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At the age of 64, Sharon Lane retired from her job as a high school language teacher. After spending nearly all her life in Los Angeles, she decided that it was time for a change. While many retirees consider downsizing or moving somewhere sunnier, Sharon instead sought out a left at sea.
After a decade of searching for the right cruise ship, Sharon – now 77 years old – propelled her dream into reality when she purchased a cabin and set sail in June this year on the Odyssey, a Villa Vie Residences cruise that provides a permanent residence-at-sea programme as it circumnavigates the globe.
The cruise, which suffered a belated start to its inaugural sailing, left Belfast last October for the first of hopefully many three-and-a-half-year-long adventures around the world, stopping at 425 ports in 147 countries during each voyage.
The ship permits passengers to own, rent, or lease a cabin for life through its Endless Horizons programme, allowing them to live among home comforts while exploring the world time and time again.
“I figured if I could live on a ship, I could still travel, but wouldn't have to do airports or planes,” she told The Independent from the deck of the Odyssey.
Sharon came across the Villa Vie Residences’ programme, which also offers a “Golden Passport” scheme, letting people make a one-time payment for a cabin based on their age, with prices starting at $189,999 for passengers aged 75-79, but it gets cheaper the older you are.
Sharon says her age lets her buy the “cheap seats”, and while spending the same money on a Californian condo would be an investment in property, she said this is an “investment in my life”.
“A friend sent me an article about the ship. I read it and said, ‘Oh my, this is for me’,” she explained.
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Once she had purchased her cabin, Sharon said no one was surprised when she told them she was swapping her life on land for a permanent adventure out at sea.
“I taught foreign languages, and I took kids to Europe, so me getting on a cruise ship and seeing the world is pretty much what they would [expect]. They loved the idea.”
However, it was not the travelling and seeing the world that was the main draw for Sharon. While many people aboard the Odyssey cannot wait to dock from port to port, for Sharon, it's life at sea that really cemented her decision to join this floating community.
“I've always been an ocean person,” she said, adding that other residents share similar sentiments. “We like the environment. We love the motion of the ocean. We like the blue and the smell of the salt.”
The stars aligned in June when the lease on her condo was up, and Odyssey was due to dock in California, so Sharon packed all her belongings into 19 boxes and four suitcases, sold everything else and boarded the ship.
For Sharon, the ability to move permanently aboard a cruise ship in her retirement allows her to live out the exact routine she wanted in this stage of life.
She explained: “When I decided to [look into] it 10 years earlier, the prices were double what I was paying. I couldn't pay that, but this programme is for the average income person.”
“I've been taking care of things, making lists, doing the planning, doing the shopping, fixing things my whole life and basically, I’m done,” Sharon added. “I don't want to cook anymore. I don't want to clean the house. I don't want to do it.”
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The Golden Passport scheme largely targets those who are seeking to travel the world once they retire, making it easier to visit new countries, all the while being surrounded by home comforts. Yet the Odyssey itself is far from a retirement home, as younger passengers who can work remotely have set up their lives in the onboard business centre.
Sharon said: “I don't think it's just for people who are retired. There seems to be some school of thought that this is assisted living. It is not. This is like a condo, except we have a really big water feature.”
There are some features, however, which make living on the cruise much more desirable than being on land, with a team working around the clock to cook meals, put on entertainment, provide medical treatment, deliver mail, do the laundry, carry out maintenance and generally look after all those on board.
Sharon said it's even the smallest jobs, such as the maintenance team knocking on everyone’s cabin door to do a check that all the televisions were working.
“Now, in life on land, the TV goes out, and then you get help. But these guys are proactive. They're making sure all the TVs are fine.”
There are, of course, some drawbacks to living out at sea, most obviously not being able to go out and buy the food you want from the supermarket or have a meal at your preferred restaurant. Sharon says what she misses the most is “my favourite restaurant” and having “easy access to popcorn anytime I want it”.
She explained: “You can't go to the kitchen and pull something out there and stick it in the microwave. It's good news because you don't have to do it [cooking], which is really cool. But the bad news is I can't have popcorn every day if I want it.”
The positives outweigh the negatives for Sharon, however. On board the Odyssey is a large library that she has made full use of. “I've been on the ship about three months, and I'm now on book 18,” she said.
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Since the Odyssey left Belfast, the ship has stopped at ports across Europe, the Caribbean, South and Central America and the USA. Sharon, who joined the ship in June, made it in time for the west coast of the USA, up to Canada and Alaska. Being used to this part of the world, however, her first real adventure was when the Odyssey sailed across the Pacific Ocean to Japan.
Sharon is most excited for the ship to dock in South Africa, where she once lived for two years, as well as in western Europe, where she will spend time learning about the places her ancestors are from.
Before disembarking the ship, residents are given “port talks” on what to expect, pointers and essential information, but fellow passengers – which Sharon describes as a “close-knit neighbourhood” – also help each other out.
“There's also something about the people here. They have travelled their whole lives, the majority of the people have filled up five passports, and there are people who can't tell you how many trips they've taken, because the number's too big.
“Because of that, wherever we go, somebody knows something because they've been there five times. It's one of the best things on the ship, people helping each other.”
The world of residential cruising is fairly new, with only a few ships jumping on the concept. Kathy Villalba, CEO of Villa Vie, said they are trying to build a “true residential community at sea”.
“The Golden Passport program ensures this lifestyle is accessible at every stage of life, allowing residents of all backgrounds to take part in a once-in-a-lifetime circumnavigation across 150 countries and seven continents,” she explained.
Sharon now has the freedom to do what she wants, without having to worry about everyday chores, all the while seeing the world. “This is definitely something you do for yourself,” Sharon said. “It's about time some people did [things] for themselves. It is our turn.”
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