you met us lately? It's just kind of who we are. We love a good project. We love taking something new and then working really hard at it and then taking it to the next level and then moving on to the next thing."
so it sounds like these were people who were already on board. At least they were already aware of what they were getting into. Wonder what happened with their old cabin?
Yes, they met in Belfast and married last summer. MLC attended their wedding in Colorado. So she bought an interior, he bought an oceanview, and now they have DC's balcony. Not sure if they rent or sold their other cabins.
Wonder if they amend the contract to say "14 years or the life of the ship". They can't keep saying 15 years after 1 year has passed.
But, no, definitely don't want to watch those guys nor see their sacrificial lambs, albeit with the reduced price and fees. And the new pillows! How could I forget the new pillows?
The devil is in the details... "or life of the ship", right?
JJ Cruise, of all people!, put out a video on VVR's phantom ship. I didn't
watch it but the comments were overwhelmingly negative for VVR and so far
haven't been removed. That doesn't really matter because I can't see JJ's
audience being the target for the "ultra-lux" phantom ship at those prices.
Apparently they mention something about the vloggers leaving. If anyone wants
to take one for the team and watch it, report back to the rest of us if there
was anything of note. 🙂
JJ are also grifters. They are also world class whiners. Their advise is worthless.
I tried to watch a few of their videos and could never make it to the end of any of them.
Nothing much really. They only stated what’s already in the public domain about Lumina, and apparently people had asked them to comment about the YouTubers leaving. They said they did not comment on other people’s experience and that their channel was only about information and their own experience. It’s interesting though that while they asked viewers for comments, they only liked those that praised them or were positive about Lumina.
for some reason JJ popped up in my feed and I got about 30 seconds in and had to nope out. The schtick is too much for me to bear.
I hope they stay away from it until there is remote possibility of a real launch. Don't help them seeding this. The residents of the VVR will be left with their dreams shattered. It would be ironic if the Doomina is shuttled and investors are routed to a cabin on the VVO instead.
The somewhat remote possibility exists that Doomina will launch, on a delayed basis. But launching doesn't mean enough just as it didn't with Odyssey. They have a team without sufficient experience or capability in the cruise industry and no one who knows how to manage a dry dock and whatever they launch will likely deliver much less than was sold and then they'll start experiencing issues from the ongoing mismanagement. Hopefully Doomina won't repeat VVR's contract and Terms and Conditions habits which leave passengers fully exposed and very disadvantaged.
Two hundred members!
https://facebook.com/groups/1897758690806945/
Some people have posted about wondering how much it would cost Odyssey residents
to transfer to the "phantom" ship. According to VVR's trade in policy, at 3-4 years
of "ownership", the trade in value is 85% of what you originally paid (the buyback
value is much less at 45%). Odyssey launched October 2024 and the phantom
ship is supposed to launch December 2027 so that's just over the 3 year mark
and yields the 85% value.
If a resident had bought the least expensive inside cabin at or before launch, it was
$100,000. That means if that person wanted to transfer to the phantom ship they
would get $85,000 credit on the new cabin. The lowest priced cabin on the
new ship is $539,000 so they would have to pay an additional $454,000 to upgrade
to the worst cabin on the new ship which would, of course, be better than
their present 130sqft rental. For that price they could almost buy the same
Balcony Superior Suite on the Odyssey which was confiscated from SignalWave.
But if they transfer to the new "ultra-lux"ship for that amount, they would not
have a balcony.
If they had bought a window cabin in the beginning (140sqft), they would have
paid $150,000 and 3+ years later they would have a trade-in value for the new
ship of $127,500. For the lowest priced cabin on the new ship, they would have
to pay an additional $411,500. But for less than that amount, they could
buy a regular balcony cabin on Odyssey of 190sqft for an additional $212,500
($340,000 price minus the trade-in). Basically only the wealthiest and those willing
to give hundreds of thousands more dollars to VVR will be able to transfer.
As VVR sells insufficient quantities of rooms on the new ship, I foresee discounts
offered to current residents to upgrade and transfer. But that is the classic case
of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Multiple times for Odyssey when VVR needed funds
they offered discounts to residents to prepay their monthly fees or prepay their
segments.
People who thought they could just spend one sum and be done will soon discover that they have to keep giving. It's a variant of a Ponzi scheme. You need to keep spending to keep the dream alive. If not, you end up on shore while the VVO will be anchored somewhere awaiting funds to pay for the drydock. Which probably will never happen because all money will go the Doomina.
Today was the day at 10amEST that SignalWave had a hearing. No update on any outcome at this point.
But... will a 15 year contract holder be required to repurchase a 15 year, or could they apply it to a 3.5 or 5 year term??
What VVR actually does depends usually on how they feel at the moment regardless of ethics, customer service or what the contract or T&C says. But I don't believe that's how it works. If a person has a trade-in value of $85,000 and they use that to apply towards a supposed "ultra-lux" ship supposedly launching December 2027 and they give VVR an additional $454,000 to buy their cheapest cabin, then they are effectively buying whatever time period is applicable on that new cabin. Whatever the term VVR says it is, be it 15 years or 25 years or 5 years does not mean it will really be that long. And of course the key part of the contract is "...or for the life of the ship".
Unless VVR invents new rules, the $85,000 trade-in value should be able to be applied to whichever cabin purchase schemes they offer on the new ship. And of course it is to VVR's advantage because the passenger is giving them a lot of additional money.
There was an 82 year old man trying to sell his 14 year contract, in order to then buy a "more realistic" 5 year plan; of course Villa Vie wouldn't do the decent thing and allow the man to shorten his contract and give him a refund (or apply the difference towards his monthly maintenance fees). Why do something for the customer?
Thia makes me think that if someone has a 15 yeat credit, they won't let them apply that credit towards a shorter length contract. That is my guess and nothing I have seen in writing.
Not true. VVR worked with him and he has posted that publicly. Next…
Would love to see where he posted that, to update the report?
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CkNDytCZx/?
Of course they wouldn't let him do that. Probably many companies wouldn't allow someone to renege on a longer term contract to downgrade to a shorter term cheaper contract and give them back the very significant difference. If VVR did that, they'd likely have a large percentage of residents wanting a big chunk of money back. And of course they don't have the money but it also wouldn't make any business sense to do that. Of course he's free to try to sell his cabin and then buy a 5 year contract if the cabin sells and then he'd be paying the current monthly fees associated with that new 5 year contract.
That’s what he’s trying to do….he was selling his interior cabin at $10k less than the current published price VV are selling for, he doesn’t disclose what he actually paid. Then of course VV had their Black Friday Sale and “slashed” $10k every cabin, so now he’s selling his lived in cabin for the same price as VV, so he’s likely going to have to reduce the price, unless he’s done a lot of upgrades.
$10K under VVR seems not enough to get a sale given you are also competing against other residents who are selling and renting and competing against all VVR's other programs. Of course he may also have the advantage that his cabin has lower fees but he needs a bigger price differential as well. Same mistake LLonaC made and their cabin never rented.
When I was aboard, it seemed as though the "new ship" gave residents the comfort of knowing they could switch midway between their terms but a new brand seems to kill that option and they'll be stuck where they are for the 15 years...that I can't see Odyssey surviving for. Nice little twist to kill that dream. I've sailed Navigator many times--suites (and if I recall, they're ALL suites--are night and day from Odyssey's....many of which look like places criminals hold their hostages. Personally, I'll believe this when I see it. Anyone familiar with Navigator and with money likely will investigate closely and discover the Odyssey story. Hell, if Crescent Seas--with a background as a major and highly successful building company--pulled out, no way VVR can pull this off. Lumina sounds more like Doom-ina.
Love your branding. We're going to have to adopt that. Regardless of whether or not the new brand was partly a dodge to separate from their responsibilities to existing residents or not, only a very few would be able to afford the big differential in cabin price and monthly fee cost to be able to transfer.
Can you tell us what were the key positives and key negatives of your personal experience of your time onboard and how long you were onboard?
I was aboard for 9 days, beginning late June. In the next week or so, most of my thoughts will be posted-stay tuned!
Given the timeframe of late June it sounds as if you might have been onboard for the cold weather, lack of heat, lack of pools/hot tubs, reduced number of days in key ports and elimination of other ports and a bad WiFi period and possibly a few leaks.
To name a few…
Any bank, financial institution, or their underwriters are never going to invest money to purchase an old ship with unknown refit costs, in partnership with a company with a proven failed business model. The fact that the lender’s main collateral against the loan is a depreciating asset, just makes this project financially unviable.
VV’s only route is to secure money from naive, wealthy individuals (I’m not calling them investors). Undertaking a modicum of due diligence would show the company for what it is.
If they buy in, more fool them.
I don’t think the majority of the residents are wealthy. When residents have to sell everything to be able to live on Odyssey that is not wealthy.
Most of those currently onboard would not be able to afford the price of the new vessel.
VVR is one long con IMO.
I agree, I think everyone was expecting something maybe just a step or two up from The Odyssey, I personally don't know more than a handful of people that could afford the new upgrade. But right now it's just words on paper, and I have personally learned what that's worth.
By a step or 2 up you mean actually functioning A/C and less corrosion of the pipes and metal?
Many people still seem to believe that you are me, or that I am you. Either way I think this may be an insult to us both.
VVR leadership and some of their followers are full of conspiracy theories. They accuse some people of being Kendra and Robert, but that seems to come from their own guilt about their own actions during that whole fiasco. Their philosophy is, don't address your own self made problems, just hunt down those who point them out.
Well, you both have a wicked sense of humor!! Question is whether the cheerleaders will be able to see it and laugh, or if they are wound up so tight that they will immediately attack. To quote Ethel Barrymore: « You grow up the day you have your first real laugh….at yourself »
The strange and grossly mistaken things that people believe never ceases to amaze me. But for anyone to mistake me for you? My abs just can't hold a candle in comparison to yours!
This news was already known months ago, but now confirmed publicly. What will happen with the existing residents on the VVO? How can they keep the VVO alive with a new and better ship coming? Will the VVO make it till the launch of the new ship? Or will it go bankrupt before that launch, and dooming the launch of the new ship? Stay tuned explorers, indeed.
Re "Will the VVO make it till the launch of the new ship? Or will it go bankrupt before that launch, and dooming the launch of the new ship?" That's a great point since Odyssey's dry dock has to occur before September 2027 and VVR said it will happen in 2027. We know VVR was initially scheduling the most optimistic and incredible timeline for a dry dock of 12 days for a 32 year old ship with lots of system breakdowns and corroded areas and with many specific repairs and replacements on top of that committed to the CDC to be done in that dry dock. Dry docks and mandatory inspections and activities for a 30+ year old ship are enormously expensive and if they overshoot their timeline, which is highly possible, it will be even more so. So it is quite possible VVR will have another PR disaster on its hand just a few months before "Doom-ina's" launch. Maybe they can use some of those wealthy future passengers' funds to finally rehire and use a PR firm to manage their ongoing disasters.
Exactly, there is not enough jam to spread on one piece of toast, let alone two.
Both pieces will end up face down on the kitchen floor covered in cat hairs.
Oops posted this by accident on the prior article.
Gotta love this comment by a resident on Project Lumina's FB:
Q: "Chris - Will the Villa Vie Endless Horizon residents be able to move onto the Lumina without additional costs?"
A: great question. I believe Mike is working out the parameters for Endless Horizon residents converting to Lumina over the next few days. When those are ironed out, we will post them here. Thanks!"
Working out the parameters?!? They were sold that they pay a 1-time, upfront, nonrefundable/non-sellable payment and they can cruise for their lifetime across VVR's fleet. What parameters need to be ironed out??
Upgrade costs:
How I think it works - Mike licks his forefinger, holds it in the air, thinks of a number, doubles it and barks the upgrade cost across the breakfast table at Kathy.
How it actually works - Kathy makes a number up, while Mike cowers in the corner of the room, shaking like a shitting dog.