Villa Vie Residences

[Papadog]

Just now, Papadog said:

Agreed.....VVR also was supposed to have Virtual Reality Windows.

Great sales pitch.....But not transparent.

 

[rebeccalouiseagain]

His concept was virtual- but the reality doesn't match the fantasy.  And yes- those virtual windows were promised and not delivered either.

[MacMadame]

On 9/5/2024 at 2:14 PM, rebeccalouiseagain said:

I was left in Belfast to find my own way home at my own expense and to this date , 6 weeks after termination my money has not been refunded."

I hope she does a chargeback to get her money back. That is how my friends got their money back from Life at Sea.

 

Btw, I found out yesterday that I know people who have friends who bought in. I will let you all know if I get any insider info from them. 😄 

[dbali]

Funny how none of the vloggers have posted>

[TwoBadKnees]

14 hours ago, dbali said:

Funny how none of the vloggers have posted>

Why should they? Most seem to be responding to submissions in their comments sections - even the the negative comments.  If I were one of them I wouldn't spend my time on every cruise related forum, especially if I was trying to get clicks to monetize my video uploads.

 

 

[VL1]

At what point do people just say, enough?  This ship was to sail in May.  It is now mid September.

[walkingsoon]

18 hours ago, dbali said:

Funny how none of the vloggers have posted>

You can't solicit donations here like you can on Youtube.

[Travel_Around_The_World]

45 minutes ago, walkingsoon said:

You can't solicit donations here like you can on Youtube.

whaaaat???? Are you saying I can't beg anybody here to buy me coffee? 🤣

[MacMadame]

I found out my Life at Sea friends have friends who signed up for Villa Vie (after getting screwed by Life at Sea -- brave?). I asked them about the people kicked out for being negative and they hadn't heard about that. But immediately guessed who it was -- said she was very negative. 🤷‍♀️

 

Also, I was under the impression that Villa Vie was paying for people to stay in Belfast but they are not. All those folks are on their own monetarily. All VV is doing is helping them find places to stay.

[Papadog]

9 hours ago, MacMadame said:

I found out my Life at Sea friends have friends who signed up for Villa Vie (after getting screwed by Life at Sea -- brave?). I asked them about the people kicked out for being negative and they hadn't heard about that. But immediately guessed who it was -- said she was very negative. 🤷‍♀️

 

Also, I was under the impression that Villa Vie was paying for people to stay in Belfast but they are not. All those folks are on their own monetarily. All VV is doing is helping them find places to stay.

I don't get it......Why are some residents getting a per dium?

[rebeccalouiseagain]

The latest is VVR sent the passengers an email that they will no longer be covering the hotels in Belfast. The ship did not "pass" sea trials and there are more items to do before it can set sail. Angela and Steve (midlife cruising) are returning to the US until the ship is finally sailing.  I think we can all guess how this ends- with bankruptcy.  Sorry for these passengers.  So the passengers were never given per diems.  They were told that they would be reimbursed via their monthly fees (being waived until they were reimbursed/ made hole).  Truth is- they all just spent close to 4 months on vacation using their own money.  If VVR files bankruptcy- there goes their 100k-900k (depending on type of cabin).  So sad.

[VL1]

This was predictable.  Those poor people. Time to lawyer up.  What about that couple who were foolish enough to have 3 cabins customized for them?  Oy.

[Travel_Around_The_World]

1 hour ago, VL1 said:

This was predictable.  Those poor people. Time to lawyer up.  What about that couple who were foolish enough to have 3 cabins customized for them?  Oy.

Not sure how sorry I feel for them. I'd be twice as careful giving my money to a guy who just failed in the same business the prior year. 

People think Petterson was so innocent at Life at Sea because he left before the company went bankrupt.  Forgotten is that he had a hand in that bankruptcy by inflating sales numbers and then deciding the ship is not good enough only to turn around less than a year later to buy the sistership of the ship he deemed not good enough.

 

Just as the owners of the company failed their responsibility of due diligence,  so did those who bought into that scam. 

 

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice,.....

 

The interesting part now is, how will the lenders react. I am sure they already started the monthly repayment process but are now missing significant residual income by not getting the monthly fees, which I am sure was an important part of getting that multi-million dollar loan. If that ship stays docked much longer, the bank(s) might begin a recall of the loan. 

 

The other interesting part will be: how many residents will ask for refunds? I can imagine that even the most loyal customer has a treshhold of acceptance. So many promises broken, literally on a monthly basis. To top it of, the company released a "successful" sea trial video just to turn around and admit that the ship did not pass. Did not pass a successful sea trial - that must push even the most loyal and most tolerant and most patient customer over the edge. How many times can one be lied to?

[Papadog]

 I'm really interested if VVR was paying up front for the residents hotels for almost 4 months .......or did they put the money up themselves hoping for a credit on there account.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Yeah the Penthouse couple were a little odd to begin with.  Those outfits!  At least she wasn't going to drown, built in life preservers.

[Papadog]

1 minute ago, rebeccalouiseagain said:

Yeah the Penthouse couple were a little odd to begin with.  Those outfits!  At least she wasn't going to drown, built in life preservers.

 Oh .....you mean Mr. &  Mrs. Yankee Doodle Dandy

[couldbeswell]

 

[Travel_Around_The_World]

The trouble might be deeper than they let up. Either they are completely out of cash or they know that the Odyssey won't be sailing for a while.
Other than one or the other I cannot explain they pay for lodging and stuff for almost 4 months but they cut the customers off with the reason "not before next week". 

[walkingsoon]

 

 

I'm sad for the folks getting stung here, hugely disappointed by the latest news. It doesn't look good, but I hope it somehow turns around and they get started on their adventure.

 

Regarding posts 166 & 167: a very nice and interesting seeming couple who I'd be happy to cruise with. They don't deserve this mocking. I'm disappointed by your comments.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

No one forced them to dress that way!  and I'm only saying what everyone is thinking- come on.  Quite frankly- people in general are dressing like slobs on cruise ships for the most part.  Don't need to be formal but also dress nicely for a cruise- it's not Halloween or the 4th of July.

[Travel_Around_The_World]

45 minutes ago, walkingsoon said:

 

 

I'm sad for the folks getting stung here, hugely disappointed by the latest news. It doesn't look good, but I hope it somehow turns around and they get started on their adventure.

 

Regarding posts 166 & 167: a very nice and interesting seeming couple who I'd be happy to cruise with. They don't deserve this mocking. I'm disappointed by your comments.

Are you disappointed in my comments? Not sure why. I made a general statement not about a particular couple or person. 

Maybe it was confusing because I quoted your entie post. I was simply responding to your statement "those poor people" which I thought applied to all people who bought into this and not only that one particular couple.

Maybe there is a simple misunderstanding. That happens.

Edited September 11 by Travel_Around_The_World
grammar, spelling

[Papadog]

11 minutes ago, rebeccalouiseagain said:

No one forced them to dress that way!  and I'm only saying what everyone is thinking- come on.  Quite frankly- people in general are dressing like slobs on cruise ships for the most part.  Don't need to be formal but also dress nicely for a cruise- it's not Halloween or the 4th of July.

I'n my opinion they embarrassed the US  in another country.

[walkingsoon]

Not yours,Travel,   I was pointing out a couple of others. A misunderstanding indeed. 

... and I regret pointing them out. I tried to delete but couldn't. I guess it doesn't matter. I remain sad for the customers and angry at the situation. Thanks to all for their input on this topic of interest to me. 

I wish there was someone trying to build something a bit more modest than the World, but a bit more realistic than this apparent train wreck.

Edited September 11 by walkingsoon

[Travel_Around_The_World]

2 minutes ago, walkingsoon said:

I wish there was someone trying to build something a bit more modest than the World, but a bit more realistic than this apparent train wreck.

It does require a major investment. The reason why The World works is because it was build for that purpose. Initially they thought about buying a cruise ship but decided to custom build one. Cruise ships are build for a purpose, and that is for temporary housing. 

 

And buying 30-year old ships from a cruising era past gone is just not the way to go.

The question was always: can a concept like that work for middle class people? What the failed Life at Sea and Villa Vie Residences have shown is that there is interest and people are willing to pay for it. 

 

It requires a certain amount of money for a new build and the acceptance that a project like this may take a while to pay for itself. But it definitely is not impossible. 

 

[MacMadame]

8 hours ago, Papadog said:

 I'm really interested if VVR was paying up front for the residents hotels for almost 4 months .......or did they put the money up themselves hoping for a credit on there account.

I've heard conflicting statements on this. Some say they were supposed to get a per diem but haven't gotten it and others that their hotels were being paid for.

 

This is what I don't get. If you go screwed over by Life at Sea, why would you turn around ang sign up for Villa Vie? Yes, the concept seemed a bit more thought out $$ wise, but it's still a big risk.

 

3 hours ago, rebeccalouiseagain said:

No one forced them to dress that way!  and I'm only saying what everyone is thinking- come on.  Quite frankly- people in general are dressing like slobs on cruise ships for the most part.  Don't need to be formal but also dress nicely for a cruise- it's not Halloween or the 4th of July.

If you are going on a 3-year cruise (sing the Gilliagan's Island theme song when you read that), you will dress like it's regular life at some point. Being dressed up every day for 3.5 years is unrealistic.