Watch: Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship leaves Belfast four months after getting stuck with passengers

For the Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship passengers, it was supposed to be three and half years of voyage across the world from this May. But for the past four and half months, they were stuck in Belfast, Northern Ireland. On Monday night (Sep 30), they finally set off ontheir journey, after living and befriending the locals in the Irish town.

The cruise ship owned by Villa Vie Residences had got stuck before it could start what was billed as the world's first continual cruise, due to a variety of troubles: from repairs to financial constraints to paperwork.

There she goes … 👋
Cruise ship stuck in Belfast for 4 months left Belfast just before midnight & is now off the coast of Bangor. ⛴️ pic.twitter.com/Qow5Vflvsi — Mark Simpson (@BBCMarkSimpson) September 30, 2024

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Finally, when the announcement was made that the residential ship would indeed depart, some of the 125 passengers shouted 'hip hip hooray' and cheered.

They boarded the ocean liner after 23:30 local time on Monday night.

But technically, their globalvoyage didn't start immediately.From Belfast, the ship went to a cruise terminal nearby, and then anchored offshore overnight.

Its global circumnavigation will start on Tuesday.

While they were stuck in cold, rainy Belfast all these months, many of the passengers were thankful for the warm welcome they received from the town.

One passenger was quoted by the BBC as saying he was absolutely ecstatic to embark on the cruise.

⚓️After four long months of making Belfast their new home…

🛳️Those aboard the Villa Vie Odyssey ship are finally ready to set sail!

🏙️Not before saying goodbye to the city though… in style!

👋The crew have set off on their ‘Bye Bye Belfast Beer Bike’ pic.twitter.com/XLyXHt9zWm — Cool FM News (@newsoncool) September 29, 2024

Some passengers cried with joy when Mike Petersen, head of the US-based Villa Vie Residences, announced that the ship would leave.

"The exhilaration of getting on that ship, when it takes off, it will be the feeling of a lifetime," AFP news agency quoted Chicago-based actor Martino, 61, as saying.

"I've been in Belfast for four months and two days, but hey, who's counting,!" said another passenger Holly Hennessy, holding her cat, 'Captain'.

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What went wrong with the cruise in Belfast?

The cruise liner was supposed to take off on the world voyage on May 30 from Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland.

But it faced problems from the start, as repair and retrofittingwork took longer than expected, as did the paperwork.

Then, the shipbuilder went broke, adding to the woes.

The passengers, who could rent cabins in the ship, were not allowed to sleep in it. They rented apartments or slept in hotels all these months. Some of them just travelled inside Northern Ireland, while others went further afield to Europe or other cruises.

The cruise liner, with 600-passenger capacity, will pass through seven continents in the coming years. It will have more than 425 stops in 147 destinations.

The 'perpetualcruise' will then repeat for the next 15 years.

Well, fingers crossed.

(With inputs from agencies)