I continue to get interview requests from the media. This one came in by email two days ago, but thankfully was told that my deadline was “in the next couple of days,” so hopefully this is good: I just hit Send on my reply, and now I’ll format it up into a post here. 🙂
At the same time, now that we’re past two weeks in, I’ve been feeling like I really needed to do an update for you all, so I’m killing two birds with one stone by publishing my full response here. Especially since the mailing list just tipped over to more than a thousand people! All it does is let you know when there’s a new post here, so if you haven’t signed up for it, you might want to.
Anyway, reporters rarely use all quotes, and usually are asking questions of more than one source and weaving them together. They have their desired narratives, and I have mine! So you can see everything I wrote, in context. Plus, this way I can put in some of my photos! Enjoy.
The Interview
[My newspaper*] has asked me for an update from the residents now you’ve settled down a bit and have started enjoying your world voyage!
Sorry it took me so long. Have been tired since it’s “go go go” all the time!
How is it all going? I heard you had some early problems with empty pools, water supplies and toilets not flushing – has everything been resolved? Any other glitches?
What do you make of your new home? Any pleasant surprises/disappointments? Is everyone getting on well or are cliques developing? Any gossip?!
We’re pretty darned happy with our home, and the experience so far has been good, and moving toward great.
IMO, gossip isn’t news: sounds too much like digging for dirt, and I’ll suggest avoiding that approach.
Cliques: Even 100 people can’t all be together all the time (or want to!), but “clique” smacks of excluding others. It’s natural for there to be casual groups, and certainly there have been many even during our time in Belfast. I’ve felt much inclusion, and little to no exclusion, there or since. I don’t think there is anyone my wife and I have “hung around with” for the duration: sometimes we dine or have cocktails with this couple, other times that single, and my wife is great at making new people feel welcome, joining us for dinner. But we certainly don’t expect them to always sit with us, and that would make for an awfully big table anyway.
We like the variety, and sometimes like to just sit by ourselves for some intimate conversation. You know: just like real life!
Pools: I’m not sure anyone has been anxious to use the pools yet: even in Tangiers (our current location), the temperatures are in the low 60s (17-19C). They do expect to have the pools up and running before we arrive in the Caribbean. Seems a contractor brought the wrong parts with them, and more parts are coming at a quick stop in Málaga, as well as a highly anticipated mail delivery (air shipped from VVR in Florida).
Glitches: The thing to remember is, this IS a shakedown cruise. One expects problems on a brand new ship, so to have a few problems early on with a recommissioned 30-year-old ship shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. That’s why many residents didn’t plan to join the first segment from the start. Unfortunately the delay in Belfast created some chaos for us all. My wife and I wanted to be aboard when she first sailed, as appropriate to the owners of a web site called ResidentialCruising.com — and we certainly understood that there would be issues, even if we didn’t expect four months of delays, and are fine with being patient as they are addressed.
Not everyone is so sanguine, of course, as also could be anticipated. The company still commits some unforced errors, such as sending out a laundry fee schedule without explaining it would only be used if the two free laundry runs per week isn’t enough for someone, so there was an uproar until management could say no, relax, you still get free laundry service twice a week! Really: if two laundry loads a week aren’t enough, then someone needs to have more than two shirts in their wardrobes!
Toilets: Yep, we had a bit of a problem. Why? Two reasons:
First, anyone who has had a septic system (vs a sewer connected to a sewage plant) knows that there’s a startup period — it has to be “seeded” with bacteria and allow them to grow. That’s certainly true of ships, and for that purpose this is a new ship, starting the bacteria over from scratch. When at the dock in Belfast, the ship was connected to the municipal sewer system, so then we loaded up 115ish new Residents and took off.
All would have been just fine except for the second reason: the paperwork glitch that left us anchored 10 miles out of Belfast for three nights. The tanks filled up, and while the company perhaps “could have” discharged the tanks to sea once out far enough, they were unwilling to dump raw sewage, and I commend them for that. Instead, they paid for sewage trucks to offload our tanks in port at our first few stops while the systems’ bacteria grew to have proper treatment onboard. They took the expense hit without complaint because it’s the right thing to do. So I roll my eyes when the “gossip” is that we have “toilet problems” aboard. In a way, sure. But the reality is, there wouldn’t have been a problem if (again and again and again!) the regulatory sticklers just did their jobs on time so we wouldn’t get into binds. It’s the Residents who suffer from their bureaucratic delays, and really resent the problems they cause being blamed on the company, which really wants to do things the right way.
Bottom Line: Everything continues to improve on a daily basis: many fewer hiccups, an executive chef who swings by tables a couple of times a week to ask us for suggestions, complaints, refinements, whatever. And the company continues to hire staff, including this week a new Resident Services Manager, who has many years in Cruise Hospitality, which I’m sure will help improve communications between Residents and the company and smooth out any operational problems from the Resident perspective. She is already ramping up, interacting with Residents, making it clear that improvement will continue and even accelerate.
I don’t have any official numbers, but I expect our population to double over the next several weeks, just considering the number of new voices checking in on the internal online chats. I think there are over 150 residents onboard now, since leaving Belfast.
What do you think of the ports so far and where are you most looking forward to visiting?
Everything is so overwhelmingly new and even exhausting. First, I continue to work full time. Then add in a new place to live, new people in the community, a new way of life in general, and then pile on new places, cultures, foods, and sights. It’ll be a bit before we really settle in …and that’s OK.
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*Assuming this is used by the newspaper, I’ll update this with a link to it. In the meantime, I’m choosing to keep the author/publication to myself. Any media wanting to do an update should use the contact form to get in touch rather than lifting any of this text or photos, which fall under copyright protection as noted in the footer. Thanks. -rc
Update: the reporter wasn’t specific enough about my deadline: he had to file this morning. Be more specific next time! (And P.S.: he apologized about “gossip,” saying he was really just looking for anecdotes.) Good thing I had another use for the work I put in. :-)Last Updated October 19, 2024 Originally Published October 17, 2024
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I am so excited for you both and I look forward to seeing the world through your eyes. It is a big, beautiful world out there.
I am also excited to see you in your tie because I happen to have the same one!
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You are clearly a man of great taste. -rc
Thanks, Randy! I’m living vicariously through you guys.
Much love and light!
Great to see things shaping up for you both.
I’ve been checking your whereabouts daily and was caught out when you said Tangiers as last I checked you were in Seville and that was early this morning (perhaps I hadn’t refreshed the page :))!
Really glad you posted this today as I was thinking to myself it had been a while since we heard.
Anyway, continued happy travels!
I love not knowing where you are and finding out when I check-in!
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After we leave here there’s a bit of quick hopping around scheduled. -rc
I am so glad your grand adventure is going so well!
I am greatly impressed with the attitude of management. It is a shame that more businesses don’t operate the same. Y’all also have a great attitude which sure does make life more enjoyable.
I have no interest in cruising but greatly enjoyed my two trips to Skagway and Whittier from Bellingham, Washington on the Alaska ferry (Alaska Marine Highway System). We went to places where the big cruises cannot go.
To each his/her own.
I look forward to your posts with great anticipation. Keep up the fantastic work!
Thanks for the Alaska ferry tip!
So relieved, Randy, that things are finally coming together for you, Kit, and all the other ResCruisers. I was going to use RCers but thought that may be confused with your initials. We have thoroughly enjoyed reading about the continuing saga of Cassinghams at Sea.
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I’m reasonably sharp: RCers would work fine. -rc
Nice update. I do wonder if they are looking for the truth, or “Residential Cruise Ship Sails, But Without Working Pool, Toilets”.
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In general, this reporter is pretty good, looking for truth. But indeed many are looking for “dirty secrets” that don’t really exist here. -rc
Outstanding update! Keep on having a great time. Wish we could join you all, but it may be a year or 2….
Good update, thanks!
It would be good to do an update like this several times over the next year, as things evolve. Maybe, e.g, at one month, three months (or perhaps 100 days), six months, and a year. Any “news” (including responses to fake news) should come earlier, but just a general “how are things going, what’s working, what’s not” would be interesting to those of us fascinated by the whole idea.
WRT it being exhausting, one of the things that I wonder about the experiment is how you’ll adapt to two or three new ports per week. “Getting” to go out and explore a new city every few days seems great; feeling like you “have” to explore one… less so. Will you adapt and tour whenever possible, or will you end up more or less skipping half of them? It will be interesting to find out.
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I actually haven’t taken every opportunity already. And funny, but right after posting this I headed to dinner, and the gent we sat with happened to comment that he’s getting pretty tired too. I think we’ll “get into shape” over time, but I plan to be fairly selective about when I go out. -rc
A lot would depend on whether you’re in the physical shape required to, say, walk five miles every day. But even without that, there’s mental effort associated with “what should we look at in this new city?”.
Congrats on your relatively quick adaptation to onboard life. My wife and I cruise about 5-7 months a year. We have been on four World Cruises and several long cruises which we self-curated. In addition, we try to go for at least two months at a time (Worlds take from 4 to 6 months). We love living at sea (and stopping on shore).
I especially enjoyed seeing your pix from Lisbon. Lisbon is one of our favorite cities in the world — culture, food, people, history, everything about it.
Bon voyage for the rest of your trip and I look forward to your posts.
Thanks for the update — and yes I once had a house with a septic tank, and am familiar with its ins and outs. I am pleased, but not surprised, that the owner did not just dump raw sewage into the water. The more I hear about the owners, the more impressed I am by their integrity. For example, in a zoom call the other day, Mike said they did not like the set up for the crew — with 4 people stuffed into one room, and have been rebuilding crew quarters for 2 people in a room. This speaks volumes about the values and integrity of the owners.
Thanks for the great update Randy & Kit! It’s so cool to be able to see some of the areas you are visiting.
Happy belated birthday to Kit!
I am so glad you have set the so called news media straight on the minor problems of getting a new ship fully on line. I have just renewed my This is True subscription for another year and would like to restart getting the free edition as well.
I will continue to watch for more cruising reports as read them as fast as I can.
Enjoy your new life and find time in your busy schedule for plenty of relaxing activities.
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Thanks. You’ll need to pop to the web site to subscribe to the free edition. I’m hands-off for it. -rc
Great to hear what is happening. Seville is such a lovely place to visit…and so is Malaga. My grandson spent a school year living in Malaga and we spend an amazing spring break two weeks touring southern Spain. Lovely people, wonderful food and the scenery and history are more than enough.
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I’ve always enjoyed Spain, and now Portugal is added to that list. -rc
Sounds like you are doing well, aside from some minor issues — and every new ship, which this pretty much qualifies as since it doesn’t sound like any of the crew came with it and all of the systems were taken down and had to be restarted, has teething troubles.
Based on a certain YouTube channel’s descriptions (I don’t watch YouTube while at work, so I have to go from the description) it sounds like one of your former cruisers who got booted for some reason is intending to make a pest of herself legally. Based on the comments below the video they must be giving a pretty one-sided presentation of it — and with impending legal action Villa Vie is best served keeping their mouths shut. Do you know if there are any sites with anything resembling a balanced take on whatever happened?
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I doubt there is one. -rc
I’m surprised to see you now have a second tie. It’s a pretty cool one, too.
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I brought several, and left some behind. I don’t wear ties often, but when I do it makes a statement. -rc
Long journey for me before I am able to join you, but it’s getting shorter every day.
I’m glad to read that the ship’s kinks are being worked out all day and all of the night!
May the wind be gentle at your back, and may all aboard experience excellent and improving health and happiness!
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I did forget to say that the crew cabin refurb is now finished, so big progress already. They will then start refurb off deck 3 cabins, and those will be put up for rent/sale soon. -rc
Informative and succinct Randy. Wish we had managed to join you but other things took precedence. We are off on the Cunard “four Queens” in December for 57 days. Hoping to come across you in a port somewhere 😁😁😁.
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That’d be great! -rc
I agree. We have had a few glitches, but thus far, things have worked remarkably well, with an ownership that has gone the extra mile to make this work for us.
Good article!
We used to live full-time in RVs, and were in the Navy. You are absolutely correct — you are on a shakedown cruise. Expect little problems, things that were fine when in port, but get stress-tested when everyone is onboard and underway.
Every time we left after an upkeep, and especially after drydock, you push the systems. Sometimes things break. All normal.
Same with an RV.
I am also impressed with how they handled dumping. I’m not as familiar with the rules about dumping black or grey water tanks overboard. I know that we dumped sanitary tanks overboard, but that was probably >12 miles from land.
I’d love to hear more about working full-time onboard. During a recent webinar, they mentioned that all of the offices were rented out. They plan on building more during the next drydock.
Can you get good enough internet from your cabin to do Zoom calls/Teams meetings?
If I could get permission from my IT security, then I could potentially remote work from the ship. That would be a game changer.
Thanks for being positive, but real. 🙂
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In-room Internet depends on how close one is to an access point. A recent update is that the brand new TV sets have WiFi hotspots built into them, and they’ve activated that function. (The forehead-slapper is that only works when the TV is on. I haven’t had the chance to find a full manual for it yet to see if there’s a setting for that, but how boneheaded! At least the TV has a “screen off” function.) That’s important because whether WiFi is decent in a cabin comes down to “It depends.”
Yes, the offices were all rented out quickly. There is a negative to them, however: they are required to be at least 1/3 open air walls. That certainly aids ventilation, but ruins any quiet or privacy. Depending on one’s work, that’s a show-stopper. (Not for me, luckily, though sometimes others don’t think about people are working and have loud conversations nearby. I may ask for “Quiet!” signs.)
I know it’s normal for ships to have little problems, even after a regular drydock (every 2-3 years, for others reading this), but am glad to have that reinforced. -rc
Good update. And it cleared up a little point I had been wondering about, and that was if the “biweekly” (every two weeks) laundry service mentioned on their website would be enough. But it seems that they mean “twice a week”. I assume the same goes for the “biweekly” cabin cleaning. They should probably rephrase that.
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Yeah, except when you look in a dictionary:
bi·week·ly (bī-wēk′lē)
adj.
1. Happening every two weeks.
2. Happening twice a week; semiweekly.
It’s a confusing word in the best of times. -rc
Yeah, one of those words whose meaning has changed over the years, having been “misused” so often that the misused meaning is now correct. Like how “I couldn’t care less” and “I could care less”, grammatically opposite, now have exactly the same meaning.
Irritating, but the world changes and you have to live with it.
I’m old and I’ve been living in Germany for 44 years now so I’m not always up to date with those changes. Still, given that the word has both meanings, I would use “twice weekly” just to avoid that confusion.
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Indeed. I think it comes down to the cruise industry being populated mostly by those whose first language isn’t English. That’s not a criticism, it’s just the way it is, and I hope to help the folks on my ship be clearer. -rc
Glad to hear that things are coming together and that the company is doing the right thing! Looking forward to hearing more updates and looking at your photos!
I found this article by pure chance, but I am so glad that I did. I am joining the ship in Barbados, and I have already exchanged a couple of comments with you on another chat site. But, thank you so much for this insightful and sensible analysis of the first weeks as a passenger actually sailing (after Belfast) on The Odyssey. I appreciate the positive comments, and I look forward to thanking you in person!
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See you soon! -rc
Funny — new TV show this season — Dr Odyssey. Jury out on just how contrived it is, but they do tend to work in social commentary and an awareness of regulatory differences between countries.
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Yep, everyone on the manifest has been aware of it since it was added to ABC’s schedule, and only barely described. From what I hear, “contrived” sounds like a good one-word review. -rc
Another reason to appreciate you! Enjoyed this extended vacation/travelogue/exploration! And thanks for taking us along!