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This world cruise takes you on an endless summer world

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7 months ago

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This world cruise takes you on an endless summer world

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A new residential world cruise is preparing to set sail from Belfast, Ireland, and well-heeled cruisers can buy in for more than three years of summer.

The Villa Vie Odyssey is the second residential cruise program where travelers can buy a permanent cabin onboard. Its itinerary, set to depart on May 30, is designed to keep travelers in warmer climates throughout the sailing.

The route is broken up into 16 segments with 425 destinations planned over about 1,300 days. Travelers can purchase a cabin onboard or use the line’s pay-as-you-go plan.

Advice: There’s more to booking a cruise than picking your travel dates. Here’s what to know.

Purchase prices start at $99,000 for an inside cabin, plus a $1,750 monthly fee per person. Balcony cabins start at $249,000, with monthly fees starting at $4,000 per person. Owners can also bring guests aboard and rent out their cabins to other travelers when they are not sailing themselves.

Villa Vie also offers a one-time payment plan called Endless Horizons. Under that program, travelers have the right to occupy a cabin for life but are not necessarily assigned a single cabin for the duration of their travels. Those who choose the Endless Horizons option will pay $299,999 for single occupancy or $499,999 for double occupancy, and will not have to pay further monthly fees. 

For pay-as-you-go sailing, prices start at $89 per person per day, with segment lengths varying from 35 to 120 days. 

The Odyssey started its life as the Crown Dynasty in 1991 and most recently sailed as the MS Braemar with Fred Olsen Cruises. It’s been undergoing a refit in Belfast, and its current configuration has 485 cabins, called villas by the line.

The first segment will take the ship around northern Europe, including the fjords of Norway. 

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.

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