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larryf@happy-wanderers.com
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Information on this website is our opinion only. This site was created to help others considering this wonderful lifestyle, and for our own use.
Our Travel Adventures - Cruising Fulltime
Welcome to the Adventures of Larry and Connie Farquhar as we cruise fulltime around the world.
Mail, Medical, and Prescriptions While Cruising
Three-year Itinerary
With about 6-weeks left until we embark on our new adventure, we're trying to take care of last issues, and thinking of what we're forgetting. Cruising fulltime on the Villa Vie Odyssey brings up several logistical challenges. Luckily, many other people have been on the Odyssey for over a year, and Villa Vie Residences has figured out how to handle some of these challenges.
BTW - I've added a map of the ship's itinerary for next 3 years to the website. You can find a shortcut on the HOME page in the right column.
Touring China
The Great Wall
The Odyssey has twice planned to visit China, but both times China had to be removed from the itinerary. I've heard it has something to do with the ship being over 30-years old, but that's not confirmed. I'm sure it's some political reason. For 2026, port stops in Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea were added to replace the China ports.
Terracotta Warriors
Pande Bear Preserve
Last summer, many residents of the Odyssey took a week or more off the ship to travel independently to China. Residents can leave and return to the ship at any time. Wanting to visit China, we looked into this option for ourselves. We looked into a Chinese Visa for tourists and learned US citizens can travel in most parts of China for 240-hours without a formal visa. Otherwise, we would need to visit a Chinese Consultant in Los Angeles to get a regular visa, but not until a couple weeks before we would visit China. We would be on the ship at this time, and it would be difficult. The 240-hour visa-free transit permit is granted upon arrival, as long as we meet all the conditions.
We're making plans to leave the Odyssey in June 2026 and fly from Seoul, South Korea to Beijing, China. We'll spend 10-days visiting Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, and Shanghai in China touring the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors, and a Giant Panda Preserve, among other sites. We'll then fly out of Shanghai to Hiroshima, Japan where we'll catch the Odyssey again. We'll probably confirm these plans in late February.
New Zealand and Australia Visas
We're embarking on the Villa Vie Odyssey in Sydney, Australia on February 20th, 2026. From there, the ship goes to New Zealand for a month, stopping at 8 ports, then returns to Australia. We'll start in Tasmania then head along the South Coast and up the West side of Australia, visiting 9 ports for another month. Then the ship heads North stopping in Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea.
We applied for our Australia Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) and were immediately approved. We also applied for our New Zealand Electronic Travel Authorization (NZeTA), which approval is still pending. Each of these allow US citizens to tour these countries for 90-days.
Getting Mail
One of the logistical issues while cruising fulltime is getting our mail. While we don't get much valid mail, there is that occasional letter. We do all our banking and financials online. For residents on the Villa Vie Odyssey, we can have our mail sent to the main office in Florida. They will collect it and periodically forward to the ship. This is a free service they provide.
Initially, we're just going to have our mail placed on hold. Connie will be returning home every couple of months. When needed, we'll change our mailing address to our daughter's. When we get a valid piece of mail (not junk mail), she can either scan a copy for us or forward it to Florida if needed.
Packages are handled differently. They are delivered to the Florida address. Villa Vie Residences collect the packages, packs it all in a shipping container and sends the container(s) to the ship every 90-days. They charge $1 a pound for this service.
Prescription Medications
Another free service provided by Villa Vie Residences is the handling and forwarding of prescription medications. Similar to the handling of mail, prescription medications can be sent to the Florida address. They forward these med packages to the ship every 60-days. While not always a perfect solution, it's the best they can offer. Residents should have a 90-day supply of prescription medications. Theoretically, they shouldn't run out of their meds.
Residents on board have realized they can get much of their prescriptions in the countries the ship visits. Of course, this depends on the prescription. Usually, it's also less expensive to get the meds elsewhere.
We already get our prescription medications through the mail. We're going to change the mailing address of our prescription meds to Florida. Luckily, none of our meds are unusual and need special handling. Hopefully, it all works out well. Of course, we'll let you know if it doesn't.
Medical Care While Cruising Fulltime
This is probably the most important logistical issue. Getting medical care and having the correct insurance while cruising. The Odyssey is equipped with a medical center to handle most emergencies and routine illnesses. But it's not there for long-term care. If they can't handle it, or it's an extreme emergency, they will try to get an air evacuation. If not, they head full speed to the nearest port that can handle the emergency. This has happened twice in the past year (that I know of).
Most residents on the Odyssey get global medical and travel insurance. US Medicare doesn't cover medical expenses outside of the USA. Some Medicare supplements, or "Medigap", only cover the first 60-days of cruising. There are several other companies that offer global medical and travel insurance. Doing a Google search for "Global Medical Insurance for Digital Nomads" will return many options.
For us, travel insurance isn't really needed. I'm not worried about missed flights or cruises and lost baggage. However, we investigated purchasing global health insurance. If either of us had a serious injury or medical issue, we'd be stuck in a foreign country paying for the medical bills. I researched it and was seriously looking at getting a travel health policy from Safety Wing. For our age group and coverage that we would need, they charge about $200 monthly per person. This was one of the less expensive policies I could find.
During my research, I learned more about our retired military health care - "TriCare for Life". Currently, it works as our Medicare supplement and has worked very well. I learned that medical coverage under this plan is worldwide. I wasn't aware that we already had global medical insurance! Since Medicare doesn't cover care outside of the US, our TriCare for Life coverage becomes the primary insurance. During our recent Mediterranean cruise, we both got sick and used the cruise ship's medical service. This was a test of our global health insurance, though not intentionally. We paid our medical bill onboard, then submitted all the needed documents for reimbursement to TriCare. It worked! We were reimbursed about 75% of our medical bill.
We're still considering and researching emergency evacuation insurance. This would cover us if we were seriously injured and had to be flown back to the USA. Like all insurance, it's a risk not having it.
Almost all the items we had on our Amazon list has been delivered and the pile is getting bigger bigger. Next step we'll focus on clothing and actually packing! Are we forgetting anything??
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Comments 2
Guest - Cody & Cheryl Brown (TeamCBx2)
on Tuesday, 06 January 2026 01:21
Larry Farquhar
on Tuesday, 06 January 2026 07:59
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