How to do a ‘4-Year Skip Forward’ on a cruise

In the wake of the U.S. presidential election, one cruise company is offering travelers a getaway for the length of one term in office.
Residential cruise operator Villa Vie Residences’ Tour La Vie program allows travelers to join a trip around the world for between one and four years. The company’s Villa Vie Odyssey ship aims to circumnavigate the globe every three-and-a-half years, with stops in more than 400 destinations.
“A perfect circumnavigation is different for every resident as we pick up new adventurers along the way in every port,” Mikael Petterson, the company’s CEO, said in a news release issued Thursday.
The Tour La Vie offering was conceived prior to the election. The company did not mention the election or former President Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the release, but the segments include:
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The program currently starts at less than $40,000 each year based on a four-year commitment, according to Villa Vie’s website.
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The ship began its first three-and-a-half-year cruise last month following numerous delays. The sailing was originally scheduled to start in May but faced setbacks as the company prepared for departure.
Petterson told USA TODAY in August that Villa Vie had “been quite humbled by the scale of what it takes to reactivate a 30-year-old vessel from a four-year layup. After the lapse of all certifications of class we are now considered (a) new ship where all machinery and equipment must work as if new.” Odyssey formerly sailed as MS Braemar for Fred Olsen Cruise Lines before Villa Vie purchased it in 2023.
“Villa Vie Odyssey will be spending a month in the Caribbean before embarking on a 4-month South American journey featuring 2 Panama Canal transits, 2 World Wonders, the Chilean Fjords, an Antarctic sail-by, Carnival in Rio and an 8-day endeavor deep into the Amazon River,” the company said in the release last week.
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [email protected].