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What retirement at sea looks likeCruise ship instead of a retirement home? This is how much the dream of an eternal pensioner vacation costs!
Set sail again as a pensioner?
This is what the residents of the cruise ship “Villa Vie Odyssey” decided on. This specifically offers seniors a home for their retirement, just at sea! For the first time ever, an RTL camera team is allowed to visit the special seniors' residence. You can see what life is like for pensioners on the ship and how much it costs to rent or even buy a cabin in the videos, part 1 above and part 2 below.
Live permanently on a cruise ship as a pensioner? This is what life is like on the “Villa Vie Odyssey”!
The journey of the “Villa Vie Odyssey” began in England in October 2024 and has already taken you to dream destinations such as Hawaii, Bora Bora and Australia. However, the idea of offering a permanent home for seniors on a ship came to the founders during the Corona period. “The pensioners want to see the world,” emphasizes co-founder Kathy Villalba in an RTL interview – and that seems to be true!
There are currently 320 residents living on the cruise ship. 150 of the ship's 485 cabins already have a permanent owner. “You come on board and just live here. (…) Your house just travels around. You just have a new garden around you every few days, so to speak,” says Kathy Villalba, explaining the concept behind “Villa Vie Residences”. Life on the “Odyssey” is an all-inclusive package: free food, free laundry service and even the rooms are cleaned twice a week.
But the cruise ship – with eight decks – offers even more: two restaurants, several public lounges, a fitness studio, a library, a hairdresser and even a pickleball court. The co-founder gives us a little tour: “Here we have two normal pools and two whirlpools. We also use the pools for training! We do a lot of water sports here. And at night we throw parties here!”
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In addition, pensioners can expect various activities – from sports to language courses to creative workshops. Life on the “Villa Vie Odyssey” doesn’t seem to be boring at all and, above all, not lonely!
Rent or buy a ship cabin? This is how much money it costs pensioners to live on a cruise ship
Despite the all-inclusive package, life on a cruise ship should be “affordable for everyone,” according to Kathy Villalba. The co-founder explains in an RTL interview: “So we have to keep up with the same prices as if you rent a normal apartment.” We asked the residents. You can see how much they pay for their retirement at sea in the video below.
On the “Villa Vie Odyssey” living cabins can be rented for a few years or parts of the trip or bought permanently like a home. For example, anyone who decides to purchase with a one-off payment can secure a lifelong right to stay on board – the so-called “Golden Passport” – for just 85,000 euros. However, the models also vary greatly – depending on equipment, age and planned length of residence.
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The Asbach couple, who opted for a fixed purchase price with regular housing benefit for 15 years – the calculated lifespan of the ship, by the way – pay the equivalent of around 5,000 euros per month. Resident Melitta, who only rented her cabin for three years, pays around 4,500 euros per month.
But it is also cheaper: An inside cabin without a window, for example, can be rented for as little as $2,900, or around 2,500 euros. For comparison: the personal contribution for a care place in Germany is on average 3,200 euros. Since the services in a retirement or nursing home go beyond those on the ship, the prices are not directly comparable, but they are competitive!
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Retirement at sea: Is the “Villa Vie Odyssey” a real alternative to a retirement home?
The price comparison to a care place has shown that living on the “Villa Vie Odyssey” can actually be cheaper for pensioners. However, retirement at sea is not a real alternative for everyone. Because the cruise ship cannot provide proper care. There are doctors on the “Odyssey”, but each resident has to be able to cope with everyday life on their own.
But retirement at sea offers all physically fit pensioners the unique opportunity to spend their twilight years traveling, in different countries and full of adventure!
Sources used: Own RTL research
