She left her home in California to live on a cruise ship for 15 years

CNN

2 days ago

When Sharon Lane stepped onto Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship in mid-June, she was flooded with feelings of joy and relief. This moment was the fulfillment of a dream a long time coming.
'I'm finally able to do what I've wanted to do for years,' she tells CNN Travel.
For Lane, this is no brief cruise vacation. The 77-year-old Californian plans to be on this ship for the next 15 years, perpetually circumnavigating the world's oceans and stopping off at destinations from Japan to New Zealand.
Villa Vie Odyssey is a 'residential' cruise ship, meaning passengers don't generally board for just a quick jaunt. Its cabins are sold on a permanent basis — or at least for the estimated 15-year lifetime of the Odyssey, which is a recently renovated, three-decade-old ship.
'I buy the cabin, I live in the cabin, and that's it. And then there's no end,' says Lane.
Or at least that's the hope. Residential ships are still new territory for the cruise ship industry.
While the Odyssey is currently sailing smoothly up the US West Coast, its initial launch was delayed by months. Meanwhile some passengers, including Lane, had already experienced the disappointment of an earlier long-term residential cruise collapsing before it even secured a boat.
Operated by cruise startup Villa Vie Residences, the Odyssey finally set sail at the end of September last year. There are still cabins available to purchase. Lane bought hers at the end of last year and boarded several months later, when the ship passed through her home port of San Diego, California.
Villa Vie Residences' CEO Mikael Pettersen says cabin prices start at $129,000 for an inside for 15 years, on top of which there are monthly fees — $2,000 per person per month for double occupancy, $3,000 for single. Outside cabins start at $169,000, with monthly fees rising $500 per person.
These figures aren't cheap — but remain comparatively so in contrast to The World, the only other residential cruise ship experience currently at sea, which caters for a more luxury market with a starting price of $2.5 million. There are other residential ship projects in the works — such as NJORD, a self-described 'exclusive community at sea' — but they've yet to be realized. Odyssey's concept is also potentially cheaper than hopping from one shorter cruise voyage to another.
Villa Vie owners can also rent their cabin out to others, which means short-term passengers can still come and go from Odyssey. But the majority of owners have purchased their cabin with the intention of living on board, according to the cruise company.
'Most of our cabins are sold to full-time or mostly full-time residents,' Pettersen tells CNN Travel. 'I only know of a couple of residents who have investment cabins that they actively rent out. Most rentals come from owners who decide to stay off the ship for a period of time.'
Lane says she used her life savings to purchase her interior cabin, but she sees this as a good deal. Food and soft drinks are included in residents' monthly fee. So is alcohol at dinner, Wi-Fi and medical visits (but not procedures or medicines). There's also 24/7 room service, weekly housekeeping and bi-weekly laundry service at no extra cost.
'I don't have to do my laundry anymore. I don't have to do grocery shopping,' says Lane. 'Living on the ship is much less expensive than living in Southern California.'
Entertainment is also provided, including 'a singing duet, pianist, professional dancers,' according to Pettersen. Local performers are booked at ports of call, and residents are also encouraged to host their own events at a regular 'speakers' corner.'
'Residents present every week,' Pettersen says. 'We have a very diverse community including a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a White House chief of staff, an astronaut and many scientists and doctors onboard that share their knowledge and experiences.'
Odyssey usually stops in each port for a couple of days, where optional shore excursions are organized for an additional fee. Throughout the course of its anticipated 15-year life span, the ship will continually circle the globe, calling at different locations with each circumnavigation.
Lane says she is excited about the destinations, but being on the ship is her favorite part of cruising and she plans to spend most of her downtime on the deck. She says her windowless cabin is simply for sleeping.
Her berth is 'toward the front of the ship, because I can feel the ocean more there,' she adds. 'I like the ocean motion.'
The eight-deck Odyssey can 'technically' accommodate 924 people, according to Villa Vie's Pettersen, but some cabins have now been combined into one, meaning 'about 450 cabins in total.'
'Given the solo rate and that residents often travel away from the ship, we don't expect more than 500 residents onboard at any given time,' he explains.
'I find that delightful,' Lane says. 'It's very roomy for the number of people.'
In November 2024 Villa Vie said that 50% of passengers in the first takeup were traveling solo. Today, Villa Vie Residences' CEO Pettersen confirms single travelers now make up 'close to 55%' of those on board — Lane among them.
Pettersen says 80% of Villa Vie Odyssey's owners are from the US and Canada, with Australia and New Zealand a close second.
As a recent addition to the on-board community, Lane is enjoying meeting and mingling with her fellow residents.
'There's very, very few, if any, people on the ship who are not lifelong travelers,' she says. 'When you're with a group of people that think like you, life gets easier.'
Villa Vie Odyssey was originally supposed to embark in mid-2024, but ended up stalled in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for four months, awaiting safety certification.
When the vessel eventually set sail, Villa Vie contended with some cancelled ports and itinerary changes. Missed stop-offs in the Galapagos Islands, the Falklands in the South Atlantic and Antarctica led to some disappointment among passengers.
'Residents understand for the most part that we are doing something new and there will be occasional challenges but I think overall we are getting better,' says Villa Vie's Pettersen.
Pettersen blames cancelled ports on weather, red tape and logistical problems in destinations where smaller 'tender' vessels are needed to carry passengers ashore.
'Galapagos was not possible for us to go because you need 100% Ecuadorian crew,' he says. 'Falklands was due to 50-knot winds.'
Pettersen says that in Antarctica, Villa Vie 'did not get the certificates in time and the weather did not allow for an exemption. We had some other missed tender ports where waves were simply not safe for tender operations.'
Pettersen suggests these teething problems will be overcome as Villa Vie Residences' gains more experience. He points out this is a kind of voyage never really attempted before.
Villa Vie is currently building a custom walkway to link the ship and tender boats to reduce movement from waves and swell. This, says Pettersen, will 'greatly reduce these missed ports.'
'We have a very capable itinerary planner who plans about a year ahead,' Pettersen adds. 'It is an extremely difficult task as there is really nobody that has done this sort of itinerary before so it is challenging to understand all regulations in every region of the world. However, we are learning a tremendous amount.'
To make up for the missed ports, a new segment has been added to the cruise 'which offers everything that was missed in 2024, including Antarctica, Falklands, Greenland, and northern Europe,' according to Pettersen. This will involve an extended stay in the Argentine port of Ushuaia, on the southern tip of South America.
'This time we are spending an entire month in Ushuaia, giving us plenty of opportunity to work with the weather to make sure we hit the Falklands and Antarctica,' he adds. 'We learned that the weather down there is highly unpredictable so giving us this flexibility will ensure an amazing customer experience.'
Lane says she's relieved to have missed much of the Odyssey's early drama and is confident that Villa Vie had enough time to 'work out the kinks' by the time she joined in mid-June. 'I don't want complications in my life, you know, I'm at a point in my life where I want simplicity,' she says.
Lane has, however, experienced first-hand some of the uncertainties of the nascent years-long cruising industry. She was among hundreds of passengers who committed thousands of dollars toward a three-year-long cruise voyage planned by a start-up called Life at Sea.
After repeated postponements, that project collapsed, with management company Miray Cruises never actually managing to secure a ship to host the voyage.
Lane got a refund, but by then had given up her rental lease and sold many of her belongings. When the cruise dream collapsed, she moved into a retirement village in Orange County, California, where she felt stagnant.
'The whole two years I was there, I was looking for someplace else to go… I wasn't settled. I didn't feel settled. Because it wasn't the life I wanted,' says Lane.
Lane explains she wasn't aware of the progress with Villa Vie Residences until the Odyssey made headlines when it finally set sail in fall 2024. She was immediately sold. Her reaction, she says, was just two words: 'Holy cow.'
'I called them up and I gave them money the same day,' recalls Lane.
Pettersen, who worked for Life at Sea until departing in a management schism, says about half of the passengers let down by Life at Sea have followed him to his new company.
'We have about half of them on the Odyssey,' he says.
Those who purchase long-term cabins on Odyssey do have the option to sell up should circumstances change. Lane says she currently hopes to see out the full 15 years at sea, finally living her dream life.
'There's no end,' she says. 'Sure, in 15 years… but in 15 years, I'll be ready for a home… Or maybe, at the end, I'll go on their next ship… I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.'
'Being on a ship deck, that's my happy place,' Lane adds. 'Whenever the weather is good, I will be on that deck. And when the weather isn't quite good, I'll bundle up and be on that deck, because that is my happy place. You can stand there, you can sit there, you can chat with people, you can read a book. You have the ocean breeze, you have sea air.'