Passengers board the Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship at Belfast Port's Cruise Ship Terminal, after the luxury cruise ship became marooned in Belfast for four months due to unexpected repair works(Image: PA)

World cruise ship stranded in Belfast for months named 'SS Clusterf**k' by furious passengers

23 Oct 2024, 09:34 by Liam BucklerSenior US News Reporter, Anita McSorley · Irish Mirror

Furious passengers aboard a world cruise ship that had been stranded in Belfast for months have dubbed it "SS Clusterf**K", after toilets stopped working.

The beleaguered ship finally set sail earlier this month following a chaotic four-month delay - however some passengers admitted they considered leaving the ship for good because of the smell of sewage "wafting through the corridors".

Another passenger confessed that due to problems with the plumbing and toilets being unable to flush, it felt like a "third-World situation", Mirror UK reports.

Joe Rhodes has been writing about his experiences on the ship on online platform Substack. He claimed the water broke on the first night they set off from Ireland, and while it was fixed later that day, hot water didn't return until their second day in Bilbao.

He wrote: "Most Residents didn't realise this - the shutdown happening in the middle of the night - until AFTER they'd made deposits, so to speak. Yep, we awakened to the faint smell of s**t marinating in a hundred unflushed bowls, wafting through the corridors, gently mixing with the ocean breeze."

Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship(Image: PA)

Mr Rhodes stated that the trip hadn't exactly gone to plan, adding: "Nothing about this trip, except for the fact that I've been drunk a great deal of the time, has gone like it was supposed to go. Every single thing, from the food to the furnishings, the TV channels to the swimming pools (neither of which are yet operational), has turned out to be something less than advertised.

"Not on a catastrophic level – there weren't any corpses in the cabins or anything, at least not on my deck – but it's all been somewhat disappointing, somewhat shoddier and somewhat less functional than the brochures led us to believe. Have I mentioned that the beer sucks?"

The cruise was due to depart Belfast in May for a three-year, round-the-world trip. It faced a number of issues, but finally passengers set sail earlier this month. Then, less than 12 hours later, it remained in Belfast Lough as the vessel had to complete administrative paperwork.

Melody Thor Hennessee and John Hennessee prepare to board the Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship at Belfast Port's Cruise Ship Terminal, after the luxury cruise ship became marooned in Belfast for four months due to unexpected repair works(Image: PA)

As additional repair works took place, the 125 passengers have been forced to do booze cruises and sightseeing tours across Ireland. Villa Vie Residences' Odyssey cruise ship had promised passengers a luxury around-the-world voyage, stopping at 425 ports in 147 countries across three and a half years.

The luxury cruise offers rentals from 35 to 120 days, or villas can be purchased ranging from £90,000 (€10,800) to £260,000 (€313,000). Owning a villa on board guarantees the room for a minimum of 15 years, but the ownership stays valid for the entire operation of the ship.

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