Over the past few years, several new cruise lines have popped up selling cabins that you can live in as you sail around the world. To date, none of these cruise lines have yet to sail a cruise or even have a ship in their possession.
This morning, a press release went out about a new cruise line that is selling cabins that you can live in starting under $100,000. Villa Vie Residences is promising to be a disruptive force in the cruise industry and has set a date to begin sailing in May 2024. Their first cruise will be 1,301 days long.
Their first ship, Villa Vie, will reportedly circumnavigate the world every three and a half years visiting more than 420 ports in 147 countries. You can sail on their ship one of two ways. You can buy a cabin starting at under $100,000 or cruise on a segment that will range from 35-120 days from $89/day per person.
Prices to buy a cabin are listed on their website as follows:
- Inside Villa (160-180 sq. ft.) – $99,999 plus monthly fees of $3,499 for two or $2,499 for one
- Oceanview Villa (160-180 sq. ft.) – $149,999 plus monthly fees of $4,999 for two or $3,999 for one
- Balcony Villa (200 sq. ft.) – $249,999 plus monthly fees of $7,999 for two or $9,999 for one
The cruise line also says that you will be able to rent out your cabin when you aren’t onboard and friends and family can visit you at no cost, they just have to pay $33 in daily port and gratuities.
Since the biggest part of starting a new cruise line is having a ship, I visited Villa Vie Residences’ website to view their ship. On the home page, a video auto-plays that shows an MSC cruise ship (Musica class) with the logo blurred out. On another page, a different MSC ship (Fantasia class) is shown with the name photoshopped out.
Things got even more interesting when I clicked on the cruise line’s brochure. On page two of their brochure, a Princess Cruises’ Grand class ship is shown. Scroll down to page 16 and there’s a photo of the promenade on a Carnival Cruise Line vessel.
When I visited the cruise line’s social media pages, even more red flags stood out. On X (formerly known as Twitter), they posted a photo of Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas visiting CocoCay when the island was under construction as the pier was completed. You can see the tweet here.
They also posted it on Facebook.
However, this wasn’t the only ship they have posted from other cruise lines.
On August 31, 2023, they posted a photo of one of Oceania’s Regatta class cruise ships with their logo photoshopped on it.
Four day ago, they posted a photo of what appears to be Holland America Line’s Volendam with their logo photoshopped on it.
I reached out to the cruise line and asked them which ship they will be using for their cruises since they are using at least six other cruise lines’ ships in their marketing. After all, you would never see any cruise line using a competitor’s ships in their marketing.
They quickly responded with, “Details on the ship are forthcoming. Stay tuned!”
The cruise line did provide one photo with the press release that you can see below.
Mikael Petterson, the company’s chief executive officer and a seasoned cruise industry executive, gave the following statement about this new cruise line, “Villa Vie Residences is not just a cruise; it’s a lifestyle reimagined. With the launch of our new brand, we are empowering travelers to make the world their home, all while enjoying unmatched luxury and flexibility.”
Villa Vie Residences is not the first cruise line to offer low prices for cabins on cruise ships that you can live in. In early 2018, Storylines began selling cabins for as low as $155,000 (plus annual fees). Five and a half years later, the cruise line has yet to sail one cruise and they are still selling cabins on their website with the starting price currently at $625,000.
Blue World Voyages also announced plans in 2017/18 to sell cabins you can live in on their ship. They have also yet to purchase a ship and sail one cruise.
If you want to purchase a cabin on Villa Vie, you might want to wait until they actually have a cruise ship in their possession before giving them any money.
