Villa Vie Odyssey CEO Mike Petterson explains delays

News Letter

Mike Petterson, CEO of Villa Vie Residences, which owns the cruise liner due to launch from Belfast on a perpetual round the world cruise.

Transcript

00:00So Mike, this is Mike Patterson, Chief Executive, Villa V Residences.

00:07We're sitting here, Mike, on the Villa V Odyssey.

00:10Is this one, this is one of, it's a lounge area?

00:13This is the Coral Club, we call it.

00:16The Coral Club.

00:17It's where we have a little more of the informal entertainment.

00:23Okay.

00:24We have the larger theater that takes a lot more passengers.

00:28Okay.

00:29It's a little more smaller and intimate.

00:31Okay.

00:32And Mike, for those people who are trying to do their sums,

00:35can they work out if they could afford to retire to the Villa V Odyssey?

00:40Tell us what the entry-level packages would look like.

00:42You'd be buying a cabin, if you're going to retire permanently here,

00:45you'd be buying a cabin and then paying annual living costs as well,

00:48isn't that right?

00:49Yeah, you can purchase a cabin for roughly $100,000,

00:55and then that comes with maintenance fees of $2,500 a month if you're single

01:01and $3,500 a month if you're double.

01:06And that covers all your utility and food and laundry?

01:09It covers your food, your laundry, your entertainment, basically,

01:14and being ushered around the world.

01:17It does not include things like the spa, specialty dining,

01:21or medical or shore excursions.

01:23Okay.

01:24That's all for you to budget separately.

01:26Okay.

01:27And Mike, I mean,

01:28obviously a lot of people have been sort of maybe concerned or discouraged

01:33along with you that the launch has been delayed,

01:36but really there's been a lot of,

01:38you took ownership of the vessel here in March in Edinburgh,

01:41it sailed to Belfast perfectly fine,

01:43but when you were getting all your certificates,

01:47there was a lot more work discovered that needed to be done

01:49than was expected, really, unfortunately.

01:51Yeah.

01:52Yeah.

01:53I mean, you know, we are treated as a new ship and we're also a startup.

01:59We don't have any, you know, a record to go off of.

02:04You know, when you look at Fred Olsen that we acquired the ship from,

02:08they had a proven track record,

02:10and, you know, anyone else that have owned this ship in the past

02:15have also a proven track record where DMV or wherever the class society

02:21would be, could have given the benefit of the doubt,

02:24would have given them more flexibility.

02:26And whereas in our case, we were really given no flexibility whatsoever.

02:30So permanent repairs that were considered good and authorized

02:37without any paperwork to prove.

02:40So we had to completely redo.

02:42So on the plus side, your passengers are going to be 110% assured

02:46that every I is dotted and T is crossed.

02:48Yeah.

02:49In every regard.

02:50No, absolutely.

02:51This ship is in much better shape than it's been in the last 10 years.

02:53And it was laid up for four years or so because of the pandemic,

02:56which didn't help matters, did it?

02:58No, no.

02:59It was laid up from 2019 to late 2019 to today or to, yeah,

03:03to March of this year, basically.

03:05Okay.

03:06So launch date at the minute, there's a little bit of space this weekend.

03:09It's possible that it could happen over the weekend or,

03:12but the harbor's busy, but otherwise it could be Monday.

03:15Yeah.

03:16But you've got a lot of, you've got your safety certificates.

03:20What was it?

03:21We have the PSSC and we're awaiting our MCA and public health today

03:27and all the other certificates been issued.

03:30There's some conditions of class that we expect to clear here

03:33over the next few months, but overall we're in pretty good health here.

03:38Very good.

03:39Well, we wish you all the best.

03:41You've certainly captured the hearts and imagination, I think, of Belfast here.

03:45So we're wishing you all a very successful launch and journey.

03:48All right.

03:49Thank you much.

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