Under a blazing blue sky in the legendary Harland & Wolff shipyard in Northern Ireland, where the Titanic was once built, the modestly sized Villa Vie Odyssey sits in dry dock, dwarfed by the huge 12-deck Caribbean party boat that looms beside it. But when it sets sail on May 30, after intense refurbishment and cosmetic work, this 31-year-old ship will be one of the hottest new innovations in the cruise industry. It will be one of only two residential cruise ships in operation – and its world tour will have successfully launched where others have very dramatically failed.
Around 300 passengers – or "residents" – will be on board to start the voyage from Belfast which will visit 425 ports in 147 countries across all seven continents, circumnavigating the globe every three-and-a-half years. READ MORE: All the best things to do in New Zealand during winter This is to be a cruise without end, where passengers can choose between pay-as-you-go and ownership options, spending as little as 35 days or the whole of their natural life on board, with the ship itself being replaced around every 15 years. The relatively small size of the 924-capacity vessel means it's capable of docking in the heart of destinations, with port stays ranging from a leisurely two to seven days, rather than the typical "hit and run" cruise ship approach.
These long-term cruise residents do, after all, have all the time in the world. The global itinerary , broken down into 16 "segments" over 1,301 days, h.
