This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jim Guld, 72, a Villa Vie Odyssey passenger. He and his wife, Chris, run a small company that offers tech training for travelers. It has been edited for length and clarity.
In 2003, my wife, Chris, and I bought a used RV, sold our home, and took to the road. It was also when we started a business, drawing on our backgrounds to teach travelers how to use technology while on the go.
After 14 years of living full-time in an RV and traveling around the US, it was time for a change.
When Chris’ mom moved into assisted living, we settled into her townhouse in Fort Lauderdale, near family and friends, and stayed for seven years. But I was getting disenchanted with all the traffic, and we wanted another adventurous chapter. The Villa Vie Odyssey seemed to offer that.
We first heard about the cruise from Randy Cassingham, a newsletter writer I’d been following for a long time. When he started a residential-cruising website, I began following his journey on the Odyssey. I read about the issues the ship ran into in Belfast, but it still felt like something we wanted to do.
Chris and I did a weeklong “try before you buy” experience in December 2024. By the end, we knew we were ready to make the move.
It was a wonderful way to see the world
We came on board in Cartagena, Colombia, in April 2025.
Our initial plan was to stay for seven years, which, according to the advertising, would have meant two trips around the world. We would then figure it out from there.
Life on the Odyssey was wonderful. It’s hard to explain how amazing the crew and other residents were. There is no other cruise ship where residents put on a musical, sing in a choir, and build that kind of camaraderie.
Chris got involved in line dancing and connected with dancers in other countries when we were in port. There was an unexpected sense of community.
We also went to places I’d never imagined visiting, and places I’d hoped to visit someday for scuba diving. Since the ship stayed in ports for a couple of days, we had time to explore. The travel was enough for us.
Still, there was always something in the back of our minds: Is this sustainable? Is it too cheap? Are they going to be able to keep it going?
In the first year, the internet was excellent, letting us livestream shows from the ship to our website.
For us, the doubts became more serious when the internet was curtailed, and our connectivity suffered. Then, the cash calls came. That was when it really came to light for us.
The crew and services were still good. Our stewards took great care of our room, clothes, and laundry. The cutbacks didn’t affect us much personally: paper napkins replaced cloth ones at lunch, and the food became more repetitive, but it was still good.
It ended in a single morning
One day, in late October, at 6 a.m., we got the announcement that the ship was halting operations and that we needed to get off by 2 p.m. that afternoon. It was very short notice.
We took the tech equipment we needed for our business and some clothes, but left a lot behind, including personal items from Florida that have more sentimental than monetary value.
We also left behind some of our scuba gear, including regulators, lights, and a camera. We were going to be living out of suitcases for a while, and I wasn’t interested in schlepping a bunch of equipment around several countries in Southeast Asia while we tried to figure things out.
Thankfully, we had already made plans to be off the ship in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for most of November to visit an old friend. When we arrived, she met us at the airport and brought us to the apartment we had already arranged. We also met up with several shipmates and explored the city.
We don’t plan to go back to the States anytime soon. We want to continue traveling. Southeast Asia is very nice, but India and Africa were places we had planned to get to, too.
Normal cruises don’t appeal to us very much. An extended cruise is possible, but many cruises call at ports in the morning and depart in the evening. We got used to comfortable cruising: several days in port, several days at sea, and time to do things as a community.
With the Odyssey, we don’t think we got our money’s worth yet, but what we’ve done is just wonderful, and that’s why we are so disappointed.
We would do it again in a heartbeat.
