A Cruising Requirement - Flexibility

The sailing to New Zealand from Australia went smoothly. However, we quickly got our indoctrination into this groundbreaking method of cruising. The Villa Vie Odyssey is a "proof of concept" for the idea of living fulltime on a cruise ship, sailing around the world. The Odyssey has only been sailing as a "residential" ship for 15 months. This is her first trip around the world and new lessons are being learned every week. Entering New Zealand was no exception.

New Zealand has one of (if not the highest) systems on "biosecurity".  New Zealand's biosecurity is the nationwide system designed to keep harmful pests, diseases, and invasive species out of the country. Villa Vie Residences was aware of the various restrictions, which included requiring a thorough scraping and cleaning of the hull to remove barnacles, algae, and other organisms. Villa Vie uses a ship technical management company to handle the operations and maintenance of the Odyssey. This company assured Villa Vie that the Odyssey was ready for New Zealand's biosecurity. Wrong!

When we arrived in Tauranga, New Zealand, the Odyssey was only allowed to stay for 24-hours. Of course, this caused problems with several of the residents who already had touring plans and plans for people joining or leaving the ship. We then headed out to open waters about 35 miles from Tauranga where we spent 3-days having our hull scrapped and cleaned. Only a limited number of contractors in New Zealand are licensed to perform these duties. Getting one on short notice was a miracle in itself. The weather didn't help, as strong currents prevented the divers from working for several hours. After 3-days of floating around, the Odyssey was inspected and was given a "passing" grade. Villa Vie had gone out their way to accommodate the itinerary changes the best they could. There was no opening in the port to return for any length of time, but the Odyssey was able to briefly return and pickup several residents who had temporarily left the ship while it was being cleaned.

After the Odyssey had received the initial "passing" of the hull scrapping, New Zealand came back and said it wasn't good enough. Restrictions were placed on the Odyssey visiting New Zealand. First, we could only stay at a few selected ports for 24 hours each. More importantly, New Zealand wouldn't allow the ship to enter the fiords. The itinerary was changed to miss visiting Napier, Island Harbor, Dusky Sound, and Milford Sound. To say the least, this was extremely disappointing. Many residents had purchased tickets to various tours and events that couldn't be refunded on this short notice cancellation. Villa Vie worked out details and adjusted schedules (within New Zealand's restrictions) to accommodate as many residents as possible. Some residents got off the ship in Tauranga and rejoined the ship in Wellington or Dunedin. To say the least, several residents were upset, as is Villa Vie's management. I'm sure the technical management company that dropped the ball will be held accountable.

Luckily for us, we didn't have any touring plans set for New Zealand, as we spent 30-days touring New Zealand four years ago. These circumstances did make us realize that FLEXIBILITY is a crucial requirement for cruising fulltime. Several circumstance beyond management's control can and do cause plans to change.

Connie and I are very flexible, especially with this new lifestyle. We feel lucky to be two of less than 1,000 people worldwide that are getting to do this! 

In my last blog, I mentioned my laptop computer crashed. While visiting Tauranga, I was able to purchase a new computer. We had purchased a couple day passes for the bus system. We spent all day shopping for cabin items and the computer. 

After leaving Tauranga, we had a couple more sea days to get to Wellington. This allowed me to work on getting my new computer configured. All was recovered and working great - until it wasn't. A last-minute update to the computer system crashed the new laptop! I spent the next couple of days trying to recover from this crash. My new computer only worked fine for about 24-hours.

During these sea days, we had a rare cold front come up from Antarctica. Not only did the temperature drop, but we also had some rough seas. Swells of up to 18' caused the Odyssey to rock and roll. This caused the satellite Internet to work very slowly. In addition, I didn't have the correct size USB drive to create a recovery image for the new laptop. I was extremely frustrated! But remained "flexible" knowing all would be fine soon.

Below is a short video showing the rough sea from our cabin portholes. This video really doesn't do it justice. It felt a lot rougher than it looks. We even had waves crashing into our porthole windows!

One of the nighty events was an ABBA night. Many of the residents hit the dance floor to party it up! 

Another upcoming event that Connie and I signed up to participate in is Mystery Night - "Mystery Among the Gods - Odyssey of Olympians". The entire ship is participating. Dressed in togas and costumes, Connie will be "Nike", the ancient Greek goddess of victory, symbolizing success in war, competitions, and all forms of triumph. I will be "Vulcan", the Roman god of fire, metalworking, and craftsmanship. We're impressed in the amount of planning that's going into this event. This event is being 100% created and planned by the residents themselves.

Connie has also been playing Mahjong with a group of ladies. She says it's a bit different than what she plays with her mom. We also attended a newcomer social, meeting many of the residents who have been sailing on the Odyssey from the beginning.

During the newcomer social, we saw a local volcano letting off steam. White Island volcano erupted in 2019 killing 22 people and injuring 25 others. Coincidentally, I had recently watched a Netflix documentary titled "The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari". If you get Netflix, I recommend this documentary.

For those friends who have asked me about bar prices, I've attached photos of the bar menu. Could you handle $3 - $7 bar drinks?

 Because we had to skip visiting Napier, we had another day at sea before arriving in Welington on March 4th. Connie and I walked at least a couple miles around Wellington. Connie wanted to visit a couple craft stores, we had a wonderful Fish & Chips lunch, and I purchased another new laptop computer. Worn out, we caught a local bus back to the cruise port.

The next day, we arrived at the port in Lyttleton, just outside of Christchurch. I was finally successful in getting both new laptops working good again. One of these will be configured for Connie. We spent the second day in port day walking around this cute little town. We met new residents at the local brewery and had a delicious lunch. The Odyssey arrived at 11:00am and was only allowed to stay 24 hours. We departed at 11:0am the next day and sailed to Port Chalmers, Dunedin.

The ship purposely arrived late in the day at 4:00pm allowing may of the residents who already had paid tickets to a rugby game that evening and for many other residents who had a paid scenic train ride the next day. This made life a little easier for a couple hundred residents with the last-minute itinerary changes forced on us because of New Zealand's biosecurity.

At Port Chalmers, Connie and I caught a bus to Dunedin. We spent the morning walking around and visiting a couple stores. Since this was the last port of call in New Zealand, our goal was to spend the last of our New Zealand dollars. We succeeded with the purchase of a couple bottles of rum and Connie shopped at another craft store. She's been embroidering panels to make a pillow for our cabin.

Sadly, after using public busses and being around lots of people on and off the ship, Connie has caught a cold. She says it's nothing like the flu bug we picked up on our Mediterranean trip but she's still wearing a face mask and has stayed inside the cabin the last couple of days so as not to infect anyone.

We are on sea day 2 of 5, traveling to Melbourne Australia when we are due to arrive on March 14th.