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